SP 2026 MDIA 1.01W Course Syllabus - 7th ed readings
Week Module Start Date Course Topics Required Reading (page #s are for the 7th ed) Film / Media Screening Assignments Due (in Canvas at 11:59pm on the day noted)
Week and Module 1 4/7 Principles of Film Form
Types of film analysis, genre
Textbook Reading
cha. 1, 3

Film screening


The Apartment
 (U.S. 1960)
Module Tutorial Screening 
Film form and genre access from Canvas module 1

Week 1 Assignment

Icebreaker discussion due Thursday 4/9

Rumi try out assignment due 4/9

Week and Module 2 4/13 Film History
Early cinema technologies, history and aesthetics of Hollywood studio era filmmaking
The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
Textbook Reading 
cha. 2, cha.10 pp. 343-351, 358-362 (precinema, silent, code, U.S. Studio system), cha. 11 pp. 402 - 414 (studio system)

Module Reading 

The MPPC 1930

Film screening 


Babyface (U.S. 1933)
Module Screening
Documentary:sections from Complicated Women (2003)

Week 2 Assignment

Short writing #1:
Classical cinema analysis in The Apartment and Babyface due 4/16
Peer review due 4/20

Week and Module 3 4/20 Cinematography pt 1
Production terminology: color temperature, lenses, shot types, depth of field, camera angle and height, black & white, color
Textbook Reading
cha. 6 pp. 180 - 203 (cha. 6 up to camera movement) & cha. 11 pp. 397- 400 (How a Movie is Made-postproduction)
Film screening

Rear Window (U.S. 1954)

Tutorial Screenings

camera angles, shot types and proxemics, focal length
Optional screening
History of Technicolor

Week 3 Assignment

Short writing #2: Babyface and the MPPC of 1930 due 4/23
Peer review due 4/27

Week and Module 4 4/27 Cinematography pt 2
lighting, screen direction, camera movement, POV, & special effects

writing about film
Textbook Reading

cha. 6 pp. 203 – 226 (camera movement – end of chapter), and chapter 5 on composition & the rule of thirds pp.162 -167


Optional Module Reading
writing about movies
Film Screening
Documentary
Visions of Light (1992) (available in Canvas module)

Tutorial screenings on cinematography 

Week 4 Assignments


Short writing #3: Cinematography in Rear Window due 4/30 
Peer review - due 5/4

Week and Module 5 5/4 Mise en scene
Film history: realism in cinema:
Italian Neorealism, British free cinema, Dogme 95

Midterm practice exam

Textbook Reading

cha. 5, cha.10 pp. 362 - 369 (history – Italian Neorealism, England Free Cinema, Dogme ’95), cha. 6 pp. 211 (review open/closed framing)

Film Screening

The Florida Project (U.S. 2017)

Module screening

Film scenes and tutorials on mise en scene
Week 5 Assignment

Short writing #4: Mise en scene in The Florida Project due 5/7
Peer review due 5/11
Week and Module 6 5/11 Editing pt 1
Continuity editing & screen direction

Narrative Structure
Textbook Reading
cha. 8: pp. 266– 290 (to “other transitions between shots”); cha. 4: pp. 116-120 (narrative structure); cha. 10 pp. 371 – 374 (Japan)
Film Screening
Rashomon (Japan 1950)
Module Tutorial Screenings
Continuity editing & screen direction, editing histories
Week 6 Assignment
 
Midterm exam due 5/14
Video essay topic and thesis ideas 5/15
Peer review of topics due Monday 5/18
Week and Module 7 5/18 Narrative
Art house and experimental cinema

Textbook Reading

cha. 4 pp. 108 – 116, 121 – 143; cha. 10 pp. 374 – 378 (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India)

Film Screening
Dogtooth
(Greece 2009)
Module Tutorial Screenings
Narrative concepts and film scenes for further analysis
Week 7 Assignment

Video Analysis Project Scripts due 5/21
Two peer reviews of scripts due 5/25
Week and Module 8 5/25 Editing part 2
Discontinuity in editing
Film history: Soviet montage

Textbook Reading
cha. 8 pp. 290– 301(jump cut – end of chapter), cha. 10 pp. 355 – 357 (Soviet Montage)

Module Reading
Eisenstein’s Montage Theory

Film Screening


City of God (Brazil 2002)


Module Tutorial Screening
Selected scenes, tutorials on discontinuity editing

Week 8 Assignment

Short writing #5 Analysis of editing, narrative, and mise en scene Rashomon & Dogtooth due 5/28
Peer review due 6/1
Week and Module 9 6/1 Sound
Film history: French New Wave
Textbook Reading
cha. 9, cha. 10 pp. 379 - 381 (Latin American Film)
Module Tutorial Screenings
selected scenes and tutorials on film sound, documentary: Sound in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock

Week 9 Assignments

Short writing #6: City of God - analysis of editing and sound due 6/4
Peer reviews due 6/8

Week and Module 10 6/8 Acting
Hollywood and independent film production today

Textbook Reading

cha. 7; cha.11 pp. 406 – 407, 414 – 423 (Independent system & production today)

Film Screening


no screening this week

Week 10 Assignment

Video Analysis Project final due 6/11
Week and Module 11 6/15 Wrap-up week
Race and gender representation in cinema
Module Reading
gender and race representation in cinema

Tutorial Screening


selected scenes, documentary on race and gender representation in media

Week 11 Assignment
 
Peer reviews for analysis project due Monday 6/22
Works cited page for project due 6/22
Study for final exam
Week and Module 12 6/22 Final Exam Week 12 Assignment

Final Exam due Wednesday 6/24