Analyzing Media Texts (220-0-70)
Instructors
Michael Scott Curtis
Meeting Info
Northwestern Qatar Room 1-300: Tues, Su 2:30PM - 3:45PM (AST)
TBA: Thurs 2:30PM - 5:30PM (AST)
Overview of class
This course is an introduction to the study and structure of film and other moving-image media. We will define and examine the expressive and aesthetic power of the basic elements of the moving image. Specifically, the course will investigate—across a variety of different media, modes and genres, and historical periods—the fundamentals of production design; cinematography, especially the shot and its composition; editing; sound; and narrative structure. The first half of the course examines the separate elements of the moving image; the second half explores how those elements can be organized in various narrative and non-narrative structures. The goals of the course are (1) to acquaint students with a vocabulary specific to film and other moving-image media; (2) to provide students with the critical tools required for analysis of the moving image; and (3) to develop student skills in writing and argument for humanistic inquiry. By the end of the course, students will be able to: (1) identify the elements of the moving image (e.g., kinds of camera movement) and of the soundtrack according to a standard glossary of technical terms; (2) describe patterns of similarity, repetition, difference, and variation in the image and sound tracks; (3) propose connections between those patterns and narrative structure, character psychology, or larger themes and ideas; and (4) explain those connections in a written argument about how patterns in the most salient visual and/or aural elements of a film or program help us to understand its structure, characters, or themes.
Registration Requirements
- Prerequisites: None
- Open to first-year students only
- Open for cross‐registration
- Satisfies Media & Politics Minor
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: NUQ: Seats are reserved for Freshmen Only