DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION

A Course Number
MCM 307 Film Criticism
& Title
B Prerequisite/Co-
MCM 231
requisite/Concurrent
C Number of credits 3 credit hours
D Faculty Name Associate Professor Susan Smith
E Term/ Year Spring 2017
F Sections
CRN Days Time Location
20373 M/W 3:30-45 CHEM 209
G Instructor Office Telephone Email
Information
NAB 223 No Office Phone ssmith@aus.edu
Office Hours: 12:15-2:00 and 4:45-5:00 Or by emailing for an appointment.
However, I will attempt to answer your questions outside the office. Office Hours will
be posted on the office door. There is not office phone.

H Course Description Introduces film genres, film noir, polyphonic narrative, comedy, romance, verities, etc. to
from Catalog critical approaches with which to analyze the cinematic text. Requires exploration,
discussion, research and writing about films as well as screenplay texts, using such
theoretical approaches as semiotics and structuralism, feminist, psychoanalytic, formalist
and social criticism.
Learning Outcomes Assessment Instruments
I Course Learning
Upon completion of this course, students will
Outcomes and
be able to:
Assessment
1. Understand that narratives have a plot that Screening Reports and Midterm
Instruments
is affected by cause-and-effect relationships Panel Discussions Panels
and contain exposition, narration, and a Homework Participation
conclusion. Understand other techniques used
in construction of a film such as editing
cinematography, mise-en-scene, form, style,
sound, genre and meaning.

2. 2. Facilitate and lead discussions about film Formation of midterm Panel

techniques to demonstrate an understanding
about how films communicate through visual
techniques
3. Examine films in terms of function,
similarity and repetition, difference and
variation, development, and unity/disunity.
presentation and power point slides.
Participation in panels that formulate
questions, define keywords and
evaluate other students responses.
Final Exam
Journal entries

J Textbook and other

Instructional Text: Film Art by Bordwell & Thompson. Additional readings are found in the documents
Material and section and according films on ilearn
Resources
K Teaching and Students will be evaluated over mid-term group presentations, questioner and evaluator
Learning panels that develop sets of question and evaluate other students responses. Individual
Methodologies screening reports are written over the text chapters followed by a final multiple-choice
final exam.

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L Grading Scale, Grading Scale

Grading Distribution,
and Due Dates 95 100 4.0 A 76 79 2.3 C+
90 94 3.7 A- 73 75 2.0 C
86 89 3.3 B+ 70 72 1.7 C-
83 85 3.0 B 60 69 1.0 D
80 82 2.7 B- Less Than 60 0 F

Grading Distribution

Assessment Weight Due Date

Individual Screening Reports (due by midnight) 3 x 100=300 March 4th,

April 15th
May 6th
Attendance & Participation (-20 per absence) 100 Required

Group Presentation and Facilitator (Midterm) (180 for 200 Self selected
presentation and 20 for answers to questions)

Group Questioner Panel (ask questions to the presenters) 80 Self selected

Group Evaluator Panel (evaluates the questioner) 80 Self Selected

Final Exam (comprehensive) 240 May 16,

11:00-1:00

Total 1000 Journal

entries will be
added to the
total scores

80/20: Attendance and Participation Up to -20 for each absence (80). Up to 20+ points
M Explanation of
for participation. Since films are viewed in class participation includes: homework, no use
Assessments
of cell phones during class, participation in discussions, etc. is decided by the professor in
final grades. There is a -20 point deduction for every absence up to 4 absences. Students
are considered late if they are not in their seats by the calling of roll. If you are late please
do not come to the professor and ask to be counted present, this will not happen.
Students who leave class early, and/or leave class and come back later will be counted
absent. Students who use their cell phones or sleep, other otherwise do other work
during class may be counted absent. Unless otherwise discussed with the professor
ahead of time, there are no exceptions to this rule.

100x3=300: Screening Reports. 3 short (maximum 2 5 pages, double-spaced) critical

papers. Students will commit to three films (not viewed in class and three not covered by
the other student assignments) on which they will write a paper. Screening report
guidelines and samples are found on iLearn. Screening reports must be submitted
through the safe assignments drop box before 12:00 midnight and there is a20%
deduction for late papers. Additionally, screening reports that are not submitted to the
Safe Assignment drop box may not be given credit, and it is not the responsibility of the
professor to search for papers that are not submitted to iLearn.

Mid-term Presentations= 200 (180 presentation + 20 for answering questions): Groups

(of your choosing) present over the chapter, film, and readings using the key words as
they apply to the film. Groups will pre-screen the film, and then lead a discussion with a
power point presentation about the film on the second day of the class screening.

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Groups will meet with the professor a week prior to the presentation for a review. The
presenters are also required to answer questions from the questioner panel. Full
guidelines are found on iLearn.

Questioner Panel=80: This panel develops 10 questions and answers using key words in
the chapter, film, and assigned readings. The panel choses two or three questions to ask
the presenters and evaluates the panels answers. Full guidelines and instructions are
found on iLearn.

Evaluator Panel=80: Evaluators define the key words in the chapter and readings using
the assigned film and readings as examples. This panel also evaluates the questioner
panel. Full guidelines and instructions are found on iLearn.

Journal Entries: 10 extra points. The journal is found on iLearn. This is an opportunity to
earn 5 x 2 journal points concerning the films and topics screened in the class. This score
will be added to the final grade. One per week is permitted (up to 5).

Final Exam =240: Final exam comprehensive over the chapters, readings and keywords
covered during the semester. Study guides with keywords are provided.
N Attendance Students in this course are required to follow the AUS Attendance Policy as outlined in
the AUS Undergraduate Catalog.
Students MUST read the Student Academic Integrity Code outlined in the AUS
O Student Academic
Undergraduate Catalog and abide by the standards for academic conduct, students
Integrity Code
rights and responsibilities and procedures for handling allegations of academic
Statement
dishonesty.

SCHEDULE

# WEEK CONTENT NOTES

January 23, Read: Chapter 1: Film as Creativity, Technology, Introduction to Class

25 and Business in Bordwell and Thompson, and
1 assigned readings on iLearn Films screened in Class will be finalized
according the needs of the faculty and the
students.

January 30, Read: Chapter 9: Understanding Genre: Professor Presentation and Discussion
2
Feb. 1 Musicals, Chapter 2: The Significance of Film Across the Universe (2007) Director: Julie
Form and assigned readings on iLearn Taymor.
3 Feb. 6, 8 Review Screening Reports and Panel Professor Presentation:
Information Screening Report and Panel Workshop
Feb. 13, 15 Professor Presentation:
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) A biopic about
Repeat: Chapter 2: The Significance of Film
4 the journey and written memoir of the 23-year-
Form and Film Genre and assigned readings on
old Ernesto Guevara. The film recounts the 1952
iLearn
expedition, initially by motorcycle, across South
America. Won an award for original score.
Feb. 20, 22 Student presentations begin: To Kill a Mocking
Bird. (1962) This masterful adaptation of Harper
5 Read Chapter 4: The Shot: Mise-en-Scene and Lee's classic novel brings into sharp focus the
assigned readings on iLearn. legal inequities faced by a black man wrongly
accused of a crime against a white woman in
small town Alabama.

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Feb. 27, Professor Presentation: 4 Little Girls (1997)

March 1 Spike Lees first documentary (non-fiction) is a
Read Chapter 5 & Chapter 10: Documentary compelling, straightforward account of a deeply
6
section only and assigned readings on iLearn sorrowful and pivotal event in the civil rights
and assigned readings on iLearn movement.
Screening Report #1 Due (March 4th by
midnight)
7 March 6, 8 Read Chapter 6: Film Editing and assigned Professor: Children of Men
readings on iLearn
March 13, Student Presentation: Amelie (2001): A
8 15 whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian
Read Chapter 5 (repeat) The Shot:
life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy
Cinematography in Fiction Film, and assigned
waitress who decides to change the lives of
readings on iLearn
those around her for the better, while struggling
with her own isolation.
March 20, Student Presentation: V for Vendetta (2005):
22 American dystopian political thriller film
9 directed by James McTeigue and written by The
Read Chapter 8: Film Form and Style
Wachowski Brothers, based on the 1988 Vertigo
Comics limited series of the same name by Alan
Moore and David Lloyd.
March 27, Professor Presentation: Film to be announced
10 Read Chapter 7: Sound and assigned readings
29 on iLearn

April 2-8 Spring Break

Spring Break

11 April 10, 13 Film Choice to be announced Screening Report #2 Due April 15th (midnight)
Professor: Film to be announced
April 24, 26 Professor: Smoke Signals (1988): Young Native
Read Chapter 9 (repeat): American man Thomas is a nerd in his
12 Film Genres: Genre for Comedy and assigned reservation, and telling everyone stories no-one
readings on iLearn wants to hear. His parents die in a fire in 1976
\ and he is adopted by Arnold and finds his life
forever changed.
April 17, 19 Read Chapter 9 (repeat): Film Genres: Genre for Student Presentation: Percepolis (2007):
13 animated film and the Animation section and French-Iranian-American animated film about a
assigned readings on iLearn precocious and outspoken Iranian girl growing
up during the Islamic Revolution.
May 1, 3 Student Presentation: Into the Wild (2007): An
American biographical drama survival film
14 Reading Chapter 3: Narrative as a Formal written and directed by Sean Penn. It is an
System and assigned readings on iLearn adaptation of Jon Krakauer's 1996 non-fiction
book of the same name.
Screening Report #3 Due May 6th (Midnight)
May 8, 10 Student meetings in office. Final Comprehensive Exam (information on
15
(Study Day) iLearn

16 May 16, 11:00-1:00 Final Comprehensive Exam