SCME1000 Film Form and Analysis

The topic will commence with a consideration of film as a formal system. We will examine the professional vocabulary for describing the component parts of a film production-cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and soundtrack. Students will be engaged primarily in watching films closely and listening to them intently with the aim of describing and analysing them in fine detail. We will examine and explore the language of narrative analysis as well as non-narrative filmmaking. The topic will consider screen media as industrial artefacts around which production, distribution and exhibition practices are linked. We will pose questions about the industrial structure of screen technologies and what it means to consider those industries as national industries. This will involve the study of funding sources, broadcast regulations and industrial organisations, particularly in an Australian context. Along the way, we will consider issues regarding the history of screen media and the theoretical questions that have been posed about these media at different historical moments.

This topic aims to:

• Give students a basic understanding of the construction of audio-visual media and to develop a vocabulary for comprehending and analysing these media
• Instil a sense of the historical and geographical variety of screen media
• Introduce key ideas in debates over the effects and the critical analysis of film and other audio-visual media
• Give students experience in formulating and expressing critical and analytical opinions

1. Describe key terms involved in the production and description of films and other audio-visual material, including an understanding of the terminology of editing, cinematography, lighting, and sound elements
2. Outline an overview of historical variations within screen media, including the conceptual justifications which motivated these practices
3. Analyse film material in close detail
4. Express observations, opinions, and analysis in written and spoken discourse