The main objective of “Introduction to Film Studies” is to familiarize students with the terminology and key concepts of Film Studies as an academic discipline. Through a survey of various styles and narrative traditions, students are introduced to the main critical approaches used to understand cinema, including genre studies and Auteur theory. The course also focuses on the interpretation of films as the expression of a national ethos, and as the representation of racial, ethnic, gender and cultural identities. While there is a historical dimension to the course, it does not follow a strictly historical chronology in the presentation of films or issues.
The course is divided into five (5) units. Unit 1, “Style and Narrative,” introduces students to the basic elements of narrative cinema as an artistic form, including cinematography and editing, along with various modes of storytelling, and visual styles. In Unit 2, “Film Genres,” we look at generic categories as a way of classifying films and looking at particular conventions and practices. During Unit 3, “The Auteur,” we ascertain the problems and advantages of analyzing films in terms of the creative personality of the director as Auteur by dissecting the work of a filmmaker whose oeuvre bears their unique “signature”. Unit 4, “National Cinema” considers films from a specific socio-political context as a form of nationalist expression. Finally, in Unit 5, “Identities on Screen”, we study films that challenge stereotypical representations of individual and group identities and seek to offer instead multifaceted depictions of characters engaged in complex interactions and situations- Teacher: Andre Loiselle