Film Studies (FILM) 461 - Lecture 01
Film Audience and Reception

Winter 2008
Tuesday 09:30-12:20

Instructor:	Dr. Charles Tepperman
Office Location:	Social Sciences 238
Office Phone:	220-7303
E-Mail:	c.tepperman@ucalgary.ca
Office Hours:	TBA

Additional Information

Attendance and informed participation are essential components of this course and will help determine your final grade. Students must come to class prepared to discuss the readings.

Course Description

The course maps aspects of spectatorship, audience, and reception approaches as they intersect with the experience and study of cinema. The course provides students with tools to appreciate film as an interactive medium of communication. It explores these approaches with emphasis on spectatorial agency, resistant and subversive reading, and hegemonic and counter-hegemonic readership and production.

 

Objectives of the Course

The goal of this course is to introduce a range of historical, theoretical and analytic tools for considering the roles of spectatorship, audience, exhibition and reception in the experience and study of cinema. Each of these categories imply different ways of understanding the film text and film culture, and therefore require different research methodologies. Consequently, a significant objective of this course is to develop the necessary skills and critical approaches for determining which of these methods and theories are most salient or productive in particular kinds of film studies research. Successful students in this course will learn not only how to synthesize and analyze these different approaches, but also how to put them into practice in self-directed research projects.

Textbooks and Readings:

Williams, Linda. Viewing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film (Rutgers, 1994)

 

A course reading package will be available from the University of Calgary Bookstore.

Assignments and Evaluation

Readings and discussions are essential components of the course. You must come to class prepared to discuss the readings.  Course requirements include:

          

Class participation                                                           20%

In-Class presentation          (weekly)                               15%

Mid-term take-home exam (Due Week 4)            25%

Final research paper (Due Week 13)                               40%

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.
Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination:  No
 
Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre.  Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

A+ (96-100); A (92-95); A- (86-91); B+ (81-85); B (77-80); B- (71-76);
C+ (65-70); C (62-64); C- (59-61); D+ (55-58); D (50-54); F (0-49)

 

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines.  Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research.  For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see the U of C Research Ethics "Information for Applicants," sections 3.0 to 9.0, inclusive: http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/research/html/ethics/info_undergrad.html

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

A complete list of readings will be posted on Blackboard.