Queen's Film and Media

Film and Media Studies
Film and Media Studies

First Year in Film and Media: FILM 110

Brokeback Mountain movie poster

The world today is saturated with visual media. Movies, television, video, internet, mobile devices, and other forms of mass communication entertain us, inform us, and attempt to persuade us. The first-year course FILM 110 "Film, Culture and Communication" is an introduction to the study of these media and their effects on us. It is both a foundation for further courses in Film and Media and an elective of interest to students in other programs. The course deals with Hollywood movies past and present; Canadian film, television, and video; international cinema; narrative, experimental, and documentary forms. The course looks at advertising, social networks, journalism, and gaming. It goes behind the images to the institutions that produce them, to show why and how the consumption of images has become a defining characteristic of contemporary culture. 

Still from the movie Stagecoach

The schedule for this challenging and rewarding course includes: 
  * Weekly screenings of a wide range of films, videos and television productions; 
  * Lectures and vodcasts which address aspects of the screened works, set them in historical and critical context, and raise questions about modern media culture; 
  * Weekly tutorials in which the class divides into smaller groups for discussion of films, lectures and assignments, led by graduate tutors. 

 

The Artist movie poster

 

Students carry out a variety of written and practical assignments during the year. In the first term, an essay project provides experience in critical writing. In the second term, a narrative storyboard project challenges the creative imagination. 

Each of these assignments helps the first-year student ease into the kind of work required of a university student, and to understand the expectations for original, thoughtful inquiry. 
 
Gary Kibbins teaching a Film class
 
FILM 110 is required for admission to most Film and Media courses in second year and beyond. These courses build on the introduction that FILM 110 provides, and entail progressively more focused inquiry into modern visual media. In order to enter Film and Media as a concentration ("Plan"), students need to obtain a minimum GPA of 2.8 and a minimum grade of B+ in FILM 110. To learn more about how to select a Plan, go to Choosing or Changing Your Plan at the Faculty of Arts and Science. 
In second year, students concentrating in Film and Media take FILM 250 "Fundamentals of Production" (6 units, full year), and four other courses which enhance the students' skills in research, critical analysis, and expressive creativity. 
 

Still from movie

Third-year courses are more specialized. Students can explore important eras in film history, deepen their understanding of film genres or media systems, or probe the kinds of images that influence viewers as consumers and citizens. Production courses integrate criticism, history with production and are offered in the following areas: experimental cinema, animation, documentary. 

By the time students enter their fourth-year courses, they are well acquainted with their subject and with one another. They meet in classes of no more than 20 students for intense study and discussion of highly-focused topics, usually based on their instructors' scholarly research or creative activities.
 
FILM 110: Film Culture and Communication  requires no previous courses or experience in Film or Media studies. 
 

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