Film Appreciation

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

Course Goals

• Observe films closely and describe how their formal elements create meaning.
• Interpret and evaluate films using appropriate evidence and critical vocabulary.
• Examine how films engage social identities, political concerns, and historical conditions.
• Understand major developments in film history and international cinema.
• Synthesize formal, historical, cultural, and interpretive approaches into coherent analyses of film.

Course Student Learning Outcomes

• Accurately describe the technical and aesthetic elements of film using appropriate terminological and conceptual vocabularies.
• Evaluate and interpret films as forms of intellectual and aesthetic expression.
• Identify and assess social and political themes conveyed in film.
• Situate films in social and historical contexts, as well as within the historical development of cinema as an art form, and apply such knowledge to critical interpretations of film.
• Synthesize various types of analysis and evaluation to form a more comprehensive understanding of film art and production.

MAC General Education Competency Student Learning Outcomes

• MAC SLO #1: Critically analyze claims, arguments, artifacts, or information.
• MAC SLO #2: Construct coherent, evidence-based arguments.

In this course, students fulfill these MAC competencies by analyzing films as cultural and aesthetic artifacts. Students will critically examine cinematic evidence—including framing, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound, narrative, and performance—and use specific evidence from films to construct clear, coherent arguments about how cinema produces meaning and engages historical, social, political, and cultural contexts.

Contextual Course Objectives

• Identify and correctly apply essential film terminology.
• Closely analyze specific shots, scenes, and sequences.
• Distinguish between plot summary, personal response, and critical interpretation.
• Develop arguable claims about how cinematic form produces meaning.
• Support interpretations with specific visual and auditory evidence from films.
• Evaluate how a film’s formal choices shape its intellectual, aesthetic, social, or political significance.
• Connect films to relevant historical events, social conditions, production contexts, and cinematic movements.
• Compare how films from different periods, countries, and traditions address related subjects.
• Consider how production practices and representational choices influence what audiences see and understand.
• Synthesize formal, historical, social, political, and aesthetic analysis into coherent, evidence-based arguments.

Student Expectations

• Complete assigned screenings and readings before class.
• Attend class prepared to discuss specific moments from the assigned films.
• Use appropriate film terminology in discussions and written work.
• Support analytical claims with precise evidence, including descriptions of images, sounds, editing choices, performances, and relevant timestamps.
• Engage respectfully with different interpretations and culturally diverse cinematic traditions.
• Complete quizzes, discussion responses, analytical assignments, and the final synthesis project by the stated deadlines.
• Demonstrate increasing independence and complexity in their interpretation and evaluation of films throughout the semester.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Weekly discussions/Homework	25%
Online multiple-choice quiz	20%
Comparative Film Analysis	25%
Final Synthesis Essay	30%

Grading Scale:

Percentage	Letter Grade
95-100%	A
92-94%	A-
89-91%	B+
86-88%	B
83-85%	B-
80-82%	C+
77-79%	C
74-76%	C-
71-73%	D+
68-70%	D
65-67%	D-
64% & below	F

Attendance/Participation:

Because this is a fully online, asynchronous course, there are no scheduled class meetings, and attendance will not be taken. Students may complete coursework at times that fit their schedules, provided they meet all posted deadlines.

Participation is demonstrated through the timely completion of quizzes, discussion responses, assignments, and other required course activities. Simply accessing the course site does not constitute participation.

Quizzes will:

Be available for seven consecutive days.

Have a firm closing date and time listed in Canvas.

Not be timed once opened, allowing students to work carefully and at their own pace during the availability period.

All assignments will be released at least 20 calendar days before their due dates. Students are responsible for reviewing course announcements, instructions, and deadlines and should plan to begin their work early enough to address questions or technical difficulties.

Deadlines are firm. Work submitted after the stated deadline will not be accepted unless an extension has been approved by the instructor or is required by an official university accommodation. Students experiencing serious or unexpected circumstances should contact the instructor as soon as possible, preferably before the deadline. An extension is not granted unless it has been confirmed by the instructor in writing.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

No course materials are required.