Students

MMCC3140 – Screens, Images, Ideas

2023 – Session 1, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Intan Paramaditha
Contact via Email for appointment
Building 10HA, Room 193B (9850 2186)
Tutor
Alison Walker
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
130cp at 1000 level or above
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

From Hollywood to Bollywood; from popular to Indy/cult; from international to national cinema, students will explore fictional and documentary film/cinema, TV and online content from a range of countries. The unit also examines historical examples and their relation to contemporary and emerging ideas of cinema and film production and practices within various cultural contexts. Students will engage with key ideas and debates relevant to film studies, and will evaluate stylistic modes of film criticism.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: analyse and evaluate the key ideas and the main debates relevant to a specific region of film studies.
  • ULO2: demonstrate an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and film theory.
  • ULO3: apply skills in film-textual analysis to gain a deeper understanding of film interpretation.
  • ULO4: evaluate different stylistic modes of film criticism (writing about films).

General Assessment Information

SUBMISSION

All written work must be submitted to Turnitin, via the link on iLearn. Please make sure your full name and student number appears on the first page of your document. All written work should be double spaced and justified to the left of the page.

LATE PENALTY

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue.

This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/ exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.

Please make sure you read Macquarie University's policy regarding Special Consideration requests before you apply: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Online Quizzes 30% No Weeks 3-12, due every Friday 09:00
Major Essay 40% No 31/05/2023, 11:55pm
Short essay 30% No 07/04/2023, 11:55pm

Online Quizzes

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 5 hours
Due: Weeks 3-12, due every Friday 09:00
Weighting: 30%

 

It is important in this unit to explore key concepts and theoretical positions pertaining to the major topics in Screen, Images, Ideas. Students will undertake weekly online multiple choice quizzes from week 3 to week 12 accessed via iLearn. These are worth 3% of your total mark each, 30% in total. For each quiz, there will be 5 questions that you need to answer in 30 minutes. These questions are based on the readings and lecture content. Correct answers will be provided after the quiz is completed. Examples will be given on week 2. Students will be notified by a unit announcement on iLearn when the quizzes are available for completion. Refer to iLearn for further information.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • analyse and evaluate the key ideas and the main debates relevant to a specific region of film studies.

Major Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 35 hours
Due: 31/05/2023, 11:55pm
Weighting: 40%

 

Students will write an academic essay of 1800 words that covers unit materials from week 1-12. Students will compare a film that has been discussed in class with a film of their choice. They will analyse the films with regards to a specific theme or concept introduced in the unit. In the essay, social, political, and/ or historical contexts must be discussed in relation to the formal elements of the film. Bibliography must include at least four academic references, and two of them must be from the unit readings. Refer to iLearn for further information.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • analyse and evaluate the key ideas and the main debates relevant to a specific region of film studies.
  • demonstrate an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and film theory.
  • apply skills in film-textual analysis to gain a deeper understanding of film interpretation.
  • evaluate different stylistic modes of film criticism (writing about films).

Short essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 26 hours
Due: 07/04/2023, 11:55pm
Weighting: 30%

 

Students will write a short essay of 800 words about a film discussed in class. Students will focus on a specific aspect of the film, such as image, colour, sound, mise-en-scene in relation to the concepts introduced in the unit. Bibliography must include at least two academic references from the unit reading. Refer to iLearn for further information

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • analyse and evaluate the key ideas and the main debates relevant to a specific region of film studies.
  • demonstrate an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and film theory.
  • apply skills in film-textual analysis to gain a deeper understanding of film interpretation.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

CLASSES

Unit lectures will be delivered as videos accessible via iLearn. Tutorials start on week 1.

Before attending the weekly tutorial, students need to make sure that they do the following:

1) Watch the lecture video on iLearn.

2) Watch the film of the week, available online via Macquarie University library (see iLearn for details).

3) Read the required articles. 4) Take the online quiz (starting on week 3).

Please check with MQ Timetables for the time and location of your tutorial.

 

REQUIRED READINGS

Required readings will be available through the library’s multisearch function and Leganto.

 

TECHNOLOGIES USED AND REQUIRED

Details on readings, assessments, and screenings will be available via iLearn. Students are expected to regularly check iLearn and their MQ email addresses for an announcement.

Unit Schedule

MMCC3140 has a specific topic each year. This year, the unit focuses on the link between travel and cinema. It addresses questions around representations of travel. We will examine how travel has been portrayed in various genres, including road movies, the Western, musicals, melodrama, and science fiction. We will also look at the idea of travel beyond screen representations, delving into identities of the filmmakers as travellers as well as the impact of how film travels. Finally, we will engage with discourses of travel such as tourism, migration, and displacement as some of the most important political issues today and analyse how images and narratives of travel are shaped by historical contexts from colonialism to globalisation.

 

Week 1: Travel – from exploration to travel to tourism

Week 2: Figures of travelers: the tourist and/ as the flaneur

Week 3 - Women on the Road

Week 4 - Queer Mobility

Week 5 - Travel and Empire

Week 6: Documentary and Narratives of Discovery

Week 7 – Ethnographic Film and Counterdiscourses

--- Semester break ---

Week 8 - Migrant cinema

Week 9 - Refugee-themed Films

Week 10: Neoliberalism and Global Citizen

Week 11: Travel and Traveling Genre in Global Cinema

Week 12: Techno-Orientalism: Cities and Encounters in Science Fiction

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.


Unit information based on version 2023.02 of the Handbook