Film Industry Studies
Instructor: Kim-mui E. Chan
E-mail: chankimmui@hotmail.com
Objective:
Course CLC 5315 provides a framework through which film is seen and analyzed as a
contemporary cultural practice. It offers theoretical and historical analyses of film and
the performance of the mainstream film industry and seeks to develop critical awareness
of debates and issues in cinema studies and cultural management. The emphasis of this
course is on acquiring knowledge of the structures and practices that are operating in the
industry and of film policy.
Assessment:
Active participation in an outdoor activity and class discussion during the last 45 minutes
of each lesson and the Q & A session subsequent to student presentation (15 %)
Essay—1000 words in Chinese/ 1500 words in English (20%)
25-min group presentation (individual project is acceptable) (25%)
Written report of the research project with full bibliography and filmography is required
to be submitted no later than 7 days after presentation (40%)
Schedule and Syllabus
Cinema as Social Practice
Week 1 (16 Jan)
Lecture: Cinematic Apparatus and Identification (Course introduction for 30 mins)
Required reading:
Douglas Gomery, “Hollywood Corporate Business Practice and Periodizing
Contemporary Film History,” in Steve Neale and Murray Smith, eds., Contemporary
Hollywood Cinema, (London and New York: Routledge, 1998)
Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Visual and Other Pleasures,
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989), p.15-16
Colin Mercer, “Complicit Pleasure,” in Tony Bennett, Colin Mercer and Janet Woolacott
ed(s)., Popular Cutlure and Social Relations, (England and USA: Open University Press,
1986)
Week 2 (23 Jan)
Lecture: Ideology, Cinema and Difference
Required viewing:
Happy Together (Kar-wai Wong, 1996), Leaving in Snow (Vincent Chui, 2001), or Kung
Fu Hustle (Stephen Chiau, 2004)
Required reading:
Lyn Gorman and David McLean, “The Development of the Film Industry,” Media and
Society in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Introduction, (Malden, Oxford, Berlin and
Melbourne: Blackwell, 2003)
Discussion topic:
Do you consider the visual pleasure offered by narrative cinema as complicit pleasure?
Week 3 (6 Feb)
Lecture: Realist Cinema and Radical Approaches
Required reading:
Jane Mills, "Screening Rape," in Ruth Petrie ed., Film and Censorship, (London and
Washington: Cassell, 1997)
John Hill, “British Film Policy,” in Albert Moran ed., Film Policy: International,
National and Regional Perspectives, (London and New York: Routledge, 1996)
Discussion topic:
Evaluate the success of mainstream and alternative cinema
Week 4 (13 Feb)
Lecture by the Instructor and 2 Guest Speakers: Independent Film Making, Film Policy
and Film Censorship
Discussion topic:
New approaches to refresh the film industry of Hong Kong
13 Feb, 2006—Submission of a name list of all group members
(this applies to both individual and group projects)
Film Language and Textual Analysis
Week 5 (20 Feb)
Lecture by Guest Speaker: Film Production and Distribution (followed by a Q & A
session)
Required viewing:
Old Boy (Chanwook Park, 2003) or A Tale of Two Sisters (Jee-woon Kim, 2003)
Required reading:
Robert Kolker, Film, Form and Culture, (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2002), p.50-57
Hand-out (8 pages)
20 Feb, 2006--Deadline for submission of topics for research
projects
Week 6 (27 Feb)
Lecture: Montage and Continuity Editing (additional information on film censorship)
Discussion topic:
(a) Do you consider film as an art form?
(b) Analyzing Old Boy and A Tale of Two Sisters
Week 7 (6 Mar)
Lecture: Mise-en-scene (long take, long shot, freeze frame, jump cut, etc)
Required reading:
David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema:
Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960, (London: Routledge, 1985)
6 Mar, 2006--Submission of a hard copy of essays
Week 8 (13 Mar)
Lecture: Voice, Sound and Color
Discussion topic:
Use of sound in film
Student presentation followed by Q&A(1)
Film Theory and Criticism
Week 9 (20 Mar)
Lecture: Auteurship and Genre Approaches
Required viewing:
Fist of Fury (Wei Loh, 1972)
Required reading:
Andrew Tudor, “Genre and Critical Methodology,” in Bill Nichols ed., Movies and
Methods Vol. 1, (Berkeley, LA and London: University of California Press, 1976)
Student presentation followed by Q&A (2)
Make-up lesson: Observing Filmart (20-23 Mar) / Entertainment Expo (20 Mar-19
Apr) (a 500 to1000 words written report on the tour is required)
Week 10 (27 Mar)
Lecture: Semiological and Psychoanalytical Approaches
Required viewing:
Swordsman II (Siu-tong Ching, 1992)
Required reading:
Siu Leung Li, “Kung Fu: Negotiating Nationalism and Modernity,” Cultural Studies,
15(3/4), July/Oct 2001
Student Presentation followed by Q&A (3)
Week 11 (3 Apr)
Lecture: Body, Star Persona and Gender Misrecognition—A Case Study of Swordsman II
Required Reading:
Rolanda Chu, “Swordsman II and The East is Red: The ‘Hong Kong Film,’
Entertainment and Gender,” Bright Lights: Film Journal, No. 13, 1994
Dominc Strinati, “Postmodernism, Contemporary Popular Culture and Recent Theoretical
Development,” An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, (London and New York:
Routledge, 2004)
Student Presentation followed by Q&A (4)
Week 12 (10 Apr)
Lecture: Film Studies and Postmodernism—A Case Study of 92 Legendary La Rose Noir
Discussion topic:
The prospect of Hong Kong cinema
10 Apr, 2006—Deadline for submissions of (a) the last batch of
written reports of the research projects, and of (b) the report
on Filmart or Entertainment Expo
(P.S. The schedule above is subject to change pending guest speaker’s confirmation of
visits during Feb or Mar. One of the lessons will be conducted outdoor—as a visit to
FILMART.)
Reference Books:
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David Bordwell, Film Art: an Introduction, (New York : McGraw Hill, 2001)
(電影藝術,曾偉禎譯,(台北 : 美商麥格羅希爾國際股份有限公司, 2001)
張衛, 蒲震元,周涌主編, 當代電影美學文選, (北京 : 北京廣播學院出版社,
2000)
David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood
Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production, (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1985)
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Tim Bywater and Thomas Sobchack , An Introduction to Film Criticism, (New
York : Longman, 1989)
Wes D. Gehring ed., Handbook of American Film Genres, (New York :
Greenwood Press, 1988)
Graeme Turner, Film as Social Practice, (London and New York : Routledge,
1999)
Jan Bone and Ana Fernandez, Opportunities in Film Opportunities, (Chicago,
London, Singapore and Toronto: VGM Career Books, 2004)
Robert Stam, Film theory : An introduction, (Malden, Mass. : Blackwell
Publishers, 2000)
(電影理論解讀, 陳儒修, 郭幼龍譯,台北 : 遠流出版事業股份有限公司, 2002)
Louis D. Giannetti, Understanding Movies, Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice
Hall, c1999
(認識電影, 焦雄屛等譯, 台北 : 遠流出版事業股份有限公司, 2001)
Gerald Mast, A Short History of the Movies, (Boston : Allyn and Bacon, 2000)
Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film history : An Introduction , (New
York : McGraw-Hill, 1994)
(世界電影史, 陳旭光, 何一薇譯, 北京市 : 北京大學出版社, 2004)
Suggested Further Readings:
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Dudley Andrew, Concepts in Film Theory, (Oxford, New York, Toronto and
Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1984)
• Cristina Degli-Esposti, Postmodernism in the Cinema, (New York and Oxford:
Berghahn Books, 1998)
• David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong : Popular Cinema and the Art of
Entertainment, (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2000)
(香港電影王國 : 娛樂的藝術, 何慧玲譯, 李焯桃編, 香港 : 香港電影評論學
會, 2001)