TS2243 - Film Genres: Stars and Styles Review

TS2243

Taken in: AY20/21 Semester 2

Lecturer: Prof Edna Lim

Grading:

• 20% - Attendance and Participation
• Group Project Presentation - 10% (Individual Portion)
• Group Project Presentation - 30% (Group Grade)
• 20% - Midterm Test
• 20% - Final Test

Note: Lessons were conducted online.

I took this module to clear more modules from the film studies basket. I didn't really enjoy this module, honestly, even though the content was interesting. I don't know if I want to pursue film studies anymore actually LOL. This module is mainly about how genres are defined, how they are formed and built upon, and a little about stars and how they play a part in building a genre. Genres were also compared between different cinemas (such as East vs West)

I'll start with my gripes: The majority of content is through pre-recorded Prezi and Sway presentations that were made YEARS ago (I think the Prof said she wanted to update them, but it didn't happen this semester). These slides are quite boring, but my main issue is the fact that you have to go through them before lecture. Lectures and tutorials are for discussion of the film we watched for the week, but the time could have been used better. I think this was one of the modules that made me really FEEL the 2 hours inching by. I love the prof, but the lectures and the content covered seem a little simplistic, given it's a 2K module. Speaking of poor time usage, this module lasted 12 weeks. I appreciate that it ended without dragging on, but it definitely left me wanting. The 12th week was for the final exam, too, so it was pretty much 11 weeks of content.

The tests were both the same format. Some MCQs and a few open ended questions about the genres (Usually comparing two similar genres together). It wasn't so obvious for the final test, but the midterm test MCQ questions are lifted from the prezis/lecture slides, almost word for word. There's not much content so it's easy to score well if you simply pay attention. (Funny thing — You can tell who is about to fall asleep on the zoom screens). I scored about 70% for both tests, out of 20 marks total.

The group project MIGHT differ in the coming semesters. I heard it's usually a short film, but this semester we had to conceptualize (not make) a film. First we had to come up with a hypothesis. We went for something like "What if a film reconceptualized feminity and heroism instead of having heroes have masculine trait", and conceptualized a film around it. Groups if 4-5 were formed after recess week, and presentations were done on week 11 tutorials. The ONLY graded portion of the group project (Worth a total of 40% overall) is the presentation. You did not have to submit anything else, like a writeup or whatever. It was entirely a presentation and 10% was for the presentation of your own part (3 mins per person, strict).
Personally, I would wait out covid restrictions so that you can get back the original group project of making a short film. Its ounds more fun, but certainly some of my group members appreciated this semester's conceptualization project which required less physical effort like filming and editing. Our grade for the group project was A-.

Overall, I like the prof, but the module's content was a little lacking for a 2k mod. It's simple, so it wasn't too taxing.

Expected Grade: B/B+

Actual Grade: A-