ENGL M50
Introduction to Visual Culture
Description: (Same as Film and Television M50.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; laboratory, two hours. Enforced requisite: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing requirement. Study of how visual media, including advertising, still and moving images, and narrative films, influence contemporary aesthetics, politics, and knowledge. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Overall this was a really interesting class! I knew nothing about film and was taking this as a GE and learned a lot of cool stuff about media. it's definitely a fair amount of work but it actually did help me learn the material more and do better on the assessments (wasn't just busy work). there's lecture twice a week. lab once a week, and discussion once per week. the day with both lecture and lab can start to feel kind of long since watching a film takes a decent amount of time, but all of the selections were interesting. there were a couple of readings every week, and most of them weren't that dense and were actually easy to understand. you do have to do the readings to be successful with the essays. Professor Sampson was really accommodating for the quarter though, which was nice considering how things kept changing with covid policies and such. I definitely recommend this class as a visual/performing arts GE! Grading breakdown was a straight point scale out of 100: Participation: 20 points -- the professor really encouraged participation in both leture and discussion. we were on zoom for most of the quarter so our TA's could easily keep track since our names are displayed when we talk or send in the chat. in lecture, he would ask people's names when they raise their hand and most TA's also showed up to lecture. my TA, cole jack, was really understanding about different approaches to participation which I really appreciated. Weekly write ups: 20 points (10 write ups, each worth 2 points) -- we actually dropped two write ups but basically each week you write a brief reflection (200-300 words) about one of the concepts from the week. They're graded a tad bit strict I would say considering that they're worth two points, but I never scored below a 1.8 on them and TA's are definitely willing to help improve the writing. Visual analysis exercises aka Essays: 40 points (4 essays each worth 10 points) -- we dropped one of the papers but there's normally two prompts for unit 1 that you have to choose, and then one prompt for unit 2 and one for unit 3 that you have to do for the total of 4 papers. They're analysis papers so applying concepts that we learn in lecture to media that we watched in lecture. They do require effort and time but if you know how to write analytical essays for another humanities discipline, you should be fine; I didn't find them to be extremely difficult. Pop quizzes: 5 points -- we had two quizzes that weren't really pop quizzes and got extended deadlines on them due to covid circumstances, but they're supposed to be pop quizzes. if you attend lecture, they aren't that hard. it's pretty straightforward stuff. section participation: 15 points -- my section was pretty chill. our ta usually had an exercise to practice application of concepts, which helped prep us for homework and the essays and such.
Winter 2022 - Overall this was a really interesting class! I knew nothing about film and was taking this as a GE and learned a lot of cool stuff about media. it's definitely a fair amount of work but it actually did help me learn the material more and do better on the assessments (wasn't just busy work). there's lecture twice a week. lab once a week, and discussion once per week. the day with both lecture and lab can start to feel kind of long since watching a film takes a decent amount of time, but all of the selections were interesting. there were a couple of readings every week, and most of them weren't that dense and were actually easy to understand. you do have to do the readings to be successful with the essays. Professor Sampson was really accommodating for the quarter though, which was nice considering how things kept changing with covid policies and such. I definitely recommend this class as a visual/performing arts GE! Grading breakdown was a straight point scale out of 100: Participation: 20 points -- the professor really encouraged participation in both leture and discussion. we were on zoom for most of the quarter so our TA's could easily keep track since our names are displayed when we talk or send in the chat. in lecture, he would ask people's names when they raise their hand and most TA's also showed up to lecture. my TA, cole jack, was really understanding about different approaches to participation which I really appreciated. Weekly write ups: 20 points (10 write ups, each worth 2 points) -- we actually dropped two write ups but basically each week you write a brief reflection (200-300 words) about one of the concepts from the week. They're graded a tad bit strict I would say considering that they're worth two points, but I never scored below a 1.8 on them and TA's are definitely willing to help improve the writing. Visual analysis exercises aka Essays: 40 points (4 essays each worth 10 points) -- we dropped one of the papers but there's normally two prompts for unit 1 that you have to choose, and then one prompt for unit 2 and one for unit 3 that you have to do for the total of 4 papers. They're analysis papers so applying concepts that we learn in lecture to media that we watched in lecture. They do require effort and time but if you know how to write analytical essays for another humanities discipline, you should be fine; I didn't find them to be extremely difficult. Pop quizzes: 5 points -- we had two quizzes that weren't really pop quizzes and got extended deadlines on them due to covid circumstances, but they're supposed to be pop quizzes. if you attend lecture, they aren't that hard. it's pretty straightforward stuff. section participation: 15 points -- my section was pretty chill. our ta usually had an exercise to practice application of concepts, which helped prep us for homework and the essays and such.
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