Course / Course Details
By - Mr Vishal Nayak
Open to All.
Course begins: Jan 27, 2026
Course Ends: March end, 2026
Objectives
SYLLABUS
Module 1: Exploring Cinema: Art, Story, and History (9 hours)
A Brief History of Cinema: From Silent Films to the Digital Age, Major Cinema Industries:
Hollywood; OTT Cinema, Indian Cinema, African Cinema, Latin American Cinema, Thai
Cinema, Third Cinema, Understanding Global Genres
Module 2: How to Read a Film: Tools for Understanding (10 hours)
What is Reading a Film?; Story versus Plot; Narratives Structure; Film as a language: Images,
sounds, symbols, mood; Characters and Relationships: How films create empathy; Themes,
Metaphor, and Subtext: Finding the “story beneath the story”; The Director’s Vision: How
choices shape meaning (not technical, but “effect”); Approaching a film review: Watch, reflect,
respond
Module 3: Creating Meaning: The Basics of Film Form (6 hours)
Mise-en-scène: Feeling the world on screen (setting, costume, light, performance); Cinematic
techniques (framing, shot, music, editing, focused on “why this matters” to viewers); Basics of
Film Editing
Module 4: Film Viewing and Discussion—Case Studies in Appreciation (5 hours)
Film discussions will focus on:
Assessment:
Students will be able to:
Additional videos to go with the video lecture: The Lumiere Brothers - First films (1895) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f08P8A7xCs A Trip To The Moon (1902) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcyZ70tO9-Q Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RtBAa4YCgo
Intro to Latin American Cinema
Follow up reading (30 mins) 1. https://travelbud.com/travelbud-blog/blog/thailand/the-top-5-movies-documentaries-you-need-to-watch-before-teaching-english-in-thailand 2. https://www.sinema.sg/2020/07/22/intro-to-modern-thai-cinema/
Further reading (30 mins) https://jacobin.com/2023/08/third-cinema-global-south-film-anti-imperialism-decolonization https://www.britannica.com/art/Third-Cinema
Further reading (60 mins) https://nofilmschool.com/Three-act-structure https://www.masterclass.com/articles/three-act-structure-in-film
Further reading (60 mins) https://nofilmschool.com/mise-en-scene https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/mise-en-scene-definition-examples-75967/
Further reading (60 mins) https://nofilmschool.com/what-is-conflict https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/11-types-of-conflict-to-add-interest-to-your-screenplay/
Further reading (60 mins) https://fiveable.me/introduction-to-film-theory/key-terms/plot-versus-story https://www.masterclass.com/articles/plot-vs-story https://nofilmschool.com/difference-between-story-plot-premise
Further reading (60 mins) https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/part/introduction/ https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/difference-between-film-vs-movie-vs-cinema-1820004382-1 https://noamkroll.com/the-importance-of-story/
Further reading (60 mins) https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/exploring-movie-construction-and-production/chapter/8-what-is-sound/ https://www.lafilm.edu/blog/the-importance-of-sound/ https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/film-sound-and-music/
Further reading (60 mins) https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is-cinematography-and-what-does-a-cinematographer-do https://www.metfilmschool.ac.uk/articles/blogs/the-craft-cinematography/ https://aaft.com/blog/cinema/role-of-cinematography-in-filmmaking/
Further reading (60 mins) https://americanfilmmarket.com/relative-popularity-genres-around-world/ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-film-genres
A fictionalized account of the Tsavo man-eaters, a pair of lions that terrorized workers in and around Tsavo, Kenya during the building of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in East Africa in 1898. Full movie download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18gjW0D9MgY6s0Fdy7qypEbJn1YfJn2UC?usp=drive_link
Rashomon (1950), Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking psychological drama that revolutionized storytelling in world cinema.
A masterpiece of Italian Neorealism film movement, telling a simple yet universal story about post-war poverty, desperation, and the struggle for dignity through the devastating loss of a bicycle.
Apu and his sister Durga try to make the most out of their poverty-stricken lives. Soon, when their father goes to the city for a job and their mother becomes increasingly bitter, things go downhill.
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. Download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VsjmEnUebNTp0UdLWRvalttoUWmCFDFi?usp=drive_link
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