Took this because it was a 4-point global core that met once a week and discussed movies. Sounds chill, and it was. Throughout the semester it was unclear how tough the TA's would be, but turns out they were light graders. This is either because they graded everything at the end of the semester and got tired of it and just passed out A's, or they truly believed we deserved them. Regardless, easy A.
We covered a movie every week, which we are responsible for viewing in designated 'viewing party' on Thursdays 7-9pm, (unless you have an excused absence). During class, Professor Qian gave a 1-hour lecture on the history of the Asian culture that the movie covers so that we have further context, followed by a TA-led discussion about scenes from the movie. It ended up being the same 3-4 students talking about their interpretations of the scenes, followed by long monologues by the TAs who just liked to hear themselves speak. Also, I'm pretty sure no one did the readings or watched the additional clips or really even showed up to the film screenings (which, by the way, were supposed to be mandatory... but in a class of ~50, I never saw more than 12 people there).
1 midterm paper, which was just an analysis of 2 films (4-6 pages, easy). 1 midterm project, where you get into a group of 1-5 students and recreate a scene from one of the films. This project was meant to recreate the filming process, from staging, to considering mis-en-scene, acting, point of view, etc. The film clip was 5-6 minutes and was completed in one saturday for my group. For the final, you had the option to write a 12-page paper or to create your own shortfilm, using the techniques we learned in class. My group and I chose to do this, as none of us wanted to write a 12-page paper, and because filming was pretty fun. We wrote a super loose plot, discussed it with the TA who told us everything to include that she wanted to see, and filmed it all in 1 saturday. Putting it all together took a little longer than the midterm project, but thats because this was 15 minutes.
This class was interesting, and super easy. I highly recommedn if youre looking for 4 credits, an easy A, to learn about east asian cinema and how it was influenced by other historical factors and especially Hollywood, or just want to make a short film. I recommend it, but beware, it is not the most engaging lecture you will sit through.