Are you ready to stop just “watching” movies and start truly seeing them? This summer, Clatsop Community College is thrilled to offer FILM 101: Introduction to Cinema, an immersive 8-week journey into the heart of the silver screen.
Whether you’re a casual movie fan or an aspiring filmmaker, this course is designed to transform your relationship with the medium. We’ll trade passive viewing for active analysis, giving you the technical vocabulary and critical tools to deconstruct how your favorite films are actually made.
What to Expect: From the First Shot to the Final Cut
This isn’t just a lecture series—it’s a hands-on exploration of film as an art form, a business, and a powerful cultural product. Over 90-minute sessions, we’ll balance expert insights with intensive film clip analysis and lively discussion.
Here’s a sneak peek at our 8-week roadmap:
- Technical Foundations: Master the “big four” of film language: Mise-en-Scène (the world in the frame), Cinematography (the camera’s eye), Editing (building continuity), and the “invisible dimension” of Sound.
- Experimental Synthesis: Dive into the fast-paced world of Music Videos to see how narrative rules are broken and reinvented.
- Critical Frameworks: Explore Genre (from Westerns to Sci-Fi), Auteur Theory (the director’s signature), and the real-world impact of Documentaries.
- The Social Mirror: Analyze how cinema shapes our understanding of identity, race, and gender, and learn to “read against the grain”.
Why Take This Course?
Beyond becoming the most insightful person at your next movie night, this course serves as a Bridge to our Filmmaking Production Course. By understanding how visual storytelling works from the inside out, you’ll build the essential foundation needed for hands-on filmmaking in advanced coursework.
Stay Tuned for Registration!
Registration updates and full course details from CCC will be available on this site very soon.