Media Studies classes for exchange students

This course explores the contemporary digital music industry through the lens of various critical theoretical perspectives, using Taylor Swift as a case study. By engaging with frameworks such as critical political economy, critical feminist studies, and critical race studies, we examine how power, gender, race, and capitalism shape the production, distribution, and consumption of music in the digital age.

Taylor Swift’s career serves as an entry point to analyze key industry dynamics, including platform capitalism, artist autonomy, fan economies, and industry gatekeeping. We critically investigate issues such as streaming revenue models, corporate control, labor exploitation, and the politics of artistic ownership, alongside the role of fandom, identity, and cultural representation in shaping digital music markets.

Through interdisciplinary readings, discussions, and case studies, this course provides students with the conceptual tools to critically theorize the evolving landscape of the music industry and the broader implications of digitalization on cultural production and consumption. Students are expected to participate in group discussions, give a presentation and submit a final paper.

Friday, 8 am to 12 pm, room 121, individual dates: April 25th, May 9th, May 23rd, June 6th, June 20th, July 4th, July 18th

This course focuses on female practitioners in media production, their agency, and their struggles with gendered production processes and patriarchal hierarchies, which we will theorize from several feminist perspectives with an emphasis on approaches from the field of production studies. Our starting point will be research by influential scholars such as Hortense Powdermaker, an anthropologist who studied the Hollywood film industry, as well as Vicki Mayer and Miranda Banks, both contemporary proponents of production studies. In several historical case studies, we will look at the careers of female pioneers such as early film director Alice Guy-Blaché, animators Lotte Reiniger and Mary Ellen Bute, and Una Marson, the first Black female producer at the BBC. A further focus will be on various forms of hidden female labor and how production studies approaches try to foreground them.

Thursdays, 10 am to 12 pm, room 128

This course examines how misinformation spreads and how algorithmic systems contribute to inequalities in information access. It explores the role of "data voids" and the ways in which missing or manipulated information impacts AI systems and public understanding. We will analyze how misinformation is created, believed, and leveraged for political and corporate gain, as well as its broader democratic implications. Through this lens, the course aims to uncover the structural forces behind what constitutes truth, how inequality is embedded in algorithms, and explore how this spills over into emerging technology. 

Fridays, online on April 25th, May 16th, May 30th and in person on June 27th, July 11th, July 18th 

In this seminar students will learn the fundamentals of film analysis. We will explore a variety of approaches to film through the interdisciplinary field of film studies: technical, formal, aesthetic as well as ontological or phenomenological analysis (e.g. eco-cinema or queer cinema). Each week we will focus on one different approach, with one core text and two supplementary readings that all students should prepare, along with optional readings.

The first sessions will provide students with a basic introduction to film analysis. The following sessions students will be expected to give presentations. In groups of 2-3, students will prepare the core reading while each of them should prepare one additional text that can be put into tension with the core reading as well as a film example to discuss. Additionally, students are expected to submit a weekly reading reflection or post discussion questions. These weekly assignments are part of their final grade. Through this structure and through all the necessary readings, students will be well-prepared  to write their final short-essay, which should be an extension of their presentation. This essay should involve a close reading of one aspect of a film of their choice as well as at least two texts we worked on in the seminar.

Wednesdays 2 to 4 pm, room 121

In this course, we will develop a basic understanding of how to identify audiovisual disinformation and how fact-checking can be used in journalism. We will learn various techniques of image, audio, video, and text verification, with a special focus on AI-generated content including deepfakes. After an introduction into the background, theories, and basic techniques, the students will work with a variety of methods and open-source tools, such as geopositioning, reverse image searches, photo forensic, and the Wayback Machine. The second half of the semester is dedicated to a fact-checking project. For this course, you will need a keen eye, patience, logical thinking, and detective skills.

Thurdays, 2 to 4 pm, room 127

This is an introductory course to animation. The course includes basics of animation such as storyboarding, foley artistry, voice acting, etc. Stu-dents will be learning different types of animation such as stop-motion and motion graphics. They will be playing with the idea of inducing emotions into short films using environment, lighting, sounds, colours, etc.

Thursdays, 4 to 6 pm, room 127