High-quality Communication program students learn Film arts with Australian lecturer

On the morning of October 16, 2021, the Faculty of International Communication and Culture held a film studies session with Mr. David Moore - a lecturer from RMIT University (Australia). This program was exclusively designed for Cohort 48 students of the High-Quality Program as part of the course Fundamentals of Art Forms.

More than 260 High-Quality Program students from Cohort 48 had the opportunity to join lessons with Mr. David Moore - a lecturer at RMIT University (Australia) - on film history and cinematography techniques. Mr. Moore has over 20 years of experience teaching film, 35 years of experience in graphic design, and 40 years of filmmaking experience.

Throughout the session, Mr. Moore provided students with an overview of the filmmaking industry, film genres, and typical character archetypes in cinema. At the beginning of the class, he introduced the term Camera Obscura - the precursor to the modern camera - and also briefly explained other terms such as Laterna Magica, Kinetoscope, and Zoetrope. In addition, students were introduced to fundamental definitions in cinema and learned about the earliest filmmakers in history.

Moving on to film genres, the students were extremely excited to share their favorite genres with the lecturer. Mr. David clarified a number of common film terms; for each term, students were shown many illustrative images and video clips. In this section, he offered a very fresh perspective on familiar genres such as action, adventure, and comedy. In addition, both the lecturer and students enthusiastically discussed the musical La La Land and the 2020 Oscar-winning masterpiece Parasite.

Lương Thế Minh shared enthusiastically: “I’m really impressed by the application of archetypes in film criticism and filmmaking. I studied Literature in high school, so I learned a bit about art criticism and had heard of ‘archetype criticism’. Learning more about it today makes me truly excited!”

Mr. David also showed students images of characters from classic film series such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones, and thoroughly analyzed cinematic character archetypes. When prompted, the students also eagerly discussed the influence of color on human behavior and psychology.

In the final minutes of the session, Mr. David took time to answer students’ questions. They asked many interesting questions in succession - such as where directors find inspiration when starting a film, the lecturer’s perspective on independent films (Indie Films), discussions about the Twilight series, and finally, the story of how Mr. David entered the filmmaking industry.

Most students commented that the lecture was extremely useful and highly specialized, and that the lecturer’s presentation and examples were also very engaging. Nguyễn Quang Hiển shared: “His teaching is captivating, and he seems very enthusiastic! I now understand more clearly the roles of essential character types - something I hadn't paid much attention to before.”