If you are not an FTV major, I do NOT recommend you take this class to satisfy a GE. I'm a very studious person, but this class was a ridiculous time drain (Many students took it for a GE but it was definitely designed as a pre-req in TFT). First, the lectures were anywhere from 30min to 3 hours, and were pre-recorded so students could not engage with the professor and ask questions (he did have office hours.) Despite their length, the lectures gave us ~30% of the material we were actually tested on, so our knowledge came mostly from readings. We were usually assigned 2 or 3 readings each week (from textbook and academic articles); be prepared to read 70-100 dry textbook pages each week. Third, be ready to watch about 4 hours of television each week - while this might sound fun, it will get boring very fast if you don't love old tv shows. Next, the midterm was ridiculously long. It ended up being about 10 pages single spaced for most students; the professor made the midterm span over three days because of remote instruction, taking advantage of the circumstances in a manner wholly unsympathetic towards students. The first paper was easy, but be prepared to write the final paper while studying for the final exam. Because of nationwide protests, he made the final exam shorter than the midterm (that's not saying much.) Again, I do not recommend taking this class for a GE - you will find easier, less stressful, and more engaging classes than this.

The grade:
Discussion participation and weekly homework prompts ~ 1 page (25%)
short 3-4 page paper (10%)
midterm (20%);
final paper (7 pages) (25%)
final exam (20%).

Professor Sampson is by far the best speaker and instructor I have had at UCLA. Every lecture was engaging and impactful; I legitimately felt like I left class every day having learned something worthwhile and interesting. You can tell that he enjoys both the content and teaching students. I would recommend this class to anyone, no matter what major!

I took this class because I'm interested in minoring in film, and I thought it was pretty interesting for the most part. To be honest though, this class was the least of my prioritizes during this quarter, so I have to admit that I slacked off quite a bit when trying to keep up with the work. I didn't watch all the lectures and definitely didn't watch all the screenings just because I didn't have the time. The midterm and final were still manageable though, but only because we were allowed to refer to lectures and readings. They were both pretty hefty in terms of length, but we were given plenty of time to do both (it definitely was hard for me to manage while having other exams and papers to do though). The final paper wasn't necessarily difficult, but it was very time consuming. I wouldn't recommend taking this class if you want an easy GE, but if you're interested in the history of the TV/entertainment industry or just love watching old TV shows/film, I'd recommend. (Had Marianna as a TA and definitely recommend!)

THIS HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE UCLA CLASS YET OMG. I've recommended it to all of my friends, it was SO interesting and engaging. It was also really easy to get an A. Lowkey considering minoring in film and tv bc of this class. Professor Sampson is AMAZING! TAKE THIS CLASS!

Professor Sampson knows his materials well. He is open-minded and likes to invite the class to discussions. Some of the documentaries I watched during the class were really fascinating, and the materials are actually interesting if you're fond of race, gender, sexuality, and other social topics. Not an easy A class, but as long as you do the reading and go to the lectures, you'll be totally fine!
Selling all his textbooks at a bundle of $30. Price negotiable; text **********

Overall this was a really interesting class! I knew nothing about film and was taking this as a GE and learned a lot of cool stuff about media. it's definitely a fair amount of work but it actually did help me learn the material more and do better on the assessments (wasn't just busy work). there's lecture twice a week. lab once a week, and discussion once per week. the day with both lecture and lab can start to feel kind of long since watching a film takes a decent amount of time, but all of the selections were interesting. there were a couple of readings every week, and most of them weren't that dense and were actually easy to understand. you do have to do the readings to be successful with the essays. Professor Sampson was really accommodating for the quarter though, which was nice considering how things kept changing with covid policies and such. I definitely recommend this class as a visual/performing arts GE!

Grading breakdown was a straight point scale out of 100:
Participation: 20 points -- the professor really encouraged participation in both leture and discussion. we were on zoom for most of the quarter so our TA's could easily keep track since our names are displayed when we talk or send in the chat. in lecture, he would ask people's names when they raise their hand and most TA's also showed up to lecture. my TA, cole jack, was really understanding about different approaches to participation which I really appreciated.

Weekly write ups: 20 points (10 write ups, each worth 2 points) -- we actually dropped two write ups but basically each week you write a brief reflection (200-300 words) about one of the concepts from the week. They're graded a tad bit strict I would say considering that they're worth two points, but I never scored below a 1.8 on them and TA's are definitely willing to help improve the writing.

Visual analysis exercises aka Essays: 40 points (4 essays each worth 10 points) -- we dropped one of the papers but there's normally two prompts for unit 1 that you have to choose, and then one prompt for unit 2 and one for unit 3 that you have to do for the total of 4 papers. They're analysis papers so applying concepts that we learn in lecture to media that we watched in lecture. They do require effort and time but if you know how to write analytical essays for another humanities discipline, you should be fine; I didn't find them to be extremely difficult.

Pop quizzes: 5 points -- we had two quizzes that weren't really pop quizzes and got extended deadlines on them due to covid circumstances, but they're supposed to be pop quizzes. if you attend lecture, they aren't that hard. it's pretty straightforward stuff.

section participation: 15 points -- my section was pretty chill. our ta usually had an exercise to practice application of concepts, which helped prep us for homework and the essays and such.

This was without a doubt my favorite class I've ever taken. Sampson was funny, interesting, and engaging. Each lecture taught me so much about history, television, and society.

This is one of my favorite classes I have taken at UCLA. Professor Sampson is extremely engaging and one of my favorite professors, such that I am taking another class with him next quarter. The class covers a wide variety of topics such as Film, TV, and social media. The lectures are extremely engaging and I enjoyed the movies and shows we watched. It is required to come to class, he only hands out recordings to those with a valid excuse, and there are many discussions in the class.