3.0
Quality3.7
Difficulty28%
Would Retake89
Reviews28%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
27
4
15
3
14
2
10
1
23
What Students Say
“The most writing intensive class you will take”
FILM96 - 2.0 rating“Super strict and unfair grader”
FILM155MS - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
42%
Textbook Required
55%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.13 avg changeRatings by Course
HIS101A
5.0
(1)FLMST101AC96
5.0
(1)YOUTHCULTURE
5.0
(1)VIOLENCE
5.0
(1)101A101C
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
FLMST187Y
5.0
FILM155MS
5.0
FAMST101A
5.0
FILM96
4.6
FLMST96
4.6
Reviews (89)
This class was really fun. The professor seems really interested in the subject and is very enthusiastic. Explains and answers questions very well. Take this class!!!
She was really into the topic, which made it that much easier to understand. She also, has kind of a funny/annoying accent, though really nice and on several occasioan sent me an email if I had questions for her. Interesting class too, definitely take it
Helps to have a good background in film. Class is a lot of fun and the professor loves teaching the subject which makes the class better.
She was not effective at creating an interest in film and was not a very prepared lecturer.
No Comments
She is extremely helpful if you just ask.
She has a strong passion for films, which makes her very good at teaching her class. She is interesting and funny and easy to approach.
her accent defintely gives her a noticeable personality as a lecturer and she definetly does not underestimate her students abilities to understand the clear-cut information she presents during her lectures. her wordrobe is simple and conservative, but gives her an edge.
Makes things really easy to understand and lectures are actually pretty interesting. Screenings are fun, tests are reasonable, lots of work involved in this class (research paper) but overall very interesting.
Felando is awesome! She's got such an excitable personality that really shows her passion for films. Lengthy lectures with a lot of material to write down, but it's really interesting and helps for the tests. The screenings and clips she shows in class are pretty cool.
Kind of boring, but very thorough and concise in her lectures... Take good notes, but use the readings for help on tests..
good class, bad teacher. she speaks in monotone for hours,making it a struggle to stay awake and grades unfairly (unless you're a film studies major you're best grade is probably going to be a B). She ruined film studies for me.
A great professor! She obviously loves the subject, and is funny too. She was extremely helpful when I made an appt. with her about my paper. She does grade hard if you're in her honors section, but the midterm and final are straight from lecture and book. I loved this class!
Her lectures were all over the place; tests were essay and very specific/difficult! She is very into film and knows about everything but not a great teacher for an introductory course
I would take any class with Prof. Felando, she's great
lectures were pretty boring- most of the time she was just reading directly from a piece of paper. she spent too much time talking and not enough time showing film clips that delt with the subject matter. she wasnt great but she wasnt horrible.
No Comments
No Comments
No Comments
My favorite prof.! I took like six classes with her!
Youth culture, great teacher!
Stick with the class and you'll do fine. Tests are very hard and often refer to very specific things in lecture. Asks a lot but you don't have to deliver 100% to still get an A.
Lectures are incredibly hard to follow, she reads them straight from her notes. She would often lecture to much and not show many clips. The tests were very difficult and asked very specific obscure questions. Would not take again
Really liked Felando! Her lectures are well spoken, but you have to follow carefully because she doesn't use PowerPoint or repeat herself. GO TO LECTURE! She knows a LOT about Film, and is really good about answering questions. She expects a lot out of her dedicated students, so don't expect to just slip by.
This should be obvious, but go to class and do the reading. The tests are MC, short answer and essay, but if you follow the aforementioned advice they aren't a problem. The papers are pretty easy, but don't be afraid to ask the TA for help cause they are slightly not like your average paper. Her lectures go everywhere, but that doesn't really matt
If she still offers this, look at the sample papers on Moodle, they help a lot!!! Also, don't wait till the last minute to do the papers, you WILL regret it. I took it over the summer, so it was 5 papers (7 pages each) in 6 weeks, but I think you get two weeks per paper during the year. The book is useless, so pay close attention in class!
Dont buy the book and just listen to her lectures. It is an intense class with her and she grades hella hard. So good luck, if you can take the class with someone else. Even her TAs agree she is insanely hard grader
Lectures f/notes. Class consists of (5) 10-page papers. Her grading is unsubstantiated; there is no clear grading system. The papers are written on 5 films that are guaranteed to put you to sleep, if the professor hasn't already. I would not recommend this teacher or class.
Smart Lady but grades like a****, this class completely ****ed my GPA
Absolutely my favorite professor while I was still at UCSB. She talks about each film we study like it's the best one ever made. And she's so knowledgeable about everything. Great professor, great to work with. Really loves what she does, and it shows.
Single-handedly the worst teacher I have ever had at ucsb. She cannot explain the concepts and she gets off on being wicked and mean. She needs to find another way to get out her frustration.
Avoid if you can, if you can't, suck up to her because she definitely has her favorites.
This class literally gave me a mild depression. It took over ALL the time in my life and even when I wasn't working on papers I was thinking about them. This class made my life horrible and I was sad all the time, doing things that I hated everyday. Just prepare for the worst quarter of your life.
I was sure of a film major until i took this class. Try to avoid her as a professor. She stands in the front of the class and just reads off a piece of paper the whole time. I didn't know it was possible to make such an interesting subject so boring.
worst professor i have ever had at ucsb
I had her for both 101A and 96. She is a great teacher! Although her lectures can sometimes be a bore, she is extremely helpful and friendly during office hours. She is very knowledgeable as well. She does grade hard, but I think it is fair.
professor really not good at all, do not recommend whatsoever
Worst professor do not take, has favorites
Put it this way I took her class, did my papers well before they were do, had my english professor and some friends look give me some feedback and still got a low grade, If your not in her major seminar class forget it, she seems to look down on you
I agree with the comment below, worst professor honest
The class content was interesting, and her favorite genre is Film Noir, which is one of my favorites. But her lectures weren't engaging, and it did kind of feel like there was favoritism and power-tripping involved. However, I had an amazing TA, Lucia Ricciardelli, so section with her made me enjoy the class.
She was horrible
She's really not that bad. Yes, there is no doubt that she is hard but she really tries to engage people and is more than willing to help you out. This class has thoroughly helped my writing despite being infuriated with the papers.
Be prepared for late nights of endless writing. This class is very challenging. Felando is very knowledgeable and is really helpful (if you go to office hours). It helps to get a good TA, Ryan. She helped a lot with writing the papers plus she's really cute!
she destroyed my gpa. go to consultation hours! annoying because all office hours were before consultation hours. :( sample films were way easier than the films we had to see. makes it even harder by picking foreign films so you're distracted by reading subtitles the entire time. never have to do the reading. my writing did NOT improve. diaf 96.
She loves the topic so she was very into the class, which made it interesting to attend lectures. She is a very hard grader but definitely worth it. Got a lot out of the class and was a really fun class to take. Had a take home midterm essay, final essay and two quizzes and a final in which she gave us a study guide. We watched some awesome films!
Worst Professor ever!!. Did all the work, but still did not pass me. Ruined by 3.0 GPA. I may not have been the best student, but certainly not a D-. Never even missed a class!!!! SHE SUCKS TOTALLY
She is really not as bad as other reviewers said.She is really nice and cares a lot about her students. Go to her office hours, she can really help you with the materials. I definitely would take classes with her again.
She is great! She's really nice and focused and you will learn lots! She's not easy but it's worth the hard work. You'll notice a great change in your writing and the way you view films! By far my favorite professor after my 2 years here.
Ok just learn how to write well and how she wants it early on. The last two papers definitely weigh on your grade. I got Ds on the first 3 papers and Bs on the last two and ended up with a B-. So Don't drop the class right away. If you fail,(and Alot of people do-even 'A' students-the horror stories are true), don't stress take it again.
Prof. Felando is amazing. It's the class that's hard. I'm half and half about this class. I feel like I learned a lot, my writing improved, and I found it interesting. However, it is VERY hard and time consuming. I got a B- on almost every paper and struggled with improvement. I have never worked SO hard in a class to only finish with a B-
Yes, this class will make you think outside of the box and likely have a mental breakdown. However, it is beneficial to your writing skills. Felando is an amazing professor and was extremely helpful when no one else was. She needs to make sure the TA's assigned know what they are doing though.
Yes it is extremely difficult. Yes there is an excessive amount of writing, but at the end of the day you become a better writer because of this class.
Cinthia is one of the best professors that i have ever had. she is so passionate about what she teaches and it was a pleasure going to class with her as the teacher. If you go to class, then you will get an A. Its the people that dont go to class that dont do well.
AWFUL! Super strict and unfair grader. Doesn't tell you what she expects from you. Don't take her unless you want your GPA to plummet.
Such a nice and helpful professor. She didn't take attendance, but class was important to watch the movies which was all class was about. While she doesn't grade necessarily easy, she tells you what she expects and helps in all ways possible. Favorite professor so far at UCSB
She is a decent lecturer but doesn't plan out the time in her classes very well. There was a take home midterm which was challenging and the same goes for the paper. The final was ridiculous, the prompts were way too complex for the short amount of time we had, It should have been a take home final. Overall I don't think she's a very good professor
She was a very boring yet passionate lecturer. Expects us to know every review of every movie we watch. Movies are great but she is not. VERY tough grader and not specific as to where you lose points.
DONT LISTEN TO THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS BELOW. Felando is probably the greatest professor in the department- most available for help, most knowledgable on what good writing is, most caring about her students, and explains things very clearly. Had her twice, could not have had a better experience. She strengthened my writing and study skills. The best.
Prof Felando is a sweetheart! She is very knowledgeable about feminist film theory and encourages discussion of the films whether it's positive or negative. She's a little hard to reach as she sometimes teaches at UCLA on her off days and she can be ditzy but overall very informative. Never comments on papers, though, which is weird.
Felando is a great teacher. Her director classes are especially good because you can tell she is a real fan and speaks from a passionate place. I'd recommend this class to anybody, not just film majors. Movies are long, but thats just the way it goes. If you listen to her lectures, you will be fine. She's friendly and easy to talk to as well.
Really kind Professor. I just loved her personality. She made me appreciate short films which I now plan to make in the near future. The lectures are a bit slow at times, but still worth my time.
This is my 2nd time taking her, but my first time in a lecture setting. She is still really sweet and enthusiastic about films, especially when discussing the New Hollywood directors, but she tends to ramble when she lectures. Overall still really lovely and helpful, with very basic class structure (midterm, final, 2-3 quizzes, and a 5-6 pg paper).
This was the singularly worst class I have ever taken at UCSB. She is incredibly boring and made me want to jump into a volcano just to feel something. I have never been more bored in a class and the number of times I fell asleep because of her ramblings is incalculable. Beware!
Easy class, just take really good notes on the films and you're set. Sometimes boring but mostly interesting. A couple of quizzes here and there, so do the reading and pay attention to what she says. Essay format for midterm and final. Overall, she is very knowledgeable about the subject and left me with a better appreciation for short films.
She is a hard grader and if you do not keep contact with her or just I don't know, praise her, she may give you a bad grade. I feel like she is lenient to people she likes or talks to her rather than giving grades to actual good work. What a disappointment. Also, horrible lecturer.
The most writing intensive class you will take. Each paper is roughly 6-8 pages long which you will probably get very low grades if not fail the first few. understanding the terms is key to writing a good paper. doing the reading actually kind of helps in terms of knowing how to use the terms in context of writing. hardest class ever!!!!
Extremely lecture heavy, make sure to do all the readings. All her exams are open note, but make sure you write more than you think you need and be very specific with details and examples. Fun to talk to outside of class, funny lectures, shares funny personal info. She loves questions and comments but doesn't always noticed raised hands.
Prof Felando isn't bad, but if you've got the option then I suggest not taking a class with her. She went over all of the readings in lecture and then we watched the Star Wars movies. She doesn't comment on the exams/paper which was frustrating. She was accessible at office hours though and very friendly. I got feedback that way.
Awful, boring, lectures and she takes things personal. I am in a dispute over my grade; she failed me over a problem from a prior quarter. I strongly suggest stearing clear of this woman unless you are willing to put your grades / GPA in the hands of a professor who does not even explain the grade that she gives you. Taken 3 classes w/ her. A,B-,D+
Worst teacher Ever. Did not do any work on her part, just read off of a piece of paper for HOURS! No visuals, nothing. Graded so hard and even bragged about it, telling my class that nobody was getting As on the papers. Used pretentious and annoying language that just added to how obnoxious and unqualified she is. Has no rubrics or baselines. BAD!
I feel cheated. Hey style of presentation is so dull and difficult to follow, not to mention lectures are three hours!!! Totally unneeded, it often feels like a one hour lecture gets stretched to three just to leave room for her pretentious ramblings (we get it, you know about obscure film things, want a medal?) Learned nothing and left me pissed
Just not good at this whole teaching thing.
Most stupid, soul crushing course I've taken in a long time. Arbitrary grading procedures, obscure, uninteresting facts, needlessly long lectures, pretentious, elitist rhetoric, and a professor who outright goes out of her way to be boring. The amount of work I put in for zero personal reward is just maddening. Makes me want to abandon film.
She's really passionate about what she teaches but the lectures can get pretty eternal, she doesn't use power points at all and there's a lot of info to grasp all at once. She's clear about what she expects on the assigned papers, open note exams; you can use your notes from class and print out the readings as well! Good at giving feedback!
Felando is a very organized teacher who knows what she's talking about, gives clear assignments, and assigns interesting films to watch in class. No textbook, lectures aren't mandatory, and you don't even have to come to class to pass if you want to just watch the film at home. 1 pop quiz, 1 paper, midterm, & a final. Midterm & paper are open note!
Exceptionally meandering lectures that go on for a ludicrous amount of time. Class could easily be shortened to an hour, learned almost nothing except how to bite the side of my cheek to stay awake while she was speaking.
Unethical.
Take three classes with her, and she is a tough grader. Although I have spent a lot of time and worked hard in her class, I did not receive the grade that achieves my expectations. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS UNLESS YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!
She literally teaches this class every quarter for years and still literally reads from a paper for two to three hours, with occasional ramble spirts. She should just email us her notes and give us the readings, open book final anyway. Grading style makes no sense. My friends compared test grades. SAME EXACT ANSWER, different points, no expl. NO!
Felando does NOT cater to her students. Even during the troublesome time of COVID, she has assigned HEAVY lectures, on top of weekly lecture write-ups, weekly section discussion posts, two research papers, AND a midterm and final paper only after a week to two weeks of the research papers. If you want a caring teacher, she is not it.
I had a good experience with Prof. Felando in FAMST163, but I will admit that her lectures are both a bit lengthy and hard to follow. I also wish that she was more accessible outside of class, as she mostly wanted to talk through Nectir instead of a one-on-one meeting. Other than that, this wasn't a bad class, just don't fall behind.
This class was just ok. The lectures were informative and so were the readings, but the papers were graded incredibly harshly. We were given very little, very vague feedback, and it was very unclear as to what she wanted us to include in our essays. I liked the material, but the grading made the class stressful and unenjoyable.
Her class is the worst experience at UCSB. Not caring, tough grader and absolutely wasted time with her! Don't take her class unless you have to!
I'm taking the summer session and I really can not handle the workload. We have so much reading (200+ pages per week) plus two 30ish minute lectures/week as well as around 2 hours of films. Likewise, we're expected to write two 4 page papers and take a midterm and a final. No help/assistance through this process. Prof is inaccessible. Don't take.
Frustratingly awful. Her lecture material isn't challenging, but the poor course structure, abhorrent lack of clarity of what she desires from her students on exams/papers, & lack of understanding of how to properly introduce films along with structure a reasonable amount of time for exams make for the worst professor (& grades) I've had at UCSB.
Took 101A and 155SW. Passionate about the things she teaches. Loves to assign a million readings and essays. Readings can be difficult to understand, and the essays for 101A were very tough. Got a B- in 101A. Needed 155SW to graduate but she refused to give me a grade for the entire course because I had a missing assignment and now will fail.
Prof. Felando is passionate about teaching she doesn't know how to. Can't communicate about what she wants on papers and exams. Grades hard w/ no feedback. Can't reach out of class. The whole lecture she will just read from a paper. Worst teacher I've ever had. Disappointing considering the class itself had the potential to be good. Don't take!
whole class was on the films, just skim the readings before midterm/final. lectures are just her reading from her paper and can be hard to take notes on but the tests are easy if you know anything about the historical context/film content. one research paper thats very easy. honestly a really fun class to watch movies and study 60s-80s hollywood
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
42%
Textbook Required
55%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.13 avg changeRatings by Course
HIS101A
5.0
(1)FLMST101AC96
5.0
(1)YOUTHCULTURE
5.0
(1)VIOLENCE
5.0
(1)101A101C
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
FLMST187Y
5.0
FILM155MS
5.0
FAMST101A
5.0
FILM96
4.6
FLMST96
4.6