Undergraduate - UnitATS2535 - Forms of narrative film and television

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Notes

Synopsis

This unit analyses texts that are representative of the stylistic diversity found in film and television. The aim is to develop in students an awareness of film and televisual form and style, and of how communication is organised within certain structured ways. The areas of film and television used to exemplify topics will be major innovatory phases including the development of film form in the continuity editing system 1895-1920, Russian formal experiments in the 1920s, alternative formal systems in Asian film, and post-war developments, including Italian neo-realism, European art cinema, avant-garde film, Third World filmmaking, and contemporary Hollywood and World film and television.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of issues of spatial construction in film;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of a range of editing styles, in particular the continuity editing system and alternatives to it;
3. To comment on a number of other parameters of filmic and televisual communication, for example use of body language, sound mixing, and different kinds of narrative organisation and culturally specific iconography.

Assessment

Written assignments (3500 words): 60%
Class participation: 10%
Examination (1-hour): 30%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Julia Vassilieva
Associate Professor Adrian Martin

Contact hours

One 2-hour seminar per week
One 2-hour screening per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Film and television studies
Comparative literature and cultural studies

Prerequisites

Two units at first-year level in Film and Television or approved discipline

Prohibitions

FTV2190, FTV3190