Undergraduate - UnitATS3536 - Alternatives in film and television

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Film and Screen Studies
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Julia Vassilieva

Synopsis

Alternatives in film and television raises questions of aesthetics and politics to consider a varied body of work, one considered 'alternative' in relation to 'dominant' cultural practice and value. The unit takes a range of case studies to understand how film and television texts set themselves apart dominant forms and practices at certain historical moments and in diverse national contexts. For example the unit might examine the new American cinema of the sixties and European counter-cinema of the seventies, or post-punk and American indie films of the 1980s and beyond. In the same way, the unit may take as its case study the work of women or Indigenous, or political filmmakers worldwide.

Outcomes

On the successful completion of this unit students will be expected to: recognise that alternative film and television must be understood in relation to mainstream or dominant practice; identify a material, social and political difference between historically specific moments of alternative (avant-garde, experimental or independent) film and television theory and practice; identify 'political modernism' of the sixties and seventies as a discursive field produced by specific practices of film criticism and associated institutions; translate this formulation of political modernism into a more contemporary engagement of film and television practice with theory and the aesthetic characteristics of (post)modernism.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 70%
Exam: 30%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Julia Vassilieva

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

Film and screen studies

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of second-year Arts units. As this is a third-year level unit, it is recommended that students only take this unit after they have completed at least one second-year level unit in Film and screen studies.

Prohibitions

FTV2220, FTV3220