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Module

FMS8358 : Screen Aesthetics (Inactive)

  • Inactive for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Andrew Shail
  • Lecturer: Dr Anne Carruthers, Dr Raisa Sidenova
  • Visiting Lecturer: Mr Ian Fenton
  • Owning School: Arts & Cultures
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System

Aims

This module aims to develop advanced skills in the practical analysis of the particular meaning-making capacity of film, with particular attention to the way that film's array of meaning-making channels interact within scenes, across an entire film and across the entire output of any given filmmaker. Students work on identifying patterns in film style, look in detail at the ways these patterns manifest in the output of certain filmmakers (chosen according to the expertise of the staff), chart the patterns that feature in the work of a filmmaker of their choice, investigate the ways that these patterns are planned, and create their own extension of the style of their chosen filmmaker.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module has three phases:
1 - Sessions on advanced film analysis
2 - Sessions on thematic and stylistic patterns across the output of select filmmakers
3 - Sessions on the planning and execution of the final assessment

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion160:0060:00End-of-module assessment
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion140:0040:00Mid-module assessment
Guided Independent StudyDirected research and reading103:0030:00Required weekly reading and/or viewing
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching112:0022:00On-campus seminars (which can be conducted synchronously online if necessary)
Structured Guided LearningStructured research and reading activities112:0022:00Preparatory tasks before each weekly seminar
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study126:0026:00N/A
Total200:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The seminars will begin with a high percentage of instruction by staff and steadily increase the involvement of students as they increase their skills in advanced film analysis, providing a space for the discussion of critical frameworks for the practical analysis of visual and auditory material. Directed reading and viewing and preparatory tasks are essential to the productive use of time in seminars.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Design/Creative proj1A60Annotated shooting script and annotated moodbook showing how a chosen filmmaker would realise the filming of a given scene
Essay1M40Signature analysis: a 2500-word essay detailing the thematic and stylistic signature of a chosen filmmaker
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

After developing their skills in film analysis, students demonstrate these in an analysis of the stylistic signature of a chosen filmmaker, submitted mid-module. At the end of the module, students demonstrate their knowledge of film stylistics by extending the signature of their chosen filmmmaker into the filming of a given scene in the form of an annotated shooting script and annotated moodbook. The latter is not divided into two separate assessments because the moodbook is a direct illustration of the shooting script.

Reading Lists

Timetable