Unit information: Filmmaking through Hitchcock in 2013/14

Unit name	Filmmaking through Hitchcock
Unit code	DRAM11011
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Ms. Katie Mack
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	Performance Forms and Analysis Film and Television Forms and Analysis Staging the Text Production Skills for Performance Production Skills for Film
School/department	Department of Film and Television
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will provide an introduction to the disciplines required to produce practical project work in moving image media within the Department. In this unit students will learn to create sequences through hands-on camera and editing practice and a study of techniques used by director Alfred Hitchcock. The unit takes its cue from the French film-maker and critic François Truffaut’s observation that ‘the art of film-making is an especially difficult one to master, inasmuch as it calls for multiple and contradictory talents ... In Hitchcock’s work a film-maker is bound to find the answer to many of [her or] his problems, including the most fundamental question of all: how to express oneself by purely visual means’ (Truffaut 1986: 14/17). Alongside close analysis of Hitchcock’s work, students will undertake a series of group exercises to grasp the filmmaking structures that are key to effective screen drama. It will explore parameters of creative expression in and through video practice to gain an understanding of relations between the creative impulse and some conventions of representation. In small groups, students will follow a selected creative process from initial ideas through planning and production, culminating in a presentation or cluster of presentations.

Aims

• To develop production skills through a practical screen project;
• To investigate through practice some conventions and constraints of moving image media production, developing practical skills of screen craft including storyboarding, shooting and editing;
• To develop a critical engagement with basic structures and dynamics of representation through reflections on practice;
• To prepare students to benefit fully from practice-based units in their second and final years.
• To develop a critical engagement with basic dramatic structures, such as suspense, identification and point-of-view.
• To develop analytical skills towards an understanding of directorial style.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to work collectively and individually to create a series of video exercises;
• Students’ videos will demonstrate an understanding of production processes (research, scripting, storyboarding, production planning, location shoot, camerawork, editing);
• Students will be able to demonstrate a critical engagement with basic structures and dynamics of representation through reflections on practice;
• By the end of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate that skills acquired are transferable to the second year and to projects undertaken as part of Studiospace, the student-run production company;
• Students will demonstrate a practical understanding of basic dramatic structures;
• Students will demonstrate a practical understanding of directorial style

Teaching Information

Workshops and seminars

Assessment Information

Assessment portfolio:

• Workfile (33%): containing evidence to demonstrate student contribution to workshops / practical exercises; contribution to seminars; contribution to production preparation; contribution to production execution
• Finished production(s) (33%): assessment based on published criteria for practical work
• 1,500-word Critical analysis (33%)

Reading and References

• Truffaut, F. (1986), Hitchcock: A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock (London: Simon & Schuster)
• Krohn, B. (2003), Hitchcock at Work (London: Phaidon)
• Durgnat, R. (2002), A Long Hard Look at Psycho (London: BFI Publishing)
• Wood, R. (1989), Hitchcock’s Films Revisited (New York: Columbia University Press)