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| Unit name |
Television Forms |
| Unit code |
DRAMM3014 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
M/7
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Piper |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Film and Television |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit will identify a single television genre or set of televisual forms as a focused entry point for the critical study of television and its programmes. The genre or forms under consideration may vary but in most cases the unit would focus on the contextualised study of programmes, drawing on historical, industrial, and audience research as appropriate.
For example, a focus on British television drama would broadly trace developments from the 1930s to the present and include detailed examination of generic, formal and stylistic elements noting, for instance, the way these might arise from technological, economic and institutional practices and/or constraints. Sub-genres (such as the police series) may be used to explore critical debates about, say, realism or authorship.
The unit will also explore the ways in which television practices reflect and relate to contemporary social concerns and/or are situated within policy and economic imperatives.
Aims:
- To explore the relationship between television programming and its production contexts
- To introduce students to the development of a given genre.
- To interrogate a wide range of different types of programming within the said genre.
- To introduce critical and theoretical approaches useful and appropriate for discussing specific genres, forms and programmes.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- To encourage articulacy and listening skills
- To develop presentation skills, including the abilities to marshal relevant primary and secondary research into a coherent format, and re-present this research
- To develop skills of textual, generic and formal analysis
- To develop critical awareness of the history of television.
- To recognise the diversity of forms of television and their specific historical and political significance
Teaching Information
Lectures, seminars, screenings and workshops.
Assessment Information
1 x 5,000 word essay (100%).
Reading and References
- Caughie, J. (2000) British Television Drama: Realism, Modernism, and British Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Cooke, L. (2003) British Television Drama: A History, London: BFI.
- Corner, J. (1999) Critical Ideas in Television Studies, Wotton-on-Edge, Gloucestershire: Clarendon Press.
- Creeber, G. (2004) Serial Television: Big Drama on the Small Screen, London: BFI.
- Lury, K. (2005) Interpreting Television, London: Hodder Arnold.
- Nelson, R. (2007) State of Play: contemporary 'high-end' TV drama, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
