Unit information: Close-Up on Television in 2017/18

Unit name	Close-Up on Television
Unit code	DRAM10023
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
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 equips students with skills in academic writing, primarily focusing on television programmes but more widely applicable to film and other screen media, bringing together textual analysis with appropriate contextual concerns. Students will encounter a range of television genres and be introduced to some of the critical debates relevant to them. They will work on and research a particular case study and develop skills of writing specific to that programme and the issues that surround it.

The unit aims for students are:

• to develop skills in essay writing and academic conventions;
• to develop skills in the disciplinary conventions in writing about film and television;
• to develop skills of formal analysis of television;
• to explore and debate ideas of medium specificity;
• to develop skills in situating and evaluating critical texts.

Intended Learning Outcomes

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

1. situate television within broader concepts of culture;

2. analyse and critically evaluate television programmes, drawing upon a range of sources appropriate to research;

3. gather, organise and deploy ideas and information in order to formulate arguments cogently, and express them effectively in writing;

4. produce work which is informed by, and contextualised within, relevant theoretical issues and debates;

5. show awareness of the narrative processes, generic forms and modes of representation at work in television and related media, and apply this awareness to the understanding of critical materials

6. formulate appropriate research questions and employ appropriate methods and resources for exploring research questions.

Teaching Information

weekly 2-hour seminars + weekly 3-hours screening (with 15 minute introduction - unit tutor will also attend screenings)

Assessment Information

1000 word essay (25%) ILO 3, 5, 6

outline/annotated bibliography connected to longer essay (25%) ILO 1-4, 6

2000 word essay (50%) ILO 1-4, 6

Reading and References

Bignell, J. (2012) An Introduction to Television Studies, third edition, London: Routledge

Lury, K. (2005) Interpreting Television, London: Hodder Arnold.

Additional readings will relate to the specific case studies that are chosen.