Unit information: Screen Style and Aesthetics in 2028/29

Please note: Programme and unit information may change as the relevant academic field develops. We may also make changes to the structure of programmes and assessments to improve the student experience.

Unit name Screen Style and Aesthetics
Unit code FATVM0013
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. Gaggiotti
Open unit status Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)

FATVM0016 Screen Forms and Analysis or FATV10005 Introduction to Film and Television or FATV10011 Film and Television Forms and Practices

Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)

None

Units you may not take alongside this one

None

School/department Department of Film and Television
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

This unit investigates issues in screen aesthetics through detailed examination of how screenworks, drawn from film and/or television and/or related media, employ the facilities of their particular medium to shape meaning. Screenworks are selected from a range of periods and places, guided primarily by the extent to which each individual text may reward close and repeated scrutiny. Seminars will provide the opportunity to explore the workings and significance of particular sequences and draw connections to wider aesthetic questions and philosophical ideas. Students will be encouraged to analyse with increasing sensitivity and express considered judgements with precision, care and evidential reasoning. Matters to be explored may include the expressive role of particular components of screen style, such as colour, sound, or gesture, in relation to topics such as medium-ontology, synthesis, ambiguity, motifs and patterning, diegesis, tone, rhetoric, viewpoint and interpretation. The unit will also consider accomplishments and principles involved in forms of criticism which seek to articulate the grounds of aesthetic experience in particular objects.

Aims:

  • To provide an understanding of issues in screen aesthetics
  • To explore in depth how screen style shapes tone and meaning
  • To consider the relationship between individual screenworks and their medium
  • To sharpen and deploy screen analysis skills in the service of aesthetic enquiry
  • To develop an appreciation of principles involved in film criticism
  • To encourage modes of expression which do justice to the qualities of the aesthetic object.

Your learning on this unit

Learning Outcomes:

  1. demonstrate understanding of issues in screen aesthetics
  2. apply analytical skills to demonstrate an appreciation and understanding of screen style.
  3. make precise discriminations and provide detailed justification for critical judgement
  4. write fluently, sensitively and persuasively about particular screenworks.
  5. make useful contributions to academic discussions and learning.

How you will learn

Seminars and screenings.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

Close-reading Analysis Exercise (Formative) (ILOs 2;4)

Essay, 4000 words (90%) (ILOs 1-4)

Contribution Mark (10%) [ILO 5]

When assessment does not go to plan

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FATVM0013).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.