Screen Encounters: Audiences and Engagement
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| CULT3018 | Cultural, Media and Visual Studies | 3 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- CULT3018
- School
- Cultural, Media and Visual Studies
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
This module will explore the mulitple relationships that audiences (viewers, users and/or players) have with screen media (film, television, gaming and/or digital media) and the relationship between media and daily life. It will consider engagement with screen media as experience and consider the textual, social, political and historical factors that shape that experience. Indicative topics may include (but are not limited to) pre-cinematic forms of moving image, the changing nature of cinema space, the domesticity of television, homes cinema, the role of marketing systems in constructing audience engagement, new media technologies and experimental forms of screen media. Students will develop both a theoretical framework for investigating audiences as well as having the opportunity to develop skills in emphirical audience research. As a result they will develop an understanding of the relationship between screen media and those most important to the film, television and video game industries: their audiences.
A single coursework assessment will replace all failed assessment components at the reassessment stage.
Target Students
Only available for International Media & Communication Studies students, Film and Television Studies students, Liberal Arts students and Exchangestudents
Classes
- One 3-hour workshop each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies operates an attendance policy. The details of this policy can be found in the student handbook on Workspace and in module handbooks. The Workshop should come before the Seminars.
Assessment
- 100% Coursework: Coursework - 3,500 words portfolio of written work and equivalent
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
The course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the key approaches for studying film, television and new media audiences. This will include raising student awareness of both the theoretical models and practical methodologies used for conceptualizing the audience and providing the skills to undertake such research. The module aims to ensure that student research relating to film, television and new media as cultural objects is grounded in an understanding of those who engage with them.Learning Outcomes
A) Knowledge and Understanding: By the end of the module students should be able to: i) Understand the key theoretical constructions of the audience and the methods used to research them; ii) Question assumptions about the audience offered in other forms of analysis in light of the material covered in the module; iii) Be able to conduct a small scale audience research project.
B) Intellectual Skills: i) Apply ideas and concepts in the discussion of ideas and established views; ii) Address relevant questions concerning the validity of aforementioned; iii) Construct coherent and independent arguments.
C) Professional Skills: The module will develop students' ability to: i) Select, sift and synthesise information from a variety of primary and secondary materials; ii) Write accurately and grammatically and present written material using appropriate conventions.
D) Transferable Skills: The module will also develop students' ability to: i) Conduct interviews and surveys; ii) Manage a large and disparate body of information; iii) Use IT to word-process their assessed essays; iv) Use IT to find useful sources of information and/or material; v) Speak and write cogently about a chosen subject area.