- UCAS course code
- PV10
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA Film Studies and History
- Typical A-level offer: AAB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: ABC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: ACC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 35 points overall with 6.6.5 at HL including specific subjects
Course unit details:
Media, Performance, & Digital Culture in Contemporary France
Unit code | FREN21212 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 2 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This unit examines how contemporary French artists, playwrights and authors have experimented with various media (radio, tape recorders, films, the Internet and YouTube) and platforms (festivals, museums, conferences, happenings), to invent new and sometimes destabilizing and daring art forms, art objects and creative practices. For instance, we will study how texts incorporate filmic or pictorial fragments. We will see how digital platforms invite artists and authors to reconsider the nature of writing. More importantly, we will ask ourselves how we respond to new forms of artistic expressions. Introductory lectures and seminars will examine key concepts such as ‘media’, ‘digital practice’, ‘artistic consumption’ and ‘performance’. In the course of the semester, we will watch and analyze short video clips, theatrical performances and digital art.
Pre/co-requisites
All Ba (Hons) programmes with French
Aims
- To familiarise students with key developments in French culture from a formal, social and political perspective.
- To introduce students to the study of Media in order to enable the analysis of literary, visual and audio-visual artwork from modernity to the present day.
- To provide an overview of the different issues of cultural representation;
- To encourage and enable students to verbalise and intellectualise their emotional response to a wide range of practices.
Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to the study of Media
Weeks 2-3-4: New creative practices
Weeks 5-7-8: Contemporary theatre and performance
Weeks 9-10-11: New digital cultures
Week 12: revision sessions in preparation for exam
Teaching and learning methods
3 introductory lectures on media and performance analysis
3 x 1-hour lectures and 3 x 2-hour seminars on contemporary creative practices
3 x 1-hour lectures and 3 x 2-hour seminars on contemporary performance
3 x 1-hour lectures and 3 x 2-hour seminars on digital cultures
3 x 1-hour methodology workshops, one for each block
Knowledge and understanding
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of some of the major aspects of Contemporary related to media
Understanding digital culture in France today
Understanding the differences between genres and medias
Intellectual skills
- Contextualise, analyze and discuss literary, visual and audio-visual material in a structured fashion.
- Apply critically terminology and conceptual frameworks derived from media studies.
Practical skills
- Demonstrate the ability to carry out individual research for coursework essays, and express ideas and arguments coherently and convincingly in time-limited constraints.
- Using an appropriate level of academic writing and exemplification.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Demonstrate powers of analysis;
- manage word-count effectively when writing coursework;
- manage time effectively when writing in exam conditions; participate in seminars;
- work as part of a group;
- assess the relevance of existing literature through independent research;
- seek advice and feedback and develop confidence.
Employability skills
- Other
- - Time management - Responding to instructions - Independent research; initiative - Intercultural awareness - Coherent expression (orally and in writing)
Assessment methods
Assessment task | Formative or Summative | Weighting within unit (if summative) |
Draft commentary plan | Formative |
|
Commentary | Summative | 40% |
Draft essay plan | Formative |
|
Essay | Summative | 60% |
Resit Assessment:
Essay
Feedback methods
Feedback method | Formative or Summative |
Individual written feedback on formative tasks | Formative |
Individual written feedback on ACW and exam | Summative |
Recommended reading
Set texts
A selection of short texts
One play by either Jan Fabre or Romeo Castellucci
A selection of digital art pieces
Secondary Readings:
Debray, Régis, Cours de médiologie générale (Paris : Gallimard, 1991).
Grafton, Anthony, La Page de l’Antiquité à l’ère Numérique (Paris : Hazan, 2015).
Lebel, Jean-Jacques, Poésie directe des Happenings à Polyphonix. Entretiens avec Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux et quelques documents (Paris Opus International, 1994)
Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding the New Media (London, MIT Press, 2000)
Ruffel, Lionel and Olivia Rosenthal (eds), La littérature exposée. Les écritures contemporaines hors du livre, in Littérature, 2010, 4 (160).
Ruffel, Lionel and Olivia Rosenthal (eds), La littérature exposée 2, La littérature exposée 2, in Littérature, 2018, 4 (192).
Lehmann, Hans-Thies, Le théâtre postdramatique (Paris : L’Arche, 2002)
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 11 |
Seminars | 22 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Jeff Barda | Unit coordinator |