University of the West of England
MODULE SPECIFICATION
(Revised October 2005)
Code: UACPMP-30-3 Title: Experimental Film and Video Version: 2
Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Project
Owning Faculty: Creative Arts Field: Culture and Media Studies Field Leader: J Arthurs
Valid from: April 2008 Discontinued from:
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA (Hons)
Pre-requisites: UACPAH-30-2 Currents in Film Theory or equivalent
Co-requisites: None
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this module students should be able to demonstrate:
• a knowledge of theories, history and formal aesthetic approaches of experimental film and video movements
• a clear knowledge of how cinematic discourse and culture shapes experimental film and video practices
• an understanding of the ways in which experimental and avant-garde visual discourses intersect with and emerge from specific cultural contexts and investments
• an ability to address issues raised by the module through the design of a research or practical project.
All of the learning outcomes are assessed at all assessments points.
Syllabus outline:
This module will provide an historical and thematic investigation of experimental film and video, examining the theoretical, technical, and political basis of formal innovation and situating current experimental practice in the context of the history of artistic practices and movements and forms of cultural description. The module provides a launching point for students to consider film beyond narrative and documentary and asks them to explore how experimental practices disrupt conventional understandings of the development of ‘cinema’ as a representational form. Emphasis will be given to the development of new theoretical and conceptual models for approaching experimental film and video, looking at the way practices of production and writing attempt to move beyond those models which have been used to account for the formal properties of film and the cinematic apparatus, including consideration of emergent themes such as: spectatorship and the senses; ideology and representation; time and movement; subjectivity and performativity; visual culture and context; and history and memory.
Experimental film and video movements and the work of groups and individuals will be studied and analyzed from a formal and cultural perspective to identify new directions in current experimental work.
Teaching and learning methods:
Seminars are conducted around core texts, with students leading the discussion through close attention to these texts. The module works towards the production of independent research and/or practice-based projects that become the focus for a review of the work we have covered and the future directions such work could take. In addition to seminars, this module is taught through lectures and individual instructor support for production.
Reading Strategy
Key readings will be available electronically via the Library’s Digital Collections and/or in the study pack. Students will be encouraged to read widely using the library catalogue, a variety of bibliographic and full text databases, and Internet resources. It will be expected that assignment bibliographies and reference lists will reflect the range of reading carried out. Additional support will be available through UWEonline.
Indicative Reading List:
The following list is offered to provide validation panels/accrediting bodies with an indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However, as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more frequently updated mechanisms.
Dixon, Wheeler. Experimental Cinema (London: Routledge, 2002)
Le Grice, Malcolm. Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age (London: British Film Institute, 2001)
Marks, Laura U. The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment and the Senses
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2000)
McCabe, Susan. Cinematic Modernism: Modernist Poetry and Film (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005)
O’Pray, Michael, ed. The British Avant-Garde Film 1926 to 1995, An Anthology of Writings (Luton:
University of Luton Press, 1996)
Rees, A. L. A History of Experimental Film and Video from the Canonical Avant-Garde to
Contemporary British Practice (London: British Film Institute, 1999)
Renov, Michael and. Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices (Minneapolis: University of Soderberg, Erica, eds Minnesota Press, 1996)
Russell, Katherine. Experimental Ethnography (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999)
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 100%
NB. This is a project module with only one component of assessment.
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Proposal, Pilot Report (1000 words, 1st term) 25%
2. Presentation (1st term) 25%
3. Project (4000 words or practice-based equivalent, 2nd term) 50%
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is/is not required)
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Portfolio of work equivalent to the above 100%
(i.e., Pilot Report and 15 minute viva 25% Workbook 25%,
and Project--4000 words or practice based equivalent 50%)
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT: Attendance at taught classes is/is not required.
Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)