Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Viewing | 10 x 3 Hour Viewings |
| Lecture | 10 x 1 Hour Lectures |
| Seminar | 10 x 1 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 1 (2000 words) | 40% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2 (3000 words) | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 1 (2000 words) - to a new title | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2 (3000 words) - to a new title | 60% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Display good knowledge of the genre studied;
Discuss the historical development of the horror film genre with attention to the social, historical and cultural influences on it;
Be able to apply issues and methods of film theory to films within that genre
Aims
It also aims to introduce students to certain aspects of film theory relevant to the study of that particular genre.
Although focused on a single specific genre, implicit throughout will be a consideration in general of genre theory, particularly as it has been used within film studies.
Brief description
The idea behind this module is to give you the opportunity to explore the history and development of a single film genre across the semester, and the genre that we are going to be exploring is the horror genre. The horror genre is an exemplar of the varying kinds of debates and processes which develop around specific film genres. In recent years, horror has taken over from the western as perhaps the most enduring and consistently popular of film genres, and has also become the genre that has been most written and theorised about by genre theorists and academics. While horror has prevailed as a mode of filmmaking in Hollywood, it has also become a staple genre within other filmmaking contents too – most prominently, in Britain, Italy, Japan, and Spain. For all these reasons, the case study of horror will allow us to explore a whole range of debates about the function and importance of film genres - to the film industry, to specific directors, to particular national and cultural contexts, to critics and the popular press, and to film audiences.
Content
10 x 1 hour Lectures
10 x 3 hour Viewings
10 x 1 hour Seminars
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | Students' written communication skills will be developed (e.g. appropriate language and style, accuracy, precision and ability to be concise). Opportunities will be given, through seminar sessions, for students to develop confidence in using their speaking and listening skills when communicating their ideas. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. * Students will be given opportunities to develop effective note-taking skills. * Students will develop their critical thinking skills. * Through group discussion, students will be given opportunities to develop an awareness of the opinions of others and reconsider initial ideas if necessary |
| Information Technology | Students will be given the opportunity to develop their authorial and note-taking skills when planning and preparing for the written assignment, and will be encouraged to develop their note-taking skills in lectures. * Students will be given opportunities to develop their skills in searching for relevant reading and other materials. * E-mail and Blackboard will remain the main forms of communication and information sharing in this module, so students will be encouraged to actively engage in these processes. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students will be given the opportunity to evaluate current knowledge and skills and set targets for self-improvement. * Students will be encouraged to take increasing responsibility for managing their own learning. * Students will be encouraged to build upon the knowledge gained from lectures through developing skills in self study (supported by the general and specific reading lists and other resources distributed throughout the module). |
| Problem solving | Students should be able to identify tensions and debates in the field, and will be encouraged to critically reflect on the process by which academics arrive at particular theoretical interpretations of particular films and historiographies. |
| Research skills | Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. Students will be able to develop their textual analytic skills, and to learn to analyse texts in a focused and purposeful manner (especially in relation to their first essay which is based around close analysis of a film sequence). |
| Team work | Although not assesssed, some seminar sessions will involve group work where students will be able to collaborate through discussion, and then feed back their ideas to the seminar group as a whole. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5