Module Information
Module Identifier
TP38140
Module Title
Independent Production Project
Academic Year
2021/2022
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Pre-Requisite
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Presentation - Project Pitch Solo (5 mins) or Group (10 mins) | 20% |
| Semester Assessment | Practical Project Event Solo (20 mins or equivalent) or Group (40 mins or equivalent) Performance. | 60% |
| Semester Assessment | Analytical Documentation (2,000 Words) | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Presentation - Solo Project Pitch (5 minutes) | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Conceptual presentation of solo or group performance project (15 minutes) | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Analytical Documentation (2,000 Words) | 20% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate successful project design and dramaturgical skill in the conceptualization of a live performance event.
2. Engage in a range of independent research activities to achieve a live performance that negotiates issues of dramaturgical form, resources and performer-audience relationships.
3. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated judgments in response to feedback.
4. Show innovation and imagination in the compositional strategies used.
5. Review and critically evaluate their own performance practices and working processes and situate these within a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
Brief description
This advanced production module offers students an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present their own full-length live solo (20 mins) or group (40 mins) performance event. Students will negotiate the mode of performance (solo or group) they wish to undertake with the module Co-ordinator at the beginning of the module and then, with tutorial support and guidance from staff, will create a performance event that may be studio-based or site-based. The piece created is intended to serve as a public graduation showcase work for final year students, enabling them to maximize their learning opportunities and employability.
Content
Course Delivery:
10 x 3 hr staff led development labs (mixed mode group seminar/supervised independent practice)
3 x 3 hrs student led practicals per week
4 x 30 mins tutorials per performance project
The module will primarily comprise student-led practical work, leading to the composition and execution of a live performance event, which can be studio-based or site-based. Students will negotiate the mode of performance (solo or group) they wish to pursue and will generate a pitch relevant to that mode in Week 4. The development of the work will then be guided through a series of shared development labs and individual tutorials with members of staff. In conceiving, developing and performing their production students will also be required to critically reflect upon and contextualise their chosen mode of performance (solo or group) and their chosen aesthetics within the broader field of contemporary theatre and performance practice.
The process of developing a solo or group performance piece will typically include the following:
• identification of existing models of solo or group-based contemporary theatre and performance practices from which to draw methods and approaches (e.g. Forced Entertainment; Lone Twin; Goat Island; Action Hero; Pearson/Brookes, Eddie Ladd, Jo Bannon, Sylvia Rimat, etc.).
• research into and application of different dramaturgical models relevant to their chosen mode (solo or group)
• appropriate scoring or scripting
• the planning and implementation of rehearsals and appropriate performer training given their chosen mode (solo or group)
• the planning and implementation of scenographic and technological elements, production planning, marketing and administration
• the exploration of a series of choices regarding the process of solo performance making or the effective functioning of a collaborative group including negotiation of roles.
• the starting points for the work, aesthetic choices and effective engagement with staff feedback and guidance
• the management of budget, time and technical resources
• the identification and evaluation of audience-performer relationships and the generation of appropriate staging for the live event
• the development of effective evaluation and feedback strategies
Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply reflexive and critical self-evaluation of the process leading up to the realisation of the performance event in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
10 x 3 hr staff led development labs (mixed mode group seminar/supervised independent practice)
3 x 3 hrs student led practicals per week
4 x 30 mins tutorials per performance project
The module will primarily comprise student-led practical work, leading to the composition and execution of a live performance event, which can be studio-based or site-based. Students will negotiate the mode of performance (solo or group) they wish to pursue and will generate a pitch relevant to that mode in Week 4. The development of the work will then be guided through a series of shared development labs and individual tutorials with members of staff. In conceiving, developing and performing their production students will also be required to critically reflect upon and contextualise their chosen mode of performance (solo or group) and their chosen aesthetics within the broader field of contemporary theatre and performance practice.
The process of developing a solo or group performance piece will typically include the following:
• identification of existing models of solo or group-based contemporary theatre and performance practices from which to draw methods and approaches (e.g. Forced Entertainment; Lone Twin; Goat Island; Action Hero; Pearson/Brookes, Eddie Ladd, Jo Bannon, Sylvia Rimat, etc.).
• research into and application of different dramaturgical models relevant to their chosen mode (solo or group)
• appropriate scoring or scripting
• the planning and implementation of rehearsals and appropriate performer training given their chosen mode (solo or group)
• the planning and implementation of scenographic and technological elements, production planning, marketing and administration
• the exploration of a series of choices regarding the process of solo performance making or the effective functioning of a collaborative group including negotiation of roles.
• the starting points for the work, aesthetic choices and effective engagement with staff feedback and guidance
• the management of budget, time and technical resources
• the identification and evaluation of audience-performer relationships and the generation of appropriate staging for the live event
• the development of effective evaluation and feedback strategies
Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply reflexive and critical self-evaluation of the process leading up to the realisation of the performance event in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | The development and use of communication skills are intrinsic to the students’ experience in this module. The individual student’s ability to articulate and communicate their ideas and opinions is developed and encouraged across all aspects of the module, and the assessment forms recognise effective communication across written, verbal and performative material. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students are expected to respond to formative feedback during workshops and rehearsals are required to reflect critically as part of their learning process. Self-regulation, motivation and time-management are demanded to maintain engagement with the development of the course and the completion of its concomitant assessed assignments. Assessment procedures recognise effective self/group-management and self/group-motivation as appropriate. |
| Information Technology | Skills of information handling are exercised through the conduct of research, presentation processes, and the collation of materials, within assessed submissions, and writing assignments, and are recognised in the assessment of those submissions. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module encourages the initial development of skills directly applicable to careers within cultural (particularly theatre/performance) industries. Further transferable skills (project planning and execution, the development of personal creative initiatives) are also developed through the completion of assessment tasks, though careers need awareness does not of itself constitute an assessed element. |
| Problem solving | Creative problem solving, outcome recognition, and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures, are encouraged and assessed across the duration of the module. |
| Research skills | Appropriate personal research and the development of effective personal and group research practices, are implicitly encouraged throughout the module, and are assessed through their impact on the development and presentation of the assessed submissions. |
| Subject Specific Skills | See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2015). The following subject specific skills are developed and partly assessed: I. engaging in performance and production, based on acquisition and understanding of appropriate performance and production vocabularies, skills, structures, working methods and research paradigms II. developing a repertoire of interpretative skills, practices and making techniques (physical/aural/spatial) and applying them effectively to engage with an audience/performance III. contributing to the production of performance, for example through direction, choreography, dramaturgy, stage management, scenography, sound and lighting production, media, promotion, administration and funding IV. realising the performance possibilities of a script, score and other textual and documentary sources and/or creating new work using the skills and crafts of performance making/writing |
| Team work | Production projects demand the application of skills necessary to conduct successful collaborative activity. The assessed project – whether solo or group – relates directly to the development and employment of such skills. Team work skills will be more directly developed in group production projects, but will still be developed in solo modes as students collaborate with technical and academic staff and fellow students. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6