Introductory description

The primary aim of the module is to introduce students to a range of criticism, both written and visual, and to enable them to produce two or three different types of criticism (written, podcast, video essay)

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This will be done along the lines of a creative writing module. Students will see a different choice of film each week, chosen with their input and on the basis of their project, as well as selections of criticism of different lengths and kinds. In seminars students (and it will be all seminar led; no lectures) would come prepared to critique the works of their colleagues (this will be distributed fairly, perhaps half the class doing it every other week, and the work itself will remain formally unassessed at this stage), comment on the work, discuss how they could be improved, and select which one they thought was best (which would then go up weekly on a website. A blog will be set up to showcase this work). This in turn will be distributed through the department’s web portal and through the departmental twitter account. This will be done on a weekly basis even as the types of criticism being done and discussed shifts from review article to podcast to video essay
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Workshop on video essay with guest speaker. Two skills workshops also scheduled in first two weeks of term.
Week 3-4: The Review
Week 3-8 The Podcast (which will overlap with the review, posted on the website and include embedding image capture and clips in an online format)
Week 7-10 The video essay proper (again there will be an overlap with the podcast with students who choose not to do one of these continuing their engagement with a larger essay form)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Students should be able to demonstrate that they have learned what constitutes a good review, essay and visual essay and to be able to produce either a written essay or a visual essay to a high standard.

Indicative reading list

This will vary over time but will include a selection of the most discussed video essays of the year (drawing from Sight and Sound and other polls). Students will also be asked to choose the video essays they´ve found most interesting ad present them to the class. There will also be selections from critics such as:

-Manny Farber, ‘White Elephant Art vs Termite Art’, Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber, edited by Robert Polito, A Special Publication of the Library of America, 2009, pp. 533-541.

-David Foster Wallace, ‘David Lynch Keeps His Head’ A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again London: Abacus, 1998, pp. 146-212

• Mattias Frey, ‘Introduction: Critical Questions’ in Film Criticism and The Digital Age Rutgers: The State University, 2015, pp. 1-23

• J. Hoberman, ‘Intro’ and “The Myth of ‘The Myth of Total Cinema’”, Film After Film: Or, What Became of 21st Century Cinema London: Verso, 2012, pp. vii-3.

--Pauline Kael, ‘Trash, Art and the Movies’ Going Steady Londn: Warners Books, 1968, pp. 103-159.
-Pauline Kael, ‘Movies on Television’, The Oxford Book of Essays, ed. John Gross, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 595-606.

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the moving image and sound. It may also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking in relation
• independent research skills
• team work
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy