Year
2021
Units
4.5
Contact
1 x 1-hour lecture weekly
1 x 2-hour seminar weekly
1 x 2-hour film screening weekly
Enrolment not permitted
SCRN2008 has been successfully completed
Topic description

Genre is the dominant narrative mode used by screen media within popular culture. By investigating a single genre in detail, the topic will examine its role in shaping narrative form and visual aesthetics, with reference to its various historical, industrial and national contexts.

Educational aims

The topic aims to:

  • Provide a detailed knowledge of commercial film or television genres, and the social contexts which form them
  • Introduce students to the critical and theoretical concepts used to analyse screen genre
  • Develop students' analytical skills and their capacity to research and apply their understanding to a range of practices in independent research or the production of screen media
Expected learning outcomes
On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

  1. Identify the principle aesthetics of genre, and summarise the various contexts which determine them
  2. Evaluate and employ a critical and theoretical terminology used to analyse genre practices
  3. Conduct close analysis of genre narratives and produce critical argument
  4. Employ an understanding of genre aesthetics in creative practices