Creating Screen Fiction

Please note

This document only provides information for the academic year selected and does not form part of the student contract

School:

School of Arts and Humanities

Credit Rating:

Level (including FHEQ):

F (FHEQ Level 4)

Graded or Non Graded:

Graded

Version Valid From:

2023-08-03

Module Leader:

Ben Young

Version Number

2023.02

Learning Methods

Practical Classes and Demonstrations

Guided Independent Study

Lecture

Supervised Time in Studio/Workshop

Requirements

Recommended Prior Study

Synopsis

This module takes a collaborative approach to help you hone your abilities as filmmakers and storytellers. Building on skills already emerging in both the Film Making and Screenwriting degrees, students work together on the development, preproduction, production and postproduction of a fiction film. This aims to professionalise your creative and collaborative approaches to your work, refining your narrative discipline as screen storytellers and providing a dynamic, preparation-rich environment in which you can improve your grasp of possible moving image specialisms for further exploration later in the degree.

Learning Strategy

The module consists of lectures, practical classes in film studios and post-production facilities and regular production team tutorials. There will be directed activities in preparation for, and following on from, these sessions. The module allows students to develop their practice by applying creative and technical skills to practical tasks, in turn informed by their analytical understanding developed through lectures, reading and analysis. This module will typically be taught during the second semester of the first year of the courses, and students will have access to the studio each week outside of class time, supported by technicians, with further studio and/or location shooting per standard internal booking and risk assessment procedures. Extensive post-production facilities are available daily on campus within the Journalism and Media Building, and the Barbara Hepworth Building. Key information including module documentation, assessment briefs and more will be on the University’s VLE.

Outline Syllabus

The module allows students to develop applied knowledge of narrative filmmaking in areas including: Budget negotiation, allocation and managementSchedulingScreenwritingDirectingCastingLocation scouting and managementProducing and adjacent disciplines, e.g. production managementCinematographyLightingSound recordingProduction design and art directionData managementPicture editingSound design and its integrated disciplines, e.g. dialogue editingColour gradingVisual effects

The module allows students to develop applied knowledge of narrative filmmaking in areas including:

Budget negotiation, allocation and management
Scheduling
Screenwriting
Directing
Casting
Location scouting and management
Producing and adjacent disciplines, e.g. production management
Cinematography
Lighting
Sound recording
Production design and art direction
Data management
Picture editing
Sound design and its integrated disciplines, e.g. dialogue editing
Colour grading
Visual effects

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students will

be able to recognise the principles and histories of fiction filmmaking.

be able to examine the role of different practices across all relevant departments in the development, production and post-production of fiction film and television.

be able to appraise the interplay between collaborative stages of development, pre-production, production and post-production.

be able to apply increasingly specialised techniques to achieve aesthetic and narrative goals.

be able to create and constructively critique screenplays and related screen narrative texts from multiple moving image specialist perspectives.

be able to demonstrate the capacity to reflect on, and reference, conventions and traditions in cinematic and televisual fiction.

Formative Assessment

Assessment 1: Portfolio (including examples)

Summative Assessment

Assessment 1: Portfolio

Description:Assessment 1 is a portfolio consisting of the student’s individual short screenplay and collaboratively completed short fiction film output. Students will work as a group to produce the shared rushes for the film—with individually negotiated, researched, and accountable specialist preproduction and production contributions therein—but each student will produce their own individual narrative picture edit, tracklay, sound mix, and colour grade for submission in the portfolio.

Assessment Weight:65

Assessment Length:5500 Words (Equivalent Word Count)

Module Learning Outcomes:MLO4, MLO5

Individual or Group:Individual

Final Assessment Component:No

Marked Anonymously:No

Eligible for Tutor Reassessment:Yes

Assessment 2: Presentation

Assessment Criteria

The module will be graded in line with University regulations. The assessment criteria will be those used by the Media, Journalism and Film subject area, designed in accordance with the appropriate benchmark document, and made available to students in the module handbook and on assessment briefs. For Assessment 1, location … For more content click the Read More button below.

For Assessment 1, location and casting expectations are modest as assessment of the video work is weighted towards a student’s individual narrative edit of the film, including technical criteria. The screenplay must also be correctly presented according to standard industry conventions. For Assessment 2, students will place their creative portfolio in the context of contemporary and historical screen narrative practice. The best reports will be well contextualised with evidence of wider reading and viewing.

Course and Module Catalogue