Module Descriptors
WRITING PICTURES
FTVR50260
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 5
15 credits
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 18
Independent Study Hours: 132
Total Learning Hours: 150
Assessment
- SEMINAR PRESENTATION weighted at 30%
- SCRIPT weighted at 60%
- PROJECT EVALUATION weighted at 10%
Module Details
Module Resources
Viewing facilities (video/DVD); book and video stock; screenplays available on internet.
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.
Module Learning Strategies
6 two hour seminars, incorporating lectures, screenings, workshops, and student presentations followed by 6 weeks of supervision.
Familiarisation with visual storytelling techniques through screenings, lectures, discussion, independent learning, seminar presentations of group analysis of silent films; formal exercises in scripting images; creative thinking/ideas workshops; tutorials.
Familiarisation with visual storytelling techniques through screenings, lectures, discussion, independent learning, seminar presentations of group analysis of silent films; formal exercises in scripting images; creative thinking/ideas workshops; tutorials.
Module Indicative Content
A module designed to develop screenwriting students' understanding of film grammar and visual storytelling. By the end of the course students should have a greater degree of appreciation for the visual elements of cinema, their sources in both painting and literature; a greater understanding of how the techniques for efficient visual communication in cinema have developed, from the early silent film days up to the present day, as well as a greater command of writing cinematic visuals in screenplay form.
Module Additional Assessment Details
Three items of work:
1. 30% A group seminar presentation contrasting the visual communication techniques at work in 2 films: a pre-sound era film and a contemporary film, accompanied by Research Notes (1000 words) (Learning Outcomes 1, 2) (RE6, PE2)
2. 60% A complete short silent film script (2000 words) (Learning Outcomes 3, 4) (SP1)
3. 10% An Evaluation: a 500 word reflection on your experience of studying silent films and of writing a silent script (500 words) (Learning Outcome 5) (PJ8)
1. 30% A group seminar presentation contrasting the visual communication techniques at work in 2 films: a pre-sound era film and a contemporary film, accompanied by Research Notes (1000 words) (Learning Outcomes 1, 2) (RE6, PE2)
2. 60% A complete short silent film script (2000 words) (Learning Outcomes 3, 4) (SP1)
3. 10% An Evaluation: a 500 word reflection on your experience of studying silent films and of writing a silent script (500 words) (Learning Outcome 5) (PJ8)
Module Texts
Directing - Film Technique and Aesthetics, by Micheal Rabinger
The Film Sense & Film Form, two books by Sergei Eisenstein
Hitchcock's Secret Notebooks, by Dan Aulier
Invisible Storytellers ¿ Voice-over Narration in American Fiction Film, by Sarah Kozloff
Film as Art, by Rudolf Arnheim
Theory of Film, by Seigfried Kracauer
The Aesthetics & Psychology of the Cinema, by Jean Mitry
Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet
On Directing Film, by David Mamet
The Visual Story, by Bruce Block
In The Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr & E.B.White
Art of the Moving Picture, by Lindsay, Vachel
The Parade¿s Gone By, by Kevin Brounlow
The Cinema of Eisenstein, by David Bordwell
American Silent Film, by William K Everson
The Film Sense & Film Form, two books by Sergei Eisenstein
Hitchcock's Secret Notebooks, by Dan Aulier
Invisible Storytellers ¿ Voice-over Narration in American Fiction Film, by Sarah Kozloff
Film as Art, by Rudolf Arnheim
Theory of Film, by Seigfried Kracauer
The Aesthetics & Psychology of the Cinema, by Jean Mitry
Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet
On Directing Film, by David Mamet
The Visual Story, by Bruce Block
In The Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr & E.B.White
Art of the Moving Picture, by Lindsay, Vachel
The Parade¿s Gone By, by Kevin Brounlow
The Cinema of Eisenstein, by David Bordwell
American Silent Film, by William K Everson