Story - TFT00026C

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: C
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module will introduce students to the centrality of story and story-telling to cinema and television. It will identify and explore certain dominant forms and traditions of cinematic and televisual story telling. It will examine how films and television programmes tell a story by introduce and examine key principles such as narrative premise, structure and development; the dynamics and interrelation of plot, character and dialogue; the relationship between audio visual text and audience; the function of key aesthetic properties including visual style, performance and sound design in relation to storytelling; and the key principles of literary adaptation. The module will also consider certain institutional factors that inform and constrain storytelling for specific audio-visual media.

  • To acquaint students with the notion of "story" as a first principle for organising material, and for mediating between subject-matter and audience across a range of media contexts: film, drama, documentary, news and so on.
  • To encourage a critical sensitivity to the effectiveness of narratives and a critical understanding of the contexts in which they operate.
  • To promote an understanding of "film language" as a whole "the ways in which sound, vision and performance combine" and how it can be applied to the telling of stories.
  • To develop practical skills for the origination, research, development and delivery of stories in screenplay or script form appropriate to a variety of media contexts.

Module learning outcomes

  • Understand the centrality of story and storytelling to the popularity of cinema and television as mass media.
  • Understand the construction and function of the components of cinematic and televisual story- telling including narrative premise and structure, plot development, character and dialogue and other aspects of audio-visual storytelling.
  • Have knowledge of various forms and traditions of storytelling in film and television
  • Understand how films and television programmes use story and story techniques to impart information to and emotionally engage with an audience.
  • Have knowledge of certain institutional factors, including commercial and political imperatives, in film and television and how these inform and constrain the process of storytelling.
  • Understand the principles of formatting scripts to industry standard.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

Students will receive written feedback on all assignments

Indicative reading

(** indicates essential ready)

Aristotle, (2000) The Poetics, London: Penguin Classics.

**Bordwell, D. (2004) The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies. Berkeley, CA and London: University of California Press.

Cobley, P. (2001) Narrative: The New Critical Idiom. London: Routledge.

**Thompson, K. (2003) Storytelling in Film and Television. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.

Hiltunen, A. (2002) Aristotle in Hollywood: The Anatomy of Successful Storytelling. Bristol: Intellect Books.

McKee, R. (1999) Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. London: Methuen.

Harrison, S. (2005) Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Bernard, S. C. (2007) Documentary Storytelling. Amsterdam and London: Focal Press.

Moran, A. and Malbon, J. (2006) Understanding the Global TV Format. Bristol: Intellect.

Steemers, J. (2004) Selling Television: British Television in the Global Marketplace. London: BFI.

Cardwell, S. (2002) Adaptation Revisited: Television and the Classic Novel. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Livingstone, S. (1998) Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation, 2 nd Edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Thornam, S. and Purvis, T. (2005) Television Drama: Theories and Identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

**Potter, C. (2001) Screen Language: From Film Writing to Film-making. London: Methuen.

Nelson, R. (2007) State of Play: Contemporary High End TV Drama. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Andrew, G. (1999) The Directors Vision: A Concise Guide to the Art of 250 Great Filmmakers. Chicago: A Cappella Books.

Hardy, F (Ed.) (1979) Grierson on Documentary. London; Faber.

**Mamet, D. (1992) On Directing Film. London; Penguin.