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Current Issues in the Creative Industries (BCI 2) - TFT00030I

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Edward Braman
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module summary

This optional module will immerse students in the contemporary issues that impact on the creative industries: the political, social cultural, economic and aesthetic developments which have the capacity to change how content is produced,, the circumstances under which it is produced and the audiences and markets it seeks to appeal to. This is an intensively topical module - the topics may change of a weekly basis depending on events - and it is designed in part to sharpen your engagement with current developments as they might affect your creative projects. or as they might provide a platform for creative innovation and new models of production.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

This module aims to 

Acquaint you with current industrial and institutional developments in the UK and Global creative industries 

Introduce you to the economic and policy frameworks and contexts relevant to the production and consumption of different forms of creative content

Explore the particular impact of industrial, technological and aesthetic convergence across the creative industries

Identify modes of analysis - and sources of information - whereby you can remain current, and engaged with, contemporary developments in the creative industries

Investigate the relationship between emerging trends and the contemporary political, cultural, social and artistic contexts in which creative content is developed

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module students will be able to:

Evaluate and critically analyse the impact current issues and developments - social, economic, political and cultural - might have of the consumption or production of creative content.

Understand the importance of policy and market changes on the functioning of the creative industries.

Intervene into, conceive or modify creative projects by responding to - or taking advantage of - contemporary developments in the creative industries and the environments in which they operate.

Research information about emerging developments and critically analyse their potential implications for the creative industries

Understand the current organisation and function of the film and television industries in the UK including commissioning, development distribution and common deal structures

Understand the industrial and technological context of film and television production and how these impact on questions of creativity, form and aesthetics

·Understanding recent public policy initiatives relevant to film and television in the UK and how this has impacted on the film and television industries

Understand how a greater emphasis on markets has impacted on the organisation and operation of the film and television industries in the UK and beyond

Understand the impact of new digital technologies on film and television consumption and of the major opportunities and challenges in the future

Demonstrate an understanding of business aspects of the film and television industries including the nature of day-to-day operations, business environment, client procurement and retention, staffing and legal issues.

Demonstrate an understanding of the personal communication and marketing skills required by media business including pitching and client relationship techniques

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Portfolio of Blogged work or Essay		 N/A 70
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Presentation of a contemporary issue		 N/A 30

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work is embedded in the weekly seminars.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Portfolio of Blogged work or Essay		 N/A 70
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Presentation of a contemporary issue		 N/A 30

Module feedback

Four weeks, as per university guidelines

Indicative reading

UK Film Council (now BFI), Statistical Yearbook
Annual Reports of the BBC, ITV, C4 Sky and others.
Annual Reports of OFCOM.and the Arts Council of Great Britain
Toby Miller et. al. Global Hollywood 2 (London: BFI, 2005)
Jason Squire (ed.), The Movie Business Book, Third Edition (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005)
John Thornton Caldwell, Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008)
Paul MacDonald, Video and DVD Industries (London: BFI, 2007)
Chuck Tyron, Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Digital Convergence
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009)
Dorota Ostrowska and Graham Roberts (eds.), European Cinemas in the Television
Age (Edinburgh University Press, 2007)
Maggie Brown, A License to be Different: The Story of Channel Four London: BFI, 2007)
John Hartley, Creative Industries (Oxford: Blackwells, 2005)
David Hesmondhalgh, The Cultural Industries (London: Sage, 2007)
Jonathan A. Knee (and others), The Curse of the Mogul: What’s Wrong with the World’s Leading Media Companies (London: Penguin, 2011).
Chris Anderson, The Long Tail (New York: Random House, 2007)
E.J. Epstein, The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood (New York: Random
House, 2006)
Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture (New York University Press, 2006)
Paul MacDonald and Janet Wasko, Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry -(Oxford: Blackwell, 2008)
Mark Litwak, Risky Business: Financing and Distributing Independent Films (Los Angeles: Silman James, 2004)
Tom Crone et. al. Law and the Media (Oxford: Focal Press, 2002)

 


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.