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Independent Group Production Project - TFT00045H

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Rebecca Benzie
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
    • See module specification for other years: 2021-22

Module summary

This two-term Independent Production Project allows you to work independently, but under close supervision and guidance, on a 50-90 minute production of your choosing. It allows you to take ownership of a project which you will work on in small teams. The two-term structure allows you to embark on a Research and Development period. Your experiments, research questions and workshop content within this will form a crucial part of your Option Form to take this module, which will require approval from the module convenor as part of the application process.

You can be assessed as actors, directors, designers or as festival producers.It gives you the opportunity to shape and execute a project which reflects your own interests, personal strengths, and career plans. The project will demand of you an ambitious, creative and critical use of the research, dramaturgical, textual, and practical skills you have acquired during your BA studies.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Spring Term 2022-23 to Summer Term 2022-23

Module aims

· to give you the experience of working in a small group to stage a play of your choosing, and to perform this in the department in festival conditions

· to develop your collaborative work with your peers to create performances and designs of a high standard for a public audience

· to give you experience in combining detailed dramaturgical preparation, textual analysis, and historical exploration with rehearsal explorations which lead to a public performance of a script you have thus researched and analysed

· to allow you the time and space to conduct a Research and Development period led by thoroughly considered research questions

· to provide you with the opportunity to follow the particular interests of your small group to explore a particular play / style / form / approach / aesthetic

· to test and enhance your use and command of the knowledge, skills, and techniques acquired during previous modules in a context where, although supported by supervisorial guidance, you have the chance to create your own agendas and devise apt methods to carry them out

· to develop your self-analytical capacity to reflect on the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period and your wider work across the module.

Module learning outcomes

For acting and directing roles:

· to possess the skills needed to stage a performance, in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years

· to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to create performances of a high standard

· to have researched, rehearsed and staged your play to a given set of deadlines and within a given budget

· to have staged a play which is sensitive to the demands, challenges and opportunities in the script

· to have worked as a group to ensure aesthetic and stylistic coherence

· to have ensured that your directorial and acting decisions are coherent and internally consistent

· to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module.

For design roles:

· to possess the skills needed to design for a performance, in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years

· to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to create a high quality production

· to explore and develop the aesthetic decisions for the play and produce a detailed portfolio for your design

· to have created a design which is sensitive to the demands, challenges and opportunities in the script, and which contributes to its narrative arc

· to articulate your design decisions for the play in the viva and via the portfolio

· to have researched, rehearsed and realised your design within a given set of deadlines and within a given budget

· to have worked with the group to ensure aesthetic and stylistic coherence, and a clear relationship between performer and audience

· to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module.

· to compile a portfolio, following the requirements in the assessment brief and according to the format guidelines, which fully records the different areas of your role, and which evidences an informed understanding of the tasks of the role, and a creative and considered response to them.

For producing roles:

· to possess the skills needed to produce and publicise a festival of short plays in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years

· to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to produce the event to a high standard

· to produce the festival of plays to a given set of deadlines and within a given budget

· to demonstrate project management skills, e.g. the organisation of rehearsals and a timetable, clear budgeting etc.

· to use strong communication skills to liaise with the groups

· to successfully publicise the event: for example, to create powerful and effective designs for publicity, and to devise and implement a clear marketing strategy

· to organise front of house and maintain adequate health and safety procedures

· to work in an organised and professional manner with all staff and the public

· to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module.

· to compile an electronic portfolio, following the requirements in the assessment brief and according to the format guidelines, which fully records the different areas of your role, and which evidences an informed understanding of the tasks of the role, and a creative and considered response to them.

Module content

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Roles

Working in a group of not fewer than four and not more than eight, in which at least three people are assessed (exceptions to be negotiated with the module convenor), you will be individually assessed on one clearly designated role. You can be assessed as:

  • actor
  • director
  • designer

In addition, you may also pitch to be assessed as:

  • festival producer

Option Form process for Groups

In the early weeks of the Autumn Term you should discuss possible projects with potential collaborators. Once you have made your choice of play and organised your group, you should submit a copy of the Option Form in Week 7 of the Autumn Term. You must name the published play you will be staging and you need to ensure that the rights are available for the show (the department will pay for these). You cannot stage student written work for your Independent Group Project. Your group Option Form should state the roles clearly and name all of the participants. It should provide a clear outline of the project and what the group wants to investigate through the production and the R&D period. You should include the research questions which underpin this. This is a formal stage of the process and you may be asked to revise your Option Form. Projects will be formally approved and you will be assigned a supervisor by Week 10 of the Autumn Term.

It is possible that some acting roles, design roles and stage management roles may be filled by first- or second-year students, or final year students taking the playwriting option, or other colleagues. This should be discussed with (and needs to be approved by) your supervisor. However, each group will be responsible for the successful staging of their own project, and we encourage you to work primarily with your colleagues taking the module and who are assessed for their work. You will receive a budget for the production which will be confirmed in due course.

ORGANISATION

There are three stages to the teaching and learning on this module:

Weeks 2-5 Spring: Introductory sessions whilst you plan/scope your projects

Weeks 6-9 Spring: Research and Development period (a four-week taught period)

Weeks 1-7 Summer: Supervision of projects.

4 x 30min supervisions per student (e.g. total of 12 hours for a group of 6)

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark Group
Essay/coursework
3000 Word Essay		 N/A 25 A
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Group Performance of Play		 N/A 75 A
Essay/coursework
3000 Word Essay		 N/A 25 B
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Portfolio Presentation & Viva		 N/A 75 B

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Students will receive formative feedback on their work as they develop the show across the module.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
3000 Word Essay		 N/A 25
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Viva Presentation		 N/A 75

Module feedback

Students will receive written feedback on all assessments and reassessments

Indicative reading

Key texts will vary according to the projects chosen on the module.


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.