Undergraduate Course: FTV 3B: Working as a Head of Department on a short film (DESI10131)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | During this course you will work as a Head of Department (cinematographer, producer, editor or production designer) on a short film and will learn to reflect critically on your practice as a filmmaker, placing your decisions within a wider cultural context. The aim of the course is to give you a first significant experience of a having a core, senior responsibility on a film production (working in a manner proximate to current industry standards), and to assist your development as a reflective practitioner. This is a core 3rd year course for BA FTV, SCQF Level 10, 40 credits with a quota of 18 students. |
| Course description |
Heads of Department exercise a senior responsibility during a film production. Cinematographers, Producers, Editors and Production Designers all exercise a decisive influence over the finished form of a film. During this course students will work as a Head of Department on a short film and will learn to reflect critically on their practice as filmmakers, placing creative decisions within a wider cultural context.
Students will be expected to act as the Head of Department on one of the films directed by the FTV 4th year students which will also allow them to gain insights into the process of shooting a fourth year film (before going on to do so themselves in the final year of their degrees).
Students' core work on this course will consist of their own, individual developmental processes as Heads of Department. Students will prepare development materials appropriate to their chosen discipline as part of the pre-visualisation of their work, before going on to realise that work as part of the BA4 productions. The course will require a considerable degree of self-motivation, direction and initiative.
Student's individual development processes will be supported by the following:
- group tutorials. These will take place every week, throughout the term. During these tutorials students will be asked to present, discuss and reflect critically upon their practice throughout the term. These sessions will provide a supportive environment within which to support, challenge and problem-solve developing practical work. As the term progresses discussion will focus first on development and pre-production, then upon work undertaken during the production itself, and finally upon assisting students in mounting a critical reflection upon their work across the production as a whole. During this process students will be asked to situate their work within a broader context, drawing upon the work of other filmmakers and theories of practice. Communication will be a key focus of the seminars, and students will be asked to present their developing ideas in a series of discipline-specific formats corresponding with industry conventions (such as a storyboard and mood reel for a cinematographer).
- a regular series of workshops from visiting industry professionals. These will occur once a week for the first 5 weeks of the semester and will explore a variety of professional perspectives upon working on a film set, and will help students gain a sense of current industry practice to inform their own work.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This course is only available to students on a Degree Programme in the School of Design |
| Additional Costs | As the students on this course will be working as Heads of Department on 4th year graduation films, it is expected that the 4th year students directing these films will be responsible for any additional costs.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Given the wider ecology of the programme, whereby the films that students will be working on as Head of Department are 4th Year Graduation films (and thus a crucial part of the degrees of 4th year students) it is important that those taking up positions of senior responsibility as Heads of Department have had the full experience of the BA in Film and TV.
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 18 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
400
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 5,
Fieldwork Hours 40,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
317 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formative
Students will be required to write a short (500 word) reflection on their practice as Head of Department within the development process, placing their decisions within a wider context of filmmaking work, theories of practice and relevant interdisciplinary work. This will be submitted via Learn at the end of week 4 and students will receive verbal feedback during the seminar in week 5. This will serve as a rehearsal for the longer piece of reflective writing required as part of each student's summative assessment, as below.
Summative
Students will be expected to evidence and demonstrate their learning through:
1. a folio (70% of final grade) containing the following elements:
- Link to an agreed online platform to the finished film the student has worked on as Head of Department.
- Written and visual materials appropriate to each student's chosen discipline evidencing the development of their approach as a Head of Department (such as a storyboard and mood reel if working as a cinematographer).
These supporting materials are an opportunity for students to demonstrate the intended vision for their work, and to provide written (and - if appropriate - visual) material that evidences their creative process. This should not include critical reflection or contextualisation of the work (which should appear in the written reflection) but rather, should convey a sense of the preparatory development work undertaken by the student, presented in an industry-appropriate format (as above). If the project fell short of expectations, then supporting materials are an opportunity to present the film as it was intended to be made (and the written reflection will then provide an opportunity to explore the shortfall between the film as intended, and the film as delivered).
2. A piece of reflective writing of 1500 words (30% of final grade) mounting a critical consideration of each student's process as Head of Department, contextualising practical decisions they have made within a wider context of other filmmaking, theories of practice and relevant interdisciplinary work.
These elements will be submitted at the end of teaching.
The Folio will be worth 70% of the final grade, and will be marked against Learning Outcomes 1 and 2. The written reflection will be worth 30% of the final grade and will be marked against Learning Outcome 3.
Both components of assessment must be attempted. Further guidance on the uploading of work will be provided in the course handbook.
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| Feedback |
Formative
Students will receive verbal feedback during the seminar in week 5.
Summative
Students will receive written feedback 15 working days after submission.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop an understanding of a practical specialism through participating as a Head of Department on a film shoot, in a manner proximate with industry standards.
- Realise practical filmmaking work of a high aesthetic standard.
- Reflect critically on practical filmmaking decisions and contextualise practice within a broader context of other filmmaking, theories of practice and interdisciplinary work.
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Reading List
Figgis, Mike, 2007. Digital Filmmaking, Faber and Faber.
Murch, Walter, 2001. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing, Silman-James Press (2nd Edition). First published in 1995.
Truffaut, Francois, 2017. Hitchcock, Faber & Faber (New Edition). First published in 1966.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Specialist technical expertise as a Head of Department; ability to reflect critically upon practice; communication; collaboration; teamwork. |
| Special Arrangements |
This course is, to a large extent, dependent on the resources of the department - such as the number of cameras, sound equipment and editing stations. This limits the number of student film productions that we are able to support within a given term, and this affects the number of students that can be involved. |
| Keywords | Head of Department,Cinematography,Editing,Producing,Production Design,Filmmaking,Film |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jamie Chambers
Tel:
Email: jamie.chambers@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Georgia Dodsworth
Tel: (0131 6)51 5712
Email: georgia.dodsworth@ed.ac.uk |
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