Module Identifier
TF10420
Module Title
STUDYING TELEVISION
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Glen Creeber
Semester
Semester 1
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 10 x 1-hour (weekly) lectures
Other 10 x 2-hour (weekly) TV screenings
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 1-hour (weekly) seminars
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 1 x 2,500-word Essay  50%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   1 x 2 hour Formal Unseen Examination  (answering two questions from a list of around eight questions, requiring essay-style answers, held during the semester 1 examination period)  50%
Supplementary Assessment All failed or missing elements must be retaken or made good.  Different assignment questions and a resit examination paper during the formal August supplementary assessment period will be provided for this purpose. 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of television in terms of various critical methodologies.

2. Effectively and purposefully analyse the formal construction of television texts.

3. Draw critically upon a range of reading from the field of TV studies.

4. Understand the processes of the key theories and concepts that have dominated the academic study of TV and be able to apply these theories and concepts to programme examples.

Content

1. Introduction: What is Television Studies?
2. Defining Television: A Medium in its Own Right?
3. Textual Analysis 1: Shot by Shot Analysis
4. Textual Analysis 2: Genre and Narrative Structure
5. Textual Analysis 3: Structuralism & Semiotics
6. Textual Analysis 4: Television & Ideology
7. Textual Analysis 5: Post-Structuralism
8. Television and its Audience
9. Television and Postmodernism
10. Global Television

Aims

The aim is to offer a comprehensive introduction to the academic study of television at Level 1. As such, it aims to present a broad base knowledge of television by means of an analysis of a range of issues from the academic study of television. This will include the 'grammar' of television, television as text, television genres, the relationship between television and audiences and an introduction to the application of social theory to the study of television. In order to address these questions, the module aims to introduce students to key topic areas that have dominated discussion and debate in TV studies, to apply theories that have dominated these topic areas to relevant programmes, and to then offer the opportunity for students to develop their critical skills, by debating and critiquing these theories in seminar sessions.

The module is in two parts: the first half explores a selection of different methodological approaches to TV - these include genre, ideology, audience research, shot by shot analysis and so on. The second part of the module aims to contextualise television a little more, looking at areas of history, the state, globalisation, postmodernism and so on. The module will also allow for the development of effective essay-writing and examination skills in the subject area.

Brief description

This module will take a different topic each week that is specifically aimed to introduce students to some of the most crucial and fundamental issues, debates and methodologies in TV studies as a whole. Each week will begin with an introductory lecture followed by a relevant screening. The screening will usually take the form of a TV programme that will allow focused discussion and debate about that week's chosen topic. For example, if the subject is ideology, then the lecture will outline some of the major theoretical histories of the concept whilst also offering different ideological readings of a number of TV programmes. Students will then be asked to make a similar textual deconstruction of the relevant screening. The fortnightly seminars will be designed around a particular task that will allow further discussion, debate and clarification of the relevant topic.

Within and through this loose structure, students will become familiar with core academic approaches to studying television (including the aesthetics of TV, genre and narrative, shot by shot analysis, ideology, semiotics, structuralism and post-structuralism, postmodernism and globalization). In addition, students will also, throughout the module, be given continual opportunities to develop their analytical skills, through close formal analysis of relevant TV texts (the particular focus of one lecture, one seminar and their first assessment for the module).

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication * Students' written communication skills will be developed (e.g. appropriate language and style, accuracy, precision and ability to be concise). * Opportunities will be given, through seminar sessions, for students to develop confidence in using their speaking and listening skills when communicating their ideas.
Improving own Learning and Performance * Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. * Students will be given opportunities to develop effective note-taking skills. * Students will develop their critical thinking skills. * Through group discussion, students will be given opportunities to develop an awareness of the opinions of others and reconsider initial ideas if necessary.
Information Technology * Students will be given the opportunity to develop their authorial and note-taking skills when planning and preparing for the written assignments, and will be encouraged to develop their note-taking skills in lectures. * Students will be given opportunities to develop their skills in searching for relevant reading and other materials through the University's Voyager Library Catalogue, the University electronic resource, Joey, and through the newspaper database, Lexis-Nexis. * E-mail and Blackboard will be the main forms of communication and information-sharing in this module, so students will be encouraged to actively engage in these processes.
Personal Development and Career planning * Students will be given the opportunity to evaluate current knowledge and skills and set targets for self-improvement. * Students will be encouraged to take increasing responsibility for managing their own learning. * Students will be encouraged to build upon the knowledge gained from lectures through developing skills in self study (supported by the general and specific reading lists and other resources distributed throughout the module).
Problem solving * Students should be able to identify tensions and debates in the field, and will be encouraged to critically reflect on the process by which academics arrive at particular theoretical interpretations of particular television programmes.
Research skills * Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. * Students will be able to develop their textual analytic skills, and to learn to analyse texts in a focused and purposeful manner.
Team work * All seminar sessions will involve group work where students will be able to collaborate through discussion, and then feed back their ideas to the seminar group as a whole.

Reading List

Essential Reading
Creeber, Glen (ed.) (2006) Tele-Visions: An Introduction to Studying Television BFI Primo search Supplementary Text
Abercrombie, Nicholas ((1996)) Television and Society Polity Press Primo search Allen, Robert C. (ed.) (1992) Channels of Discourse, Reassembled: television and contemporary criticism, Routledge Primo search Bignell, Jonathan ((2004)) An Introduction to Television Studies, Routledge. Primo search Bignell, Jonathan & Orlebar, Jeremy (2005) The Television Handbook (2nd ed.) Routledge Primo search Buttler, Jeremy G. (1994) Television: Critical Methods and Applications Wadswworth Publishing Company Primo search Casey, Bernadette, Casey, Neil, Calvert, Ben, French, Liam and Lewis, Justin , ((2002),) Television Studies: The Key Concepts Routledge. Primo search Creeber, Glen (2001) The Television Genre Book BFI Primo search Creeber, Glen (ed.) ((2004)) 50 Key Television Programmes Arnold Primo search Hilmes, Michelle (2003) The Television History Book BFI Primo search Lury,Karen (2004) Interpreting Television Arnold. Primo search McQueen, David (1998) Television: A Media Student's Guide, Arnold Primo search Miller, Toby (ed.) (2002) Television Studies, BFI. Primo search Selby, Keith and Cowdery, Ron (1995) How to Study Television Macmillan Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 4