Curriculum Information

In this module, students will be introduced to the concept of visual storytelling. The module will begin with an understanding of story – how it works in documentaries, how it works in fiction productions and how it can work interactively on the web. Students will be encouraged to immerse themselves in the writing of a short, original visual script either for a TV or for a web-based audience in the first six weeks of the course.

Using their knowledge of storytelling and applying the storytelling principles learnt, the students will, with their tutor’s guidance, work either singly, in pairs or in small groups to develop a documentary project.

Students will then continue to hone their narrative story-telling techniques by working in groups, in a negotiated production role, to achieve a short 3-minute fiction project for television or a more interactive story for the web of an equivalent, appropriate length.

Throughout the module, an appreciation of professional approaches to documentary, fiction and interactive web based narratives will be developed through class-based contextual screening, analysis and discussion. They will also get formative assessment feedback all the way through, even though they will submit only one piece for summative assessment.

An understanding of professional production protocols and health and safety requirements will be developed, along with camera, lighting, sound recording and editing skills, through workshops and the completion of a Skills Passport. In addition, students will develop a strong understanding of the legal, social and ethical implications of the treatment of diverse subject matter and working practices within the industry and the responsibility that places on them as practitioners.