MI4002 - Experimental Film 1

Experimental Film 1 consists of lecture/seminar sessions that lay out the major themes and approaches of experimental and avant-garde filmmaking. This is a form that heavily relies on the wider contexts that surround it, from art movements and multi-media installation, to the ideologies that underpin it and filmmaking modes of production. From the short art film that emerges from the avant-garde, to quasi political deconstructions of cinema; such as materialist and structuralist work, multi media installation, digital moving image and to some extent ‘live visuals’, the content of the lectures provokes you to either write about the form or make work in response to it, both supported by appropriate academic support.

You will then receive written feedback on your final summative submissions which will detail areas that could be improved in future work. You will also be offered the opportunity to receive further verbal feedback following this formal assessment, so that you can follow up any concerns you have regarding your critical development and future learning.

This module sets out the context and history of experimental filmmaking in a series of lectures and seminars, where you get to understand the approaches and meaning of the discourses surrounding the subject. As you are asked to either make an individual film essay in response to the module materials or write a standard essay, you will be supported in this endeavor by relevant tutor supervision in the form of tutorial meetings.
As ever, the seminars are places for discussion where feedback is offered in an informal basis and the tutorials help guide and advise your response to the subject. The written feedback at the end of the module after assessment gives advice on how to improve and constructively critiques your performance on the module.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. Understand the key components that make up Experimental and Avant-Garde filmmaking.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

2. Deliver creative and imaginative responses, utilising module materials, in a professional manner, with appropriate technical skills.

3. Critically evaluate the work in the context of the module.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

4. Show wider understanding of the context of the experimental film and its place in a wider culture.

5. Be curious and challenge conventions in such a way as to be truly experimental.

Summative assessments will test skills of
organisation, communication, research, critical engagement, and practice and will be focused
upon the analysis of key issues arising from the syllabus. You will be assessed by either writing a standard essay of 2000 words approximately or by making an individual experimental film as a
response to the brief, with a 500 word ‘Artist’s Statement’ – addressing all MLOs.

The standard essay and the Artist’s Statement should show your depth of enquiry into the
Subject with intellectual skills in evidence addressed in MLOs 3, 4 & 5.

None

None

Experimental filmmaking allows you to have total creative control over your project and engage in all aspects of the filmmaking process, from ideation through to post production. You can try different approaches in this module that both complements and counterpoints its twin module Film Production 1.

This module seeks to provide an adventure in conceptualising film ideas: while the module spends its first part exploring the oppositional world of film in the visual arts, you get the chance to make an individual response to the ideas presented via written essay or your own experimental film, provoking a creative approach intended to be taken through into your wider work on the programme.