2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

SPPO2670 Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Cinema

20 creditsClass Size: 35

Module manager: Dr Duncan Wheeler
Email: d.wheeler@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Pre-requisite qualifications

Succesful completion of Level 1

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module focuses on a selection of key issues pertinent to the study of Hispanic and Lusophone cinemas. These issues will typically include national, transnational and post-national cinemas; popular film genres; star theory; realism and its variants; film adaptations; and the film industries of the regions in question. On completion of this module students should be able to critically analyse the key issues covered, presenting their own arguments in a well-structured and evidence-based form that adheres to standard academic conventions, and they should be able to demonstrate how they respond to feedback on their work by producing a second draft of their first piece of work, together with a short commentary. They should also be able to demonstrate awareness of the professional context of film criticism and produce an example of this tailored to meet a precise brief and written in either Spanish or Portuguese.

Objectives

This module aims to build on the introduction to skills for the study of audiovisual media and the study of seminal film texts themselves offered to students in level 1 by focusing on a selection of key issues pertinent to the study of Hispanic and Lusophone cinemas. These issues will typically include national, transnational and post-national cinemas; popular film genres; star theory; realism and its variants; film adaptations; and the film industries of the regions in question. While the module aims to allow students to demonstrate their grasp of these issues through traditional critical analysis, it also seeks to offer students the opportunity to study and practise film criticism in a real-life context (written in either Spanish or Portuguese).The module is intended to prepare students to study more specialised modules in, for example, the Latin American film industries, available within the subject area at level 3.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should be able to critically analyse the key issues covered, presenting their own arguments in a well-structured and evidence-based form that adheres to standard academic conventions, and they should be able to demonstrate how they respond to feedback on their work by producing a second draft of their first piece of work, together with a short commentary. They should also be able to demonstrate awareness of the professional context of film criticism and produce an example of this tailored to meet a precise brief and written in either Spanish or Portuguese.

Skills outcomes
Students are expected to consolidate the traditional cognitive and practical skills acquired in Level 1 and, in addition, to:
1. demonstrate an awareness of conflicting perspectives and debates where they exist.
2. discuss and criticise issues and problems.
3. summarize cogently the thesis/argument in an article or book.
4. provide evidence of a range of reading beyond the book list ('reading around the topic').
5. demonstrate the ability to engage with and interpret layers of meaning within cultural products (films).
Students are also expected to demonstrate:
1. the ability to respond effectively to criticism/feedback.
2. the ability to articulate their own values and apply these.
3. the ability to write in Spanish/Portuguese in a real-life, professional context.

Syllabus

The module will comprise lectures and film-screenings in order to cover the issues studied, with regular small-group seminars to focus on the kinds of question that will form the basis for the first assessment (an essay).
In semester 2 this format will continue, but there will also be a series of workshops in either Spanish or Portuguese that focus on the production of film criticism in the target language.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	3	1.00	3.00
Film Screenings	6	2.00	12.00
Lecture	11	1.00	11.00
Seminar	6	1.00	6.00
Private study hours			168.00
Total Contact hours			32.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Reading course materials/preparation for seminars – 70 hrs
Film viewings beyond those organised as part of classes – 20 hrs
Preparation for essay (January) – 40 hours
Preparation of second draft of essay and self-reflexive commentary (March) – 18 hrs
Preparation of piece of film criticism in Spanish/Portuguese (May) – 20 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar participation throughout the module - informal monitoring of student progress.
First essay is formative in nature (though assessed) – students have the chance to respond to criticism received on this work as the focus for the second assessment.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	2,500 words	50.00
Essay	Second draft of essay, plus 500 word commentary to indicate how feedback on first essay has been addressed	20.00
Critique	Piece of film criticism in Spanish or Portuguese	30.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Second draft of essay should be a redraft of the first essay (rather than a new essay altogether) and it should provide clear evidence (both in the text itself) and in the accompanying commentary with regard to how the feedback on the first essay has been addressed. The criteria for grading the second draft will focus explicitly on the response to feedback rather than on the quality of the essay per se. Where students fail both the essay and the second draft they will be given a single piece of work to complete as their resit rather than follow the sequential pattern of the 2 assignments as undertaken during the module itself. This piece of work will be worth 70% of the overall grade.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 23/02/2017

Disclaimer

Browse Other Catalogues

• Undergraduate module catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate module catalogue
• Undergraduate programme catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team.PROD