4MEST004W Developing Contemporary Media Practice

Credit Weighting: 20
Module Leader: Julie Marsh / email: marshj@westminster.ac.uk
Other tutors: Jini Rawlings (rawlinj@westminster.ac.uk), Sue Venables (suevenables@gmail.com)
Julian Lass (C.LASS@WESTMINSTER.AC.UK)

Adam Chodzko Better Scenery (1999)

A highly embroiled quarter, a network of streets that I had avoided for years, was
disentangled at a single stroke when one day a person dear to me moved there. It
was as if a searchlight set up at this persons window dissected the area with
pencils of light.
Walter Benjamin, One-Way Street.

Space, Place and History suggests how we might attach layers of meaning (personal, cultural, scientific,
religious etc) to specific locations. We might argue that a space becomes a place once it acquires a history
of use.

You are asked to build this project around a location of your choice. Your location may be: a landscape, a
country, a town, a building, a room, an object - something / somewhere entirely imagined, or very immediate
to you in your daily life. Any of these may have associations with you or others who are close to you. It may
also be an alienating, unknowable space that communicates a sense of adventure or trepidation. There may
be particular incidents, events or histories that resonate through the location.

Space Place and History

For this final assignment on the module you will work as individuals or in groups to produce a project in one
of the key media areas. You MUST work in a different media area to that used for the semester one
Identity project. You can also combine media to create a multi-part or hybrid form for this project.

It may be expected that you work collaboratively towards completing your practical project (normally required
for moving image projects) - nevertheless you should each produce an individual Critical Journal. This is
individual work only and supports the establishment of your research and conceptual development skills. It
may be in diverse forms as agreed with tutors (eg sketchbook, blog etc). For guidance on the scale of work
expected for this assignment, you will need to agree your documentation strategy with module tutors, and
then commit approximately 55 hours to its completion.

From research you have produced in your Sketchbooks/blog you will develop a Statement of Intent
(proposal) for your practical project. On Friday 3rd March you will be asked to produce this Statement of
Intent outlining your plans for the creative project: Space, place and history. For this session you will make a
short presentation of your ideas and work produced so far to your allotted group, followed by feedback from
other students and staff.

DCMP Contemporary Media Practice 2016-17 1

Your practical project will be developed from your Sketchbook/blog / Statement of Intent, and will be
assessed on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th April. This practical project may be in any one of the media areas.
You will be required to maintain and update your Sketchbook/blog throughout the project.

During this time you will develop your skills both in research and production, and will be expected to reflect
on your experience and learning. This process will be supported through group sessions and individual/group
tutorials.

Assessment requirements

You must present:

- A completed project individually or in small groups (max 5) responding to the given theme
- An individual sketchbook / production file supporting this project
- The sketchbook / production file must show evidence of reflection and critical evaluation of your
individual work for the project

Assessment criteria

Practical Project (Space, Place and History) will be assessed on:

- Proficient use of appropriate media production skills
- Creative experimentation in response to the given brief
- Effective communication of ideas through the chosen media
- Engagement in learning, project development and completion
- Documentation and analysis of research, planning and production
- Evaluation of personal working methods in creative media projects

Referral conditions (module grade in the range of 30-39) 30-39)

You may be referred in the module if your overall module grade is 30-39. If you are offered referral you will
then be required to resubmit all work that did not achieve a pass mark. This will normally be by working to the
original brief (as given here), but you must seek confirmation from the Module Leader. Note that if you do
successfully pass at the referral stage your resubmitted work (but not the overall module grade) will be
capped at 40.

Consult the Module Leader, your Personal Tutor or the Course Leader to confirm that you are eligible for
referral and for more guidance.

Lateness penalties
If you submit your coursework late but within 24 hours or one working day of the specified deadline, 10% of
the overall marks available for that element of assessment (i.e. 10 marks) will be deducted, as a penalty for
late submission, except for work which attains a mark in the range 40 49%, in which case the mark will be
capped at the pass mark (40%).

If you submit your coursework more than 24 hours or more than one working day after the specified deadline
you will be given a mark of zero for the work in question.

Late work and any claim of Mitigating Circumstances relating to coursework must be submitted at the earliest
opportunity to ensure as far as possible that the work can still be marked. You will normally have the right to
submit coursework 10 working days after the original deadline. Once the work of other students has been
marked and returned, late submissions of that same piece of work cannot be assessed.

Return of feedback and marks

We aim to return feedback and marks within three weeks of the assessment in term time (vacation periods
will extend this). Any delays in this process will be communicated to you via Blackboard and email.

Some suggested references

Anderson, B. (2006), Imagined Communities, Verso

Berger, J. (1972), Ways of Seeing, BBC / Penguin
Bignell, J. (2002), Media Semiotics, Manchester
Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2007), Film Art: An Introduction, McGraw-Hill

DCMP Contemporary Media Practice 2016-17 2

Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (2006), The Media Students Book, Routledge
Burgin, V. (1996), Some Cities, Reaktion
Cresswell, T (2004) Place: a short introduction
De Bono, E. (1990), Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, Penguin
Dugay, P., Evans, J. & Redman, P. eds. (2000), Identity: A Reader, OU Sage
Fiske, J. (1990), Introduction to Communication Studies (2nd ed), Routledge
Greene, R. (2004), Internet Art, Thames & Hudson
Hall, S. ed. (1997), Representation, OU Sage
Jolliffe, G & Jones, C. (2004), Guerilla Film Maker's Handbook, Continuum
Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another: Site Specific Art and Locational Identity. Mass.: MIT Press, 2004.
Schon, D. A. (1991), The Reflective Practitioner, Arena
Turkle, S. (1995), Life on the Screen, Simon & Schuster
Willis, H. (2005), New Digital Cinema, Wallflower

Other references will come in class sessions / tutorials.

Times and Locations:

WEEK DATE CONTENT STAFF ROOM

1 Friday 27th Jan AM Briefing of DCMP Module & JM, JR, SV LT2
Space, Place & History & JL
2 Thurs 2nd & Fri 3rd Feb Practical/technical Workshops See
workshop
timetable
3 Thurs 9th & Fri 10th Feb Practical/technical Workshops See
workshop
timetable
4 Thurs 16th & Fri 17th Feb Practical/technical Workshops See
workshop
timetable
5 Friday 24th Feb AM JR, SV & JL LG.27 -
Space, Place and History Lecture
Lectures from each specialist Theatre
pathway. 2

PM Sign-up Tutorials
6 Friday 3rd March Statement of intent pathway JR, SV & JL LG.27 -
decision Lecture
Theatre
2

7 Friday 10th March Specialist Pathway: Workshops & JR, SV & JL

Tutorials
8 Friday 17th March Specialist Pathway: Workshops & JR, SV & JL
Tutorials
9 Friday 24th March Specialist Pathway: Workshops & JR, SV & JL
Tutorials
10 Friday 31st March Specialist Pathway: Workshops & JR, SV & JL
Tutorials
11 Thursday 6th & Friday Assessment Critique JM, JR, SV Various
7th April (Compulsory) & JL rooms

Workshop schedule for DCMP

Post-production:

Workshop Date Time Students / Trainer Room

Group

DCMP Contemporary Media Practice 2016-17 3

Final Cut Pro 2/2/17 10-5 Group A (25 Aaron E1.01
Advanced students)
Sound Design 3/2/17 10-1 Group A (25 Matthew E1.01
in Audition students)
Resolve 3/2/17 2-5 Group A (25 Aaron E1.01
Grading Intro students)
Final Cut Pro 9/2/17 10-5 Group B (25 Aaron E1.01
Advanced students)
Sound Design 10/2/17 10-1 Group B (25 Matthew E1.01
in Audition students)
Resolve 10/2/17 2-5 Group B (25 Aaron E1.01
Grading Intro students)
Final Cut Pro 16/2/17 10-5 Group C (25 Aaron E1.01
Advanced students)
Sound Design 17/2/17 10-1 Group C (25 Matthew E1.01
in Audition students)
Resolve 17/2/17 2-5 Group C (25 Aaron E1.01
Grading Intro students)

Physical computing:

Workshop Date Time Students / Group Trainer Room

Physical 3/2/17 10-5 Group C (25 Emilie J1.17
computing students)
Physical 10/2/17 10-5 Group A (25 Emilie J1.17
computing students)
Physical 16/2/17 10-5 Group B (25 Emilie J1.17
computing students)

Production processes for film production:

Workshop Date Time Students / Group Trainer Room

Production 3/2/17 10-5 Group B (25 Sarah-Jane & Film
processes students) Sue studio
Production 9/2/17 10-5 Group C (25 Sarah-Jane & Film
processes students) Sue studio
Production 17/2/17 10-5 Group A (25 Sarah-Jane & Film
processes students) Sue studio

Specialist Pathway: weeks 7, 8, 9, 10

You have 4 weeks supported by weekly tutorials/workshops in specialist pathways. These run on Fridays in
J1.17, photo studio 2&3 and E406 starting at 10.30am. The year group will be divided into 3 groups, each
working with a media specific tutor. For semester 2 this will be:

Photography Julian Lass Photo studio 2&3

Moving Image Sue Venables E406

Expanded Media Jini Rawlings J1.17

DCMP Contemporary Media Practice 2016-17 4

The three media areas are:

Moving Image:
This is defined as a single screen moving image productions with a minimum of 4 students per
group.

Expanded Media:
This will include artists moving image, installations, multi-screen work, interactive and hybrid media.

Photography:
Stills work, printed and appropriately presented (eg mounted and framed, in book form etc).

All students will be given the opportunity to work within two of the above media-specific areas over the
course of this academic year. Please note you will not be able to work in the same media area twice.

The Assessment: Week 11 Submit final work & supporting work at 10am in the Film studio.

Thursday 6th & Friday 7th April - Assessment Critique (Compulsory) in various rooms. All students
must attend both days.

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