BA (Hons) Special Effects Makeup Design for

TV, Film and Theatre /

Digital Film and Television Production

Critical Approaches to Design in Media 2 /

Decoding the Digital Society
Semester Two, Week One:
Introduction to the Semester
Overview of the Assessment
(Semester Two)
Paul Lewis
lewisp@grimsby.ac.uk (ext 1508)
Office: 1H06
BA (Hons): English & Social Science
MA Contemporary Literature and Film (Hull, 2000)
PhD American Studies and English: The Satire of the New Right in the
American Films of Paul Verhoeven, 1986-2000 (Hull, 2003- )

Other areas of work:

Freelance writing on film
Documentary photography
 Lecture Structure
Overview of Semester 2: Indicative Content
Overview of the Assignments
Discussion
 (SFX) Critical Approaches to Design in
Media 2
Semester B
The consideration of the contextual influences on creative practice is challenged in terms of its relationship
with practical studies, informing students of the cultural differences and limitations of products in
certain parts of the world. Students will broaden their knowledge and understanding of the special
make-up effects industry to include global issues and constraints. This module functions to enable
students to articulate responses to a range of philosophical positions and cultural studies approaches.
The module allows for a critical examination of the social, political, economic, cultural and moral
impacts on creative practice. Consideration is given to the likely future impacts of new technologies
and the products, usages and meanings that might be derived from the outputs of creativity and in
particular through the mediums of TV, film, video, computer-gaming and live performance.
Students will undertake research personal, political, economic, religious, climatic and environmental issues
that affect the special make-up effects worker locally, regionally, nationally or globally. Consideration
is given to the contexts of design for the media and its reception and usage in the digital age. Students
will understand the move to digital as part of an ongoing progression in technological advances
through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and how this has affected aspects of production
including special effects.

Alongside this, consideration will be given to a range of moral and philosophical positions which will
inform not just the modules outcomes, but also support further learning and development of critical
approaches.
 (DFTP) Decoding the Digital Society
Semester B
This modules function is to enable students to articulate responses to a range of philosophical positions
and cultural studies approaches to the digital age. The module allows for a critical examination of the
social, political, economic, cultural and moral impacts of ICT, the internet and the move towards a
more fully digital media landscape. Consideration is given to the likely future impacts of these new
technologies, the end uses to which they may be put, and the products, usages and meanings that might
be derived.

The module considers a range of contexts surrounding media production, reception and usage in the digital
age. Students will understand the move to digital as part of an ongoing progression in technological
advances through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which is not without consequences.
Alongside this, attention will be paid to a selection of moral and philosophical positions to the digital
world and to the impacts that the digital has on textual products and lived experiences.

Alongside this, consideration will be given to a range of moral and philosophical positions which will
inform not just the modules outcomes, but also support further learning and development of critical
approaches.
 In a nutshell
... A core module
Consideration of issues of audience and
authorship, relating these to digital culture.
Examination of ideology, visual
representation and stereotyping.
Discussing the relationships between texts
and their social contexts.
 Lecture & Seminar Structure: Semester Two
Introduction / Feedback for SFX Group
Does the Medium Matter?: Walter Benjamin and the Relationship Between
Content and Context
Defining Audience: The Glance and the Gaze
Effects Models and Audience Research
Impossible to Regulate?: A History of Censorship and Anti-Obscenity
Legislation to the Digital Age
Authorship in the Digital Age
Digital Technology: Surveillance and Power (Foucault and the Panopticon)
Representation and Stereotyping
The Representation of Gender in Cinema
The Representation of Ethnicity in Cinema
The Representation of Age in Cinema
 Assessment: Semester Two
Deadline: Week 8 7th March 2017

Presentation: 25 (20) minutes and 2500 (2000) word script

(50% / 40% of marks for the module)

Authorship and Audience in the Digital Age

Text in red denotes word counts and other differences within the
Decoding the Digital Society module
 Assessment Aims:
Demonstrate a comprehension of what is
meant by audience
Evidence an awareness of different types of
research methods
Consider different types of outlets for media
texts
Engage with audience theories
Provide detailed discussion of relevant case
studies
 Essay Outline
Presentation (50% / 40%): Authorship and Audience in the Digital Age. For this assessment, students are required to
deliver a presentation of 25 (20) minutes in length, which is to be accompanied by a 2500 (2000) word, fully-
referenced script.

In the presentation, students will engage with the issues of authorship and audiences and how digital technologies
have impacted on these. The presentation may take the form of either:

i. An authorship study of a practitioner (for example, a filmmaker or special effects practitioner) associated with the
digital era and how their work may be considered unique. Students should consider the role of their chosen
practitioner as the author of their work: ie, the extent to which their chosen author (filmmaker/special effects
artist) may be considered to be an auteur, their work unifying otherwise disparate films (for example, John
Chambers radical development of prosthetic makeup effects in wildly different genres). Students should
consider the relationships between their chosen practitioner and the audiences for their work, exploring why the
work of their chosen practitioner is important and reflecting on the ways in which their chosen practitioners
work has contributed to the films themselves and the genres to which they belong.

ii. An examination of how digital technologies, and new platforms for production and distribution, have impacted on
audiences, how audiences consume films and the contexts in which films are consumed. Students will be
expected to demonstrate a comprehension of different audiences and outlets for cinema. Students will also be
expected to engage critically with audience theory and effects debates (eg, the hypodermic needle model, new
audience research theory, reception debates).
Work Required for Assessment
SFX Group:
Presentation, 25 minutes in length, and accompanying script (2500 words).

Digital Film and Television Production Group:

Presentation, 20 minutes in length, and accompanying script (2000 words).

The script must be submitted to Turnitin.

The presentation must be submitted as a video recording on or before the day of the
deadline via CD/DVD or USB

Deadline: 8th March 2017

 Assessment Criteria
(SFX) Independently research and develop an argument based on a key aspect of
change (technological or otherwise) affecting special effects design.
Effectively articulate and present arguments using research to inform analysis.

(Digital Film and Television Production) Explain and contextualise theoretical

concepts of the digital society and information age placing them within a range
of appropriate contexts
Critically analyse key aspects of changing media industry climates as informed by
technological change
Critically assess forecasts of the future impacts of information and communications
technologies.
 Assessment: Semester Two
Deadline: Week 14 Thursday 9th May 2017

Essay: 2500 (3000) words

(50% / 60% of marks for the module)

Representation in Cinema

Red text again denotes differences specific to the Decoding the Digital
Society module
 Assessment Aims:
Examine the issue of representation
Engage critically with theories of cinema
Examine the relationships between films and
their cultural context/s
Demonstrate evidence of advanced research
skills
 Essay Outline
Essay (50% / 60%): Representation. For this assessment, students will produce an essay of 2500
(3000)words in length. This essay will focus on the issue of representation. Demonstrating evidence
of research using authoritative sources (books and journals), students should focus on the
representation of either: (1) gender, (2), age, (3) ethnicity, (4) disability or (5) sexuality. Students
should consider how this issue is represented through the use of special effects makeup in two films,
providing a comparative analysis of these two pictures. One of the films should be chosen from the
list below; the student may have free choice in selecting the second film for analysis.

Students should consider how the representation of their chosen issues within these films has been
responded to by the films audiences, and to this end students may consider gathering some relevant
primary research (for example, interviews, questionnaires or focus groups).

 Assessment Criteria
(SFX) Demonstrate knowledge of philosophical and cultural dimensions within the
creative industries and the impact that these have on the special effects
practitioner.
Evaluate the impact of global contextual issues affecting design and production for
the special effects industry

(Digital Film and Television Production) Explain and contextualise theoretical

concepts of the digital society and information age placing them within a range
of appropriate contexts
Demonstrate an ability to assess the nature of controversies arising from the
application of digital technologies in the media industries.
Evaluate impacts of changing information and communications technologies.
Core Reading
Evans, J and Hall, S (1999) TheVisualCultureReader. London: Open University
Lister, Martin (2008) NewMedia:ACriticalIntroduction, second edition, Routledge
Rumsey, N and D. Harcourt. (2005) ThePsychologyofAppearance.
Maidenhead: Open University Press

Indicative Reading
Baker, P. (1992) Fashionsofadecadethe1940s. New York: Facts on File
Bharadia, N (2005) AsianBridalLookBook. Buzzword UK
Costantino, M. (1992) FashionsofaDecadethe1930s. New York: Facts on File
Corson, R (2003) FashionsinMake-up:fromAncienttoModernTimes. London: Peter Owen
Foucault, Michel (1991) DisciplineandPunish, Penguin
Jones, A (2009) TheFeminismandVisualCultureReader, London: Routledge
McRobbie, Angela (1994)PostmodernismAndPopularCulture. Routledge
Pearl, E (2004) PlasticSurgeryWithouttheSurgeryTheMiracleofMake-upTechniques. New York:
Warner Brothers
Skirbekk, Gunnar (2001) AHistoryofWesternThought, Routledge