In this class, we cover English (reading, writing, and analysis) - but we do so with a distinct Media Studies slant. We look at how stories work not just on the page, but visually and structurally, too.
For example, we started the year by sampling a range of novels and voting on a class favourite to study together (which ended up being The Mist, by Stephen King). In term two, we finished our novel study, and moved on to analysing Lord of the Flies and how it related to social psychology.
In term three, we'll focus on film studies. Why do directors make the choices they do? We'll choose and study (Note that 'study' is not the same as 'watch') a film together, learn about some behind-the-scenes features, and eventually do a series of creative tasks related to the studied text.
For example, we might:
- Read some short stories.
- Turn a section of one into a screenplay.
- Re-enact a scene from a studied film.
- Digitally storyboard a key sequence.
- Design a new film poster based on the themes in the text.
- Produce a mini-documentary on an idea from the text.
Also, please note - one of the aims of this course is to examine the place of software and AI in current filmmaking and preproduction. We'll be using various tools (the mighty pen and paper, Photoshop, and Gemini, amongst others) to design and create film materials, comparing newer techniques to traditional methods. We'll undoubtedly have some robust class debates on the place of technology in art. However, if there's no room for nuance in your viewpoint on these issues, you may not get much out of the course.