UNIT TITLE: Writing for Comic Strips and Animation

CREDIT POINTS: 20

TOTAL STUDENT WORKLOAD

Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal timetabled sessions for the unit. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study in support of the unit.

PREREQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES: None

UNIT DESCRIPTION

This unit will allow students to develop skills and strategies specific to comic strips/graphic novels and animated films. It will also introduce students to the theoretical issues surrounding these mediums and place them in their social and historical context.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of the unit, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

K1Recognise the strategies, styles and conventions utilised by writers in these media

K2Understand the different presentation requirements of major comic/animation companies

Cognitive Skills

C1Demonstrate ability to effectively employ strategies and methods in the construction of scripts for these media.

C2Demonstrate ability to engage critically with texts and analyse specific examples of genre fiction informed by theoretical work

Practical and Professional Skills

P1 Identify suitable markets and evaluate potential sales

P2 Develop creative work and editorial skills

Transferable and Key Skills

T1 Manage a self-directed project to a client’s requirements

AREAS OF STUDY

Selected texts

Historical development

Pragmatics of story construction

Industrial protocols

Approaching the market

Principles of graphic and sequential story-telling

LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY

Weekly two-hour sessions will be spent in a variety of ways: lectures, seminars, workshops and occasional screenings. In these sessions students will be:

1. Actively constructing their own work in a workshop environment
2. Introduced to critical debates in lectures
3. Evaluating and analysing the debates, and the relationship between theory and practice, in a seminar environment

ASSESSMENT STRATEGY

ASSESSMENT

AE1weighting:30%

assessment type: Proposal

length / duration:800 words

AE2weighting:70%

assessment type: Script, either for 8 pages of comic strip or for

length / duration:30 minutes of animated film

AGGREGATION OF MARKS

The marks for each element of assessment will be aggregated to give an overall mark for the unit.

RE-ASSESSMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The marks will be aggregated to produce an overall mark for the unit.

Re/deferral of the script will require students to rework and resubmit it in light of the written feedback received. Re/deferral for either element of assessment will take the same format as the original assessment tasks.

Unit Author: Rick Hudson

Unit history: