Dr Kate Lacey
Acting Head of School
Prof Tim Jordan
Incoming Head of School (Oct 2014)
Welcome to the School of Media, Film and Music. We are delighted to have you here at
Sussex, and hope you find your time with us exciting, fulfilling, and enjoyable.
This handbook tells you about the people, modules and organisation of the School of Media, Film
and Music. It tells you about your degree course, explains what you can expect in terms of
teaching, learning and assessment, and informs you about where you can find additional support
for your studies.
Please take some time to read the handbook thoroughly, as it will help you find your way around
in your first week and beyond. Keep it handy for reference throughout your degree.
During your first week you will meet the people who will guide you through your degree course,
and receive a wealth of information about the School and University. This handbook will serve as
a memory aid. We will also make sure that throughout the year there are plenty of other occasions
on which we will introduce ourselves to you and offer help and support as you move through your
first year.
In the meantime, we hope your first days at University are enjoyable. If you have any worries or
queries, don’t hesitate to ask. All the School staff are here to help you have a smooth start to your
university career. The degree courses in Media, Film, Music, Journalism and Cultural Studies are
challenging ones, but we (and our former students) believe that the hard work we expect from you
pays off. We wish you the best of luck!
Contents
Key contacts in the School of Media, Film and Music ...................................................................... 1
Key course and modules information .............................................................................................. 5
How we contact you ........................................................................................................................ 6
Media and Film at Sussex ............................................................................................................... 6
Tutors: contact details ..................................................................................................................... 9
Course outlines ............................................................................................................................. 11
Joint course and module descriptions ........................................................................................... 20
What we expect from you … ......................................................................................................... 26
Study Packs/Module Readers ....................................................................................................... 27
Credit System, Options and Electives ........................................................................................... 28
Timetabling ................................................................................................................................... 28
Teaching, Learning and Assessment ............................................................................................ 29
Assessment: What you need to know ........................................................................................... 32
Writing well and avoiding academic misconduct ........................................................................... 34
Making your voice heard, being involved ...................................................................................... 35
Study Abroad ................................................................................................................................ 36
Beyond your course ...................................................................................................................... 37
Student Life Centre ....................................................................................................................... 38
Writing and referencing guidelines ................................................................................................ 39
Other opportunities: Media and Culture in Brighton ....................................................................... 41
Please note:
The information in this Handbook, and a lot more detail, can be found on the School website.
You will also find that you can access a large amount of information about your course and
modules via the University’s online systems for students, Sussex Direct and Study Direct (see
page 5 below).
Further information is provided in a general Student Handbook, available online at
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/studenthandbook/
Key contacts in the School of Media, Film and Music
Key People
There are four main areas of study in the School: Media Practice, Media & Communications,
Film Studies, and Music. Each area has a Department or Subject Head, who is responsible for
the degree courses in their area, and for the students on those degrees. The Heads, and their
areas of responsibility, are:
Adrian Goycoolea
Media Practice
BA Hons Media Practice
Media &
Communications
and Cultural
Studies
Film Studies
BA Hons Media &
Communications
Joint Honours Media &
Communications
BA Hons Film Studies
Joint Honours Film Studies
Music
BA Hons Music
Joint Honours Music
Room 210, Silverstone Building
(87) 2853
a.p.goycoolea@sussex.ac.uk
Michael Bull
Room 335, Silverstone Building
(67)8788
m.bull@sussex.ac.uk
Frank Krutnik
Room 336, Silverstone Building
(87)2769
f.krutnik@sussex.ac.uk
Ed Hughes
Room 214, Silverstone Building
(87) 7806
e.d.hughes@sussex.ac.uk
The School also runs Joint Honours degrees in Cultural Studies. The Course Convenor of
Cultural Studies is:
Margaretta Jolly
Cultural Studies
Joint Honours Cultural Studies
Room 130, Silverstone Building
(87)3585
m.jolly@sussex.ac.uk
Finally, the School’s Director of Teaching and Learning has overall responsibility for all of these
degrees and the Director of Student Experience for all of our students. The Head of School is
responsible for the School as a whole.
If you need to contact them, they can be found at:
Kate O’Riordan
Director of Teaching and Learning
Room 330, Silverstone Building
(87)6730
k.oriordan@sussex.ac.uk
Thomas Austin
Director of Student Experience
Room 337, Silverstone Building
(87)2549
t.r.austin@sussex.ac.uk
1
Kate Lacey
Acting Head of School
Room 337, Silverstone Building
(87)2512
k.lacey@sussex.ac.uk
(until Oct 2014)
External Examiner for our courses
Dr Tracey Potts
Cultural Studies
Lecturer in Critical Theory and
Culture Studies, Dept. of
Culture, Film and Media at
University of Nottingham
Dr Leon Hunt
Film
Senior Lecturer in Film and TV
Studies at Brunel University
Dr Patrick Tarrant
Media Practice
Course Director - Digital Film &
Video
London South Bank University
Tbc
Media
2
Key Places
All your tutors, the School office staff, and all our specialist labs and studios can be found in
Silverstone Building. The building has a social and study area on the top floor, level 3 and a quiet
study room on level 1. TV screens displaying news and information can be found on each floor.
The School Office
The School Office is the nerve centre of the School and you can take any query there. Staff will
be able to give you an answer or, if not, point you in the right direction. If your query cannot be
answered immediately then you will be asked to complete a query form and someone will get back
to you.
The School also has a School Administrator. If you find that you are getting nowhere with trying
to solve your problem or have a complaint to make, you can contact the School Administrator in
Room 226 in Silverstone Building.
Media, Film and Music
School Office
Tel: 01273 877 538
Email: mfm@sussex.ac.uk
Sally Mitchell & Anjuli Daskarolis
Clerical Assistants
Room 220, Silverstone Building
Reception: Open 9am – 5pm, Monday
to Friday
Eddie Anderson
Course Coordinator
UG Media & Communications, Film
Studies and Cultural Studies
Email: era23@sussex.ac.uk
Terry Bryan
Course Coordinator for UG Music and
Visiting & Exchange Students
Email: t.j.bryan@sussex.ac.uk
Pat Mounce
Course Coordinator for UG Media Practice
Email: p.a.mounce@sussex.ac.uk
Marci Pollakova
Senior Course Coordinator
UG Journalism
Email: m.pollakova@sussex.ac.uk
Carmen Long
School Administrator
Room 226, Silverstone Building
Tel. 01273 678 023
c.long@sussex.ac.uk
3
Academic Advice
There are four more key sources of advice and help available for you:
1. Your Academic Advisor
Your Academic Advisor is one of your tutors, and we try to ensure that you keep the same person
for all the time you are here except when your advisor is on research leave. Your Academic
Advisor is there to oversee your general academic progress and development through your
studies. You should meet your Academic Advisor in the first week, or if that is not possible as soon
as a meeting can be organised. You should expect a minimum of 2 individual meetings with your
advisor each year but they will keep in touch regularly throughout the year. In the spring term you
will meet to discuss your progress and options for the following year. Your Academic Advisor is a
person for you to consult about general academic progress and skills issues. They can also
provide you with an academic reference at the end of your studies.
2. Your Modules Convenors and Tutors
Every module has a member of faculty as module organiser and it is their job to ensure that
everything about the module – the teaching, the module documentation, supporting teaching
materials, etc. – runs smoothly. If you’ve got a problem with a module in the first instance you
should contact the Module Convenor and then your academic advisor or Director of Student
Experience. Those who teach you in seminars and workshops are called Module Tutors. Convenor
and Tutor names are listed on Sussex Direct and in your Module Guides or Handbooks.
3. The Student Life Centre
The Student Life Centre offers a professional information and advice service to support students
experiencing problems with academic life. The team is there to enable you to address any
difficulties that may impact on your studies, or any concerns you might have regarding your
academic progress. The Student Life Centre is located on the ground floor of Chichester 1
Building.
www.sussex.ac.uk/studentlifecentre
4. Student Mentors
Student Mentors are students from within the School who are trained to provide help to other
students based on their own experiences as students. They can help you with any work-related or
other problems like homesickness. You can see a mentor in a weekly drop-in session or arrange a
one-to-one. Information is on the notice board in Silverstone Building, on the plasma screens and
on the School Study Direct site: Media, Film and Music: docs and info. You can also arrange a
one-to-one session with a Student Mentor through the Student Advisors, or email them directly.
And finally….
All teaching staff have at least two published office hours per week in each term. These are
displayed on their door and are available in the School Office and usually online too (see staff
directory on Sussex Direct). If you need to speak to one of your tutors, in addition to the tutorial
times attached to the module and which tour tutor will schedule, please use these office hours or
schedule an appointment via email.
4
Key course and modules information
Course syllabus and module information can be viewed via the School web pages:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/mfm
Sussex Direct is your personalised online gateway to University information. The system provides
you with details of your modules, tutors and timetable as well as allowing you to access your
marks, feedback and attendance as well as information about evaluations. Behind the scenes,
Sussex Direct helps your Academic Advisor, and Student Life Advisors, to support your studies by
accessing this data across your modules.
Study Direct (SyD) and Sussex Direct (SD) can be accessed via the University of Sussex student
internal webpage. Study Direct is the University’s internal Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used
by Module Convenors to upload teaching materials and to facilitate your engagement and
participation in the module. https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/login/index.php
There is also a useful MFM Study Direct site – MFM Docs & Info. This provides extra information
you will need during your year:
 All module handbooks
 Guides to writing essays and dissertations
 Guides to giving seminar presentations
 Generic assessment criteria
Term dates 2014-2015
Arrival Weekend
New Undergraduates attend
Freshers' induction
Autumn Term
#
Thur 18 Sep 2014
Teaching starts
Mon 22 Sep 2014
Teaching finishes
Fri 12 Dec 2014
Sat 13 Dec 2014 – Sun 04 Jan
2015
Attendance only if required
*
Mid-year assessment period ends
#
Mon 19 Jan 2015
Easter teaching break
Teaching finishes
#
Thur 02 Apr – Wed 08 Apr 2015
Fri 17 Apr 2015
Sat 18 Apr – Sun 10 May 2015
Spring vacation
Summer Term
Mon 05 Jan 2015
Fri 16 Jan 2015
Teaching starts
Spring Term
Mon 15 Sep 2014
Teaching induction (all attend)
Christmas vacation
Mid-year assessment period
starts
Sat 13 Sep 2014
Year-end assessment period
starts
Mon 11 May 2015
Year-end assessment period ends Fri 12 Jun 2015 - tbc
Summer vacation
Sat 13 Jun 2015 - tbc
Monday 6 July - Friday 10 July
2015
Graduation
Resit period
Attendance only if required
Late August - early Sep: tbc
# Term dates for all students:- UG, PGT and PGR
* Students will need to attend if they have examinations and submission of assessments due, and should
consult their assessment information on Sussex Direct. Please note that exams may be scheduled on
Saturdays. For future term dates and closure days see: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/governance/1-3-5.html
5
How we contact you
We will contact you by …
Email




You will get details of your email account from IT Services
Most faculty and tutors will use email as the primary method of communicating
important information to you, and communications direct from central University offices
will also tend to be via email
If you have your own computer, find out how you can set it up to access your Sussex
email
If you already have an email account, you can forward your Sussex email to it but we
will always communicate with you via your University email address
Web
Times and venues of classes are indicated on your Sussex Direct homepage, where cancellations
will also be posted.
Noticeboards
Look at the noticeboards in Silverstone Building for information on examinations, student reps,
student mentors, etc.
Pigeonholes
There are undergraduate student pigeonholes located on level 1 of Silverstone Building. You
should check these regularly.
Text messaging: short-notice cancellation of classes
Teaching faculty are encouraged to use an automated text messaging facility to issue emergency
text messages to class groups in cases of cancellation of classes, e.g. due to staff illness. This is
another good reason for keeping your mobile phone details accurate on Sussex Direct.
Keeping your contact details up-to-date
You are able to maintain your own contact details via Sussex Direct. It is very important that you
keep your current term-time and ‘home’ addresses and telephone (including mobile) contact details
up to date, and also provide a contact point for emergencies. We need to be able to contact you in
and out of term-time. Sometimes communications can be very urgent – either to you as part of a
group (e.g. a public health problem) or an emergency that’s related to you individually. It’s
particularly important that you check you have provided accurate contact details before you leave
for the summer vacation so that, as appropriate, you receive details of any resits you are required
to do by the exam board.
Media and Film at Sussex
Media & Communications has been taught at Sussex since 1988. Roger Silverstone, after whom
the Silverstone Building is named, was the first Professor of Media at Sussex. Media, Film and
Practice have continued to change and expand, and today we offer the following courses:
Single Honours degrees
BA (Hons) Media & Communications
BA (Hons) Media Practice
BA (Hons) Film Studies
BA (Hons) Journalism
6
We also offer Joint Honours degrees in Media & Communications, Film Studies, Journalism
and Cultural Studies, where these subjects can be combined with a range of others. We are
excited about the degrees we offer, built upon years of experience and attention to innovation, and
ask you to tell us how you are getting on with them, as you embark on this project with us. You are
key to the life of the School and we look forward to meeting you and getting to know you. We hope
that many of you will want to continue your studies at postgraduate level with us.
We offer MA degrees in Media and Cultural Studies, Digital Media, Film Studies, Gender and
Media, Digital Documentary, Creative Media Practice, Multimedia Journalism, International
Journalism, Journalism and Media Studies, Journalism and Documentary, and Media Practice for
International Development. Further details of these Masters courses can be found on the School’s
website:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/
We also have a large number of PhD students.
What is distinctive about Media, Film and Cultural Studies at Sussex?
There is, first, the interdisciplinarity that characterises all our degree courses. All our
undergraduate courses combine a range of disciplinary traditions and methods, and all our single
honours courses allow you to engage with media practice as well as theoretical and critical studies.
They also offer you the opportunity to engage in work experience as part of your degree. Over the
past twenty years, our academic staff have established international reputations in both teaching
and research in these fields. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise our research was rated
8th in the UK, with all of our research being judged to be of international significance, and much of it
world-leading. Whichever degree course you are pursuing you will have the opportunity to work
with leading scholars and practitioners, and develop an interdisciplinary approach to your own
studies, as you study alongside students on other degrees, both within and outside the School of
Media, Film and Music.
In Media and Film the focus of much of our research has been on the decisive role which media
and film play within modern societies. Drawing on a cultural studies approach to media and film we
have explored the symbolic world we inhabit – the world of perceptions, images, language,
meanings and values We are also concerned with the historical transformations and continuities
that changing socio-technologies – most recently the digital environment – have brought to
people’s everyday lives. Media and film are profoundly implicated in the construction of new
possibilities and identities, but also integral to the continuing exercise of social, political and
economic powers.
We want you to develop your own analyses and understandings, alert to these complexities, and
able to contribute to a range of contemporary debates about media and film.
In Media Practice we have internationally recognised critical practitioners in film, photography,
interactive media and sound. With their help, and that of skilled Production Tutors and visiting
experts, you learn to develop your creative as well as your critical and theoretical skills, working
within the media that best suit your own skills, aspirations and ambitions. We believe that theory
and practice complement each other, so although the MP degree (Media Practice) is the degree
with the greatest emphasis on media production, there is an optional practical element to all of the
Single Honours degrees. Similarly, media practice students take many theory modules alongside
students on media or film courses.
In Journalism we aim to develop students’ professional skills in contemporary news production in
print, broadcast and online media as well as critical-analytical skills required to inform and critique
such practice. Our study and research options allow students the opportunity to undertake a work
placement in a relevant media organization. We work closely with a number of media professionals
who give regular Masterclasses to our students and our staff – particularly the teaching fellows –
7
include experienced media professionals. Our goal is to enable students to graduate with a
portfolio of critical and creative work which they can use to demonstrate skills in criticism, research,
analysis, creativity as well as professional practice.
Cultural Studies at Sussex is distinctive in its global outlook, paying attention to cultures other
than those in the west, and to the exploration of popular culture, the culture of the everyday but
also to high culture. At the heart of our work is to see cultural practices as operating throughout all
areas of society, key to historical continuities and transformations and to the formation of
inequalities. Our focus is to bring into visibility struggles over culture, its practices, meanings and
values for different groups and to explore the associated plays of emotion and power. The analysis
of culture, we suggest, is critical to a proper description and understanding of the worlds we live in.
Whichever degree you have opted for you will be taught by scholars internationally respected in
their fields. All of our faculty are active researchers engaged in contemporary debate, and you find
yourself in a highly-rated group in a highly-rated university. We are regularly ranked by
newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian in the top Media and Film departments in the
country. Our members of staff have national and international reputations for their scholarship,
whether it is traditional academic, or media practice research. These research interests are drawn
on in our teaching, and all students benefit from this. Most of the final year option modules you will
be able to choose from have been developed by tutors from their particular research expertise, so
you will have the opportunity to contribute to, as well as draw on, the Sussex tradition of research
excellence!
On our Joint Degrees you will also benefit from the expertise of staff in other subject areas in
other schools. Whatever your degree course we hope that you will engage with us in the exciting
task of exploring and understanding film, media and culture.
In this process you will be introduced to the intellectual foundations of your subject areas, their
histories, critical approaches, key texts and debates. But you will also move beyond this to
specialist areas of study, and learn to become an independent researcher and producer. This is an
ambitious and challenging project. You will come across different, sometimes difficult, approaches
to key questions about contemporary media and culture, and learn new methods of analysis,
interpretation, and creative practice. Along the way you will learn new skills – skills of conceptual
thought, research, critical reading, analysis, writing in various styles, making individual or collective
presentations. You may also learn practical production skills in video, digital imaging, photography
and other media. You will work both independently and collaboratively.
All these skills are important academically, but they should also be relevant to whatever you
choose to do after you leave. By the time you have completed your degree, you should have
developed a rigorous critical understanding of the place of film, media and culture in today's world,
and also learned a wide range of skills and techniques that will equip you for a future career
whether in the creative industries or beyond.
What can you expect from us?







a high quality learning environment supported by committed teaching and
support staff
an intellectually engaging degree course
teaching which accords with best practice
teaching which alerts to the skills required in the workplace
a coherent and clearly structured programme of study
efficient marking of assessments, together with return and feedback on your work
provided, wherever possible, within 15 working days
staff who help and advise should you have a problem
8
Learning and Teaching is a partnership to which both learner and teacher contribute.
This partnership is based upon trust and co-operation within a framework of responsibilities
designed to foster a genuine learning environment. It assumes that the partners share in mutual
respect expressed by punctuality, civility and the recognition of the needs of all involved.
Tutors: contact details
Contact details for tutors in Media, Film and Cultural Studies are below (further details about roles
and research interests can be found on the School website)
Name
Judy Aslett
Thomas Austin
Caroline Bassett
Dave Berry
Michael Bull
Joanna Callaghan
Cécile Chevalier
Kevin Clarke
Wilma De Jong
Andrew Duff
Rachael Evans
Katherine Farrimond
Melanie Friend
Ivor Gaber
Lee Gooding
Adrian Goycoolea
Catherine Grant
David Hendy
Ben Highmore
Frances Hubbard
Malcolm James
Margaretta Jolly
Georgios Karagiannakis
Olga Kourelou
Mary Agnes Krell
Frank Krutnik
Kate Lacey
Lisa Lebow
Eleftheria Lekakis
Sarah Maltby
Andy Medhurst
Monika Metykova
Sharif Mowlabocus
Sally Munt
Sally Jane Norman
Coral James O’Connor
Kate O’Riordan
Niall Richardson
Luke Robinson
Polly Ruiz
SB Room
Telephone
tbc
tbc
329
(87) 2549
200
(87) 2625
316
(87) 7557
335
(67) 8788
334
TBA
240
TBA
202
(87) 7187
326
(87) 2540
202
(87) 7187
246
606755 ext 4860
tbc
tbc
333
(87) 7853
tbc
tbc
252
(67) 8953
210
(87) 2853
208
(87) 2720
310
(87) 3560
320
(87) 2968
tbc
tbc
tbc
tbc
130
(87) 3585
tbc
tbc
Arts C110c
(87) 3555
332
(67) 8954
336
(87) 2769
337
(87) 2512
120
(87) 7030
Arts C110b
(87) 7023
120a
(87) 7855
331
(87) 7787
304
(87) 7387
305B
(87) 6587
318
(67) 8834
tbc
tbc
tbc
tbc
330
(87) 6730
308
(67) 8560
308
(87) 7854
tbc
tbc
9
E-mail
tbc
t.r.austin@sussex.ac.uk
c.bassett@sussex.ac.uk
d.m.berry@sussex.ac.uk
m.bull@sussex.ac.uk
j.callaghan@sussex.ac.uk
c.chevalier@sussex.ac.uk
k.clarke@sussex.ac.uk
w.dejong@sussex.ac.uk
a.duff@sussex.ac.uk
rachael.evans@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
m.friend@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
l.gooding@sussex.ac.uk
a.p.goycoolea@sussex.ac.uk
c.grant@sussex.ac.uk
d.j.hendy@sussex.ac.uk
b.highmore@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
tbc
m.jolly@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
o.kourelou@sussex.ac.uk
m.a.krell@sussex.ac.uk
f.s.krutnik@sussex.ac.uk
k.lacey@sussex.ac.uk
a.s.lebow@sussex.ac.uk
e.lekakis@sussex.ac.uk
s.maltby@sussex.ac.uk
a.medhurst@sussex.ac.uk
m.metykova@sussex.ac.uk
s.j.mowlabocus@sussex.ac.uk
s.r.munt@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
tbc
k.oriordan@sussex.ac.uk
n.d.richardson@sussex.ac.uk
luke.robinson@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
Lee Salter
Rob Sharp
Martin Spinelli
Sue Thornham
Lizzie Thynne
Dolores Tierney
Paul Vincent
Lawrence Webb
Janice Winship
Arts C110a
tbc
208
312
322
324
202
tbc
201
(87) 7646
l.salter@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
(87) 2720
(67) 8031
(87) 2627
(87) 7624
(87) 2530
tbc
(67) 8240
tbc
m.j.spinelli@sussex.ac.uk
s.thornham@sussex.ac.uk
l.thynne@sussex.ac.uk
d.m.tierney@sussex.ac.uk
p.vincent@sussex.ac.uk
tbc
j.winship@sussex.ac.uk
Faculty associated with Cultural Studies in term 1 year 1 but not in School of Media, Film & Music,
by Subject Area and School
Room Telephone
Name
E-mail
Arts
C
Kelly, Catherine (Geography)
tbc
c.e.kelly@sussex.ac.uk
Kaur Kahlon, Raminder (Anthropology) Arts C239 (87) 7667 r.kaurkahlon@sussex.ac.uk
Contacting Tutors
Your first port of call with a specific module-related academic query is your Seminar or Workshop
Tutor or the Module Convenor. More general academic queries can be directed to your
Academic Advisor. With a large module there can be several classes and a small team of tutors
who meet regularly to talk about how the module is going. If you do have a problem then it is
important to tell someone as early as possible so we can address it together and where it’s a
learning issue impacting on all students, discuss with the module team as a whole.
10
Course outlines
On the next few pages you will find outlines of the structures of all our single honours and joint
honours degree courses.
Year 1 modules are those running in 2014/15. However, where a number of optional modules
are offered for you to choose from in a given term (years 2 and 3), not all these modules will
run each year.
You will always be notified of any such changes to the following structures, however, and
you will always be provided with a choice of options.
11
Term 1
Term 2
Core modules
Debates in Media Studies
Everyday Life: Ordinary &
Extraordinary
30
15
One School Option or Elective*
The School Options are:
Working with Film
Media Practice (Digital, Photography, Sound or Video)
Music and Site-Specific Art
*Students can choose One Elective from Schools across the Univ.
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits Options
News, Politics & Power A
30 Media, Memory & History OR Theory, Taste & Trash B
PLUS One School Option or Elective*
American Cinema B
Music, Stage & Screen 1
Professional Practice
Alternatively, One Practice Option (Animation, Digital Media, Photography,
Script Writing, Sound or Video Documentary)
* Students can choose One Elective from Schools across the Univ.
Options
Two Major Options (one will be 15 credits and one 30 credits - A=30 crdts, B=15
Advertising & Social Change A; Digital Cultures B; Journalism & Crisis B;
Sound, Culture & Society A or B; TV: Fictions & Entertainments A or B
Plus One School Option or Elective*:
Media Practice Industry Projects
Gender, Space & Culture;
Locating Cinema: British Cinema B; Locating Cinema: French Cinema B
American Popular Music; Music, Stage & Screen 2
*Alternatively, students can choose One Elective from Schools across the Univ.
Term 2
Term 1
BA Media & Communications (Single Honours) 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits One School Option or Elective*
Questioning the Media
30 The School Options are:
Digital Environments
15 Film Analysis
Media Practice (Digital, Photography, Sound or Video)
Popular Music Cultures
*Students can choose One Elective from Schools across the University
credits
film
media pract
music
15
film
media pract
music
15
credits
media/cult st 15 & 15
film
music
media pract*
or 30
media
media pract₁
cult st
film₂
music
15 & 30
15
Term 2
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
1
2
Options
One or Two Options from:
Documentary, Reality and "Real" Lives; Genes and Clones: Where Science & the
Media Collide; Media, Publics & Protest
OR One or Zero Options from:
Comedy & Cultural Belonging; Consuming Passions
Adaptation: Filming Fiction; Hollywood Comedian Comedy;
Image and Reality in Contemporary Cinema
Creative Project (Digital, Documentary Video, Drama, Photography or Sound)
credits
media
cult st
film₂
media pract₁
Options
One or Two Options from:
Class & Popular Culture; Globalisation & Communication; Media, War & Conflict; media
Music, Media & Culture; The Politics of Representation; Social Media & Critical
Practice; Theorising Media Practice
OR One or Zero Options from:
First Person Film; Global Bollywood: 21st C Hindi Cinema;
film₂
Hollywood Industry and Imaginary; Sexualities and the Cinema
notes for Year 2 students:
At Year 2 you can only choose the Practice media you studied at Year 1
Script Writing is open to all students. Students who studied Digital Media can choose Animation.
If you wish to continue Practice into the Final Year you must take 30 credits of Practice, i.e. Professional Practice AND Industry
Projects OR one of the 30-credit Practice options
You would normally take a Film option at Year 2 if you wish to take a Film option at Year 3 (with the exception of Hollywood: industry & Imaginary)
You would normally need to take one Film module at Year 1 to take a Film option at Year 2
notes for Year 3 students:
If you wish to take a Film option at Year 3 you would normally have studied Film at Year 2.
If you wish to take Practice in the autumn term you must have taken 30 credits of Practice, i.e. Professional Practice AND Industry
Projects OR one of the 30-credit Practice options
12
30 & 30
credits
30 & 30
Term 2
Term 1
BA Media Joints 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits
Questioning the Media 30 Plus Joint Module/s
Core modules
Debates in Media Studies 30
A
credits
30
Plus Joint Module/s
30
Core modules
credits
News, Politics & Power A 30
School Options
Either One 30-credit Option from:
Advertising & Social Change A
Sound, Culture & Society A
TV: Fictions & Entertainments A
Or Two 15-credit Options from:
Digital Cultures B; Journalism & Crisis B;
Sound, Culture & Society B; TV: Fictions & Entertainments B;
Plus Joint Module/s
Term 2
Term 1
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
media
30
30
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
Options
One Option from:
Comedy & Cultural Belonging
Documentary, Reality and "Real" Lives
Genes and Clones
Media, Publics & Protest
credits
Cult St
media
Term 2
Plus Joint Module/s
30
30
Options
One Option from:
Class & Popular Culture; Globalisation & Communication;
Media, War and Conflict, Music, Media & Culture; The Politics of
Representation; Social Media & Critical Practice
Plus Joint Module/s
13
credits
media
30
30
BA Film Studies (Single Honours) 2014-15
Term 1
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
P3055 Issues in European Cinema A
P3029 Film Anaysis
credits Options
30 The School Options are:
15 Media Practice (Digital, Photography, Sound or Video)
Popular Music Cultures
credits
media pract
music
media
15
Cult St
media pract
music
15
Term 2
Alternatively, students can choose One Elective from Schools across the University
Core modules
Issues in Global Cinema
Working with Film
30
15
One School Option or Elective
The School Options are:
Everyday Life: Ordinary & Extraordinary
Media Practice (Digital, Photography, Sound or Video)
Music & Site-Specific Art
Alternatively, students can choose One Elective from Schools across the University
Term 1
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
Film Theory
credits Options
30 American Cinema B Plus One Elective* OR:
Media, Memory & History; Theory, Taste & Trash B
Music, Stage & Screen 1
Professional Practice
Alternatively, American Cinema A
film
media
music
media pract₁
film
credits
15 & 15
or 30
* Students can choose One Elective from Schools across the University
Term 2
Options
ONE or TWO Locating Cinema 30-credit Options or ZERO or One Media Practice:
Locating Cinema A (British, Chinese, French)
Media Practice (Animation, Digital, Photography, Scriptwriting, Sound or Video)
If 30 credit Locating Cinema chosen above choose One 15-credit Option from:
Locating Cinema: British B; Locating Cinema: French B
PLUS another 15-credit Elective* OR a 15-credit Option from:
Digital Cultures B; Gender, Space & Culture;
Journalism & Crisis B; Sound, Culture & Society B; TV: Fictions & Entertainments B
Industry Projects
American Popular Music; Music, Stage & Screen 2
* Students can choose One Elective from Schools across the University
film
media pract₁
60 or 30
film
15 & 15
media/cult st
media pract₁
music
Term 2
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
1
2
Options
One or Two Options from:
Adaptation: Filming Fiction; Hollywood Comedian Comedy; Image and Reality in
Contemporary Cinema
OR One or Zero Options from:
Comedy & Cultural Belonging; Consuming Passions, Documentary, Reality &
"Real" Lives; Genes & Clones; Media, Publics & Protest;
Creative Project (Digital, Documentary Video, Drama, Photography or Sound)
Options
One or Two Options from:
First Person Film; Global Bollywood: 21st C Hindi Cinema;
Hollywood: Industry and Imaginary; Sexualities and the Cinema
OR One or Zero Options from:
Class & Popular Culture; Globalisation & Communication; Media, War & Conflict;
Music, Media & Culture; The Politics of Representation; Social Media & Critical Practice
Practice; Theorising Media Practice
credits
film
media/cult st
media pract₂
credits
film
media/cult st
notes for Year 2 students:
At Year 2 you can only choose the Practice media you studied at Year 1
Script Writing is open to all students. Students who studied Digital Media can choose Animation.
If you wish to continue Practice into the Final Year you must take 30 credits of Practice, i.e. Professional Practice AND Industry
Projects OR one of the 30-credit Practice options
notes for Year 3 students:
If you wish to take Practice in the autumn term you must have taken 30 credits of Practice, i.e. Professional Practice AND Industry
Projects OR one of the 30-credit Practice options
14
30 & 30
30 & 30
Term 2
Term 1
BA Film Studies Joint 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits
Issues in European Cinema B
15 Plus Joint Module/s
Film Anaysis
15
Core modules
Issues in Global Cinema
30
30
Plus Joint Module/s
30
credits
30 Plus Joint Module/s
30
Core modules
Film Theory
Options
One 30-credit Option from:
Locating Cinema A:
British Cinema
Chinese Cinema
French Cinema
Or two 15 credit Options from:
Locating Cinema B: British Cinema
Locating Cinema B: French Cinema
Plus Joint Module/s
Term 2
Term 1
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
film
30
30
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
Options
One Option from:
credits
film
Plus Joint Module/s
Term 2
30
Adaptation: Filming Fiction
Hollywood Comedian Comedy
Image and Reality in Contemporary Cinema
Options
One Option from:
First Person Film
Global Bollywood: 21st C Hindi Cinema
Hollywood: Industry and Imaginary
Sexualities and the Cinema
Plus Joint Module/s
15
30
credits
film
30
30
Term 2
Teerm 1
BA Media Practice (Single Honours) 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits
Issues in European Cinema A 30 Creative Production: Video
Creative Production: Photography
Creative Production: Sound
Creative Production: Digital (2 of these in Term 1)
Core modules
Debates in Media Studies A
30
credits
15
15
Creative Production: Video
Creative Production: Photography
Creative Production: Sound
Creative Production: Digital (2 of these in Term 2)
15
15
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Term 1
Core modules
Term 2
Core modules
Industry Projects
credits School Options
One Option from:
Creative Media:
Animation
Digital (Interactive Media)
Photography
Script Writing
Sound
Video
AND Two Option from:
Professional Practice
Media, Memory & History; Theory, Taste & Trash B
American Cinema B
American popular Music; Music, Stage & Screen 1
credits School Options
15 One Option from:
Creative Media:
Animation
Digital (Interactive Media)
Photography
Script Writing
Sound
Video
AND One Option from:
TV:Fictions & Entertainments B; Digital Cultures B;
Sound, Culture & Society B
Gender, Space & Culture;
Locating Cinema: British B; Locating Cinema: French B
Music, Stage & Screen 2
credits
media pract
30
media
film
music
15
15
media pract
30
media
15
film
music
Term 2
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
*
Core modules
Project Development
credits School Options
credits
30 One Option from:
Comedy & Cultural Belonging; Consuming Passions
media/cult
30
Documentary, Reality and "Real" Lives; Genes and Clones: Where Science
& the Media Collide; Media, Publics & Protest;
Adaptation: Filming Fiction; Hollywood Comedian Comedy;
film*
Image and Reality in Contemporary Cinema
Core modules
Final Creative Project
credits School Options
30 One Option from:
Class & Popular Culture; Globalisation & Communication; Media, War &
Conflict; Music, Media & Culture; The Politics of Representation;
Social Media & Critical Practice; Theorising Media Practice
First Person Film; Global Bollywood: 21st C Hindi Cinema;
Hollywood: Industy and Imaginary; Sexualities & the Cinema
You MUST take a Film option at Year 2 if you wish to take a Film option at Year 3
16
credits
media/cult
film*
30
Term 1
Core modules
Practising Cultural Studies
Term 2
BA Cultural Studies Joint 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
Culture Across Space & Time
Everyday Life: Ordinary &
Extraordinary
credits
30 Plus Joint Module/s
credits
30
15
15
Plus Joint Module/s
30
credits
30 Plus Joint Module/s
30
Core modules
Theory, Taste & Trash A
Term 2
Term 1
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Major Options
Two Options from:
Culture and Performance
Culture, Race & Ethnicity
Gender, Space & Culture
Plus Joint Module/s
15 & 15
30
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
Major Options (see note below)
One Option from:
Comedy & Cultural Belonging
Consuming Passions
Contemporary Social Theory
Cultures of Colonialism
Landscape, Nature & Representation
Transnationalism & Identity
credits
cult/media
cult/media
cult/sociol
cult/geog
cult/geog
cult/geog
Term 2
Plus Joint Module/s
30
30
Major Options (see note below)
One Option from:
Alternative Societies
Class & Popular Culture
Music, Media & Culture
Race, Ethnicity and Identity
The Politics of Representation
Plus Joint Module/s
17
credits
Sociology
cult/media
media/cult
cult/anthr
media/cult
30
30
Core modules
V3047 Practising Cultural Studies
P4006 Questioning the Media
Core modules
Debates in Media Studies A
Culture Across Space & Time
Everyday Life: Ordinary &
Extraordinary
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
Theory, Taste & Trash A
News, Politics & Power A
credits
30
30
30
15
15
credits
30
30
Major Options
One Option from:
Advertising & Social Change A
Sound, Culture & Society A;
TV: Fictions & Entertainments A
Two Options from:
Culture & Performance
Culture, Race & Ethnicity
Gender, Space & Culture
Term 2
Term 1
Term 2
Term 1
BA Media & Cultural Studies Joint 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
media
30
cult st
15 & 15
Term 2
Term 1
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
Major Options
One Option from:
Consuming Passions
Contemporary Social Theory
Cultures of Colonialism
Landscape, Nature & Representation
Transnationalism & Identity
Comedy & Cultural Belonging
One Option from:
Genes and Clones: Where Science & the Media Collide
Documentary, Reality and "Real" Lives
Media, Publics & Protest
Major Options
One Option from:
Globalisation & Communication
Media, War and Conflict
The Politics of Representation
Social Media & Critical Practice
One Option from:
Alternative Societies
Class & Popular Culture
Music, Media & Culture
Race, Ethnicity and Identity
18
credits
cult
cult/sociol
cult st/geog
cult st/geog
cult st/geog
cult
30
Media
media
media
30
credits
media/cult
Media
media/cult
soc
30
soc
cult/media
media/cult
cult/anthr
30
Term 1
Term 2
Core modules
Debates in Media Studies B
Creative Production: Digital Media
Journalism, Research & Writing 2
Term 1
Year 2 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
Broadcast Journalism (Radio)
News, Politics & Power
Journalism, Law & Ethics
credits Options
15
n/a
15
30
Core modules
Broadcast Journalism (TV)
Journalism Work Experience
credits Options
15
Media Events
15
Term 2
Term 1
Term 2
BA Journalism (Single Honours) 2014-15
Year 1 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
credits Options
Questioning the Media B
15
n/a
Creative Production: Photography
15
Journalism, Research & Writing 1
30
Year 3 (60 credits per Term)
Core modules
International Political Communication
Core modules
Journalism Project
15
15
30
30
credits
Options
n/a
credits
30
Options
PLUS one of the following:
Advanced Journalism Skills: Online Journalism
Advanced Journalism Skills: Science Journalism
credits Options
30
PLUS one of the following:
Globalisation and Communication (Dissertation)
Politics of Media Representation
Social Media and Critical Practice
Class and Popular Culture
19
credits
30
30
credits
30
Joint course and module descriptions
Joint Degrees and the Subject areas/Schools to which they belong
If you are studying a joint honours degree, apart from Media and Cultural Studies, you will need
the handbooks for both parts of your course, e.g. if you are taking a BA English and Media &
Communications, you will need the handbooks from both the Schools of English, and Media, Film
and Music. You also need to be aware to which of the two subject areas you are primarily attached
(normally the first-named part of your degree). The table below shows the primary or ‘owning’
Department and School for degrees with a Media, Film or Cultural Studies element.
Course Title
Owning Subject area/School
Anthropology and Cultural Studies
American Studies and Film Studies
Anthropology in School of Global Studies
American Studies in School of History, Art
History and Philosophy
Art History in School of History, Art History
and Philosophy
Art History in School of History, Art History
and Philosophy
School of English
School of Media, Film and Music
School of English
History in School of History, Art History and
Philosophy
School of Media, Film and Music
Sociology in School of Law, Politics and
Sociology
Sociology in School of Law, Politics and
Sociology
Art History and Cultural Studies
Art History and Film Studies
Drama Studies and Film Studies
English and Film Studies
English and Media Studies
History and Film Studies
Media and Cultural Studies
Sociology and Cultural Studies
Sociology and Media Studies
List of Modules
The following table lists by Year all the undergraduate modules offered or owned by the School of
Media, Film and Music and available on the media, film and cultural studies courses. The table is
followed by more detailed information on each Year 1 module. Full up-to-date details of all modules
are available on the School’s Study Direct site: ‘Media, Film and Music: info and docs’. To see how
these modules fit into the structure of your degree course, which are compulsory and which optional
for your course, refer to the degree structure charts listed above. Please remember that not all of
these modules may run each year. If you have queries about any of these modules, in the first
instance contact the Media, Film and Music School Office.
CODE
P3062
P4006
P3029
P4062
P4063
P4064
P4065
V3047
W3052
P3028
P4092
YEAR 1 MODULES
Digital Environment
Questioning the Media A
Film Analysis: Hollywood Narrative and Style
Creative Production: Video
Creative Production: Digital Media
Creative Production: Sound
Creative Production: Photography
Practising Cultural Studies
Popular Music Cultures
Issues in European Cinema B
Journalism, Research and Writing 1
20
TERM
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
P4061
V3003
P3071
P3030
P4066
P4067
P4068
P4069
W3050
W3049
P4093
Debates in Media Studies A
Everyday Life: Ordinary & Extraordinary
Working with Film
Issues in Global Cinema A
Creative Production: Video
Creative Production: Digital Media
Creative Production: Sound
Creative Production: Photography
Music and Site Specific Art
Culture Across Space and Time
Journalism, Research and Writing 2
CODE
P4080
P3070
P3075
P3077
P3038
P4070
P4071
P4072
P4073
P4074
V3052
W3054
W3002
YEAR 2 MODULES
News, Politics & Power
Media, Memory, History
American Cinema B
Creative Media: Animation 1
Film Theory
Creative Media: Digital Media
Creative Media: Photography
Creative Media: Sound
Creative Media: Documentary Vide
Creative Media: Script Writing
Theory Taste and Trash B
Professional Practice
Music, Stage and Screen 1
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
TERM
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
One
P3026 TV: Fictions and Entertainments A
P3044B Locating Cinema: British Cinema B
P3067 Digital Cultures B
P3068 TV: Fictions and Entertainments B
P3074 Journalism and Crisis B
P3079 Industry Projects
P4008 Advertising and Social Change A
P4084/P4084A Sound, Culture & Society B and A
V3021 The Allure of Things
V3026 Culture, Race and Ethnicity
V3053 Gender, Space and Culture
W3039 Music, Stage and Screen 2
W3075 American Popular Music
P3042 Locating Cinema: French Cinema A
P3044/P3044B Locating Cinema: British Cinema A and B
P3078 Creative Media: Animation 2
P4075 Creative Media: Digital Media
P4076 Creative Media: Photography
P4077 Creative Media: Sound
P4078 Creative Media: Documentary Vide
P4079 Creative Media: Script Writing
P4086A Locating Cinema: Chinese Cinema
CODE
YEAR 3 MODULES
P3047 Viewing Women
P3053A Race & Ethnicity in Popular Cinema
P3061 Creative Project
P4012A Hollywood Industry and Imaginary
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
TERM
One
One
One
One
21
P4016
P4041
V3035
V3036
P3059
P3065
Media, Publics and Protest
Doc, Reality TV and ‘Real Lives’
Comedy and Cultural Belonging
Consuming Passions
Genes and Clones
Image and Reality in Contemporary Cinema
P3009 Globalisation and Communication
P3011 Music, Media and Culture
P3013 The Politics of Representation
P3052 Hollywood Comedian Comedy
P3057 Sexualities and the Cinema
P3063 Social Media and Critical Practice
P3066B Adaptation: Filming Fiction
P4081 Class and Popular Culture
P3005 Image and Reality in Contemporary Cinema
P4089 Media, War and Conflict
P4088S Global Bollywood: 21st Century Hindi Cinema
P4087 First Person Film
P4012 Hollywood Industry and Imaginary
One
One
One
One
One
One
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Module Descriptions
On the following pages you can find brief outlines of level 1 Media,
modules. For further detail of modules running this year, including
reading lists, convenor information about each module, please refer to
can be found on the Media, Film and Music Study Direct Site: Media,
info
https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=10903
Film and Cultural Studies
aims, learning outcomes,
the Module Guides, which
Film and Music: docs and
For assessment details on a module you are currently taking, please refer to the ‘View my Study
Pages’ on Sussex Direct. For other module assessment details, please check with the School
Office.
YEAR 1 (Level 4)
Creative Production (15 credits)
In each of these modules listed below students will do one of four strands: video, digital media,
sound, or photography. Students are introduced to basic technical skills, software manipulation and
aesthetic practices associated with the relevant medium-specific digital practice. Students will
conceive, research, develop and produce a small media project as directed by a tutor. This project
should be seen as an initial foray into a particular medium or topic which students will have
opportunity to explore further at level 2.
P4063 and P4067 Digital Media (15 credits each): This module introduces students to using
desktop publishing and interactive media applications whilst also encouraging them to reflect
critically on issues of form and representation in relation to their own work. They learn key
processes and techniques involved in the production of desktop digital media: research,
development, image editing, composition and manipulation, information & communication, layout
design and presentation. Students will work individually to realize set exercises in and out of class
and produce a completed set of digital artifacts to a project brief.
P4065 and P4069 Photography (15 credits each): This module introduces students to using the
still image and encourages them to reflect critically on issues of form and representation in relation
to their own work. They learn key processes and techniques involved in digital imaging: research,
22
composition, exposure, editing. Students will work individually to realize set exercises in and out of
class and produce a completed series of images to a set brief.
P4062 and P4066 Video (15 credits each): This module introduces students to narrative using
the moving image and encourages them to reflect critically on issues of form and representation in
relation to their own work. They learn key processes and techniques involved in video production:
research, scripting, camera, sound and editing. Students will work in a team to realize set
exercises in and out of class and produce a completed video project to a set brief.
P4064 and P4068 Sound (15 credits each): This module introduces students to sound production
and encourages them to reflect critically on issues of form and representation in relation to their
and others’ work. They learn key processes and techniques involved in radio: research, scripting,
interviewing and editing. Students will realize exercises in and out of class and produce a
completed sound piece to a set brief.
V3049 Culture Across Space and Time (15 credits)
In this module particular emphasis is given to the relationship of culture to place, difference and
identity to demonstrate current discourses on the cultural politics of identification. Cultural
encounters will be deciphered through the prism of racial, ethnic, class and gender relations on a
local and global level. Drawing on key theoretical debates and case studies, culture will thus be
explored in the context of social changes and social crises, for example the impact of globalisation
and transnationalism on everyday life; the impact of consumption on the transformation of
individual and collective behaviour and life choices; the changing social relations on a local and
global scale in response to multiculturalism, racism, poverty and marginalisation; the changing face
of activism and cultural politics in the emergence of new social movements etc.
P3062 Digital Environment (15 credits)
Digital media saturates everyday life, re-organises cultural productions of all kinds, and remediates the teaching and learning environments which students will inhabit at Sussex. The
course aims to examine this digital environment through both practical and theoretical
perspectives. It enables students to understand and use digital tools to enhance and explore their
study and to take a critically informed stance on their existing practices.
The course examines developments in new media with a particular emphasis on different uses of
digital media, enabling students to make distinctions between kinds of material, genres and
platforms. Through a practical approach it equips students to use digital media confidently to both
enhance study and to understand the digital environment as media and cultural form.
The course covers topics including data visualisation, searching for resources, citation, catalogues,
mapping, archiving, using social media, privacy, copyright and surveillance, digital media as a
research area (e.g. how to research and ethics of researching Tweets/Wikipedia/social forums)
and the politics of software.
The course will draw upon a range of digital research platforms, including those owned and/or
subscribed to by the university in order to provide a solid foundation for students to embark on
future independent research.
V3003 Everyday Life: Ordinary & Extraordinary (15 credits)
This module explores the idea of the 'everyday'. This is a contested term but one broadly referring
to the taken for granted, the unremarkable and repeated bedrock activities of daily life. The module
opens up this notion to present the everyday as ordinary and extraordinary; localised and tied into
the bigger dynamics of capitalism and globalisation. Drawing on key theorists, in particular, feminist
Rita Felski, Marxist Henri Lefebvre and social theorist Michel de Certeau, the module explores a
series of case studies: 'dressing the body', 'food', 'car culture', 'going green', 'love'. These explore
the historical development of aspects of everyday life, its textures and experiences, hardships and
poetics, and the ways everyday life in the West might be different from, but also linked to everyday
lives in other cultures. Emphasis is on the ways that everyday culture can suggest other ways of
23
living (it has utopian elements) but is also struggled over, resisted and changed. The politics of
everyday life is intimately tied to wider political arenas.
The module gives you opportunity to reflect on your own lives and those of others. It encourages
you to develop an eye and feel for the details of everyday life, to collect media and other material
that speaks about everyday life, and above all to be self-reflective and critical about how you
yourself are culturally and socially located. You will have opportunity to work independently and
collaboratively on a topic.
P3029 Film Analysis: Hollywood Narrative and Style (15 credits)
This combination of lecture, seminar and screening allows students to learn approaches to
analysing the techniques and terminology of Film Analysis. We will focus on how meanings and
impact are produced for audio-viewers of film texts. The module will cover techniques such as
narrative analysis, editing, mise-en-scene, sound and performance. We will explore not simply how
such techniques are accomplished (i.e. the creative choices available to filmmakers) but also the
potential they have for generating meaning and pleasure when combined together to produce filmic
texts.
P3071 Working with Film (15 credits)
This module is designed to help you to develop your study skills in preparation for working with film
in more advanced ways in years 2 and 3 of your degree. The skills we will work on in particular
include those of detailed, scholarly, film analysis and interpretation, critically, historically and
theoretically informed film studies research, and multimedia forms of academic presentation and
writing.
By focusing on a single set film [in 2013-14, this is intended to be Los olvidados/The Young and the
Damned (Luis Bunuel, Mexico, 1950)], the module will offer the space and guidance to enable you
to develop your own critical case study. Weekly lectures will introduce you to the film, its production
and reception contexts, as well as to a wide range of potentially relevant issues to consider when
establishing how you will go on to work with it. The lectures will also introduce you to a range of film
studies skills and methods, including ways of conducting and presenting film research afforded by
multimedia technology. In seminars you will analyse the set film, and its possible connections with
other films, and explore your ideas and research methods under the close supervision of a tutor, as
well as present your work in progress.
P4006 Questioning the Media (30 credits)
This module examines ways of questioning media forms, texts and systems. It explores the breadth
of Media & Communications through attention to the ways in which media matter in the formation of
individual and collective identities and in the practices of everyday life. In the more public world, to
what extent are media key to providing knowledge and enabling the debate necessary to the
practices of democracy? The course enables students to build on their own experiences of media
as consumers, audiences and users. It encourages critical attention to how the field of Media &
Communications has historically been forged through its key figures and to the tools for questioning
the media they have developed.
The module ranges across media and genres, engaging with both contemporary and historical
material. Topics may include: audience pleasure and identity; representations and power; public
knowledge; the social impact of the rise of digital media.
Key terms may include: criticism, critical thinking, identity, textual analysis, representation,
semiotics, power, public knowledge, institutions,
Embedded in the module is the development of study skills appropriate to the study of media at
undergraduate level, including organising study time, note taking, essay writing and referencing,
with particular attention being paid to constructing arguments and being critical.
P4061 Debates in Media Studies (30 credits)
This module explores some of the most well-known and widely regarded theoretical and critical
approaches used the study of media today. It also identifies and analyses the debates circulating
around those approaches. In asking 'What is the subject of media'' and 'How should we study it'',
different approaches come up with very different answers. Media can be approached as ritual,
24
(global) industry, meaning-maker, technology, dreamworld, everyday life, work place, sensual
pleasure machine. Focus can switch from media production and organisation to analysis of media
output, to exploration of consumption and use, to the bigger issue of media in society.
In carving a way through this complexity the module will introduce a few key frameworks - for
example 'political economy', 'critical race studies', 'psychoanalysis', 'feminist media theory' - and
alert you to how differences of approach have emerged depending on the specific medium or
cultural form (radio, TV, cinema, internet, newspaper, advertising, music etc.). However, a repeated
reference point for the module is the cultural output of media and methods analysis, especially
modes of textual analysis.
P3055 Issues in European Cinema A (30 credits)
This module explores key critical inquiries which have become central to Film Studies as a
discipline (realism, national cinema, popular genres, authorship, and 'alternative' or experimental
film styles), through an engagement with examples of European cinema from the 1920s to the early
1960s. Using a series of case studies, students will learn to situate film texts according to their
historical, cultural, and social contexts, in addition to relevant theoretical debates. Topics may
include: German expressionism, surrealism, Soviet montage, the 'enhanced' realisms of Italian and
British film movements in the post-war years, the French New Wave, and popular genres in
European cinema.
P3028 Issues in European Cinema B (15 credits)
As above
P3030 Issues in Global Cinema (30 credits)
This module looks at international film of the last five decades, and builds upon and extends your
knowledge of critical issues within film studies. A range of films will be studied in order to explore:
genre and art cinema; post-colonialism and political cinema; gender and feminist cinema; and
globalisation and popular cinema. We will study important movements in post-war film culture,
which may include new wave cinema from France and Czechoslovakia and Third Cinema from
Brazil. We will explore the relationship between gender, history, allegory and national cinema
(examples may include films from Senegal, Spain, Tunisia and Iran). We will also examine the
aesthetics and economics of the blockbuster in a global film culture (case studies may include
contemporary films from South Korea, China, India and Australia).
W3050 Music & Site-Specific Art (15 credits)
This is a practice-based module that will engage you in the making of site-specific performance in
public spaces. You will explore through lectures and practical workshops the relation of space,
place and sound, and the social meanings of specific locations. The module will examine a range
of contemporary artistic approaches and theoretical ideas, as well as introducing you to practical
methods for making site-specific work with music.
W3052 Popular Music Cultures (15 credits)
This module is to provide you with an introduction to the various critical discourses surrounding
popular and jazz music cultures. While it is hoped that it will broaden your historical awareness and
critical understanding of different traditions in these musical cultures, it is not primarily intended as
a historical overview. Likewise, while some technical understanding is required, the primary focus
is not on minute analytical distinctions between different styles or practical instruction in songwriting, production or performance. Rather, we will concentrate on the social and cultural functions
and meanings of the popular music cultures studied and the reasons why they exert such a
powerful hold on audiences and practitioners alike.
Every week we will focus on a critical issue that has been central in discussions about popular and
jazz music. Deliberately, these issues transcend the boundaries of style (or 'genre') and historical
period. Thus, rather than honing in on the minutiae of individual styles, we will seek to
contextualise them more broadly and see what, perhaps surprisingly, they have in common and
what historical lineages connect them. It is the intention that this wider awareness of historical,
25
social and cultural contexts will also enable those of you who are musicians to reflect more
critically on their own artistic practice, thus enriching their work.
V3047 Practising Cultural Studies (30 credits)
This module introduces students to the relevance and excitement of using cultural studies'
approaches to explore pertinent aspects of life in the 'globalised world' of the 21st century. The first
few weeks are devoted to describing, debating and historicising key areas of cultural life: home,
work, leisure, city. In the second half of the term students are introduced to cultural concepts that
are fundamentally contested within society. Concepts such as taste, individualism, and humanity
will be discussed and debated and students will use their cross-cultural and historical skills
(developed in the first half of the course) to explore issues pertinent to these concepts. Students
will be guided to undertake focused cross disciplinary study through carefully directed research
tasks and reading on these topics. Teaching and learning will involve a mix of lectures, seminars,
workshops, screenings, individual and group work. Assessment is by submission of an exercise,
essay, and group presentation.
P4092 and P4093 Journalism, Research and Writing 1 and 2 (30 credits each)
These two modules introduce students to the practical and analytical skills involved in professional
news writing, news gathering and research. In the autumn term the focus is on print media and
students will learn about conceptual issues linked to the production of print news and features
(such as news values, narrative structures, objectivity in reporting and similar) and also acquire the
skills necessary for the production of print news and features. Legal and ethical constraints on the
work of journalists will also be covered in the module. Students will work individually and
collaboratively in order to produce stories, evaluate sources, carry out interviews and revise
writing. The focus in the spring is on broadcast media - radio and television. The concepts
discussed focus on similarities and differences between the production of print and broadcast
media contents and hence concepts such as the 24/7 news cycle, interactivity, storytelling and
similar will be discussed. Students will also consider whether the production of contents for
broadcast media raise additional legal and ethical concerns (compared to print news and features).
The modules will also encourage students to critically evaluate examples of news and features and
to reflect critically on their own production practices.
What we expect from you …
Being a student carries obligations as well as rights, especially at Sussex where so much
emphasis is placed on group teaching, project work and independent study.

Attendance at lectures seminars, workshops and tutorials is compulsory and is
monitored. If you are unable to attend you must let your tutor know and provide an
explanation (beforehand, where possible).

Prepare for seminars and tutorials. Just turning up for seminars and tutorials is not
enough. You need to have done the specified reading, and/or any preparation tutors
have set, in advance. You should try to contribute to seminars, as well as listening and
responding to other people’s contributions. The success of a seminar depends on
everyone turning up and being committed to reading and discussing the material. You
will get more out of tutorials and seminars the better you are prepared for them.

Observe deadlines. Being able to organise your time and to plan ahead to meet
deadlines is an important skill. But note too that there are strict deadlines for all
contributory assessments and you will be penalised if you do not meet them, unless you
have mitigating circumstances that can be backed up with evidence. It is your
responsibility to submit this evidence.
26

Co-operate with your fellow students. You will be working on your own and with
others. You can learn a lot from discussing your work with others. You can also help
each other by sharing resources, such as reading material, notes and essays. In some
modules, study group time is built into the module, in other cases students may be
encouraged to set up their own study groups.

Use the Library – both its physical and electronic resources. We have one of the
best University libraries in the country, and it is especially good in its support for
undergraduate teaching. To get the best from the Library you should attend one of the
induction sessions on offer. To help minimise the occasional bottleneck with book
availability, please, don’t keep books any longer than you need them. Liaise with other
students on your module to share reading material. If you can’t find a particular text
simply take the opportunity to read something else in the same area. Remember that
you also have direct access via the library ‘search’ to a wealth of cutting-edge material
via electronic journal articles, which can be quickly downloaded.

Use the resources on a module’s Study Direct site, where you will find a variety of
teaching materials to support your learning. In many cases a site will also offer a virtual
learning environment: you may be required to contribute to a blog or complete a quiz,
participate in discussion forums or share photos, film clips and other material with
others in your group.
Lecture attendance etiquette
As a courtesy to your lecturer and fellow students we ask that you abide by the following guidance
for lecture attendance.

Arrive in good time for the start of the lecture. If you are unavoidably late please enter the
room with minimum disturbance and do not interrupt the lecturer

Mobile phones should be off (or at least on silent if you need to be contacted).

Do not engage in private conversations or exchange notes during lectures

Do not pack-up and/or leave before the lecture is finished
All of the above are very distracting for the lecturer and your fellow students and will
affect everyone’s learning experience
Remember: Classes are compulsory and the best learning experience comes from being there as
it happens. However, if you have a period of absence, try to catch up quickly, seeking out the
advice of your tutor. The materials (including lecture notes) posted on Study Direct should help you
do this. Where possible we also try to upload lectures synchronised with any PowerPoint
presentation.
Study Packs/Module Readers
A comprehensive study pack or Module Reader is provided to support most core modules and
many large modules. These contain copies of essential material, and will save you hours of
searching in the Library and slaving over a hot photocopier. We are gradually moving to more
electronic access so that this coming year you may find some readers are available online via Study
Direct (though you can buy one direct from the Print Unit). A limited number of hard copies will be
available for purchase from the School Office. For most modules the Study Direct site also offers
direct access to core reading via the Library’s reading list system. This allows you to quickly access
27
the library catalogue for texts recommended by your tutor and in some cases provides you with
immediate access to a pdf file of a relevant chapter or article.
You may also find it desirable to buy particular books for some modules, but ask the Tutor for
advice before spending money on books which may turn out not to be all that useful for the module.
Also look around for second-hand ones, often advertised on notice boards and via email, and which
can often be bought via Amazon. Also consider ‘share-buying’ with others in your seminar group.
Credit System, Options and Electives
Each academic year of Sussex courses is a ‘self-contained’ unit of study. Full-time students are
expected to put in a 40-hour average working week over the 2-term 24 week academic year - a
grand total of at least 1,200 study-hours per year. Sussex, like other Universities, uses a measure
called “credit” which reflects this input of time. Every year contains at least 120 credits (a credit
being equivalent to 10 hours of student effort). These credits are divided amongst the different
modules – 60 credits in the term 1 and 60 credits in the term 2. By knowing the number of credits
for each module, you will have a guide to the relative amount of work required - i.e. a 15 credit
module should require only half the total amount of work needed for a 30 credit module. The credit
allocated indicates the total amount of effort required including, as appropriate, time spent
completing assessments over the vacations (Christmas and Easter). Your time is spent on many
different learning activities: reading background material, preparing and writing essays, attending
lectures and tutorials, attending screenings, going to the Library, research for assessments,
working in a small group on set activities, going on a shoot for a project, and so on.
These figures can only be a guide. The most important reason for this is that individual students
come with different backgrounds and with different strengths and this will affect the amount of effort
(and time) needed to cope with the various modules in the degree course. If you find yourself
spending much more, or much less, time on a module than is appropriate for that module’s credit
loading, then you should talk to your Module Tutor, Academic Advisor or Director of Student
Experience to make sure that you are spending your time effectively.
Options and Electives
If you are a single-honours Media or Film Studies student in Years 1 or 2, you have the option to
choose a module for your fourth strand from a list of Elective modules offered across the
University. Do check out these modules offered by other disciplines and also think about the
possibility of studying a language. On these single honours courses, and also on Media Practice, it
is possible to take modules from within the School – Music, Media, Media Practice, Film and
Cultural Studies modules.
In year 1 you will be asked to select any optional modules or a School option/elective for the Spring
Term in November. Options and electives for Year 2 are chosen by all students (who have them in
their course structure) in February for the forthcoming academic year.
Timetabling
The University timetable is released in stages throughout the academic year. The School Office will
contact you when you can see your timetable in Sussex Direct for the following term. Please
check this carefully and make sure you are allocated to the right modules and that you have
no timetable clashes. Seminar or practical group changes will be accommodated if possible but
please do not assume that this will be the case. In many cases modules or groups will already be
full leaving little scope for change. Group changes to fit in with work or travel commitments will be
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considered but cannot always be accommodated. Please contact the School Office if you have any
timetable queries.
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Most modules involve some mix of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops (the latter particularly
for media practice sessions), chosen both to be appropriate for that particular module and to
develop useful skills. Sometimes you will be working on your own, and at other times in groups.
Below, the main different kinds of teaching and learning that you will come across are described.
Lectures
Not all University of Sussex modules have lectures, but most core or large modules do. Lectures
are often, but not always, weekly and are normally just under an hour. They are usually held in
'lecture theatres' like Silverstone 121 or Fulton A and B. In a lecture, a relatively large audience is
addressed by a lecturer who speaks for most of the time – often using visual aids to provide
illustrations or show data – and to summarise key points. Lectures play an important role, but this
varies depending on the module, the topic and the lecturer. They may engage with and guide your
reading for the week, introduce you to approaches and analyses you can try out for yourself, or
open up a topic, giving you a wider context in which to reflect on illustrative material or key issues.
Sometimes they can be very factual, other times inspiring and entertaining, sometimes more
interactive: there is no one model for lectures.
Lecturers will provide you with some key notes but you will also need to develop an efficient and
effective style of taking your own notes. It is a good idea to make time after a lecture to go back
over your notes and get them into order, maybe discuss with another student, adding points you
missed noting down but still recall, so that they will be really useful to you weeks or months later
when you think about an essay or revise for an exam.
Some lectures will be digitally recorded and made available via Study Direct after the lecture,
together with a synchronised PowerPoint presentation. (Not all lecture theatres are yet equipped
for digital recording and it is not always appropriate to provide a full PowerPoint presentation.) If
you wish you may take your own recording during the lecture.
Seminars
A seminar consists of a group of students meeting for 1-2 hours with a module tutor to discuss
some specific topic. Although it is led by a tutor, active participation by students is key to the
group’s learning. From one week to the next you will be asked to prepare material, reflect on some
question and do reading, individually and in a small group. In this way you have something
concrete that you have already thought about to discuss and exchange with others. Sometimes
you will be asked to make a presentation to the group, either individually or with others. This
presentation may constitute one of your contributory assessments. Seminars also involve the
framing of the topic by the tutor, debate, raising questions and problems as well as contributing
your own ideas. If you miss seminars you will soon fall behind with the module. For this reason
attendance is compulsory. If you miss a seminar you must contact your tutor. Group size can vary
depending on what type of seminar it is, but our usual seminar size is between 15-20 students.
Workshops
Practice workshops consist of a group of students meeting with a Production Tutor for two hours.
They are intended as a forum in which you develop your skills technically and conceptually in a
variety of media productions. You will experience one-to-one and group tuition and be encouraged
and expected to experiment creatively and conceptually. Preparation, individual or group will be
expected before the session. Group size will usually be no more than 16 but may be less.
Attendance at workshops is also compulsory.
29
Supervisions and Tutorials
All modules (and particularly dissertation work at Level 3) include compulsory individual or small
group tutorials where you will have the opportunity to discuss and review essay plans or group
work with the module tutor. Meetings for such sessions are usually held in your supervisor’s office.
In addition you can also book an extra appointment or use your tutor’s Office Hours to discuss or
gain guidance on aspects of the module.
Unsupervised Group Work
Sometimes you will be expected to work with a small number of other students with no tutor
present. These study groups may be timetabled around the seminar session but often students
decide for themselves where and when to meet. They are usually organised around some
particular tasks and questions set by tutors. The Media & Film Course Co-ordinator can help with
booking rooms if required. Note that experience and the skills of working independently as well as
collaboratively are especially valued by prospective employers.
Independent Study
Much of your study at university, unlike at school, will involve you working by yourself, whether it is
reading, note taking and preparing for seminars, searching out material on the internet and the
library or engaging in a particular activity or engaging with questions suggested by your tutor.
In total in your first year you will probably be spending at least a third of your working week in this
way and in some ways this is the most important part of your learning. Whilst this can initially seem
daunting your tutor will map out for you what they would like you to do between sessions.
Assessment
Assessment is planned to encourage you to develop useful skills, to explore and demonstrate your
knowledge and understanding, as well as to measure achievement. It is part of your learning, and
the way a tutor is able to judge whether you have met the Learning Outcomes for the module and
are progressing appropriately for the level of study. Information to guide you in the completion of
your assessments is available in the relevant Module Handbook and/or are on your module Study
Direct site, whilst details of dates and submissions are available via your Study Pages on Sussex
Direct. Different modes of assessment are appropriate for different modules, and they test diverse
skills and abilities, which is why we use a mixture of modes. You may sit a conventional unseen
exam, but more common is a variety of assessments such as: essays, individual and group
assignments, dissertations, project and practice work in different media, and presentations,
learning diaries, blogs, critical commentaries and more. We try to assess both written and oral
skills and individual and collaborative skills and where appropriate practice skills. Each module has
particular assessments that are designed to test specific content from the syllabus, but we also
plan the range of assessments taken over your course as a whole, so that you succeed in a
number of what are called ‘transferable skills’ by the time you graduate.
The sections below offer guidance on the language we use when talking about assessments and in
particular provide detail on one assessment method, the essay, but what we call Contributory
assessments are those pieces of work on which you will be officially graded and which contribute
to your progression (Year 1), and final classification (Years 2 and 3).
Non-contributory assessments are those which may be graded but which are for learning purposes
only. In either case you will receive feedback, always written and by a tutor in the former case. For
non-contributory assessments you may receive written or oral feedback from a tutor or, sometimes,
peer feedback. Contributory assessments are submitted either electronically or in person directly
to the School Office (for more details please check your Assessment & Examination timetable on
your Sussex Direct page).
Presentations
On many modules you will be asked to prepare seminar presentations, either on your own but
more often with other students. Presenting to fellow students and your tutor can seem daunting –
30
but remember that everyone else is in the same boat at some point during the term. Like essay
writing, it is a skill well worth developing, and one which will stand you in good stead after you
graduate. You will receive guidance on how to prepare presentations, including the use of film clips
and PowerPoint. You can book a training session via ITS. Some of the advice below on writing
essays also applies to Presentations.
Essays
Much of the academic work you do on your modules will involve essay writing. Some students
worry that they will not be able to write essays properly. The secret lies in preparation – doing
adequate reading, taking good notes, and then, before you start writing, laying out the structure of
your essay in an essay plan. Go through your notes, think about the key themes being addressed
in the different works you have read, and then organise these themes into a tight and coherent
argument. Essay skills should improve with practice, and we do not expect immediate perfection.
Don’t be afraid to ask your tutors for help or guidance if you think you have a problem. Do attend
the tutorial hours a tutor organises and, if necessary, their office hours (see page 3 above) to seek
advice or quell your anxieties about a particular essay. When essays are marked, the feedback is
designed to highlight what you are doing well and to offer you pointers on how to improve your
skills with subsequent assessments. Again, if you need further clarification or practical advice on
how to develop your essay writing, do consult with the tutor who marked your work (where that is
possible), or your Academic Advisor or, if you are an international student, with the tutor taking
your Academic Study Support class. Attending study skill workshop sessions organised at
University level – these are advertised throughout the year – using S3 (Study Success at Sussex)
or swapping essays with other students can all help. Indeed, one of the best ways to learn how to
write a good essay is to see what other people do.
For the very useful S3 site go to:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/
When you are writing an essay, we suggest a few principles to observe.
•
Answer the question. The good essay is one that deals with the problem set. If you have read
material, however interesting, but it is not required for the question, you should leave it out. (It
won’t be wasted - keep it in your notes. It may well help your planning and thinking at a later
date.) If you have not yet found material which is relevant, you probably need either to do
some more reading, starting with titles suggested to you in your module guide, or to consult
with your tutor about the meaning of the title set. Tutors have put a lot of work into selecting
appropriate reading lists for you: use them, they are your building blocks (even if you also find
other relevant titles).
•
Media, Film and Cultural Studies often deal with controversial issues, on which you may have
strong views. An essay, however, demands evidence and coherent, logical analysis, not just
opinions. Imagine that you are trying to convince somebody who holds the opposite view to
yours. Develop an argument but give good reasons and evidence for it.
•
Do not simply report on what you have read. Though you will need to offer selective and
succinct summaries of some aspects of your reading, an essay is not a précis or summary.
Analyse the material, and present it in a structure that sets out a clear line of argument related
to the question. Your material will not be wholly original, but you can always think about it for
yourself.
•
Do not put chunks of text from books or lectures into your essays. Plagiarism (presenting
the words and ideas of others as if they are your own, i.e. without acknowledging the
source) is a serious academic crime – some would call it ‘theft’ of ‘robbery’ - for which
there are severe penalties (see below). It can be done accidentally – for instance by
reproducing the arguments of others whilst forgetting to say where they came from. Ways of
avoiding it will be discussed during the first term. These include citing sources properly, with
enough detail to enable them to be checked. (A list of correct forms of referencing or citations
31
are indicated below.) Do make sure that you understand the rules on plagiarism. Turnitin
– software available via your Study Direct and which checks your essay against published
material may help you.
•
Leave yourself time to go through your first drafts, clarifying meaning, improving the order,
cutting waffle or repetition, and getting rid of material which is not really relevant. Writing to a
specified length is a valuable skill, and a concise style is to be aimed for even if you do not
have a word limit. You may find, however, that to achieve this you do need to write a first draft
which is much longer. Editing down is usually much easier than writing up! Avoid spinning
things out to make it look as if you have a lot to say. This doesn’t usually impress the marker!
Remember, ‘less is often more’.
•
Take care with grammar, punctuation, and spelling (Microsoft Word includes a grammar and
spell-checker). Always check through your work for details like this before handing it in.
•
Warning: technical problems with computers or printers, queues for use of printers or
breakdowns, are not acceptable as reasons for submitting late work. Never leave your essay
until the last minute, and NEVER try to print it out fifteen minutes before the deadline time!
The same applies to practice-based assessments!
Assessment criteria
The general assessment criteria are available in your Module Handbooks and/or on the module
Study Direct site and can also be found on the School’s Media, Film and Music Study Direct site
“MFM Info and Docs. More specific criteria and requirements will also be in your Module Handbook
or the associated Study Direct site. Note that the assessment criteria may vary slightly from School
to School. This may be relevant if you are a joint student or taking an Elective from another School.
Assessment: What you need to know
An ‘Examination and Assessment Handbook’ is available online, which gives
comprehensive information on examination and assessment matters. See:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-3-2.html
You should also refer to the Assessments and Examination Noticeboards in
Silverstone Building where documents showing examination timetables, etc., will be
published in due course.
As already indicated, a variety of assessment methods are used to develop and test different types
of knowledge, skills and aptitudes. For each module assessments are set to meet particular
Learning Outcomes, which are increasingly challenging as you progress from Year 1 to Year 3.
These are described in detail in each Module Handbook. They are also available on your Sussex
Direct study pages.
Handing in contributory assessments
Electronic Submission and Feedback
From 2014/15, students taking first year modules will usually be asked to submit assessments
electronically where assessments are text-based, for example, an essay. Your Sussex Direct
webpages and module handbook will give all assessment details, including whether the
assessment is to be submitted via e-submission through Sussex Direct or in hard copy via the
School Office. Feedback for all e-submission assessments will also be provided electronically.
32
Please refer to the frequently asked questions available on the following webpage for further
information:
www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment/esubmission
Turnitin
You are encouraged to use the internet-based text-matching service, Turnitin, prior to submitting
your assessments. This may help you identify problems with your referencing.
Turnitin is also used during the marking process as a means of checking the originality of
submitted work. From 2014/15 all assessments submitted electronically via e-submission will be
uploaded to the Turnitin database and an Originality Report will be made available to the marker.
Please refer to the frequently asked questions available on the following webpage for further
information:
www.sussex.ac.uk/adqe/standards/examsandassessment/esubmission
Work must be handed in by given deadline otherwise a penalty will apply. On busy submission
days make sure you allow plenty of time to submit your work. When you are required to submit a
paper copy in person, either one or two copies of the work will be required depending on the
module and school rules. Make sure that the correct cover sheet is attached before you hand
your work in - these are available in advance from School Offices. Any data discs should be
attached to the work using a sealed envelope or wallet (so it cannot fall out). Submissions are
logged electronically, so it is important that you bring your student ID card with you and hand in
your work yourself (if electronic submission is not required). Coursework can be handed in up to 6
weeks early.
Deadlines for assessed work
Deadlines for assessed coursework are absolute unless you are a student with a disability. For the
latter, ‘reasonable adjustments’ are usually made on arrival at the University, in consultation with
the Student Support Unit. But there are occasions when a student develops particular health
issues and further adjustments are made, including revised deadlines. Other students may also
find themselves temporarily disabled, e.g. by breaking a leg, and they too may be allowed
‘reasonable adjustments’. This process is managed by the Student Support Unit in negotiation with
the School Director of Student Experience and any requests (for a later hand in date, for example)
need to be made well in advance of submission deadlines.
For full details of the University’s late submissions policy please see Undergraduate Examinations
Handbook, Section 4: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-3-2.html
Any student experiencing genuine problems in getting work in on time should talk to their
Academic Advisor or a Student Advisor. If you are unable to submit your work or it is submitted late
because of impairment, you should also consult a Student Advisor. You may submit Mitigating
Evidence, explaining and corroborating the reason for your non-submission or lateness and this
will be considered by a formal Mitigating Evidence Committee, who will consider whether your
evidence is such that any penalties for non-submission or lateness should be removed. For advice
on submitting Mitigating Evidence go to: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/studentlifecentre/mitigation
Note that no work, even if mitigating evidence is accepted, can be submitted after the ‘7 day late’
period (unless a student has arranged ‘reasonable adjustments’ in advance of the deadline).
Providing feedback and returning work to you
Comments and (where appropriate) grades on coursework should be communicated to you within
15 working days of the deadline. When due to illness or other circumstances this is not possible,
33
the School will communicate this to you as soon as possible after the hand in. Contributory
assessments (the ones which were submitted in person) will be returned to you via the School
Office. This may be a few days after the release of feedback and grades on Sussex Direct, but
you will be sent an email saying when is the best time to come. You may only collect your own
work unless prior arrangement is made in writing to the School Office.
However, it may be that feedback for end-of-year assessments (May/June) are available slightly
later due to priority needing to be given to final year work and your work may not be available for
scrutiny until September.
Grades/Marks
Grades/marks and feedback will be made available via Sussex Direct, but please note that all
marks are provisional until they are ratified by an Examination Board. The later takes place
at the end of each academic year. After the meeting of the relevant Examination Board, details of
your module results, including examination results, will be confirmed on Sussex Direct. Details of
sits or resits will also be available on your Sussex Direct (go to ‘Timetable’) but Project details and
Essay questions will be available on the web (search ‘Resits’ and find your subject area).
Information on examination and assessment performance
You are encouraged to discuss your performance with your Academic Advisor, as you go through
the year, making use of their Office Hours (also known as student consultation times). In the
Spring term as you are choosing options for Year 2 you will be formally required to meet with your
Academic Advisor to discuss your progress, as well as talk through your options. If your progress is
problematic your Advisor and the Director of Student Experience or Director of Teaching and
Learning will help you develop a ‘Study Plan’ and put in place any necessary support to help you
get back on track. A similar meeting will take place at the beginning of Year 2 for those who have
underperformed in Year 1 or are repeating a year. But all students should meet with their
Academic Advisors in the new academic year to take stock of their progress and set priorities for
the coming year. To help inform this discussion, a presentation of your results in a time-series,
and by comparison with the performance of others on your modules, will be available to you via
Sussex Direct.
Word limits
The maximum length of formal submissions (e.g. essays or dissertations) will be specified on
Sussex Direct. Excessive length may be penalised. However, the limits as stated do not include
footnotes and/or endnotes, bibliography, appendices, abstracts, maps, illustrations, transcriptions
of linguistic data, or tabulations of numerical data.
If the examiners consider that an unfair advantage has been gained by exceeding the given length
for an assessment they may reduce the mark for that assessment. Word limits are more important
for relatively short pieces of work where one of the skills you are practising is to write clearly but
briefly. As a rule of thumb do not exceed the word length by more than 10%. Writing too short a
piece may also be subject to a penalty if your work does not quite have the substance that the full
word length would enable.
Writing well and avoiding academic misconduct
Plagiarism, collusion, and cheating in exams are all forms of academic misconduct which the
University takes very seriously. Every year, some students commit academic misconduct
unintentionally because they did not know what was expected of them. Others commit plagiarism
because they panic, running out of time to submit a satisfactory piece of work. Others do it
knowingly. But note, it is never worth taking the risk because the consequences for committing
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academic misconduct can be severe, It is important, therefore, that you familiarise yourself with
what it is and how to avoid it. To quote from the Examination handbook:
‘Plagiarism is the use, without acknowledgement, of the intellectual work of other people, and the
act of representing the ideas or discoveries of another as one's own in written work submitted for
assessment. To copy sentences, phrases or even striking expressions without acknowledgement
of the source (either by inadequate citation or failure to indicate verbatim quotations), is plagiarism;
to paraphrase without acknowledgement is likewise plagiarism. Where such copying or paraphrase
has occurred the mere mention of the source in the bibliography shall not be deemed sufficient
acknowledgement; each such instance must be referred specifically to its source. Verbatim
quotations must be either in inverted commas, or indented, and directly acknowledged.
Collusion is the preparation or production of work for assessment jointly with another person or
persons unless explicitly permitted by the examiners. An act of collusion is understood to
encompass those who actively assist others as well as those who derive benefit from others.
Where joint preparation is permitted by the examiners but joint production is not, the submitted
work must be produced solely by the candidate making the submission. Where joint production or
joint preparation and production of work for assessment are specifically permitted, this must be
published in the appropriate module documentation.’
For further guidance see your Study Direct site - Turnitin for students.
The University’s S3 guide to study skills gives advice on writing well, including hints and tips on
how to avoid making serious mistakes. Visit http://sussex.ac.uk/s3/writingwell and make use of the
resources there. You will also find helpful guides to referencing properly and improving your critical
writing skills. See also the advice and tutorials offered on the ‘Better Writing’ Study Direct site.
If you are dealing with difficult circumstances, such as illness or bereavement, do not try to rush
your work or hand in something which may be in breach of the rules. Instead you should seek
confidential advice from the Student Life Centre.
The full University rules on academic misconduct are set out in the Undergraduate Examination
and Assessment Handbook; see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-3-2.html
Making your voice heard, being involved
We want you to tell us about your experience of studying at the University and participate in the
discussions about how to continue to enhance our provision for you and future students. Here’s
how you can be involved:
Student Representatives: ‘Your voice in a learning partnership’
The Student Representative Scheme is run jointly by the Students’ Union (USSU) and the
University in liaison with Schools and Departments. Student reps provide an essential link between
students, the University and the Students’ Union.
Each year the student body in the School will elect their reps. Reps garner your views and
represent you at key committees in the School and the wider University. They play a particularly
valuable role at key Department, School and University meetings where changes to courses and
modules are being planned and significant issues for the future are being debated. Being a Rep
gives you the opportunity to help shape the School’s agenda, enhance learning and the overall
experience of students in our School. For example, our reps have been particularly important in
advising us on the kind of social and study they wanted in the school, as well as helping us to
strengthen the curriculum. Being a rep also looks quite impressive on a CV. Think about
nominating yourself or a fellow student, and once elected to use your reps if you have ideas for
improving things, or criticisms about your course of the school.
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Further information on the student representation scheme including voting dates can be found at
http://www.studentreps.co.uk/
Other ways of giving us feedback
Feedback about individual modules: module evaluation
At the end of modules, you will be asked to complete an anonymous module evaluation
questionnaire (MEQ) giving your views on the module teaching, module content, organisation, etc.
Please do fill these in because your views are important to us. Together with in-class discussions
your views will feed into ongoing module development and help improve future student learning.
Your responses will be analysed and considered in subject area and School committees and taken
on board by Module Convenors. If they reveal especially good practice, where appropriate, we will
try to roll out across modules.
Module feedback data and comments about the subject area’s proposed response are posted via
Sussex Direct. Not only does this facility let you see how your input was taken on board for a
module you have completed, but you can use this information to help inform your future module
choices. Many module guides also indicate changes to the module based partly on feedback from
students in the previous year.
Measuring the quality of your overall experience
In your final year, you are invited to respond to the National Student Survey (NSS), which is run
independently of the University and asks about your overall academic-related experience. The
NSS is important; it measures student satisfaction in a common way across different institutions, to
help future students in making their choices and it gives universities additional feedback for
improving what we do.
We very much encourage you to take part in these surveys.
Study Abroad
The University belongs to the European Union scheme for interchange of students between
different universities.
Students, whatever their degree course, may spend a term of their degree in year 2 studying at a
university elsewhere in Europe, US or further afield. We have a wide range of partner universities,
many of which teach in English. If you are interested in the possibility of studying abroad, you
should request information at an early stage – it can take some time to organise. You should
consult with the School’s Study Abroad Representative and also call in at the Sussex Abroad office
based in Friston building which administers these programmes. The Sussex Abroad also organises
briefing sessions and holds information material on Sussex's partner universities. You will find a lot
of useful information on the University Web site about universities elsewhere where you can study.
Start with:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/sabroad/forsussexstudents
A term away can be a refreshing and stimulating experience, widening your horizons and
developing new social as well as academic skills and knowledge.
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Beyond your course
Careers
You should start thinking about your career options early on, and do some research on a range of
possibilities you feel might be suitable for you. These days, just getting a degree is not enough and
you may need to think about what else you could do while you are here, which will strengthen your
CV and maybe give you an edge in getting the job you want. That term abroad could help, for
example. But also consider voluntary work, work placements, learning a language, and so on.
Careers and Employability Centre
All your experience at University counts. CEC want to work with you from the first moment you
arrive on campus to enable you to develop your skills, confidence, find your sense of purpose and
learn about the new career improvisation approaches that will enable you to be successful in the
21st century world of work. You will find details about all the services they offer from part-time
jobs and work-insight opportunities, careers review to workshops and events at:
www.sussex.ac.uk/careers or call in to the main Library to find out more.
Sussex Plus
In addition to academic qualifications, employers increasingly look for wider life skills such as
leadership, personal initiative and team working. Often it's not only what you know, but what you
can do with your knowledge that counts.
Sussex Plus is an initiative that brings together a range of opportunities to help you enhance and
understand your skills. The aim is to enable you to develop a more holistic view of your learning, by
drawing on all aspects of your university experience. Through a number of activities you will have
the opportunity to:



develop a range of life skills through employability skills events;
enhance and hone your skills by, for example, volunteering in schools, establishing new
community projects, setting up a student enterprise, or being active in student media;
enrich your learning experience and help manage personal and career development.
Sussex Plus can help you develop confidence in your abilities and build a strong CV. By investing
a little time on Sussex Plus you will build the skills employers are looking for in a graduate from a
research-based university. For more information, refer to www.sussex.ac.uk/sussexplus
Skillclouds
The Skillclouds project addresses the issue of making skills more visible to students through an
exploration of the use of social bookmarking software and tagging. If you go to your Sussex Direct
pages, you will find the skills associated with each module – click on the ‘skills cloud’ tab.
Volunteering
Project V: Volunteer work placement
Project V helps to arrange placements for students who wish to do volunteer work. Project V is
open 11am – 4pm on Monday to Friday during term time. You are welcome to drop in to Project V
during these times and have a look at the volunteering opportunities available. A member of the
Project V team will give you further information about the volunteering opportunities on offer and
help you decide which one is right for you. See http://www.ussu.info/projectv
Being a Student Ambassador Our current students are the University’s best ambassadors
and there are several central University offices that look every year to recruit current students to be
involved in recruitment work, both on campus and via external visits to schools and colleges.
This sometimes has a particular focus on talking about university life to young people from
disadvantaged backgrounds. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, look out for
these opportunities, which are usually advertised via student web pages.
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Students are also needed to help out with School admission days and University open days.
Get involved in the Student Union (USSU) There are lots of opportunities to get involved in
clubs, societies and the political processes of USSU.
Student Opportunities
Also check out the School’s Study Direct site Student Opportunities. This provides a rich array of
work experience/jobs in the cultural sector and of cultural festivals and events you may wish to get
involved in.
Student Life Centre
The Student Life Centre (SLC) offers information, advice and guidance to all Sussex Students, on
a broad range of subjects related to student welfare. Our aim is to assist students to gain the best
university experience they can, whatever their circumstances, by ensuring students who run into
problems get help and support.
Ways to access us
The Student Life Centre is on the ground floor at the front of Chichester 1. There are lots of ways
to access our service. We are open from 9.00am – 5.00pm every weekday. You can drop in to see
us, call 01273 876767, email studentlifecentre@sussex.ac.uk or make an appointment via
Sussex Direct. Just go onto your Sussex Direct site, click on your ‘Study’ tab and then on Student
Life and Student Life Centre - you can select the advisor you wish to see at a time that suits you.
An appointment with a Student Life Advisor offers you a confidential and supportive space to
discuss your situation, and to help you consider ways forward.
You can also book an appointment with our Student Money Co-ordinator to talk over your finances
and work out a budget for the year.
Help, advice and guidance
Amongst the many issues we can help you with are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal concerns affecting study progress or well-being
Funding and finance including scholarships, bursaries and hardship funds
Sources of help to improve academic performance – identifying obstacles to learning
Understanding university systems and regulations in relation to assessment, services,
complaints, conduct, and discipline
Progression, intermission and withdrawal processes - discussion and support
Referrals to other professional services on campus
Mitigating evidence help http://www.sussex.ac.uk/studentlifecentre/mitigation
If you don’t know who to talk to or who to ask – start at the Student Life Centre. Seek help early
and remember that we are here for you.
Because we are also a proactive service you may be contacted directly by the SLC while you are a
student here as we may wish to offer you particular support. This may be, for example, in
response to concern from your School about your attendance, participation or engagement with
your course.
We welcome feedback, so do let us know what you think of our service.
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/studentlifecentre/
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Writing and referencing guidelines
Referencing the Harvard Way
Within the School, we expect all student work to be properly referenced. This is one of the key
requirements for University level work, and you will lose marks if you do not follow an approved
method of referencing and citation. Media, Film and Cultural Studies recommend use of the
Harvard system, which you will be introduced to by your tutors.. But so long as you are consistent it
is fine to adopt another academically recognised method. The main features of Harvard are
described below. For further discussion of it and other methods visit the relevant library web pages
on referencing:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/infosuss/referencing/h_intro.shtml
References in the body of your essay
One author: ‘It would be a mistake…to assume that the popularity of DIY programmes in the UK is
a uniquely contemporary phenomenon’ (2005 Holliday p.65).
Two authors: ‘In a recent journal (Cohen and Shade, 2008) indicate that…’ or if the authors’ names
occur naturally: ‘Cohen and Shade (2008) comment on the problems and constraints of Facebook
for young women as well as its social possibilities’.
Authors of two different works: ‘Recent studies (Morgan & Stanley, 1993; Reisman, 1993) have
shown...’
Multiple citations of the same author who has written several different books/articles: ‘Brown (1990,
1995a, 1995b) has explored the field of…’
Where you are paraphrasing then you do not need to use quote marks or indicate the page
number, but if in doubt quote accurately, use quote marks and include reference to page
number(s) as well as author’s last name, year of publication.
Bibliography at the end of an essay
a) Referencing Books
In the Harvard system you need to detail information in the following order.
1. Authors listed in alphabetical order of surname, and within that, in order of date if more than
one work by the same author is cited.
2. Each author's surname followed by his/her initials or full name (the latter avoids typos and
getting the initials wrong).
3. Year of publication in brackets.
4. Title of book italicised.
5. Edition of book if there has been more than one.
6. Volume number if there is more than one.
7. Place of publication or town of origin.
8. Publisher's name.
Examples:
Reisman, D. (1993) The Political Economy of Health Care, New York, St. Martin's Press.
For books with chapters by different authors, the editor’s name should be used if the book as a
whole is referred to, the chapter author’s name and title if the chapter is referred to:
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Roberts, H (1993) ‘The Women and Class Debate’, pp.52-70 in Debates in Sociology. Eds.
Morgan, D. & Stanley, L., Manchester, Manchester University Press.
b) Referencing Journals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Author's surname, followed by initials or name.
Year of publication, in brackets.
Title of article.
Title of journal, underlined or italicised.
Volume number and (where appropriate issue number).
The number of the first and last pages on which the article appears.
Examples:
Robson, P. (1993) ‘The New Regionalism and Developing Countries’, Journal of Common Market
Studies, Vol. 31, pp.329-348.
Lewis, J. (1999) ‘The opinion poll as a cultural form’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol.
2, No. 2, pp.199-221
Referencing Online Sources
For all online information you need to note the date that you accessed the information, and
database name or web address (URL)
Examples:
Kahn, R. and Kahn, D. (2003) ‘Internet subcultures and political activism’
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/oppositionalinternet.htm
[Accessed 5th April 2007]
Green Party (2007) ‘Manifesto for a sustainable society – Education’
http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/mfssed.html [Accessed 8th December 2007]
For more details visit the relevant library pages:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/infosuss/referencing
Go to ‘Bibliography’ and then ‘Online sources’.
Computers
All the written work you hand in must be word processed, and you must be an email user. To
ensure you buy a computer and software compatible with university services visit the ITS web
pages for their advice:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/help/guide?id=48
On arriving if you do not already have basic IT skills (word processing, Email, use of the World
Wide Web, PowerPoint) you should take the appropriate courses organised by ITS to bring you up
to the standard. Go to http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/ and check out the training on offer.
Independent Study
Remember that, while teachers teach, it is you who has to do the learning. Private or independent
study is an essential part of the whole experience of benefiting from being at university. It is
perhaps what is distinctive about study at this level. The balance between the hours of contact in a
classroom and the time you spend studying by yourself or in a small group is more heavily
weighted towards the latter. Learning requires that you read, research, think, discuss, write or
engage in practice activities outside of the classroom, edit suite or studio. If you have come
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straight from a more structured environment, e.g. School, you may find that university teaching and
this way of learning take a little time to get used to. A lot is left to your own independent initiative.
Things like managing your time properly is much more important. Independent or ‘self-directed’
learning is a phrase you will hear frequently. This means that we want you to take responsibility for
your own progress for the duration of your studies, and to actively manage your own engagement
with and route through the course. We are here and willing to help support your learning, but it is
your degree, and you will gain from it in direct proportion to how much you put in. So do discuss
with your tutors or Academic Advisor – the sooner the better - if in your first year you find it hard to
manage your time efficiently. But having said that tutors in Year 1 are very conscious of the need
to ensure that you are very clear about what tasks you should be engaging in between classes,
and to ensure there is plenty of variety so as to allow for different student learning styles.
Other opportunities: Media and Culture in Brighton
Brighton (or rather Brighton & Hove) is a cosmopolitan city. It is culturally marked by its larger than
average young demographic, its appeal to London metropolitans wanting a better quality of life, its
large gay population and attraction as a seaside resort which offers more than your average bucket
and spade holiday or day trip. Electing the UK’s first Green Party MP (partly thanks to the large
student population), at the same time it also has a sharp class divide, with unemployment,
homelessness and drug dependency significant issues for the city.
Renowned for its regency domestic architecture and its famous ‘oriental’ Pavilion (to say nothing of
its Basil Spence designed University!) the City also boasts a much-loved sea front. Annually it
supports an international cultural Festival running during May, the London to Brighton vintage car
rally in October, the ‘Burning the clocks’ parade and bonfire – a secular celebration of the
December solstice, a Gay Pride event and the London to Brighton bike ride, and may other events.
The City supports a high density of pubs, restaurants and coffee shops, and enjoys a lively retail
sector from chain stores in the shopping mall in Churchill Square to the more alternative shopping
available in the North Laine. In the region Glyndebourne opera house with its summer concerts
and picnics on the lawn offers the occasional treat for some whilst Brighton itself has a range of
music venues from the Brighton Dome to Concorde 2, from pubs to nightclubs offering, as the
official website puts it, ‘everything a music lover could want, whether you’re a headbanger, a glitzy
pop tart, teatime jazz supper, hippy, electronic enthusiast, hip hopster and so on…there’s going to
be something here to delight you’. There’s also a rich alternative comedy scene, galleries,
museums and theatres. In addition, over the last 10-20 years, Brighton and East Sussex have
become increasingly active centres of media and creative production. In 2000, approximately 1,500
creative businesses were identified, i.e. 1 in 5 of all local businesses. The number is likely to be
much higher today. The creative industries in Brighton now employ 16,000 people accounting for
10.7% of the workforce.
As the organisation Creative Brighton puts it, “Creativity is at the heart of the city – from a new
fashion or design graduate determined to set up a new business, to a global gaming company with
over 1,000 employees, through to England’s largest arts event – The Brighton Festival and over
6,000 freelancers working as artists, writers, performers, musicians, actors and every other
creative profession. http://www.creativebrighton.co.uk
Make the most of what Brighton has to offer!
Note: This handbook is published by the University of Sussex School of Media, Film and Music. Every
reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information given here is correct at the time of writing
(July 2014), but neither the University nor its employees can accept responsibility for any errors which may
appear. Higher education is going through a period of rapid change, and the School of Media, Film and
Music is committed to innovation and seeks constant improvement in its modules and its teaching, so we
cannot guarantee that the modules, members of staff, facilities or other items outlined in the booklet will
remain as described here.
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