MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
MODULE DETAILS
Module title
Narrative: The art and design of story-telling
Module code
LL714
Credit value
Level
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Mark the box to the right of Level 0 (for modules at foundation
the appropriate level with
level)
an ‘X’
X Level 8
Entry criteria for registration on this module
Pre-requisites
None
Specify in terms of module
codes or equivalent
Co-requisite modules
None
Specify in terms of module
codes or equivalent
Module delivery
Mode of delivery
Taught
Other
x
Distance
Placement
Pattern of delivery
Weekly
x
Block
Other
When module is delivered
Brief description of
module content and/ or
aims
Overview (max 80 words)
Module team/ author/
coordinator(s)
School
Site/ campus where
delivered
Online
Semester 1 x
Semester 2
Throughout year
Other
This module is about telling stories through objects or images and
words. It is built on the gathered knowledge and experience of the
staff and students over the 24 years of the MA Sequential
Design/Illustration course and will cover topics that are relevant to
all MA students interested in storytelling, visual narrative and
delivering complex sequential messages by any means.
Via a series of practitioner and tutor led workshops and master
classes, students will examine the ordering and structure of the
consecutive pages in a book; the planning of a moving-image
sequence; the navigation and delivery of content for a website; the
designing of a journey through a building, museum or exhibition;
telling a story through objects and textiles; the successive sets for a
theatrical event – these are creative activities that require the same
principles to test the skills of a writer/artist.
Margaret Huber and Jess Moriarty
Humanities
Grand Parade and Falmer
Course(s) for which module is appropriate and status on that course
Course
MA Sequential Design
Status (mandatory/ compulsory/
optional)
O
MA Illustration
Creative Writing MA
O
C
MODULE AIMS, ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT
Aims
 provide an opportunity for students from a variety of MA
courses to form a multidisciplinary group working
together to learn the rudiments of narrative and
storytelling in a variety of forms;
 enable students to develop a closer understanding of the
many and varied factors that govern delivery of complex
sequential messages to an identified audience;
 develop in students an ability to present, criticise and
analyse their own process and practice and to engage in
a constructive feedback process with tutors and peers
Learning outcomes
1. the ability to propose and create a body of work that
reveals originality of ideas and clarity of intentions;
2. a conceptual understanding and sympathy with the
given themes and explored their narrative potential;
3. the ability to originate, develop and communicate
concepts of a serial nature;
4. the ability to manipulate and exploit appropriate media,
materials, text and technical processes with creative and
technical competence;
5. an ability to write a closely argued description of the
progress of their project, a discussion of the various
influences on that project (peer, tutorial, seminar, theme
day, lecture, investigation and research) and an
understanding of its context and a critical overview of
their own processes and methods.
Content
Students will be required to participate in a series of projects,
presentations, a theme day, seminars, lectures and peer review.
Students are advised to keep a critical diary to record ideas,
experiences and observations as they progress through the
module, which will then form the basis of their reflective project
report at the end of the module.
Learning support
Faculty resources that may include St Peter’s House Library,
Photographic Unit, Grand Parade
Computer Centre; Media Centre; Graphic Design/Illustration
workshops, The Design Archives; Screen
Archives South-East; Research Ethics Committee; Centre for
Research and Development.
Indicative Reading
Altman, R, A Theory of Narrative, Columbia University Press,
2008
Barry, L, What It Is, Drawn and Quarterly, 2008
Eisner, W, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, W. W.
Norton & Company, 2008
Field, S, Screenplay, Delta, 2005
Herman, D, (Ed), The Cambridge Companion to Narrative,
Cambridge University Press, 2007
Lord, J V, Drawing upon Drawing, University of Brighton, 2007
Mackendrick, A, On Film-making, Faber and Faber, 2006
Mamet, D, A Whore’s Profession, Faber and Faber, 1994
McKee, R, Story, Methuen, 1998
McCloud, S, Understanding Comics, Harper-Collins, 1994
Pearce, S, Museums, Objects and Collections: A Cultural Study,
Smithsonian Books, 1993
Turkle, S, Evocative Objects: Things We Think With, MIT Press,
2011
Ueland, B, If You Want To Write, Graywolf Press, 2007
Volger, C, The Writer’s Journey, Pan Books, 1999
Yorke, J, Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story,
Penguin Books, 2013
Auslander, L, ‘Beyond Words’, Oxford University Press,
American Historical Review, Vol.110, No. 4,
October, 2005, pp. 1015-1045,
http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/europeanstudies/AuslanderBeyond_Words.pdf
Prown, J D, ‘Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture
Theory and Method’, The University of
Chicago Press, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 17, No. 1, Spring,
1982, pp. 1-19,
http://blogs.ubc.ca/qualresearch/files/2010/09/Mind-inMatter.pdf
TED Lecture Series, ‘How to Tell a Story’,
http://new.ted.com/playlists/62/how_to_tell_a_story
Teaching and learning activities
Details of teaching and
learning activities
A variety of seminars and lectures will cover narrative in its
broadest sense. Seminars will explore the basics of storytelling
while the lectures will give students an opportunity to see a
variety of practitioners and historians whose work and interests
involve narrative. The lectures and some of the seminars may
also be attended by the second-year part-time students and will
vary year to year, in some cases on a two-year cycle.
Allocation of study hours (indicative)
Study
hours
Where 10 credits = 100 learning hours
SCHEDULED
This is an indication of the number of hours
30
students can expect to spend in scheduled
teaching activities including lectures, seminars,
tutorials, project supervision, demonstrations,
practical classes and workshops, supervised time
in workshops/ studios, fieldwork, external visits,
and work-based learning.
GUIDED INDEPENDENT
STUDY
All students are expected to undertake guided
independent study which includes wider reading/
practice, follow-up work, the completion of
assessment tasks, and revisions.
PLACEMENT
The placement is a specific type of learning away
from the University that is not work-based
learning or a year abroad.
170
TOTAL STUDY HOURS 200
Assessment tasks
Details of assessment
for this module
(including details of assessment criteria)
Assessment will be in the context of the University of Brighton
Assessment Policy and the Faculty Code of Practice in
Assessment, and students will be required to complete the
following tasks:
Task1 (50%)
Portfolio
Reflective commentary on the narrative project (1000 words)
(LO1, LO4, LO5)
Creative writing practice relevant to/inspired by the project
(1000 words or equivalent) (LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4),
Task 2 (50%)
Seminar presentation of narrative work including research and
insights into creative processes (LO1, LO2, LO3)
The referral task will require that the portfolio is revised to fulfil
the learning criteria and resubmitted.
Assessment Criteria
General criteria for assessment are framed by the SEEC
descriptors for level 7. Against specific criteria, credit will be
awarded for:
1. create a body of work that reveals originality of ideas
and clarity of intentions; (LO1)
2. demonstrate understanding and sympathy with the given
themes and explored their narrative potential;(LO2)
3. develop and communicate original thinking and
production in relation to practice (LO3)
4. manipulate and exploit appropriate media, materials,
text and technical processes with creative and technical
competence; (LO 4)
5. write a closely argued description of the progress of their
project, a discussion of the various influences on that
project (peer, tutorial, seminar, theme day, lecture,
investigation and research) and an understanding of its
context and a critical overview of their own processes
and methods (LO5)
All learning outcomes must be achieved in order to pass the
module at the threshold level.
Types of assessment task1
Indicative list of summative assessment tasks which lead to the award of
credit or which are required for progression.
1
%
weighting
(or indicate
if
component
Set exercises, which assess the application of knowledge or analytical, problem-solving or evaluative skills, are included
under the type of assessment most appropriate to the particular task.
is pass/fail)
WRITTEN
Written exam
COURSEWORK
Written assignment/ essay, report, dissertation,
portfolio, project output, set exercise
Portfolio
PRACTICAL
Oral assessment and presentation, practical skills
assessment, set exercise
Seminar presentation of narrative work including
research and insights into creative processes
50%
50%
EXAMINATION INFORMATION
Area examination board
Refer to Faculty Office for guidance in completing the following sections
External examiners
Name
Position and institution
Date appointed
Professor David Roberts
Dean of Faculty of
Performance, Media and
music , Birmingham City
University
2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Date of first approval
Only complete where this
is not the first version
Date of last revision
Only complete where this
is not the first version
Date of approval for this July 2014
version
Version number
1
Modules replaced
None
Specify codes of modules
for which this is a
replacement
Available as free-standing module?
Yes
Date
tenure
ends
2016
No
X