MP5024 - Media Events

You will be taught via a weekly two-hour lecture, supplemented by a one-hour seminar. The emphasis on student-centred learning means that a lecture-seminar format is the most effective means by which to receive directed learning whilst also engaging in peer-to-peer explorations on a number of critical concepts. Each seminar will be structured around a particular theme and will focus upon a particular case-study designed to develop your comprehension and evaluation of practical and theoretical approaches to media events.

The seminar sessions will begin by introducing you to core concepts. The main part of each seminar will focus upon group tasks and discussion of the theme, events or set texts. Seminar discussions are also intended to develop your communication skills and your ability to develop and respond to ideas in a collaborative environment. You are expected to prepare for the sessions by studying the set text(s) for each week, and also by carrying out additional recommended reading/viewing (which will be indicated in the module guide and on the e–Learning Portal).

The module tutor has weekly office hours during which you can drop in for academic support. All students are also provided with an academic tutor who also has hours to support your learning. The seminars will allow you to engage in group discussion and problem-solving with the module tutor and your peers, thus developing a constructive support network. The delivery of the module will be supported with learning and lecture materials that are accessible via the e-learning portal.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:

• An understanding of the key critical and theoretical debates about specific media events

• An ability to contextualise and critically interrogate events within the social and cultural contexts within which they are formed

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

• An ability to articulate, evaluate and apply theoretical and critical scholarship on the concept of media events

• Demonstration of analytical and communication abilities through verbal and written means.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

• An appreciation of the global and cultural contexts of media events

The assessment strategy for this module is to encourage you to develop a critically and contextually informed understanding of media events, their organisational dynamics and management. Assessment takes and the form of a 3,000-word individual summative written event proposal (100 %).

The individual event proposal (3,000 words) tests your ability to reflect upon relevant critical material and to persuasively develop and propose a specific media event. It addresses all of the MLOs relating to knowledge/understanding, intellectual/professional skills and personal values attributes, in testing: an understanding of key debates, an ability to contextualise, an ability to articulate, evaluate and apply theoretical/critical ideas in relation to specific examples, and the communication of these abilities. Submission and receipt of feedback is via Turnitin.

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Ever wondered what the point of a film festival really is? Ever thought about why awards ceremonies take place and what their value really is? Ever considered how things like media publicity stunts shape the way we think about the world? Or, even, just how are such events put together and what shapes the way they function and their success or failure? Using specific case studies this module looks at the way what we might term ‘media events’ are organised, what their effect on the media and cultural industries is and how, as academics, we might conceptualise and make sense of them. The stress is upon a holistic approach that looks at events from the bottom up, examining the dynamics their creation, operationalisation and – ultimately – what they achieve. The assessment task encourages you to conceptualise, develop and propose your own hypothetical media event in relation to the case study the module examines, allowing you to demonstrate how the knowledge you gain on the module might be put into practice in the real world.