Module: DRA5104-20 Performance and Media 1

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Olivia Turnbull

Module Tutor Contact Details: O.Turnbull@bathspa.ac.uk

This module is a pre-requisite for the Level 6 module DRA6100-20 Performance and Media 2.

1. Brief description and aims of module:

The module offers you the opportunity to study and utilise media (particularly new media) and practically and theoretically consider how it can be applied in performance. It offers you an opportunity to increase your skills working with new media alongside examining the various ways it is being used in the professional theatre arena today.

The module aims to:

• Develop your understanding of how media (particularly digital and electronic) is being used in live performance.

• Introduce you to a range of practical skills in new media

• Provide you with the opportunity to develop individual and group projects work in response to a directed brief

2. Outline syllabus:

The module explores the contemporary uses of media, especially electronic and digital media, in live performance. You are introduced to practical and theoretical developments in contemporary theatre and performance with respect to new technologies and forms of information exchange that have become increasingly important since the late twentieth century. Exploration is situated within debates about live and mediated performance and contemporary theatre practice. Through a combination of practical and theoretical approaches, you will explore issues such as how the live body on stage is framed, mediated, celebrated, etc. through technological intervention. You will also consider the developments in performance in response to its social/cultural context, with relation to the incorporation of technologies ranging from sound, virtual reality, video and digital media, web casting and email which are all increasingly incorporated into play texts and live performance.

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Teaching and learning will involve group work, workshops, rehearsals, seminars, presentations, filming, editing, animation, live performance and performance for camera

You will be given the opportunity to complete formative tasks before presenting their summative work for assessment.

• The first formative task (presentation) develops your skills in research, critical analysis, evaluation and communication of ideas. It is a group task which enables you to explore a particular theatre company/practitioner and the ways in which new media inform their work.

• The second formative task (practical work) draws on and extends your skills with new media, particularly camera, lighting, sound, and editing.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Group Presentation

• % Weighting: 30%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Practical Work

• % Weighting: 70%