Module: FSS6101-20 Rock n' Reel: Popular Music on Screen 

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Stephen Manley

Module Tutor Contact Details:  S.Manley@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module examines the rise and significance of the pop/rock music film, as a distinctive convergence of popular music and cinema cultures. These films typically feature popular musicians onscreen – appearing as performers in their own right, as actors, or as a combination of both. The module traces the emergence of this hybrid form from the 50’s and 60’s, when ‘pop stars’ (e.g. Elvis, the Beatles) started to appear in films as a means of promotion which offered a lucrative mass-media alternative to touring. Since the 1970’s, developments in the commercial, industrial and aesthetic relationship between music and film have resulted in the emergence and profusion of cinematic sub-genres.

These include documentaries (Don’t Look Back, Woodstock, The Last Waltz, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Stop Making Sense, Born to Boogie, In Bed With Madonna, The Filth and the Fury, Meeting People is Easy, Shine a Light); fictional narratives (That’ll Be the Day, Stardust, Flame, Tommy, Breaking Glass, That Thing You Do, Velvet Goldmine) where the narrative is grounded in fictionalised representations of the music industry; the biopic (Backbeat, Sid and Nancy, Walk The Line, Grand Theft Parsons) - films based (often loosely!) on a star’s biography; and the art-house / auteur film (Jubilee, One Plus One). More recently, parodic / post-modern films have emerged, which satirise the filmic / musical conventions of the genre (Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Some Kind of Monster, 24 Hour Party People).

The course enables you to explore and theorise the evolving dynamic of music and cinema in the pop/rock film, contextualising this in terms of its relationship to broader socio-cultural issues.

2.Outline syllabus:

The module opens with a series of lectures which introduce a range of theoretical frameworks, including: Approaches to theorising film / music; Genre & Music Movies; Music Documentaries. The lectures will introduce and contextualise theoretical / critical frameworks which will inform subsequent student research, reading, and textual analysis. (E.g. theories relating to genre; documentary; parody; modernism / post-modernism.) Illustrative film clips will be screened and analysed in relation to these theoretical frameworks. Other sessions are student-led, and offer a chance to develop research projects in a collaborative and supportive seminar environment.

3.Teaching and learning activities:

The module is organised around 2 hour weekly sessions. A series of lecture / screening sessions is followed by the student-led seminar / workshops. Students will identify and research a chosen topic, through set readings and by identifying and locating appropriate primary and secondary sources. Students will summarise and discuss their research findings in the seminars. A key feature of seminars is small group work. Early in the course, students will identify a specific area of research interest which will form the basis of their coursework assignments. Working in small research groups, they will collaboratively investigate the topic area, identifying research materials, engaging with appropriate theoretical perspectives; and identifying and analysing a ‘sample’ of films. For the first assignment each group member will produce a research portfolio, containing an annotated bibliography, and notes on the sample of films. For the essay students will draw upon their research, and will individually or collectively negotiate an essay title with the module leader.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Research Portfolio (1250 words)

• % Weighting: 25

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Essay (3,750 words)

• % Weighting: 75