VISUAL NARRATIVE COLLABORATIONS - 2025/6

Module Overview

Collaboration and teamwork is an essential element of contemporary media production at all levels. This module enables students from a diverse range of programmes (Film, Animation and Digital Arts; Broadcast Engineering; Music disciplines; Theatre and Performance disciplines, Creative Writing etc) to work together to create an short film narrative, incorporating live action film, animation, digital effects, performance and/or interactivity. This is a great opportunity to work outside of your comfort zone and learn about other creative arts disciplines through diving into the deep end and making something creatively collaborative in response to an imaginative brief.

Students submit a short personal/professional profile using about.me or similar in order to assist in the formation of suitable cross-disciplinary teams.
This is a popular option, so there will be a limit of the number of students able to take the module from each programme. Consultation with Module Convener is welcome/advised. 

 

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

WEINBREN Jon (Music & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Some experience of film production or postproduction either as cast or crew is recommended. Please consult with module convenor if you have any queries. 

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Workshop sessions to aid ideas generation and collaboration.


• Collaborative and interdisciplinary working methods


• Engaging with different subject specialisms and practitioners


• Creative and practical tools and techniques for interactive video


• Tools, technologies and techniques for teamwork


• Working towards the realisation of negotiated practical outcomes


• Creative a collective collaborative response to a brief

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to (i) generate ideas, concepts and proposals in response to a creative brief; (ii) work towards a collaborative and interdisciplinary realisation of the proposal; (iii) evidence the process behind this process; and (iv) manage the interaction of this process in relation to the means available.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Group Proposal, Group Project Output Portfolio & Individual Reflective Commentaries 

Formative assessment and feedback is provided specifically at the proposal stage of the project, at which point each group submits a project proposal and group/peer/self-assessments as commentary on the work in progress of themselves and their team. Specific feedback is offered at this stage so that teams can incorporate this into their ongoing work. In addition proposals are presented in class to solicit tutor and peer feedback.

Module aims

• To establish sound methods of creative collaboration and practical teamwork.
• To develop fluency in collaboration tools, techniques and technologies.
• To develop a viable collaborative project proposal based on a shared idea and bring this to fruition
• To develop and apply appropriate reflective skills

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Apply technical skills and subject knowledge in ways that facilitate collaboration and excellence in developing artistic content; insight into and practical skills necessary for professionally orientated collaborative and interdisciplinary work; and development of research skills necessary for creative practice.

Delivery will be a combination of:-

Lectures

Short Screenings and Demos

Creative Exercises

Software Workshop

Tutorials

Group Seminars

Presentations

Critiques

 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: DMA3007

Other information

Embedded alongside the specific knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences facilitated by this module are more general attributes which the university has identified as an ambition to develop in all students across all subjects and disciplines on offer. These are:-

• Employability
• Resourceful and Resilience
• Digital Capabilities
• Sustainability
• Global Cultural Awareness

 

The following is an account of how this module addresses these ‘pillars’.

 

Employability

In general by the final year of our undergraduate programme students have already developed a range of emplyable skills. This module boosts employability, raises the level at which students can gain positions and roles within the industry on graduation, and addresses well documented industry skills gaps. This module is delivered by tutors and specialists with significant industry experience and contacts, and the notion of ‘professional practice’ within a creative studio environment is a core attribute of the whole course and its components. The module developed a range of proficiencies appropriate to live action film, animation, games, and other associated areas of the media industries, by providing up-to-the-minute knowledge and understanding of tools and techniques used everyday in these fields at professional level. Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of ‘personability’: so that employers, collaborators, funders and commissioners want to work with you. We develop this by enabling students to work collaboratively and collegiately, in a supportive ‘studio-like’ environment in which we all work together to realise creative goals. We also facilitate plenty of networking opportunities, so that students get to meet and interact with future potential employers, collaborators, funders and commissioners. We also assist students to enter events and festivals so that their work is promoted and ‘seen’, widening opportunities and providing valuable peer esteem.

 

Resourcefulness and Resilience

This module provides students with a number of challenges which reflect the current state of the art. Students need to respond to these with inventiveness and flexibility, and are often required to research their own solutions to given problems. The greatest resource for students on this module is each other, and we encourage students to pool their knowledge and work together to come up with innovative methods to achieve a particular creative or technical goal. The studio environment and unfettered access to facilities and software facilitates this. 

 

Digital Capabilities

This module draws on the very latest techniques and technologies, thus ‘digital capabilities’ very much comes with the territory. Contemporary Media Production is an inherently ‘digital’ affair of course, although we include more traditional techniques such as drawn animation, and drawing practice, as part of the offering.

 

Sustainability

It is incumbent on us all to reduce carbon footprints, and the film, animation and digital arts sector is no different. On all our modules and programmes, students are made aware of sustainable production practices both on-set and behind the computer. Students are shown best practices such as LED-based lighting, virtual production technologies to minimise crew and talent travel, recycling of sets and other materials, better transport choices, minimising of waste, and awareness of environmental and social effects on local communities and landscapes. These are embedded in various current industry initiatives such as BAFTA Albert, the ‘Screen New Deal’ production sustainability plan, and others. Furthermore, from a content viewpoint, many of the creative projects developed by students on the programme address environment and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. We also work closely with the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Global Cutural Awareness

We are a diverse community of practitioners reflected in both the student cohort and the associates and specialist tutors brought in to assist in the delivery of this and other modules. We promote a convivial atmosphere, and as highly internationalised group, awareness of global cultures and diversities is an inherent part of the offering.

 

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.