Unit information: Dissertation: Practical & Written Element in 2024/25

Unit name	Dissertation: Practical & Written Element
Unit code	FATVM0010
Credit points	60
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Dr. Jimmy Hay
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	Department of Film and Television
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

All MA students are expected to take one of three optional dissertation units. The optional unit will provide a structured and supervised opportunity for MA students to independently pursue an agreed form of creative enquiry. This will involve researching and producing an advanced piece of practice work, to be accompanied by a critical and/or theoretical written element.
The unit involves devising a realisable topic, which has the potential to contribute to knowledge of the subject. It would normally be expected that this topic would arise from work already undertaken on the programme, as the dissertation is an opportunity to explore a specialist area in more detail.
Creative practice may take a variety of forms, including a moving image screen work, a script and treatment, or parts thereof. The title, scale and form of each piece of work will be negotiated through supervision. In every case the work will be expected to meet the requirements of summative Masters level work. The practice and written element together provide the means for advanced creative enquiry through realisation and reflection.

Aims:
1. To provide a focus for in-depth independent research
2. To establish a path for advanced research
3. To explore a range of possible methodological and/or stylistic approaches
4. To gain in-depth knowledge of a specialist area
5. To present the findings in a dissertation.

Your learning on this unit

By the end of the unit, students will be able:

1. To identify and articulate a research question used to direct an independent creative enquiry.
2. To distinguish between a range of different stylistic and/or practice-as-research methods and select an approach suitable for their chosen project.
3. To become familiar with existing work on a particular subject (both written and audio-visual) and/or to understand processes in the selected areas of practice, and to use that work in order to shape their own independent project, providing necessary analysis of, and contextual justification for, the selected production and research practices.
4. To design, conduct and complete a creative research project that is realistic in scope, directed by the research question and shaped by existing work in the field.
5. To make a sustained academic argument that reflects upon, contextualizes and/or develops the findings of the practical exploration of the particular creative research question.

How you will learn

The practical component is supported by both technical and production support as necessary, and by supervision as required at each stage of the production process. The written element is also supervised. Experiential learning is central to the practical elements of the dissertation and practical work is closely supervised.

How you will be assessed

How you will be assessed

The written element (part two above, 4,000 words) (30%) (ILOs 1;2;3;5)

The practical element (70%) (short film, script, portfolio or other film-related practical work, to be agreed with a supervisor) (ILOs 2;3;4)

When assessment does not go to plan

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FATVM0010).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.