Unit information: Principles of subtitling in 2023/24

Unit name	Principles of subtitling
Unit code	MODLM0010
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Wang
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	School of Modern Languages
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

Unit aims:

1) to familiarise students with the principles underpinning the practice of interlingual subtitling

2) to familiarise students with an appropriate software package for carrying out interlingual subtitling

3) to familiarise students with the most important conceptual and theoretical parameters relating to interlingual subtitling

Your learning on this unit

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge of the functionalities of an appropriate subtitling software
2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of cross-linguistic, cross-cultural issues in subtitling;
3. produce interlingual subtitles for audiovisual products in two principal genres: feature films and documentaries, using the subtitling package
4. explain and justify their subtitling choices with reference to appropriate theoretical and professional parameters.

How you will learn

This is an online-learning unit. It will be delivered via Blackboard and Microsoft Teams.  

In the first part of the teaching block students will read a set of materials, undertake tasks and discuss the outcomes. The latter part of the teaching block will consist of workshops where students will subtitle a clip, or clips, provided by the tutor, receive feedback on these and continue the discussion. 

The unit will be offered in the existing programme languages, as a multilingual seminar. 

How you will be assessed

Assessment is composed of two artefacts:

1,000-word evaluation of a clip for subtitling (30%) (ILO2) to be submitted in week 7

A set of subtitles for a clip of c.5 minutes and an accompanying commentary of 2,000 words (70%), (ILOs 1-4) to be submitted at the end of the teaching block.

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. MODLM0010).

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.