Overview

This unit introduces students to the major concepts and key debates in screen studies and provide students with the critical tools necessary to analyse a screen text. Students will develop an understanding of the histories and structures of screen industries with a particular emphasis on cinema and television. This unit will also facilitate greater student awareness of the relationship between screen texts, genre and society

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
04-November-2024
09-February-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-November-2024
Census date
29-November-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
27-December-2024
Results released date
04-March-2025
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025
Winter
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
23-June-2025
03-August-2025
Last self-enrolment date
23-June-2025
Census date
04-July-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
18-July-2025
Results released date
19-August-2025
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
03-November-2025
08-February-2026
Last self-enrolment date
16-November-2025
Census date
28-November-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-January-2026
Results released date

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Critically analyse screen texts
  • Relate specific film and television texts, as well as wider genres, to broader social contexts
  • Identify the relationship between screen theory and practice
  • Discuss screen texts informed by a developed knowledge of theory, history and style

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class		3.00 12 weeks 36
On-campus
Class		1.00 12 weeks 12
Online
Learning activities		4.00 12 weeks 48
Unspecified Activities
Various		4.50 12 weeks 54
TOTAL150

Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Class		1.00 6 weeks 6
Specified Activities
Various		2.50 12 weeks 30
Unspecified Activities
Various		9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AnalysisIndividual 40% 1,2,3,4 
EssayIndividual 40% 1,2,3,4 
PosterGroup 20% 1,2,3,4 

Content

  • Form and Style
  • Medium Specificity
  • Defining Genre
  • Genre and Context
  • Animation
  • The Film Industry
  • The Television Industry
  • Screen Performers
  • Screen Authors
  • National Screen Cultures
  • Screen in the Digital Age
  • Realism and the Screen

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.