96374 - Television and Digital Media Languages. Laboratory (1) (G-N)

Academic Year 2021/2022

Learning outcomes

By the end of the laboratory the student: knows the production processes and the professional operators involved in the creation and packaging of contents for television and digital media; is able to analyze television programs and products distributed on digital platforms; knows how to reconstruct the interactions between media technologies and communicative effects.

Course contents

The laboratory part of the course will focus on some keywords of the language of television and that of digital media and platforms, providing students with methods and analytical tools and analyzing some particularly relevant case studies.
Among the covered topics, there will be the construction of the TV schedule, formats in television entertainment, TV seriality from networks to Netflix, the aesthetics of YouTube, the language and the industry of podcasts.

Readings/Bibliography

For this module, students must prepare the following bibliography:

  • Luca Barra e Fabio Guarnaccia (a cura di), SuperTele. Come guardare la televisione, minimum fax, Roma 2021.
  • Veronica Innocenti, Guglielmo Pescatore, Le nuove forme della serialità televisiva. Storia, linguaggio e temi, Archetipolibri, Bologna 2008.

Teaching methods

Due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 emergency, teaching is carried out in blended learning mode. Some lessons will be held in the classroom (20 hours of frontal teaching) and others using the Virtuale platform (10 hours of activities and online). A more detailed calendar will be provided at the beginning of the course.

On Mondays, lessons will be held with activities prepared on the platform. On Tuesdays and Wednesday, lessons will be in presence: the teacher will be in the designated classroom, while students will alternate according to a shift schedule that is being defined (more detailed information will be provided in due time). It will always be possible to connect remotely and follow live streaming of lessons held in the classroom through the Teams platform.

The course includes frontal lessons with the support of slides, audiovisuals, digital sources, and other materials which will be shared with the students. The course also hosts meetings with experts in the television and media industry.

ATTENTION: Given the unpredictability of the emergency situation, and since this program is published in July 2021, it is possible that the teaching mode will change in the upcoming months. In this case, timely communication will be given by updating this program, as well as through notices published on the institutional channels: the faculty page, the website of the DAMS Degree Course and on the official FB page of the DAMS Degree Course. All students are encouraged to consult these resources periodically.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a written test, during which the student's competence in the analysis of television and digital audiovisual texts will be assessed. There are no oral tests.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

For non-attending students, the written test will consist of 4 open questions related to the textbooks in the bibliography (up to 5 points each) and a textual analysis paper (up to 11 points). For those who take the entire examination of "Television and digital media", the evaluation of this part will be averaged with that of the institutional module.

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS

For attending students, the five exercises provided on the virtual platform during the lab will be evaluated, to which a sixth exercise will be added at the end of the course, in a reserved date. For those who take the entire "Television and Digital Media" exam, the evaluation of this part will be averaged with that of the institutional module.

 

 

It will be assessed as excellent the performance of those students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, and the ability to connect the history of media with the social and cultural context. It will be assessed as discrete the performance of those students showing mostly mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, not articulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, a correct but not always appropriate language, as well as a scholastic study of the discipline. It will be assessed as barely sufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, lack of knowledge of the history of media. It will be assessed as insufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation within the recommended bibliography and inability to analyse the subject.

To take the examination, students shall register in the list by AlmaEsami service. Non-enrolled students will be excluded from the test. The exam will be held in well-equipped computer classrooms: to rationalise their use, if students registered decide not to sit the examination, they are required to cancel their name from the exam list. Students are also required to sit the examination with their UniBo credentials and a recognition document.

Students who have included this course in study programs of previous academic years are invited to contact the teacher to agree the test methods. DSA students with special needs are asked to contact the professor, with the dedicated office CCed.

Teaching tools

Presentations, projection of audiovisual material, use of clips and archival content, use of YouTube, Rai Play and digital platforms, links and resources available online, meetings with professionals.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Brembilla