This course focuses on film and media as 'object' or materials. It introduces the history of film and media collections, the role of archives and demonstrates the practice of preservation, cataloguing and documenting film and media. It also addresses the importance of copyright and permissions in the acquisition and exhibition of film and media texts.

The course will be taught through a mixture of lectures, seminars/workshops and supervised 'hands on' learning of a variety of relevant practices (such as online editing, handling of film materials, working through catalogues, examining critical literature of best practice and policy in relation to film festivals, archives etc) Dependent on the content of an individual class, for e.g. a representative week would involve a visit to the Moving Image Archive where students will be led by the curator on a session which demonstrates how professionals work with film materials and students will be given an introduction to the practice and management of film archiving and preservation. Alternatively, another session will include work with digital archives and the editing of digital material. There will be 10 sessions over the course of one semester of which on average 2hrs will be devoted to a seminar/workshop, additional time may be spent with key visiting speakers and/or through site visits, film screenings or related creative practice. The delivery of teaching will therefore be slightly different week to week dependent on the specific skills that are the focus of each class

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70% of the assessment will be by written essay/report completed by the student based on the content of the course. (5000 words)

30% of the assessment will be by small group presentation (12 mins) based on a particular problem raised by the concerns of the course in relation to (for e.g.) copyright; particular preservation issues in relation to certain kinds of film media; different modes of documentation and cataloguing.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

Course essay will be available for reassessment (70%), the small group presentation will not (30%).

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with a clear context and understanding of the history of film and media archives.

■ Offer an opportunity for them to acquire some 'hands on' experience of handling film as a material object.

■ Enable students to acquire a good understanding of issues relating to film and media archives, such as preservation practices, cataloguing, documenting and permissions.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Evaluate the importance of the history of film and media archives to future practices in museums, galleries and archives

■ Confidently handle a variety of film material (celluloid, video and digital materials).

■ Apply their understanding of critical issues of archive practice in their own work

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.