TELEVISION AND AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION

The module is part of the historical and artistic cluster within the MA in Economics & Management of Arts and Cultural Activities (EGArt).

Upon successful completion of the module, students will know how contemporary televisual forms situate within the audiovisual sector and will be able to relate them to the dynamics that characterise this part of the cultural industry. By such contextualisation students will be able to frame televisual forms within the broader area of audiovisual production, be it institutional or bottom-up. Additionally, students will be able to interpret and correctly read contemporary tele-/audiovisual forms employing the categories developed within the disciplines of TV and Media Studies.

Essential to pass the module students are expected to develop critical thinking, so as to be able to recognise the logics and processes regulating contemporary audiovisual artefacts, be they formats, texts or platforms, and put one another in relation. Ultimately, such critical thinking is expected to be individually articulated, constructively structured and collectively discussed using case studies, concepts and module readings alike. This is truly an essential skill not only because it will contribute to favour a respectful and dialogic environment in the classroom, but also and primarily because it is a key transferable skill required by the job market for pretty much each and every professional profile in line with the overall programme.

Content-wise, there are no entry requirement requested. Some knowledge around audiovisual media may nonetheless make the module a little easier.
In terms of linguistic skills, in line with the minimum entry requirement of the whole programme, some knowledge of the English language is required in order to be able to understand part of the bibliography.

The module opens with an introduction to the study of television as an academic discipline (how Television Studies were born; relationship with cultural industry and influence from the Frankfurt School) to then situate televisual forms within the broader sector of contemporary audiovisual communication. It eventually problematises some key concepts of TV Studies in order to critically discuss the process that characterise the current tele-/audiovisual forms.
Following this, the main focus of the module will be the trajectory traced by these artefacts as they go beyond traditional TV programmes. Such trajectories goes then towards what has been termed “Complex TV” (Mittell, 2015) feeding into a fluid media scenario made up by audiovisual configurations rather than discrete objects separated one from the other, which live within a cross-media, multiplatform environment.

Students coming to classes must study the readings distributed on a weekly basis. All readings made available before the lecture on Moodle.

Students not taking their classes must study the following texts:
- Andrejevic, M. Exploiting YouTube: Contradictions of User-Generated Labor, in P. Snickars, P. Vonderau (a cura di), The YouTube Reader, Wallflower, London 2009, pp. 406-423.
- Jenkins, H. “La vendetta dell’unicorno Origami”, in Link. Idee per la televisione, n. 9 (2010), pp. 17-28.
- Mittell, J. Complex Tv: Teoria e tecnica dello storytelling delle serie TV, Minimum Fax, Roma 2015.
- Uricchio, W. Television’s Next Generation: Technology / Interface Culture / Flow in, Lynn Spigel, Jan Olsson (a cura di), Television After TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition Duke University Press, Durham, 2004, pp. 232-261.

PLUS, two essays selected from the following list (NB please be aware all essays are available on Moodle to download):
- Kellner, D. Critical Perspectives on Television from the Frankfurt School to the Politics of Representation, in J. Wasko, A Companion to Television, seconda ed., Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken 2020, pp. 17-37.
- Lischi, S. Per un’altra televisione, in Id. La lezione della videoarte, Carocci, Roma, 2019, pp. 35-53.
- Moran, A. Configurations of the New Television Landscape, in J. Wasko, A Companion to Television, prima ed., Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken 2005, pp. 291-307.
- Newcomb, H. The development of Television Studies, in J. Wasko, A Companion to Television, prima ed., Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken 2005, pp. 15-28.

Per gli studenti non frequentanti l’esame consiste nel solo colloquio orale (100% del voto finale), che mira a verificare la comprensione dei temi presentati nella bibliografia a loro riservata e la capacità di problematizzare i concetti appresi in maniera critica.
The students coming to classes will see their exam distributed over the course of the module.
Specifically, they will have:

- a written coursework (40% of the overall module grade) consisting of 4 reading responses (max 500 words). These are individual and critical, they are based on the texts assigned weekly and the following discussion taking place in class with fellow students moderated by the lecturer;
- an oral test (60% of the overall module grade) to assess the understanding of the concepts and themes covered throughout the module.

The students skipping 4 or more lectures will be assessed solely on the basis of an oral test (100% of the overall module grade) aimed at both checking the correct understanding of the concepts discussed in the bibliography, and the ability to inform a critical discussion of the same concepts.

The module adopts a mix of teaching strategies and tools to favour knowledge transfer, as well as to create a participatory and stimulating teaching environment.
Among the teaching strategies are frontal lectures, working sessions and discussions. The module will be comprised of these 3 modes so as to offer a variety of learning styles without overloading the students with classic frontal lectures only.
Among the teaching tools are standard teaching materials such as presentations, clips and the likes, which will be used during the frontal lectures; ad hoc tasks designed for the working sessions to be carried on individually and in groups; readings to be distributed and collectively studied during the discussion sessions with the help of interactive digital platforms.
Please note that all teaching strategies are designed to offer a consistent module and therefore, regardless of the type of sessions, they are alle qual for the purpose of determining the programme to study in light of the final exam.

Italian

Students are warmly suggested to take their classes. When this is not possible, please do get in touch with your lecturer at the beginning of the module and say so.
Students who will skip over 30% of the module (i.e. 4 lectures) are expected to prepare a specific programme designed as a replacement of the activities which took place in class and they missed. Further details in the section 'Bibliography/Testi di riferimento'.

Ca' Foscari applies the Italian law (17/1999; 170/2010) for the support services available to students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities. If you have either a motor, visual, hearing or another disability (Law 17/1999), or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010) and you require support (classroom assistance, tech aids to carry out exams or personalised exams, accessible format materials, notes retrieval, special tutoring as study support, translators or else), please contact the Disability and DSA office disabilita@unive.it.

written and oral