This module builds on the Objects of Media History module in the first year and extends the approach taken by looking closely at three key media objects...

Objects of Media History: Researching the Media II (CCME0151)

This module builds on the Objects of Media History module in the first year and extends the approach taken by looking closely at three key media objects emerging in the early twentieth century and exploring their materialities, economies and the practices that emerge through them. It begins with the film projector and considers this as a tool for film distribution and exhibition of film; and then shifts to the creation and use of radio before moving on to the emergence and history of television. These developments take place over the first half of the twentieth century. What innovations enabled them? What institutions emerged to profit from them? What kinds of objects were produced? What kinds of pleasures did audiences derive from them? These developments were key to the emergence of mass media. Overall, the module seeks to provide an extended engagement with the history of media, its political economy, and its place in the global economy.

NOTE: this module belongs to:

PATHWAY 1: Critical Media with Film – an emphasis on theory, but with a throughline of practical work in film-making running through Years 2 and 3. This pathway will follow the theory modules and all the practice modules in film up to advanced level.

PATHWAY 2: Critical Media with Games – an emphasis on theory, but with a throughline of practical work in game, VR/AR/XR design running through Years 2 and 3. This pathway will follow the theory modules and all the practice modules in games and interactive media up to advanced level.

PATHWAY 3: Media Practice – an emphasis on design in both Film and Games/VR/AR/XR, with options in critical theory to complement this. This pathway will follow all the practice modules in both film and games up to advanced level, along with selected theory modules.