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MUT-20001 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2022/23 Last Updated: 14 February 2023

MUT-20001 - Audio-Visual Composition
Coordinator: Miroslav Spasov Room: CKF05 Tel: +44 1782 7 33298
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23

Have you expanded your musical and sonic horizon at Keele-Music just yet?... Well, prepare to go one step further with this module! You will be learning composition in the audio-visual domain, working creatively with sounds and moving images combined. It will be an exciting way to learn some hard facts and techniques about digital video and an opportunity to do what most music technologist and sound designers do: work with sounds and/or music in combination with visuals.
You will look at past and present aesthetics of experimental digital audio-visual composition and you will critique some works from selected repertoire. You will also learn creative tools for synthesis and transformation of digital video footage and animations and creative tools for synthesis and transformation of digital audio materials. As part of your final assessed project, you will explore strategies to combine audio and video materials in an imaginative and creatively coherent manner.

Aims
To establish theoretical and practical foundation for the use of audio-video techniques for experimental composition in the audio-visual media. To engage with technical and aesthetic concerns arising when working creatively with digital audio and video technologies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2,3
1,2,3
1
3
1,3

Study hours

14 hours of lectures, small group workshop. Some of the contact time may be in the form of computer-mediated learning (interaction with course material available on-line).
8 hours of lab practicals. Some of the contact time may be in the form of computer-mediated learning (interaction with instructional material available on-line).
2 hours of project supervision. Some of the supervisory activity may be in the form of computer-mediated communication (feedback on work in progress submitted on the KLE).
18 hours of reflection, revision and consolidation of lectures, workshops and individual
supervisions content, research through bibliographical and computer-mediated sources
through individual or group study work.
40 hours of practical work in the lab or student¿s own digital audio workstation on
preliminary tasks, research and experiments on the tools needed for the project (hardware,
software, studio equipment, portable recorders and camcorders).
68 hours of preparation of creative projects and supporting documentation.

School Rules

Number of students admitted to this module is limited by the availability of studio workstations and portable video capturing devices. Priority will be given to Music Technology and Music students, then everyone else.
Note: this module assumes a basic fluency with computer audio and a beginner-level knowledge of Logic Pro X application. Students who do not possess such knowledge are expected to acquire it independently during the semester, under the module tutor(s) guidance and advice. Training material and workstations are widely available in the Music Technology labs.

Description of Module Assessment

1: Project weighted 50%
Audiovisual Composition Project
Creative project comprising one or more audio-visual compositions. Creative audio-visual works will amount to a total of 4-6min duration, submitted on fixed digital media support according to specification given in the Module Description document.

2: Project weighted 25%
Audio-visual objects or composition miniature or passage.
Set of audiovisual objects, or short audiovisual composition passage, or audiovisual miniature created as starting idea(s) for the final compositional project.

3: Report weighted 25%
Project Report
Accompanying report of approximately 1000 words describing the most important technical and artistic elements of the final composition. Part of the report will be a set of questions related to the theory covered in class, applied to the final individual composition.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 14 February 2023