ASSESSMENTS

Project Brief 1 – due Friday Week 2 (no formal grade)

Reflections on expertise and form

Choose a single text (a film, book, play, exhibition, restaurant, record etc) and collect five critical considerations of this text written by different authors, published in different formats. Write a short critical reflection (100 words) to annotate each piece, discussing the pros and cons of each style and format, as well as a 300-word reflection on what this suggests to you about the significance of expertise and form. 

This should be submitted as a word doc or PDF, uploaded to the personal folder you have shared with me. You can format it as you wish (text only, or images of reviews + your text, scrap-book style), but you must include the original reviews you have found and clearly indicate where and when they were published.

The idea is to look closely at the possibilities and limitations of different formats and critical perspectives. This work will help you to prepare for the reflective essay we will write during the semester, and you may also use it to research the topic of your first review.

 

Project Brief 2 – due Friday Week 4 (30%)

Who are critics?

PART A: Profile of an established critic (20%)

Write an 800 word critical profile of an established critic in the area of your choice. Some things you may want to consider including are: the writer’s background and/or how they became a critic; where their expertise lies; how they might claim authority as an expert; where they publish/published; what distinguishes their approach from other critics and what, in particular, characterises their critical style. The profile should be written as if if will be published in a magazine of critical writing.

PART B: Draft of critical piece in your area of expertise (5%)

Submit a draft of your next piece of critical writing. This might be the first piece that you workshopped in our week 2 class, your draft of the documentary review, or you may want to submit something entirely new. Think of it as an opportunity to get more feedback on something you may include in your portfolio.

PART C: The emerging critic (5%)

By this date you should also have completed 3 self-reflection blog posts: one on the ides/readings/tasks from week 2, one on week 3 and one on week 4. These should be posted on your personal mediafactory blog.

 

Project Brief 3 – EDIT: now due Friday Week 9 (22nd September)  (30%)

PART A: Project/portfolio drafts (15%)

Submit two pieces of critical writing:

  1. Submit a polished piece of at least 500 words, which you expect to include in your final portfolio. This piece must be new and not have been submitted for prior assessment. EDIT: if you wish, you may submit the piece you’re writing for Alex’s workshop on Monday, as per email. 
  2. AND submit a draft of the piece you pitch during our week 7 “crit session” for inclusion in our online group publication.

PART B: Research for critical writing (10%)

Submit a research diary for either of the above pieces, clearly illustrating the journey from your initial idea to your write-up of the piece. This can be a pdf scrapbook-style affair, or a word document of dated entries etc. The idea is to reflect on how you conduct research for critical writing, as you do it.

PART C: Reflection on writing and editing processes (3x blog posts, total worth 5%)

By this date you should also have completed 3 self-reflection blog posts: one on the ideas/readings/tasks from week 6, one on week 7 and one on week 8. These should be posted on your personal blog that is linked to the team page here. This is a pass/fail task. All three posts must be completed in order to pass.

 

Project Brief 4 – due Friday Week 13 (20th October)  (40%)

PART A: Final critical writing portfolio (20%)

Submit fives pieces of critical writing that form a portfolio. It should demonstrate your ability to write about different texts at different lengths. It should include:

  • One capsule review of between 200 – 400 words
  • Two longer reviews of between 800 – 1000 words
  • One review that you have not submitted before
  • An illustrative image for each written review (e.g. film still, album cover etc)

PART B: Sustained critical reflection on ‘the role of the critic’ (15%)

Write an 800 – 1000 word critical reflection on ‘the role of the critic’ that draws on the discussions we’ve had — and material we’ve looked at — through the semester. This can be a personal or journalistic mini-essay; the idea is not to cover everything we’ve done, but to develop an argument in relation to (some of) the ideas we’ve explored. This final reflection should be posted on your personal blog.

PART C: Contribution to studio deliverables (5%)

By this date you should have contributed to one of the weekly studio updates posted on the blog and be actively contributing to either the online publication we are developing or to the final presentation (or both).