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2020/2021

Structure of Audiovisual Equipment

Code: 103021 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2501928 Audiovisual Communication OB 3 1
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Montse Bonet Bagant
Email:
Montse.Bonet@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Xavier Casanovas Zurano
Josep Àngel Guimerà Orts

Prerequisites

In order to pass the course, it is recommended to have previously studied the subjects Estructura de la Comunicació and Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació. Contents of the subject Models de Producció i Difusió de la Indústria Audiovisual are also of great interest.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The subject is part of the Audiovisual Industry area, taken between the second and third year of the degree. Therefore, the educational objectives of this subject must be added to the objectives of the other one that is also part of the area, Models de Producció i Difusió de la indústria audiovisual, both of 6 ECTS credits and compulsory. 

As it is defined in the curriculum, it is about providing a panoramic vision of the structure of the audiovisual system and the actors that make it up: cultural industries of different types, regulatory bodies, legislators, communication groups, new actors, etc.

The general objective is to give the basic keys of what we can understand when we speak of 'audiovisual system', how it is structured, how its main protagonists are related and what changes it has experienced and still continues to experience.

Competences

  • Be familiar with and interpret industrial and business phenomena in the audiovisual sector.
  • Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  • Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  • Demonstrate ethical awareness as well as empathy with the entourage.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  • Generate innovative and competitive ideas in research and professional practice.
  • Manage time effectively.
  • Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Rigorously apply scientific thinking.
  • Show leadership, negotiation and team-working capacity, as well as problem-solving skills.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  2. Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  3. Demonstrate ethical awareness as well as empathy with the entourage.
  4. Develop autonomous learning strategies.
  5. Generate innovative and competitive ideas in research and professional practice.
  6. Identify the specific characteristics of the audiovisual system.
  7. Manage time effectively.
  8. Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
  9. Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  10. Rigorously apply scientific thinking.
  11. Show leadership, negotiation and team-working capacity, as well as problem-solving skills.

Content

The subject revolves around some key topics, with a solid theoretical basis, but which usually include a constant updating, following the sector's own development. That is why the monitoring of certain more or less specialized sources of information has a significant weight. The main axes on which the content is articulated are:

- Introduction to the Structure of the Audiovisual System. Towards a definition.

- Deepening into the characteristics of cultural industries production and distribution system. How they affect the sector.

- The audiovisual sector in the OTT era: "platformization" of communication, technology and communication groups.

- Local communication structure.

- Video game industry. From 'damned' to promise for the audiovisual system.

- Record industry/music content industry.

- Radio sector: the great analog unknown.

- Radio spectrum as a battlefield for the domain of the audiovisual.

A detailed calendar with the content of the different sessions will be posted in the Moodle once the course has started. The students will be able to find a detailed description of the exercises and practices, the various teaching materials and any information necessary for the adequate follow-up of the subject.

Methodology

Students acquire knowledge and competencies through various methodological procedures that include master classes in the classroom, discussion and reflection exercises, readings and seminars, as well as texts and audiovisual documents available through Moodle.

Specifically, the seminars will focus on specific topics of the syllabus, for which a series of previous readings will be provided or prior information search and/or a presentation will be requested.

In addition, an important part of the course is based on carrying out the final project, which implies direct contact with specialists in the sector, both from the academic side and from the point of view of practitioners.

It is important that students do not see these three activities in a differentiated way but as parts of a whole, that are interrelated and serve to more easily achieve the goals and to better consolidate the knowledge.

This is a subject area that has a very clear, direct and constant relationship with the present, so monitoring all kinds of information related to the audiovisual system is highly recommended.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Seminars (participation and written exercises) 15 0.6 10, 2, 4, 1, 6, 9
Theory classes 37.5 1.5 10, 4, 1, 7, 6, 9
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 7.5 0.3 10, 8, 2, 7
Type: Autonomous      
Reading, analysis and synthesis of texts, preparation and performance of written exercises 82.5 3.3 10, 8, 2, 11, 3, 4, 1, 7, 6, 9

Assessment

The continuous formative assessment system is organized in three different parts, each of which must be passed to pass the course:

• Theory final test, 30% on the final grade.

• Seminars (participation and written exercises), 20% on the final grade.

• Final project (presentation included), 50% on the final grade.

The theory final test will include what has been taught and done in the theory sessions, seminars, and readings that should be done throughout the course.

Regarding the seminars, the final mark of each one derives from the information previously obtained and/or the group presentation and/or the written exercise performed in the classroom. The participation in the seminars will be based on the guidelines that will be provided and uploaded to Moodle. Each session will previously have an explanatory protocol.

The final project is a supervised activity carried out in a group. Special attention will be given to the ability to define the topic correctly, to use the language according to the type of work, to establish connections between theory and practice and the ability to synthesize the material consulted or obtained by any other means (interviews, video sources, audio ...) When the course begins, a specific protocol will be uploaded to Moodle and the teacher will discuss with each group on the topic to be studied. The final mark of the project will include its presentation at the end of the semester.

There is a second criterion of formal type and subtractive nature, that is, its compliance does not increase the final score, but its noncompliance subtracts points. Specifically, compliance with the technical characteristics specified in the guideline that will be offered at the beginning of the course (typography, letter size, line spacing, alignment, and margins) will be assessed,at a rate of 2 tenths per characteristic. Spelling is also a formal criterion. Each misspelling will subtract 0.3 points. Errors in citation and references used in the project will subtract also 0.3 points.

About the period and conditions of recovery assessment

Students who meet the following conditions will be eligible for these activities:

In case of having failed:

• who have obtained a minimum grade of 3 in the theory test,

• who have obtained a minimum grade of 3.5 in the final project, with the following exceptions: a project plagiarized in part or in its entirety (it is a 0 directly) or those that do not meet the formal requirements previously specified (that have misspellings, do not meet the minimum in terms of citation, etc.).

Students will be entitled to the recovery assessment of the subject if he or she has been evaluated of the set of activities whose weight equals a minimum of 2/3 of the total grade of the subject.

To be able to submit to the recovery assessment of the subject, it will be necessary to have obtained an average grade of 3.5.

Plagiarized works are not recoverable. As for the seminars, recovery assesment can only be made once the final grade of the set of seminars has been placed, when all have already been done; that is, they are not recoverable one by one.

 

Students will have the opportunity to improve their mark when the grade is equal to or greater than 8 and the teacher is informed in advance. Attention: the final grade after taking the test for improvement could be lower. 

In the case of a second enrolment, students can do a single synthesis exam/assignment that will consist of ...The grading of the subject will correspond to the grade of the synthesis exam/assignment. 

The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft...) will be qualified with 0 in this assignment or exam. In case there are several irregularities, the final grade of the subject will be 0. 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final project (including presentation) 50 % 3 0.12 10, 8, 2, 11, 3, 1, 5, 7, 6, 9
Seminars (participation and written exercises) 20 % 2.5 0.1 10, 8, 2, 11, 3, 4, 1, 5, 7, 6, 9
Theory final test 30 % 2 0.08 10, 2, 7, 6

Bibliography

Basic references

Ala-Fossi, Marko & Bonet, Montse (2016) 'Clearing the skies: European spectrum policy and future challenges of DTT in Finland and Spain'. International Journal of Digital Television 7(3): 363-377.

Ala-Fossi, Marko &  Bonet, Montse (2018) ‘Who’s afraid of a Pan-European Spectrum Policy? The EU and the Battles Over the UHF Broadcast Band’, International Journal of Communication 12: 337-358

Albújar Villarrubia, Marta (2016) ‘Les plataformes OTT per a la distribució de continguts audiovisuals: una amenaça per al duopoli de la televisió en obert a Espanya?’, Quaderns del CAC 42:21-28. Available at: http://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q42_Albujar.pd

Arboledas, Luis (2009) ‘Clientelismo y concentración en la radio española. Comparación entre cuatro comunidades autónomas’. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social 64: 909-925. Disponible a: http://www.revistalatinacs.org/09/art/870_UGR/71_107_Luis_Arboledas.html

Bonet, Montse (coord.) (2016) El imperio del aire. Espectro radioeléctrico y radiodifusión. Barcelona: UOC. Online book. 

Bonet, Montse (2017) ‘Every Window of Opportunity Needs a Frame to Support It. DAB in Spain: Analog Matters’, Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 24(1): 61-76.

Bonet, Montse & Sellas, Toni (2019) ‘Del flujo al stock: el programador radiofónico ante la gestión del catálogo digital’, El Profesional de la Información, 28(1): 1-8.

Bonet, Montse; Corominas, Maria; Fernández Alonso, Isabel; Díez, Mercè (2009) ‘Keys to the failure of DAB in Spain’. Journal of Radio and Audio Media 16(1): 83–101.

Buquet Corleto, Gustavo (2005) El poder de Hollywood. Un análisis económico del mercado audiovisual en Europa y Estados Unidos de América. Ediciones y Publicaciones Autor.

Bustamente, Enrique (ed.) (2011) Industrias creativas. Amenazas sobre la cultura digital. Barcelona: Gedisa.

Clares Gavilán, Judith; Casado del Río, Miguel Ángel; Fernández-Quijada, David; Guimerà i Orts, Josep Àngel (2013) Políticas culturales y de comunicación. La intervención pública en cine, televisión y prensa. Barcelona: Editorial UOC. Online book. 

Clares-Gavilán, Judith (coord); Merino Álvarez, Cristina; Neira, Elena (2019) La revolución over the top. Del vídeo bajo demanda a la televisión por internet. Editorial UOC. Col·leccio Manuales. Online book. 

Fernández Alonso, Isabel (ed.) (2017) Austeridad y clientelismo. Política audiovisual en España en el contexto mediterráneo y de la crisis financiera. Barcelona: Gedisa. Online book. 

Fernández-Quijada, David & Arboledas, Luis (2013) ‘The Clientelistic Nature of Television Policies in Democratic Spain’. Mass Communication and Society 16(2): 200–221.

Flew, Terry; Iosifidis, Petros; Steemers, Jeanette (eds.) (2016) Global media and national policies. The Return of the State. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. Online book. 

García Leiva, M. Trinidad (2013) ‘El futuro del espectro radioeléctrico: entre las políticas de comunicación y el mercado’, in  G. Mastrini, A. Bizberge y D. De Charras (eds.) Las políticas de comunicación en el siglo XXI. Argentina: La Crujía Ediciones.

García Leiva, M. Trinidad & Albornoz, Luis A.  (2020) ‘VOD service providers and regulation in the European Union: an audiovisual diversity approach’.  International Journal of Cultural Policyhttps://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1769614

Guimerà, Josep Àngel (2014) Les polítiques de mitjans de comunicació durant els governs de Jordi Pujol. Premsa, ràdio i televisió en el procés de reconstrucció nacional de Catalunya(1980-2003). Barcelona: Proa.

Guimerà i Orts, Josep Àngel i Bonet, Montse (2013) ‘El model de negoci en cadena a Catalunya: de l’èxit radiofònic al fracàs televisiu’, Quaderns del CAC, 38. Disponible a: http://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q38_guimera_bonet_ES.pdf

Herzog, Christian; Hilker, Heiko; Novy, Leonard and Torun, Orkan (2018) Transparency and funding of public service media : die deutsche Debatte im internationalen Kontext. New York: Springer. Online book. 

Hesmondhalgh, David (2019) (4th. ed) The Cultural Industries. London: SAGE.

Jordan, Tim (2020) The Digital Economy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Online book. 

Kehoe, Keith & Mateer, John (2015) ‘The Impact of Digital Technology on the Distribution Value Chain Model of Independent Feature Films in the UK’, International Journal on Media Management 17(2): 93-108.

Larson, Rob (2020) Bit Tyrants. The Political Economy of Silicon Valley. Chicago: Haymarket Books. Online book. 

Lee, David (2018) Independent television production in the UK : from cottage industry to big business. London : Palgrave Macmillan. Online book. 

Lugmayr, Artur & Dal Zotto, Cinzia (eds.) Media Convergence Hadbook- Vol 2. Firms and User Perspectives. Berlin: Springer.

Llorens, Carles (2010) ‘Spain’s Media Concentration Policy: A Patchwork Crucial to the Understanding of the Spanish Media System’, International Journal of Communication 4: 844-864. Available at: http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/791/462

Maxwell, Richard (ed.) (2016) The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media.New York: Routledge.

Michalis, Maria (2007) Governing European Communications. From Unification to Coordination. United Kingdom: LexingtonBooks.

Miguel de Bustos, Juan Carlos & Casado del Río, Miguel Ángel (coords.) (2012) Televisiones autonómicas. Evolución y crisis del modelo público de proximidad. Barcelona: Gedisa. Online book. 

Miñarro, Laura (2013) Cómo vender una obra audiovisual. Una aproximación a la distribución de contenidos audiovisuales. Barcelona: UOC. Online book. 

Mueller, Milton (2017) Will the Internet Fragment?: Sovereignty, Globalization and Cyberspace. Cambridge: Polity Press. Online book. 

Navarro Remesal, Víctor (2019) Cine ludens. 50 diálogos entre cine y juego. Editorial UOC. Col·lecció Filmografías esenciales.

Simpson, Seamus (2016) ‘Intervention, net neutrality and European Union media policy’, International Journal of Digital Television 7(3): 331-346.

Voltmer, Karen (2013) The Media in Transitional Democracies. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Zallo, Ramón (2016) Tendencias en comunicación. Cultura digital y poder. Barcelona: Gedisa. Online book. 

 

Online sources

AER (Association of European Radios) http://www.aereurope.org/

ACT (Association of Commercial Television in Europe) http://www.acte.be/

BNE (Broadcast Network Europe) http://www.broadcast-networks.eu/

CAC (Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya) : http://www.cac.cat

EBU (European Broadcasting Union) http://www.ebu.ch/mis

ETNO (European Telecommunications Network Operators) https://www.etno.eu/

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) http://www.etsi.org/

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) http://www.fcc.gov/

GSMA (GSM Association) http://www.gsma.com

Proyecto Europa 2020. http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_es.htm

Proyecto Agenda Digital para Europa http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ES/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Asi0016

Pew Research Center http://www.pewresearch.org/

RSPG (Radio Spectrum Policy Group) http://rspg-spectrum.eu/

SABI (Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos. Bureau van Dijk). Accés a través de la Biblioteca (dintre de la UAB o des de qualsevol punt gràcies a la Xarxa Privada Virtual).

SETSI (Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información) http://www.minetur.gob.es/telecomunicaciones/es-ES/SecretariaDeEstado/Paginas/secretaria_estado.aspx

Wider Spectrum Group http://www.widerspectrum.org/aboutus/

OFCOM : http://www.ofcom.org.uk

World DAB: http://www.worlddab.org

Observatori de la Comunicació Local: http://www.portalcomunicacion.com/ocl/cat/home.asp

Database of the European Audiovisual Observatory: IRIS Merlin, Lumiere,Korda, Persky : http://www.obs.coe.int/http://merlin.obs.coe.int/

Ministerio de Cultura: http://www.mecd.gob.es/cultura-mecd/areas-cultura/cine/inicio.html;jsessionid=B213EEFECC7FB0B6557805FEDB0BC107

 

Other references will be given throughout the semester, especially depending on students’ needs for their final project or whenever someone asks for it.