Screening Locations and Fan Tourism Across the Atlantic

​Project Summary: 

• This virtual exchange program between DePaul and Cardiff University focused on the importance of location in film and television production. The cities of Chicago and Cardiff have both been used heavily for film and television projects but neither one would be considered the “quintessential" representative city of US or UK culture. Thus, they present a unique opportunity to explore why screen media get made in specific locations, the meanings of location filming and “filmic space," the relationship between specific genres and filming locations, and the larger cultural and social meanings of location on film. Students in the course worked in groups made up of both Cardiff and DePaul students to put together a location-scouting “brief" that used filming locations in both cities to tell a story.
  

Project Length: 

• Six Weeks
  

Technology Tools Used: 

• Zoom 
  
• Padlet  
• Trello  
• Google docs 

Interaction Mode: 

• Synchronous
• Asynchronous
  

Learning Outcomes:​

• Students understood and identified production details about film location scouting.
• Students demonstrated an understanding of how film affects interpretations of locations.​
• ​​​​Students compared the representations of Cardiff and Chicago. 
• Students reflected on cross-cultural learning.

• Students synthesized lessons and readings in a project. 
  

Reflection Component: 

• Students in the DePaul section of the course wrote a reflection paper for their final exam that asked them to reflect on the experience of working with their Cardiff counterparts.
  

Empathy Building Component: 

• The students filmed short videos about their home environment (city/dorm/apartment) that reflected aspects of their own lives and shared these with the class in order to discover similarities and differences. Another activity included multiple synchronous sessions where students were asked to complete tasks online together (like finding locations on a map, etc.). Finally, the class was offered two optional “happy hour" sessions where students were able to meet and chat informally.
  

Paul Booth

 

 

Institution: DePaul University
Discipline: Communication
Course name: Screening Locations and Fan Tourism 

Ross Garner

 

Institution: Cardiff University
Discipline: Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
Course name: Screening Locations

Partner Institution

DePaul University
Chicago, IL, United States

Cardiff University
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

 

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