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Audiovisual Languages

Code: 104983 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Journalism FB 1

Contact

Name:
Iliana Esther Ferrer Rodriguez
Email:
iliana.ferrer@uab.cat

Teachers

Marta Narberhaus Martinez

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No prerequisite is required.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This course provides the general concepts and theoretical foundations of audiovisual language as an effective tool for producing messages and journalistic content. It is the students' first approach to sound and audiovisual language, exploring its characteristics, potential, and limitations from a critical and applied perspective.

The main objectives of the course are:

  • To provide students with the basic concepts and specific vocabulary of audiovisual language, applying them in the creation of non-fiction, multi-format audiovisual products.

  • To foster the acquisition of skills in the production of communicative products, promoting teamwork in a professional, inclusive, and collaborative manner.

  • To encourage critical analysis of audiovisual language and its impact on the social and media environment, through awareness of global challenges in local contexts.

  • To adapt theoretical knowledge to real-world projects through active methodologies, such as Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), that connect the classroom with the professional environment.

  • To contribute to students' professional development by creating a portfolio with tangible products as evidence of their experience and acquired skills.

  • To assess the collaborative process of creating, producing, and promoting communicative content, as well as the outcomes achieved and the understanding of the challenges addressed


Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  • Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  • Differentiate the discipline's main theories, its fields, conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and approaches that underpin knowledge of the subject and its different areas and sub-areas, and acquire systematic knowledge of the media's structure.
  • Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  • Identify modern journalistic traditions in Catalonia, Spain and worldwide and their specific forms of expression, as well as their historic development and the theories and concepts that study them.
  • Manage time effectively.
  • Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  2. Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
  3. Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
  4. Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
  5. Differentiate the specificities of audiovisual languages.
  6. Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
  7. Explain the development of modern international journalistic traditions.
  8. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one's own area of knowledge.
  9. Identify the structural foundations of the communication system.
  10. Link social analysis and impacts of new communication technologies.
  11. Manage time effectively.
  12. Propose projects and actions that are in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and obligations, diversity and democratic values.
  13. Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
  14. Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  15. Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  16. Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  17. Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.

Content

1. Introduction to the fundamentals of audiovisual languages

2. Creation of the audiovisual space

3. Creation of the sound space

4. Image composition

5. Production of audiovisual products

The course content will be sensitive to aspects related to the gender perspective. 

The specific schedule with the content of the different sessions will be detailed on the day of the course presentation. Students will find the description of each practice on the Virtual Campus, along with various teaching materials and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the course.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 15 0.6 5, 7, 9, 10
Practical activities 33 1.32 4, 5, 9, 15, 10
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 10.5 0.42 5, 9, 14
Type: Autonomous      
Readings, preparation of practices, preparation of tests 87 3.48 2, 13, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6, 11, 9, 12, 16, 15, 14, 10, 17

The course combines lectures, practical sessions, supervised activities, and independent work. The Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) methodology will be implemented, guiding the formative activities of the course, with the exception of the theoretical exam.

CBL involves tackling real-world challenges/problems posed by local organizations or institutions. Based on these challenges, students will work in teams to propose possible solutions, following a process divided into three phases: Connection/Commitment, Research/Prototyping, and Implementation/Evaluation. This methodology connects theory with practice by working with real case studies, fosters collaborative work, and helps develop key skills for professional practice.

Theoretical sessions will present the course content, providing the necessary elements to address the challenge and practical tasks. Practical work will be oriented toward the production of deliverables linked to the development of the challenge, under the supervision of the teaching staff. The design and production of practical exercises and proposed solutions will be part of the students’ independent work.

An individual written exam will be held to assess the level of theoretical knowledge acquired and the ability to apply it.

Students may request additional tutorials with the teaching staff during the course.

Notes:

  • The course content will be sensitive to issues related to gender perspective and the use of inclusive language.

  • A detailed schedule outlining the content of each session will be presented on the first day of the courseand will be available on the course’s Virtual Campus, where students will find all teaching materials and necessary information for efective course monitoring. Should the teaching modality change for reasons of force majeure according to the competent authorities, the teaching sta􀆯 will inform students of any modifications to the course schedule and teaching methodologies.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Laboratory practices 60% 3 0.12 2, 13, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 9, 8, 12, 16, 15, 14, 10, 17
Written test 40% 1.5 0.06 2, 1, 5, 9, 8, 12, 10, 17

Given the practical nature of this course, a single final assessment is not considered.

Incorporating the Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) methodology, continuous assessment will be applied, gathering evidence of the work carried out in each learning activity and across the various phases of the process in a transversal manner. This evaluation will be complemented by reflection on both individual and group progress, assessing the learning outcomes.

The competencies of this course will be assessed through the following activities:

A. Laboratory practices, deliverables, reports (60%)

B. Written test, exercises related to theoretical content, and active participation (40%)

In order to pass the course, it is mandatory to complete all scheduled practical activities. The final grade will be the sum of the scores obtained in both the practical tasks and the written test. To qualify for this weighted average, students must independently pass both components (practical and theoretical). No average will be calculated if either component is graded below 5.

Revaluation:

Students will be eligible for revaluation if they meet the following requirements:

  • They have been assessed in all activities

  • They have regularly followed the continuous assessment process

Students who have followed the continuous assessment and failed the written test (theoretical part) may retake it, provided they obtained a minimum score of 3.5 on the test and attended the regular review session. The grade obtained in the revaluation will be the final grade for that component.

The practical part of the course cannot be retaken, due to the complexity of its group-based and sequential development, except in duly justified and approved exceptional cases.

Artificial Intelligence:

In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted as an integral part of the work development, provided that the final outcome demonstrates a significant contribution by the student in terms of analysis and personal reflection. Students must clearly identify any content generated using AI, specify the tools employed,
and include a reflection on how these technologies have influenced the process and the final result of the assignment.

Plagiarism:

If a student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant alteration of the grade for an assessment activity, that activity will be graded with a 0, regardless of any disciplinary process that may be initiated. If multiple irregularities occur in the assessment activities of the same course, the final grade for that coursewill be 0.


Bibliography

Fundamental Literature

- Balsebre, Armand (2004). El lenguaje radiofónico. 4a edició. Madrid: Cátedra.

- Barroso, Jaime (2008). Realización audiovisual. Madrid: Síntesis.

- Cancho García, Nuria E. y García Torres, Marco A. (2018). Planificación de proyectos audiovisuales.Publicaciones Altaria: Barcelona. (Cap 3, 4, 6)

- Castillo, José María (2016). Televisión, realización y lenguaje audiovisual. Madrid: Instituto RTVE. (Cap 1, 5, 7, 10, 12)

- Cebrián Herreros, Mariano (1995). Información audiovisual: concepto, técnica, expresión y aplicaciones. Madrid: Síntesis.

- Franco, Fernando (2017). Narrativa y Lenguaje Cinematográfico. Guía Didáctica. ECAM.

- Gutiérrez, Maria; Perona, Juan José (2002). Teoría y técnica del lenguaje radiofónico. Barcelona: Bosch.

- Jenkins, Henry (2008). Convergence Culture: La Cultura de la Convergencia de los Medios de Comunicación. Paidos Ibérica

- Millerson, Gerarld (2009). Realización y producción en televisión. Barcelona: Omega.

- Navarro-Güere, Héctor (2023). El vídeo en formato vertical. Una revisión de la literatura en comunicación. Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación/Mediterranean Journal of Communication, 14(1), 69-81. https://www.doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM.23028

- Rabiger, Michael (2000). Dirección Cinematográfica. Técnica y Estética. 2 edición. 2000, IORTV, RTVE

- Ryan, M.L. (2001). Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Johns Hopkins University Press, USA.https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/600034

- Rodero, Emma (2005). Producción radiofónica. Madrid: Cátedra.

- Scolari, Carlos A. (2013). Narrativas Transmedia: Cuando todos los medios cuentan. Barcelona: Deusto

Complementary Literature

- Beltrán Moner, Rafael (1984). La ambientación musical. Madrid: IORTV.

- Brown, Larry A (2018). How Films Tell Stories. The Narratology of Cinema. Creative Arts Press

- Castillo, José Maria (2016). Televisión, realización y lenguaje audiovisual. Madrid: Instituto RTVE.

- Chion, Michel (1993). La Audiovisión. Introducción a un análisis conjunto de la imagen y el sonido. Barcelona: Paidós.

- Fernández, Federico; Martínez, José (1999). Manual básico de lenguaje y narrativa audiovisual. Barcelona: Paidós,

- Morales Morante, Fernando (2013). Montaje audiovisual. Teoria, técnica y métodos de control. Barcelona: UOC.

- Zabaleta, Iñaki (2005). Teoría y lenguaje de la información en la TV y la radio. Barcelona: Bosch Comunicación.


Software

Students are expected to have basic knowledge of certain software, such as text editors (e.g., Word), video editors (Da Vinci, Premiere, etc.), audio editors (Audacity, Zara Studio, etc.), online collaborative tools (Google Docs, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, etc.), and multimedia hosting and distribution platforms (YouTube, Soundcloud, etc.).

It is recommended to consult the tutorials available on the Faculty’s website to become familiar with the software used in the audiovisual laboratories: https://www.uab.cat/web/coneix-la-facultat/serveis-de-la-facultat/laboratoris-audiovisuals/tutorials-videos-laboratoris-audiovisuals-fcc-1345828154136.html


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 11 Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 12 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 13 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 21 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 22 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 23 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Catalan second semester morning-mixed