Stephen Manley

Personal statement

My first degree was a Humanities BA(Hons) at UWE, followed by an MA in Visual Culture at BSUC. My research interests combine my enthusiasm (practical and theoretical) for film and music. Hands-on film projects have included a documentary about Anton Bantock (MBE), maverick 'educationalist', and founder of Bristol's lesser-known 'University of Withywood', and soundtrack work for 'A Miner's Tale', a multi-media stage production and DVD which charts the history of the Somerset coalfield, financed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

I co-produced and played guitar on the album 'Death Row Bride' by Bristol-based singer-songwriter Hazel Winter, and I create the digital video projections for her live gigs. I have also co-composed music featured on TV programmes including 'Ray Mears' Heroes of Telemark', 'Ray Mears Wild Food' (Australia) and 'The Chelsea Flower Show' (BBC2). I made a brief appearance in cyberspace in 'MeiGeist', an ARG (Alternative Reality Game) produced by Licorice Film (Bristol), supported by the Film Council, Watershed Media Centre, and Hewlett Packard.

I am currently working on a film soundtrack project, playing guitar in an orchestra which accompanies screenings of the classic silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. The score, written by Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) has recently been performed at concert halls including Krakow Opera House, the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Festival of Electronic Music), Brighton Dome (Brighton Festival) and the Lincoln Centre, New York (White Light Festival). I have recently given talks on Carl Theodor Dreyer and the imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi at the Watershed media centre in Bristol.

As part of my ongoing commitment to reflexive teaching practice, I have attended symposia / workshops, such as the British Universities Film and Video Council's 'The Use of Moving Images in Higher Education'. At BSU I am module leader for courses including 'INTRODUCTION TO FILM', 'FRAMING FILM: FROM SILENT SCREEN TO WORLD CINEMA','EUROPEAN CINEMA', 'ROCK N REEL: POPULAR MUSIC ON SCREEN', and 'MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AND CHANGE'.

Academic qualifications

• BA(Hons) UWE
• MA BSUC.

Professional qualifications

• Certificate in Advanced Professional Studies: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Professional memberships

• Performing Rights Society
• Mechanical Copyright Protection Society.

Teaching specialism

• Film Studies
• European Cinema
• Media Technologies
• Music and Film
• Modernism / Postmodernism.

Current scholarship

I am currently researching the complex and productive relationship between a variety of British pop/rock musical genres and cinema from the 1960s to the present day.
This project will explore themes such as the influence of the aesthetics of 'kitchen-sink' realism, surrealism and psychedelia on the 60s 'promo' film (A Hard Day's Night, Help, Yellow Submarine, Catch Me If You Can); the faux realism of the star-vehicles of the 70s (Stardust, That'll Be The Day, Slade in Flame, Breaking Glass); the 'rockumentary' format (Let It Be, Imagine, Born to Boogie, The Song Remains The Same) the eclectic modernism of Pink Floyd's work from the 60s to the 80s (The Wall); the punk aesthetic (The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, The Filth and the Fury); the recent emergence of postmodern forms of nostalgia, parody and pastiche (Spice World, Velvet Goldmine, 24 Hour Party People)...