Film BA Honours

This year provides a basic grounding in the technical, narrative, and theoretical skills involved in becoming a filmmaker. It also introduces you to some of the different kinds of filmmaking, including some that they may not previously have considered.

This year culminates with you working collaboratively on an 8–10-minute drama or documentary film and focusses on the skills that will enable you to do this to a high standard. It also explores wider ideas of film in context, and the discipline of working to a brief. 

This module will guide you towards the proficient execution of live, client-centred, industry and community-facing briefs, emphasising the development, planning, and execution phases of a project output. It will equip you with the skills necessary to effectively work to a set brief, which will demonstrate your competency to potential employers. By engaging in client briefs and studio live productions, you can enhance your abilities to realise a client’s vision, in addition to navigating studio environments, while also diversifying your technical skills set. Additionally, the module underscores the importance of professional conduct, effective communication, and adept time management practices, to cultivate a well-rounded skill set tailored to the demands of real-world production scenarios and engagement in professional practice. 

This module fosters critical enquiry into the specific philosophical issues around filmmaking practice. It will motivate you to engage with current political, social, cultural, and ideological realities through your filmmaking work, and awakens the excitement of exchanging ideas through film language. It will create an environment where questions of representation and ethical production practices can be debated and discussed. Screen media will be considered as a tool to investigate and intervene in the world, and we will empower you to consider the capacity of film to challenge received attitudes and embedded assumptions. The module therefore positions screen practice as a mode of critical thinking. 

This module will teach you to apply the basic principles of narrative in both fictional and factual cinema to the creation of a short script or documentary proposal. It follows on from prior learning and skills acquisition at Level 4 and teaches how to apply these skills to the telling of a story. 

This module will equip you with the ability to creatively interpret briefs and produce high-quality filmmaking. It will help you develop in exploring the aesthetic potential of moving image work through the application of production and craft skills. By collaborating on projects, you will enhance your skills through specialist roles, tackle technical challenges, and deepen your understanding of film production. The module embeds the importance of effective teamwork and professionalism, developing understanding of pre-production, production, and post-production workflows. The module enables you to situate your practice within the broader context of moving image production and equips them with the skills necessary to excel in their chosen fields. 

This year focuses on your own final project, which may be a film, a screenplay or a self-directed project of another kind. It also covers the realities of working within the screen industries, and the skills that will be required of the students once they leave university.

This module will you with the critical understanding of the production cultures and working practices, and the industry organisation of the screen industries to prepare you for employment. It will also provide you with activities with a particular emphasis on the collaborative nature inherent in studio shoots. Through hands-on experience and participation in studio shoot activities, you will gain practical insights into teamwork, communication, and problem-solving within a professional production environment.

This module will provide a crucial step in your learning journey by fostering the high-level critical and practical skills necessary for navigating the diverse landscape of screen production processes. It aims to encourage creative, ambitious, and innovative approaches to creating screen media. By providing an environment that mirrors current industry processes and conditions, the module will help you gain practical insights into bringing major projects to realisation. Additionally, the module empowers you to develop and execute major projects with a clear understanding of the project’s purpose, intended audience, and contextual relevance. It also equips you with the skills and confidence to present your work effectively and professionally to others, both in its developmental stages and as a completed project, which will enhancing your readiness for professional engagement in the field. 

This module facilitates high-level critical and practical skills to explore film/tv/screen media in creative, ambitious, and innovative ways. It provides an environment that reflects current industry processes and conditions to enable authentic experiences when bringing a major project to realisation. Throughout the module, you will have the opportunity to develop your own major project, honing your ability to define clear objectives, identify target audiences, and understand the broader contextual implications of their work. Additionally, this module will foster your confidence and proficiency in effectively pitching your projects to others, preparing you for successful engagement within the professional domain. 

This module will excite you about the prospect of finding useful and fulfilling work in the screen industries. It also focuses on developing essential graduate skills necessary for employment. It will cultivate self-reflection, developing a personal brand and practical skills relevant to preparing students for employment or establishing a production-related business. It will also assist you in refining your skills for contributing to a major project, along with finalising your self-promoting and industry-engaging strategies, ensuring you are well-equipped to navigate the job market. Emphasising the importance of a realistic career plan post-university, the module will empower you to pursue your career goals with confidence and clarity. By providing opportunities for you to reflect on your skills and contributions, you will gain the ability to effectively communicate your value in professional settings. 

The course is taught through group and individual projects, group learning and workshops, specialist technical sessions, one-to-one tutorials, annotated screenings, and industry talks and visits.

Teaching is supported by the specialist teaching and technical staff, as well as student learning assistants. The teaching and technical teams have a wide variety of specialisms and interests, so that you can find an appropriate mentor and guide within the team.

Students are taught in clusters of 20-25, in both general teaching spaces and in our specialist spaces, including editing suites, digital media workshops, and filming studios.

Whether you are studying full or part-time – your course timetable will balance your study commitments on campus with time for work, life commitments and independent study.

We aim to make timetables available to students at least 2 weeks before the start of term. Some weeks are different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on-campus sessions.

During your first year, your weekly timetable will typically consist of:

• 4 hours of annotated screening/discussion
• 2 hours of seminars
• 6 hours of practical workshops
• 8 hours of fieldwork (production meetings, film shoots, postproduction activities).

Outside of teaching hours, you’ll learn independently through self-study which will involve reading articles and books, working on projects, undertaking research, and preparing for assessments including coursework, presentations and exams.

Your independent learning is supported by the library and study hub, laptop hire, and with online materials in MyUniHub.

Your learning will be assessed regularly and is made up of 100% coursework.

Assessments will include the film-making projects themselves, as well as the paperwork and production material associated with good professional practice. There will also be written work and group presentations, to demonstrate the reflection and self-awareness behind the work.  Assessments have been created to reflect good practice and skills required within the screen industries. 

Each individual module will have a maximum of two assessments within it, and these will be completed by the end of the semester. Feedback may be given either in written form online, or orally in tutorials, as appropriate to the assessment. 

You are supported/encouraged to find opportunities on your own and/or supported on group briefs to deliver for industry or community partners. Opportunities will also be offered through the staff team who, through their industry and community connections, can assist students in linking up with placement partners, freelancing opportunities and/or in-house work experience that can be assessed.