General Overview
Introduction to the Programme
BA (Hons) Filmmaking & Screen Writing students learn how to make films, and study cinema as art, culture and commerce. The programme is highly distinctive in its offer of a balance of practice and theory that allows students to develop industry-accredited skills whilst pursuing their passion for cinema.
The programme is designed to produce graduates with specific knowledge and skills concerning filmmaking, cinematic storytelling, and film culture. It provides a subject-focused learning experience whilst also developing students’ transferable skills of content production, information processing, and professional communication. The programme has an explicitly international curriculum concerned with a trans-national cultural form and a globalised industry, which is explored in local, regional and national contexts throughout the four years of study.
Key Features of the Programme
The first year of the programme prepares students for success by introducing essential skills concerning digital filmmaking and creative writing. Technical skills are developed in modules covering digital video production, sound recording and editing. Creative writing skills are developed across a range of production contexts. Students also undertake critical studies that complement practical filmmaking by encouraging the close, detailed analysis of how films are constructed and how a wide variety of films tell stories through techniques of narrative organisation, cinematography, editing and sound.
In second year students further develop their creative skills in the contrasting contexts of drama and documentary production, at this level students also benefit from specialised teaching in scriptwriting. Skills of critical analysis, research and writing are developed in film studies modules, with a specific emphasis on genre study, and on innovation and creative achievement. This level also acts as a secure and coherent means of articulation for applicants with advanced standing who wish to undertake a three-year degree course.
Year 3 allows students to bring together skills that have been developed in previous years and engage in more ambitious filmmaking and scriptwriting projects. Students will be encouraged to develop skills and understanding concerning film-related business planning, employment law and key aspects of intellectual copyright. Modules will address content development, pitching, product marketing and promotion. A key aim of this level is to develop students’ awareness and understanding of the professional contexts in which filmmaking creativity is exercised, and student creative work simulates industry practice. A core module covering enterprise and entrepreneurialism further enhances students’ knowledge and skills concerning employability in the creative industries. Students at this level also have the opportunity to engage with sophisticated theorisations of films and filmmaking and develop knowledge and skills concerning research procedures in preparation for Honours-level research. Further opportunities to develop professional and communication skills are enabled by students choosing to undertake work experience with an appropriate organisation.
Central to studies in Year 4 (Honours) is the integrated creative research project for which students develop a folio of creative and critical work that provides evidence of a high standard of achievement in areas such as scriptwriting and directing, and theorisation and analysis. The emphasis here is on creative and critical specialisation, enabling a close and deep engagement with areas of personal, intellectual and professional interest. A range of optional modules provides further opportunities for students to dwell in specialist areas of interest, completing a rich undergraduate experience whilst opening the door to professional employment or further study.
Graduation, Progression and Further Study
The combination of specific filmmaking skills, general communication skills, enterprise awareness and professionalisation ensures that students are prepared for suitable employment in the creative industries. Graduates have found employment in technical areas such as camera, sound, and editing, as production assistants, and as directors. Many graduates continue to work independently as filmmakers and increasingly they set up their own production companies. Some graduates chose to look beyond the creative industries and find graduate-level careers where they can use their skills of research, analysis and presentation. In addition, an honours degree at 2:1 level or above in Filmmaking and Screen Writing is a suitable qualification for progression to a wide range of postgraduate opportunities in Film, Media and Cultural studies. There are also many postgraduate courses in practical film production and screenwriting that are available to graduating students.
Students that leave at the end of level 9 to enter employment have the option of continuing to study on a part-time basis in order to graduate with Honours. The 60 credit Creative Research Project module and the core 20 credit Producing Skills module are amenable to incorporating professional experience and knowledge, and optional modules may be chosen to suit the circumstances and skillset of the individual.
Learning, Teaching & Assessment
BA (Hons) Filmmaking & Screen Writing engages students in enquiry-based learning in which personal and creative interests are explored and developed in relation to the discipline and rigour of professional and academic contexts and processes. For example, at level 7, the module An Introduction to Film and Television Production uses the core area of practical digital filmmaking as a vehicle for students to formulate research questions and to collect and consider information prior to its formulation in writing – treatments, scripts, production diaries – and images – films, storyboards – all of which is done within goal-oriented groups.
This process reoccurs throughout the four years of the programme on practical and theoretical modules in which students explore a wide range of materials and sources, drawn from a range of academic and non-academic sources. There is an integrated approach with a balance between theoretical contextualisation and practice activity alongside the development of both analytical and practical skills in media production.
Learning and teaching methods include: lectures, screenings, demonstrations, tutorials, group and individual project work, multi-media and ‘e’ learning, and screen practice. A very strong emphasis is placed on students using digital technology across all modules and developing digital expertise and literacy to a professional standard in specific skills areas where appropriate. Students are encouraged to engage in the pedagogical and professional use of social media including, for example, participation in autonomous collaboration platforms such as forums embedded in the Moodle VLE, Googledocs, and Facebook groups. There is a mixture of large and small group and individual learning and teaching situations including tutor-led, student led and independent learning sessions.
The principle of student engagement with their own learning and ‘learning from work’ is manifested in opportunities that students have to discuss their work with visiting industry professionals during regular master-classes and pitching sessions, formative assessment is often enhanced by the participation of creative professionals. At an advanced level students work closely with academic supervisors and benefit from a one-to-one approach concerning research projects and creative projects. Students determine their own areas of advanced study and practice with the benefit of expert guidance and thus embody the University’s commitment to a ‘learning democracy’. This blend of methods, from essay-writing to group presentations, to extended investigation and creative production, encourages students to work in flexible, creative and independent ways, showing self-discipline, self-direction and reflexivity which in turn challenges students to initiate, develop and realise distinctive and creative work within various forms of writing and audio-visual production.
Teaching on the programme is informed by the research activity of module tutors who offer expertise based upon backgrounds in creative practice, academic research, and creative practice as research. Students are encouraged to become research-minded in the first modules they take at level 7, including filmmaking modules (as discussed above) and in film studies modules which encourage individuals to theorise their own perspectives on the making and consumption of creative artefacts. This research-mindedness connected to creative practice is further developed in modules such as Documentary Studies (level 8) and Critical Studies in Film (level 9), which encourage students to discover the value of research for practice and to engage in creative practice as research. At level 10, the 60 credit Creative Research Project module provides students with an opportunity to fully integrate their creative and critical interests and skills.
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