COURSE IN DEPTH
Year one
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
Screenwriting for Film Genres
40 credits
Screenwriting for Film Genres is aimed at emerging screenwriters. The course will focus on the popular, commercial end of the film industry market, paying particular attention to audiences and the demands and expectations of the marketplace.
Film and the Principles of Storytelling
20 credits
This module provides an introductory course in film narrative and the principles of storytelling. The emphasis is on developing an understanding of narrative cinema. To do this the module will engage with theoretical models of storytelling and examples from narrative cinema.
The Language of Film
20 credits
This module looks beyond Hollywood and America to examine notable film movements from across the globe that influenced cinema on a worldwide scale and left an enduring legacy, continuing to shape contemporary filmmaking. The aim is to develop your appreciation of films rich cultural and social heritage, and the social drivers and rebellious characteristics of the filmmakers leading the charge. You will examine the social, political and artistic drivers behind key works, and the mastery and innovation that they display in pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling at their time of creation.
Documentary: Theory and Practice
40 credits
In this module you will explore the development of the film and television documentary by critically investigating the medium through a range of lectures, readings and screenings, and applying this to produce your own short documentary. We will consider different genres of documentary, such as direct cinema, mockumentary, investigative, ethnographic, docu-soap, experimental, docu-drama, reconstruction and the music documentary, as well as some of the contemporary issues facing documentary film makers. We will engage with a variety of academic debates that relate to the documentary, which include realism, representation, ethics and ideology, and the social, political, economic and technological contexts in which documentary can be critically located.
Year two
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 80 credits):
Adaptation for the Screen
20 credits
This module introduces students to the creative and critical processes involved in translating narrative from one medium to another. It gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of dramatic theory and form through practical work, simultaneously encouraging the development of imaginative screenwriting skills in different genres. Through historical and genre-based case studies, it provides an introduction to ideological and formal questions in the study of adaptation.
Festival Programming
40 credits
This module looks at what it takes to create, manage and draw audiences to a film festival or screening event. The aim is to develop your appreciation of the complexities of event management from establishing goals and selection through to the logistics of programming, managing budgets and executing a marketing campaign to draw audiences.
Collaborative Practice
20 credits
The module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create an interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines, or with academic staff. Collaboration is a vital employability skill within the Creative Industries and this module allows you to develop these skills, making use of University facilities and with the support of academic staff. Within this module framework, several kinds of collaborative opportunities are available. For example, with the approval of your supervisor, you can determine a project based on your own interests; your supervisor may set you a predetermined project to enable you to work with other students in a way that is appropriate to your subject area; or there may be opportunities for you to collaborate with staff on research projects. In all cases, you must apply your subject skills to an interdisciplinary project which will be agreed in advance with your supervisor.
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules.
Cinema of the Seventies
20 credits
This module will provide students with an overview of the cultural relevancy of 1970s cinema. Initially exploring the context of the decade and the fragmented nature of film narratives at the time the module will discuss the emergence and demise of ‘American New Wave/New Hollywood’ but also explore further the style, substance and aesthetics of the varying sub-genres of the time as well as the cultural and creative impact they had on both cinematic presentation and other aspects of the media industry.
Screen Fandoms
20 credits
This module offers an introduction to some of the ongoing academic debates on media fandom and subcultures. This is a broad-ranging topic, and as such in this module it will be primarily be considered from an audience and reception perspective, including your own. You will have opportunities to interrogate your own fan and/or subcultural identity in class and your own participation in fandoms and subcultures will form a part of class discussion and analysis.
Comic Book Movies
20 credits
The module introduces you to the key debates related to the discipline of the ‘superhero’ film, which has emerged over the last decade to become a dominating factor in all elements of film and media theory.
Foundations of Screenwriting
20 credits
This module serves to give you a strong foundation in the art of screenwriting. Through detailed examination of screenplays and through writing your own, you will gain an understanding of the structural principles behind the particular skill of writing for the screen. The module aims to provide you with the conceptual tools to examine critically your own creative practice, provide an insight into the work of the professional screenwriter, and introduce you to structural storytelling paradigms. You will critically analyse extracts from film and TV, and you will learn how to present and pitch your own film project to encourage your understanding of the market for film scripts.
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
Year three
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 80 credits):
Horror Narratives
20 credits
This module critically evaluates horror narratives in their cultural, historical and generic contexts across both visual and audio traditions, and asks you to analyse how debates in this area impact on creative and production practices in the field.
Major Project
60 credits
The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of a written dissertation or a practice-based portfolio.
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules.
Bollywood Film: Culture, Diaspora and Globalization
20 credits
This module builds on previous film textual analytical skills and theoretical studies undertaken at previous levels of the course and applies them to the critical, historical and theoretical study of Bollywood cinema (aka popular Hindi cinema) and related cultural industries. This is an option module for all students with an academic interest in the analytical and theoretical field of reading films closely, and will prepare students who wish to develop expertise and knowledge in areas that focus on historical and contemporary issues of culture, diaspora and globalization.
Global Cinema Narratives
20 credits
The module introduces you to the key debates related to the study of global cinema traditions, which have emerged over the last twenty years as a distinct aspect of critical interest within film and media theory.
Film Entrepreneurship
20 credits
This module builds on the work you have been producing at previous levels of your course by encouraging you to develop innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to recognise professional challenges. It will explore the concept of enterprise in relation to film, exploring what it is like to work as a freelance worker in the contemporary film business. Through a range of teaching approaches, which include interactive lectures, field trips, and guest speakers, you will investigate the techniques, processes and practices of innovation and enterprise.
Reclaiming the Frame
20 credits
This module provides an opportunity to engage with and consider films that explore the perspectives and experiences of minority groups in western societies. The module will consider the intersectional barriers faced by those attempting to work within the film industry (both historically and in the current context) as well as the ways in which technology has democratized the form. The core consideration of this module will be who has been excluded from mainstream cinema, or had their work overlooked, and how in the current context this can be addressed. Further to this we will also focus on experimental film and video work and how non-mainstream contexts may provide an alternative place for film practitioners to explore their ideas.
Writing Short Films
20 credits
In Writing Short Films, we build on the fundamentals of screenwriting and direct them towards writing the kind of short film scripts that you can produce yourself and might serve as your industry break in. You will also collaborate and make a short film for your assessment, either as a group project or individually. The ethos of the module is to serve as a crash course in screenwriting, film production, smartphone filmmaking and editing.
Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
