What you will study
From conception, ideas and creative strategies of engagement, through pre-production and planning, to the innovative creation of bespoke film projects, this course provides you with a comprehensive understanding of filmmaking and key professional roles in the industry.
Throughout the course you will analyse and explore film specialisms, including directing, cinematography, editing, sound recording and production design to find your own unique career path.
You'll learn how to contextualise, engage with and critique the film industry through your own practice and projects, via taught modules and guest lectures. Upon graduation you'll be well equipped to enter film production employment with confidence and in a variety of guises.
Modules
Year 1
In Year 1 students are given technical inductions and introduced through creative projects to film production. Projects briefs will give you the opportunity to develop ideas for films and undertake a range of production roles. You will learn about research enquiry, directing actors, studio and location work, running a set, interview technique, production and post-production, lighting and cinematography, sound recording and design.
Core modules
Filmmaking Practices 1
30 credits
The emphasis in this module is on developing a number of short film works in both production units and individually as an integral part of an introduction to the programme and its expectations. You will be introduced to a range of approaches to filmmaking, supported by inductions to the key areas of film resources. The module also provides support for the development of research enquiry.
Filmmaking Practices 2
30 credits
This module will provide you with an intensive technically driven introduction period. It will cover various techniques, film grammar and good working practice, involving a series of filmmaking tasks assessed in terms of their successful technical resolution and enhanced understand of production skills and methods. Inductions and tuition in studio production, working as a film unit and in post-production, are integrated into the module. The emphasis is subsequently towards the development and realisation of original short films, through which students learn about filmmaking practices. There is an integrated approach where skills are primarily taught as part of project work. The aim is to undertake and produce a short film.
Filmmaking Practices 3
30 credits
The emphasis is towards the development and realisation of original short films involving performers/actors/live presence, through which you will learn about directing actors, scripting, running a set and organising larger scale productions. There is an integrated approach where skills are primarily taught as part of project work. The aim is to undertake and produce a number of short films across the year group; with an opportunity for collaboration on more ambitious projects.
Contextualising Contemporary Practice: Film
30 credits
This module introduces the various contexts in which the contemporary practices of filmmaking, are defined, debated and displayed. The module is designed to support your first steps as practitioners within the wider field of the visual arts in the 21st century. Through lectures, discussions, screenings and exhibition visits you will be introduced to the historical framework of modernity and post-modernity in order to understand the development and contemporary situation of their discipline. The module is organised as discrete but related teaching blocks that progress from broader questions of cultural practice to the more specific debates that have framed the historical development film and its associated fields - for example artist's video and photography. In the first block, the emphasis is broad and focused on developing in students, an understanding of the notion of practice in filmmaking and the wider visual arts, by addressing the historical, theoretical, social and political factors that have affected our understanding of its function. In the second block, you will be encouraged to consider the key debates, theoretical questions and changing contexts that inform your discipline. Throughout there is an emphasis on the introduction of key analytical, critical and research skills, and through close engagement with visual sources, historical texts and contemporary critical writing, you will begin to develop the tools necessary to discuss, conceptualise and reflect on their own emerging practice.
Year 2
In Year 2 you will undertake projects with the opportunity to shoot and process 8mm film, use archive, green screen, high-speed video and explore the intersection between live-action and animation. You will work in groups developing pitches for ambitious productions collaborating with professional actors, developing character and script, and shooting on location. Through the production of these films, you will be encouraged to identify your strengths and have the opportunity to explore specialist areas of interest.
Core modules
Filmmaking Practices 4
30 credits
The emphasis here is on thinking of the studio as a tool with which to create challenging, experimental content. However content is not restricted to studio-based production, but encompasses substantial work on location as well. You will be encouraged to experiment with styles and techniques, and to embrace both location and studio production as part of the creative toolkit available to you as innovative filmmakers and designers of the future.
Filmmaking Practices 5
30 credits
This module will provide you with an enhanced understanding of filmmaking practices, together with introducing a thorough grounding in related research and development methods and production skills. Each student will initiate and produce a film work, working in small production units to achieve this, or work in a role-oriented capacity on a group production.
Filmmaking Practices 6
30 credits
This module offers you specialised practical development along with supporting professional development studies. You will work on short films involving performers, scripts and dialogue.
Critical Issues in Filmmaking: Research and Practice
30 credits
Building on the thematic and historical context introduced at Level 4, this module enables you to create a theoretical framework within which to investigate and understand some of the critical issues affecting the practice and interpretation of contemporary filmmaking. With a close focus on analysis of key case studies, a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, and group and individual screenings inform and support your own emerging research interests and the development of independent visual and academic research skills common to both the historical and theoretical study of film and practice of filmmaking. With reference to important concepts and primary texts that have informed the development of film theory, you will acquire the knowledge and analytical skills to build a framework within which to engage with the critical contexts in which filmmaking operates today. You will also develop research methods appropriate to the study and practice of your discipline, propose an area of research for development at Level 6, and begin to contextualise and make sense of the concerns emerging in your own practice.
Year 3
In Year 3 you will undertake two large scale projects, culminating in the Graduation Film. You will work to your strengths and develop material for your graduation portfolio. The final Graduation Films are screened at shows on campus and at a central London cinema.
Core modules
Independent Film
30 credits
This module is informed by the Advanced Research and Development module and involves the realisation of Independent Films. The module enables you to develop films either individually or as production units. It encourages the development of films that are both ambitious and build on the learning, successes and strengths gained during your Level 5 work.
The Graduation Film
60 credits
This 60 credit capstone module is the culmination of study in filmmaking, incorporating research, process/development, film production and final degree show presentational elements. Working in various specialised production roles, you can distil your accumulated knowledge into an ambitious film for presentation at both on-site and external graduation screenings. Students are also expected to undertake various co-ordination duties around the realisation of the final degree show presentations.
Dissertation: Research and Reflection
30 credits
Building on the links between research and practice embedded at Level 5, the Critical and Historical Studies (CHS) Dissertation: Research and Reflection module focuses on in-depth research, critical enquiry and reflection on questions and critical issues emerging in students' own practice, and pertinent to the practice of their own discipline.
Over the module, students will initiate and develop an individual research topic; identify and evaluate appropriate archives, bodies of critical literature, visual/material sources and research methods; manage their study time; engage with and respond to tutorial dialogue and peer feedback, and apply critical and analytical skills to produce a 7-8000 word written Dissertation, supported by a series of lectures, seminars and tutorials.
