Film Production

In this module you will work in teams and develop strong professional working relationships with the rest of your group. You will learn the crafts that will contribute to good Film Production. There will be class/seminar sessions that involve you working with industry standard cameras, sound and lighting kits. The aim is to make you all familiar with film making techniques and processes so that regardless of your career aim you will have a strong understanding of the roles and processes involved in film production work.

This module examines 'What is a film? What is cinema?' The module studies various aspects of film elements that engage and communicate with the audience. It introduces the concept of film form and enables you to identify and analyse its different elements of that form. As filmmakers you will begin to engage with wider institutional contexts and audiences. The module will develop your abilities in assessing how the various aspects of film form combine to make meaning and engage an audience.

This module will introduce you to a range of theoretical and critical approaches to engaging with film and film cultures. Through this module, you will develop an awareness of different approaches to film making and how social, cultural and political landscapes affect the filmmaker. You will view and discuss a range of films, directors and practitioners and examine the contemporary usefulness of a breadth of theoretical approaches to writing about and engaging with film.

This module focuses on building on your single camera film making skills and knowledge from trimester one. The overall aim is to develop and extend knowledge in film production using a variety of devices and technologies. This module will also develop film techniques and creative cinematic practices for your film production work.

In this module you will start to explore the film industry and the career pathways that you can take. You will also be exploring key skills to set you up for your future such as collaboration, networking, and self-promotion. You will explore what roles there are in the industry such as Director of Photography or production manager.

This module will introduce you to the fundamentals of narrative structure, ideas generation, research for writing, development and professional script formatting. This will equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to begin writing engaging, short film scripts. Our main focus will be on short narrative and scriptwriting, giving opportunities to develop deeper knowledge of the importance of characterisation, story structure and descriptive writing techniques.

This module is designed to enhance your filmmaking skills in a group context. Through the process of making a short film, you will learn how to operate on a professional film set, how stories develop from inception through production and post-production, and how to professionally operate higher level kit.

Following on from Filmmaking Practice, through the production of a short film, you will take on a specialist role, developing your craft in the context of a group filmmaking project. You will continue to learn how to use high-end kit, and further learn about how film sets operate to ensure high technical and creative standards.

This module is about exercising and expanding your skills and knowledge in directing. It is also about discovering your authorial style, voice and creative intuition, and developing advanced specialist skills in directing, especially in relation to visual language and the dramatic form. You will learn to develop, interpret and execute a short drama or a non-fiction project, and you will deepen your collaborative skills while being in charge of a small project as a director.

In this module, you will focus on the role of producer. By working to professional expectations, you will learn about how the producer functions in order to deliver cinematic stories. You will cover pitching, casting, budgeting, scheduling, contracts, distribution, and super story. This will be geared primarily towards the independent film sector but also provide essential skills for those taking a more traditional route into industry towards roles such as Line Producer and Production Manager.

This is a theory and practice experimental module which will introduce you to the essay film, a mode of filmmaking situated between documentary and fiction, the documentary and the experimental, narrative and non-narrative practices. You will learn about self-referential and self reflexive filmmaking, different experimental traditions of deciphering and challenging dominant cinematic modes and theories, and practice on denaturalising techniques with a focus on feminist filmmaking. The module is structured around 3 main areas: Visual Thinking, Gender and Feminist Filmmaking, The Personal Camera.

Every aspiring filmmaker should know who the greatest filmmakers and the greatest film movements in the history of cinema are. Building upon several ideas covered in year one, this module will explore global film movements and modes of filmmaking, their critical frameworks as well as their historical and socio-political contexts. It will introduce you to different modes of film-making relating to cultural, political and social movements throughout the history of cinema as well as problematize the idea of ‘global cinema’. It will equip you with an understanding of how industrial, independent and experimental forms of film co-exist.

This module focuses on building confidence and aims to help you develop strong employability skills including CV writing, developing a professional online presence, networking and professional etiquette. You will be able to build a strong portfolio of work with a view to presenting this to industry and gaining work experience.

In this module you will be looking at and exploring sound in film production. Looking at audio acquisition on both location and studio settings. This module provides you with a detailed and practical overview of the sound team and the tools and practices for sound production. You will learn about the range of microphones, and their differing applications, external recorders and the creative scope that is possible within the production of sound for film

This module examines how editing shapes cinematic storytelling. You will learn Avid Media Composer to build your editorial and media management skills. You will analyse and make creative picture, sound and music editing choices in class exercises and assignments using the Avid NLE. You'll participate in lively discussions on the art and craft of editing; thus you'll grow confident expressing your ideas to a room full of creatives and you'll develop the excellent communication skills required of any professional editor.

This module will examine all fundamental aspects of fictional storytelling including narrative structure, character development, character types, relation of character to plot and the use of subplots. We will foster your practical skills in structure, plotting, character creation and dialogue for dramatic scripts. you'll also examine the use of the three act structure. 

This module is recommended for those students intending to focus their studies on the historical, theoretical, technical, and organisational aspects of cinematography, their practical application, and the effect they have on the aesthetics of a production. Together, we will examine past and present cinematography theories, techniques, and technologies.  We will foster technical proficiency with a range of camera equipment and hands on test shoots. Through this process,  you will also gain an understanding of the roles and responsibilities that organise the camera department.

You will identify and examine key social, historical and aesthetic developments in the evolution of documentary film, informing the production of a short documentary in small teams. You In this module, you will focus on one of the following roles; producer, director. By working collaboratively, you will examine a script project during the 12 week semester using organisational and visual skills. In the final three weeks, you will shoot, edit and present a short scene sequence from a screenplay. You will explore the work of documentary filmmakers in specific historical and aesthetic contexts, and apply these practices to your own work.

This module is designed to enable you to gain an understanding of the requirements and practices associated with the art department in the production of a film. The module will focus on developing a critical overview of the role and practices of the production designer, providing a range of opportunities for you to apply your knowledge of production design to practice within the film making process. 

On this module, you will develop sound acquisition skills to an advanced level and offer the opportunity to apply them, explore the relationship between sound acquisition and post production; extend your understanding of the principles of the speciality; and explore and manipulate a range of audio post production software.

This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.

This is a practical module, rooted in a hands-on exploration of, and experimentation with, the potential of film to generate audio-visual meaning in new, unexpected ways, outside of mainstream understandings of narrative structure, value and achievement. You will learn about the tradition of experimental film and art cinema, examining the creative process and rationale of key experimental/avantgarde filmmakers and visual artists. You will research and devise your own experimental projects – embracing chance and uncertainty, applying unconventional production and post-production approaches and tools, and exploring alternative presentation/exhibition modes.

This is a step up from all your previous academic learning at University. You have 12 weeks to write a dissertation on one of your favourite subjects in which you will have the opportunity to apply your critical understanding of Film Production and relevant contexts. This module will enable you to scope out a substantial written research project and encourage you to conduct in-depth independent research. It will give you the opportunity to develop skills of critical analysis. It will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to construct an extensive, sustained argument informed by relevant methodologies and ethical protocols.

This module entails the production of a high quality short film. With the help of your supervising tutors you will negotiate your workload to ensure you take on a major role on a film in your final trimester. This project is very much about us helping you do what you want and specialise in a filmmaking role in preparation for professional work.

This theory-based module will introduce you to a variety of critical debates that surround film ideology. The module will provide the opportunities to develop advanced knowledge and analytical tools needed to analyse particular examples of contemporary cinematic forms, styles and genres in relation to realism. The module will examine and analyse common practices as well as the main key differences between contemporary traditions of cinematic realism and explore political concerns of some contemporary cinematic in Europe and beyond.

This module focuses on preparing you for your final year individual and group tasks. You will develop an evidence based portfolio consisting of research for your production contribution. The aim of this module is to encourage in depth research into your chosen subject matter in order to undertake the responsibilities of a major role in your second trimester film.

This module focuses on preparing you for your final year individual and group tasks. You will develop an evidence based portfolio consisting of research for your production contribution, the aim of this module is to encourage in depth research into your chosen subject matter and practices for film production in order to undertake the responsibilities of a major role in your second trimester team film product. There will be a written report associated with your work, we will try and help you make this closely related to your practice.

Exploring the wide and varied history of drama on British television, the module will impart a sophisticated understanding of contemporary British TV fictions via their historical development; analyse the changing production contexts of British television drama; and, provide students with the advanced skills required to undertake close textual analysis of TV fictions. The module provides an opportunity for students to contextualise particular examples of TV drama in terms of production, format and audience.

This module is designed to help you develop your understanding of camera and lighting for a variety of professional scenarios. You will develop lighting and director of photography skills to a high technical level. By examining and understanding the theories and concepts of lighting, you will be able to apply these principles to practice through appropriate lighting design for a variety of genres. You will focus on formulating an understanding of light properties and how these properties can be manipulated to bring about appropriate lighting solutions to production work.

This will let students explore key (transitional) representations of men and masculinity throughout Hollywood history. Beginning with an examination of the pre-code ‘mob men’, moving to representations of men (and dangerous women) in film noir and 1980s muscular hero action pics, among other key masculine characterisations, the module will analyse how the representation of Hollywood’s leading men has always been an altering document, drawn and redrawn to meet the demands of the day. Critical skills concerning gender, identity, and representation theories will come to bear on one of the burgeoning, most hotly-debated areas of the film discipline.

You will continue to develop your understanding of the requirements and practices associated with the art department in the production of a film. The module will focus on developing a deeper critical overview of the way production design contributes to the visual communication of theme, tone and character. The module will provide opportunity for students to develop the application of their knowledge of production design to practice within the film making process and develop their planning and fabrication skills with the support of the FabLab and assignments designed to support independent development of your chosen specialism within Production Design.

In this module, we ask ‘What is Film Theory? How did it evolve and which questions does it address?’. We shall critically engage with a number of theory-based approaches to film associated with a number of intellectual positions (for example, semiotic, cognitive, narrative, and political theories), as well as examining the historical links between theory and the development of film studies as a subject within the academy.

The module explores the socio-cultural histories of transmedia franchises and their fictional storyworlds across TV, radio, films, comic books, and videogames. Transmedia Storyworlds equips students with an advanced understanding of how industrial forces shape productions of storyworld content across a given transmedia franchise and explores how adaptations of fictional storyworlds exploit the narrative affordances of a range of different media. The module equips students with an advanced understanding of transnational flows whereby cultures from around the world reimagine globally famous characters and storyworlds to establish locally specific meanings and critically examine the ideological positions of transmedia franchises and their storyworlds.

This module focuses on helping you extend your sound design skills and develop sound acquisition and sound manipulation skills and knowledge to an advanced level. You will develop an understanding on how sound elements are combined to assist the narrative in creating an emotional impact on the audience. You will utilise a range of equipment and post production sound facilities to create sound to a professional standard.

This module allows you to explore the fields of film marketing, distribution and exhibition. As a filmmaker/producer you will be able to critically understand the field of exhibition and its importance to the filmmaker. You will also develop an understanding of the role of film festivals within the film industry and examine the importance of the process of marketing, distribution and exhibition of films in a digital age.

This module will focus on helping you develop directing skills to an advanced level. You will explore the relationship between director, actors and crew in order to develop an in depth understanding of the role of the director. There is a particular focus on working with actors to develop blocking and performance that tells stories cinematically.

The module provides a framework for understanding contemporary factual television using a range of perspectives including historical, cultural, industrial, and technological. Areas of study will include television documentary (e.g. ob docs, docu-soaps), the emergence of reality TV and its ongoing impact on factual television forms and genres, transformational television (e.g. lifestyle & makeover programming), and youth TV (factual programming aimed at the 16-25 year audience demographic). The module draws on examples from British and US factual television.

This module will develop to an advanced level your knowledge of contemporary factual television, and will provide you with the opportunity to conduct specialised academic research into a factual television genre/programme of your choosing.

Advanced Editing continues the work started in Editing Film in year two. On this course, you learn AVID to a more Advanced level, and continue developing your skills in using editing techniques to tell cinematic stories. There is also a focus on online editing and grading.

This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.

At level 6 we will explore the creative and theoretical writing processes that will help you develop your craft. Screenwriting theory will act as a springboard to your individual writer’s journey. The module will work with you to celebrate the creative challenges and choices a writer makes in order to communicate their story.  The module allows you to investigate a range of methods and approaches to the development of structure, non-linear narratives, characters, theme and dialogue.  You will get to explore how and why we tell stories, which will support you to plan your script and unpack your story, characters and plotting. Ultimately the module will work with you to develop your writing and to create flexible script development processes that will support your creative career.