UDFILTVS - BA Film and Television Studies

The BA Film and Television Studies combines the theoretical, historical and cultural study of film and television with a practice/theory approach which examines the relationship between theory and practical filmmaking through practice-based work. Students will undertake both academic and practice-based learning, exploring a wide variety of theories, approaches, national cinemas and television industries through critical analysis, and developing professional abilities in such fields as screenwriting, short film, artists’ film and video and documentary film-making. Transferrable skills and students’ personal development are promoted throughout the course via student presentations, group work, research and coursework planning and practice-based assignments, as well as through the opportunity for recognition of relevant employment-based learning.

Students will experience a variety of teaching and learning approaches including lectures, seminars, film screenings, workshops, group work, blended learning via the university’s virtual learning environment, online discussions, workshops, student development weeks, and library and exhibit visits. Students are expected to complement their in-class and blended learning opportunities with extensive guided independent study and to be actively engaged in their learning. Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning experience through developmental learning and both formative and summative assignments including logs, portfolios, essay and project planning and practice/theory reflective work that are embedded across the course. Learning strategies on the course are designed to promote transferrable skills of communication, independent thinking, the ability to work effectively with others, work planning and independent responsibility. Student feedback and engagement with teaching and learning strategies are promoted via student representatives and course committees. Learning facilities include large screen lecture theatres, flexible open-learning spaces and the extensive facilities of the university’s Learning Centre. For practice-based learning, students have access to up to date digilab facilities and camera equipment.

The main aims of the BA Film and Television Studies are:

• To develop students’ understanding of film and television theories and histories
• To enable students to critically analyse film and television in relation to a variety of cultural issues
• To develop students’ transferrable skills through presentations, group work, practice-based assignments, employment-based learning, course committees and student consultation
• To encourage skills of research, writing, argument development and critical analysis
• To promote students’ self-directed learning
• To encourage students to reflect on their personal development through reflecting learning and assessment
• To enable students to develop skills in screenwriting, digital film production, artists’ film and video and documentary filmmaking
• To prepare students for careers in a variety of fields including the film and television industries, and for further academic and practice-based study

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on systematic understanding of the key aspects of the knowledge base of Film and Television Studies, including a coherent and detailed knowledge of some specialist areas in depth.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Film and Television Studies;

• devise and sustain arguments, and/or solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of Film and Television Studies;

• describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Film and Television Studies, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;

• manage their own learning, and make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Film and Television Studies);

• apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;

• critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution – or identify a range of solutions – to a problem;

• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

• exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;

• undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature.

- Deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Film and
Television Studies:

Approaches to Film and Television (IPA)
Film and Television Histories (IPA)
Introduction to American Film and Television
(IPA)
Moving Image Practice (IPA)
Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(P)
Scripting Performance for Screen and Stage
(P)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening American in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Devise and sustain arguments, and/or solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of Film and Television Studies:

Approaches to Film and Television (IPA)
Film and Television Histories (IPA)
Introduction to American Film and Television
(IPA)
Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening American in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent
advanced scholarship, in Film and Television Studies, recognising the uncertainty,
ambiguity and limits of knowledge:

Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening America in Hollywood Film (PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Manage their own learning, and make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Film and
Television Studies):

Approaches to Film and Television (IPA)
Film and Television Histories (IPA)
Introduction to American Film and Television
(IPA)
Moving Image Practice (IPA)
Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(PA)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening America in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The American Musical (PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out
projects:

Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(PA)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening America in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
From Page to Performance: Stage and Screen
(PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be
incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a
solution – or identify a range of solutions – to a problem:

Approaches to Film and Television (I)
Film and Television Histories (I)
Introduction to American Film and Television (I)
Moving Image Practice (I)
Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(P)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Scripting Performance for Screen and Stage
(P)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening America in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
From Page to Performance: Stage and Screen
(P)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and nonspecialist audiences:

Approaches to Film and Television (I)
Film and Television Histories (I)
Introduction to American Film and Television (I)
Moving Image Practice (I)
Representation and Identity (PA)
Cinema and Television in Europe (PA)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(PA)
Contemporary American Television (PA)
Stardom and Performance (PA)
Film and Philosophy (PA)
Scripting Performance for Screen and Stage
(PA)
Film Reception and Interpretation (PA)
Screening America in Hollywood Film (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television
(PA)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (PA)
From Page to Performance: Stage and Screen
(PA)
The Hollywood Musical (PA)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts:

Moving Image Practice (I)
Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice
(P)
Representation and Identity (P)
Recognition of Work (PA)
Constructing Reality in Film and Television (P)
Artists’ Film and Video (PA)
Surrealism and Film (P)
Project – Film and Television Studies (PA)

- Undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature:

Project – Film and Television Studies

Subject Benchmark Statement: Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Pages/Subject-benchmark-Statement-Communication-media-film-and-cultural-studies.aspx

The course provides a variety of assessment strategies designed to promote and evidence students’ engagement with learning. Assessments are both formative and summative to promote developmental learning, and include formal essays, presentations, portfolios, case studies, and practice-based assessments such as screenwriting, short film-making and experimental film and video-making. Students will have the opportunity to submit draft material to tutors and receive individual tutorials and feedback during student development weeks. Students will be provided with both formative and summative feedback in a variety of forms including in-class, tutorials, on-line, peer critique and formal written feedback. Formative feedback provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their engagement with learning and develop their work towards their final summative assessments.

The course structure diagram below sets out the course structure for full-time students. This will vary for part-time students according to their programme of study.

Students have the opportunity at level 5 to undertake a Recognition of Work module, gaining credit for learning gained through prior or concurrent experience in service-learning activities and employment. Work may include volunteering, peer mentoring or peer assistance, service to community activities, work-based learning gained through student employment initiatives in the university, or generic workplace learning such as part-time or vacation employment. The module demonstrably contributes towards the student’s portfolio of employable skills, providing the opportunity for students to demonstrate how they have developed high-level transferrable and career management skills, or how their work has demonstrably contributed towards their engagement with the discipline of Film and Television Studies.

N/A

The following modules are required to gain the BA Film and Television Studies:

Approaches to Film and Television

Film and Television Histories

Introduction to American Film and Television

Moving Image Practice

Cinema and Television in Europe

Representation and Identity

Exploring Film, Television and Digital Practice

Film Reception and Interpretation

Screening America in Hollywood Film

Project – Film and Television Studies

Studying this degree, you'll develop transferable skills that will increase your employability.

Students go on to work, for example, in film and television companies, independent production houses, media journalism, film marketing and publicity and cinema exhibition, as well as going forward to postgraduate study.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• 280 UCAS points from three or more A levels or
• 320 UCAS points from a BTEC National, a Level 3 Diploma, or equivalent

Mature students are also encouraged to apply.

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.