Film and Screenwriting with a Foundation Year - BA (Hons)

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.

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.

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.

Screenwriting Primer will introduce you to the essential skills of, and principles behind, writing for the screen. You will study a number of freely available short guides to industry standard screenplay layout and formatting and apply that learning to the practical application of screenplay formatting software. You will create a portfolio of short screenplays, given as writing exercises through the learning schedule, and receive detailed formative feedback on the scripts, which you can use to improve and develop your work for your final portfolio. You will focus on visual storytelling, layout conventions, and be encouraged to identify the formal features of a screenplay in terms of character, genre, tone, plot and theme. You will also illustrate your understanding of elementary marketing principles.  

Looking at forms in films, students will learn how visual languages are being used and how to compose shots that are translatable to other mediums such as animation. You will learn to storyboard and create effective animatics and to succinctly convey ideas and vision to produce short a film(s) as a group and individually. Expect to pitch your ideas individually and as a team.

Writing for TV is designed to help students build on the fundamental skills of writing for the screen and direct that skillset to writing for the multi-format world of television. You will demonstrate an understanding of how to structure scripts for 30-minute and 1-hour slots, for drama series, sitcom, continuing and serial dramas, while presenting an adherence to industry-standard TV screenplay convention, and demonstrating expertise in the presentation of marketing documentation. You will also have the opportunity to reflect critically on your creative considerations. 

This module is designed to help you develop the skills to read and evaluate scripts for the film and television industry. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and knowledge to assess and evaluate scripts according to industry standards. You will be able to read treatments, identify elements of a script, and write comprehensive script reports and 'coverage' that will be useful to film and television producers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This module examines the intricacies of film and entertainment finance at product level, unpacking how films are made and how they raise their finance. The aim is to help you understand sources of finance, how finance and recoupment plans are put together and what it takes to attract investors to a project; the typical challenges faced by a producer.

The module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration &/or your own professional practice. The module enables you to create either an interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines or your own self-defined project.