BA (Hons) Filmmaking

Teaching & Learning

Independent study is a crucial part of learning at university and you will be required to undertake many hours of self-directed research and reading, and preparation and writing of assessments. Your course is delivered through several modules, which will help you to plan your time and establish a study routine. Outside of your lectures, workshops and tutorials, a range of support is available to assist with your independent study. Our subject-specific librarians will be on hand to direct you to specialist learning and study-skill resources. You’ll also be assigned an academic advisor to give you tailored feedback and support.

Year 1

What you'll learn

Contextualising Practice 1

Develop your understanding of narrative and story, film conventions, history, genre, forms, and practices. You'll build on your understanding of the visual and sonic nature of filmmaking and explore the relationship between theory and practice, film language, and the art of filmmaking.

Making Stories 1: Hearing, Listening, Seeing - Introduction to Moving Image & Sound

Through a structured set of creative exercises, you’ll be introduced to the essential properties of image and sound and their creative potential, both as individual media and when combined in film. Working collaboratively, you'll develop your visual and aural skills, creativity, communication, resilience, and problem-solving.

Creating Documentary: Observed Realities

This module offers you the opportunity to work in collaborative teams to produce creative work through a series of exercises: producing, directing, researching, interviewing, and working with contributors. You'll examine the history and theory of documentary filmmaking and learn the different techniques and approaches of the form.

Creating Fiction: Imagined Realities

Building on the skills and concepts learned in semester one, you'll engage in a series of activities such as visualisation, staging, and mise-en-scene. You'll also work in small groups on a short practical exercise to create a filmed scene/scenes.

Year 2

What you'll learn

Contextualising Practice 2: Experimental Film

Explore the theory and practice of filmmaking with a focus on experimental film and experimentation with form. You'll learn about film history, language, storytelling, and creative making. The module will include a mix of theory, research, and making, and you'll have the opportunity to make an experimental film.

Making Stories 2: Experiments with Form & Narrative

Create a series of pieces of work that will expand your knowledge of the form in documentary and fiction filmmaking. You'll develop your understanding of what documentary and fiction can be by testing and applying your creative filmmaking skills.

Collaborative Practice 1: Research & Development

Spend time developing your voice and conveying your ideas towards a portfolio of work. You'll develop your ideas and will produce work in collaboration with others. Disciplines may include screenwriting, cinematography, sound, editing, producing, and directing.

Filmmaking 1: Production (study abroad students only)

Follow the film process through the preproduction and production stages of filmmaking. You'll engage with the formulation of ideas through experimentation and critical reflection, pre-production with an emphasis on design and performance, and production focusing on a choreographed crew.

Filmmaking 2: R & D (study abroad students only)

This module will teach you to embed research and development as practical and intellectual tasks. You'll research, devise, and implement an informed plan by undertaking sector and discipline research. This R&D will culminate in either a dissertation plan if you are a home student or a research artefact if you are an international student.

Year 3

What you'll learn

Contextualising Practice 3: Dissertation/Independent Project

Develop an understanding of the wider conceptual, historical, technical, and cultural developments within film and moving image production. You'll become an independent learner who can demonstrate capability in conducting an individual research project.

Collaborative Practice 2: Professional Futures

Develop your individual and collaborative practice through research and practical experimentation, underpinned by craft skills development. You'll investigate opportunities to work within a 'real' context, enabling you to develop a clear understanding of relevant creative industries and to prepare you for the workplace. Your practice, both in terms of research and external projects, will feed directly into your work on the Major Project.

Major Project

Collaborate with your peers to make a short film or write a screenplay for a feature film or TV series. This module will enable you to consider critical reflection and storytelling through image, sound, and music, enabling you to cultivate your creative practice.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an informed and original approach to idea generation and storytelling, engaging with experimentation which involves creative decision-making and risk-taking to develop a consistent visual and sonic language.
2. Demonstrate intellectual engagement with all aspects of your film practice and a critical awareness of the social, historical, and cultural impact of traditional and contemporary film.
3. Demonstrate skilled and insightful communication and a creative and reflexive approach to collaboration in the varied stages of the filmmaking process.
4. Demonstrate entrepreneurial skills informed by a developed understanding of the wider professional, legal, ethical, and commercial structures linking the production and exhibition of film within a global context.
5. Demonstrate developed understanding and skill in a range of film practices leading to advanced understanding and skill while engaging with contemporary techniques in digital literacy.
6. Demonstrate a clear understanding of employment opportunities within the sector.

This filmmaking course will prime you to enter an industry that is demanding, continually changing and highly competitive. You’ll emerge with a strong understanding of your specialism and with a focused approach towards personal development and career planning. Our graduates have worked on TV series like Game of Thrones, 24: Live Another Day and Utopia. As well as films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Fury and Maleficent. Some of our students have gained internships at Working Title Films and ITV or have gone on to postgraduate study at our Northern Film School.

Job roles could include:

• Assistant Director
• Cinematographer
• Editor
• Producer