Film Studies and Screenwriting BA (Hons)

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

For full information about teaching, learning and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for Film Studies and Screenwriting.

In Film Studies you are introduced to a wide range of film histories and cultures, covering everything from the Hollywood blockbuster to world cinema. You will study films from a variety of time periods, including recent releases.

You will be encouraged to draw connections between your own experiences of cinema and film theory and there will be many opportunities, during your learning, to benefit from your lecturers' cutting edge research in aspects of film - from, for example, the cultural meaning of zombie cinema to development of the British crime film. Learning takes place in the screening room and in lecture and seminar rooms and takes a variety of forms including small-group discussion, film screenings, lectures, seminars, one-to-one tutorials and essay preparation sessions. Strong emphasis is placed on interaction and debate between lecturers and students and between students themselves. Assignments are largely essays and presentations but there will be occasional opportunities, too, to work towards less conventional outcomes, including short films.

Screenwriting nurtures your love of story and aims to develop your skills as a writer and media practitioner for the 21st century. It provides creative, challenging approaches to writing for the screen and performance - from initial conception to production.

You are taught by lecturers with both academic and professional, industry backgrounds who are well placed to offer you expert advice and to support your development of original writing. The course provides you with many opportunities to network with industry contacts, supporting your developing understanding of how your writing skills are transferable to employment within the media industries.

Programme specifications

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification documents for Film Studies and Screenwriting.

Film Studies develops student skills in practice-as-research and research-as-practice for a number of culture and media industries including exhibition, distribution, audience-based marketing, journalism, film education, curating, programming, filmmaking, screenwriting and further academic research.

The opportunity to be introduced to current industry contacts in Screenwriting is an essential element of the progression of your work across the three years, giving you a unique insight into how your skills can transfer into employment within the media industry. There are many career path options including working in the digital arts industries, in film and television and arts organisations, and taking up university and school teaching or postgraduate academic and creative writing courses.