Program Overview

Film and Media with Integrated Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Overview

This is a four-year version of our popular BA (Hons) Film and Media course, with an integrated foundation year. Study film and the fascinating world of the media. Apply critical thinking and analysis and develop the transferable skills of problem-solving, communication, and presentation. Combine academic research with practical application, developing the talents to join an exciting and ever-changing industry.

Course Structure

In the first year – the foundation year – you'll study five modules. After completion of this foundation year, you'll then move onto the Film and Media honours degree course.

Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, group work, and e-learning. We encourage you to develop independent study skills.

As well as assessments that count towards your degree, there are also ongoing assessments for feedback and consolidating your learning. Assessment methods include essays, reports, written coursework, projects, presentations, and exams.

Course Modules

Foundation Year:

• Foundations of English, Journalism and Media Theory (40 credits) Get an introduction to a variety of skills that are intended to ease the transition into Higher Education. Learn what is expected of you as an undergraduate student and how to adjust to degree level study.
• Essential Study Skills (20 credits) Bridge the gap between Further Education and Higher Education. Understand the level of work you will be expected to do at University, how to become an independent learner and how to find answers yourself.
• Foundation Project (20 credits) Investigate a topic area related to your degree programme. Projects will vary according to the degree programme of study but typically the formats would include: a review paper, a practical project or analysis of data for a report. Utilise the lectures and surgeries and gain specialist input into your proposed project. While the module is based around independent learning, tutors are on hand to guide the process through the use of weekly surgeries.
• Multimedia Communications (20 credits) Explore a range of storytelling styles employed across the media and the different strategies used to appeal to different audiences. Look at the structure, style and purpose of feature writing, reviews, interviews and news reporting. Build your own portfolio of work, featuring a range of written stories created in the various styles and develop your writing skills, with particular focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Practical Numeracy Skills (20 credits) Consolidating your numerical skills, see how these can be used in real-life applications, and consider how statistical results are presented, calculated and statistics misrepresented. See how to apply this knowledge in everyday life settings, both at work and at a personal level. Take responsibility for your own learning and ensuring you are able to manage your time and work independently.

Year 1 (national level 4):

• Core modules:
  • Understanding Media and Culture (20 credits) Develop a critical understanding of the role and importance of media and culture in contemporary life. Gain knowledge of the historical development of the modern media landscape and culture industries and develop analytical and evaluative skills through examining media texts and cultural practices. Finish the module with skills of analysis, academic argument and understanding the operations of power.
  • Introduction to Film Studies (20 credits) Discover the concepts, theories, methods and approaches that have shaped the discipline of Film Studies. Develop skills in hands-on film analysis, of a wide range of films: how to analyse a shot, editing techniques, narrative structures, relationships between image and sound and so on.
  • History of Cinema (20 credits) Explore cinema’s development throughout the twentieth century and beyond, tracing the major changes that have taken place within the film industry itself and the medium’s expanding cultural significance as it evolved from peep show to mass entertainment form. Examine the distinctiveness of early cinema before moving on to consider the shift to a more industrial, narrative-based approach to filmmaking. Consider the growing dominance of the American film industry (artistically and economically) alongside other important advances and points of resistance in world cinema. Analyse some of the underlying patterns and continuities that are a feature of the medium’s history.
  • Contemporary Cinema (20 credits) Explore some of the major developments within narrative feature films from around the world, including North America, UK, and Europe, examining the ways in which different countries are exploiting technical advances in filmmaking. Look at the institutional contexts of various international cinemas including the organisation of the industry, their major genres and stars, defining stylistic characteristics and leading exponents, highlighting works that have proved successful within the international arena.
  • Introduction to Scriptwriting (20 credits) Learn the key skills of storytelling through workshops on narratives and formats and use those skills to inform your work and your professional development. Work on the production of an independently written short script as well as a treatment and pitch. Learn how to develop an idea through to treatment stage, and finally into scripts suitable for short films, TV/streaming service, radio, or podcast. Cover genre, narrative structure, plot lines and character development and learn how to format a script for various forms. Develop your critical awareness in relation to your own work and that of others and develop your analytical skills and understanding of conceptual issues in relation to scriptwriting and the finished product.
  • Single Camera Production (20 credits) Gain an introduction to the procedures and techniques of single camera video production. Learn the technical practices and creative skills required to produce a video. Originate, develop, script, shoot and edit a production of three minutes in length, working in a production crew.

Year 2 (national level 5):

• Core modules:
  • Interrogating Factual Media (20 credits) Develop a critical understanding of the role and importance of fact-based media output across multiple platforms, from broadcast content to diverse internet-based publishers. Gain analytical and evaluative skills through analyses of media discourses impacting upon public knowledge and the effective functioning of democracy while exploring a range of relevant contemporary topics and theories. Complete the module with a robust understanding of the interplay between the construction of media messaging, their communicative value and effectiveness, and the public’s response.
  • Film Theory and Criticism (20 credits) Engage in an in-depth analysis of the major areas of film theory and criticism and gain a heightened capacity for critical thinking and an ability to analyse film ‘texts'. Focus on recent and contemporary film theories such as feminism, psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and post-structuralism.
  • Screening Nations (20 credits) Explore geopolitical and geocultural identities and landscapes as they appear on global screens. Use a range of theoretical approaches to critically examine notions of nationhood, as well as more localised presentations of socio-political selfhood. Assess terms such as ‘world’, ‘global’ or ‘third’ cinema as critical categories. Explore topics that will encourage critical engagement with a culturally diverse range of production styles and topics as well theoretical perspectives.
  • Film and Society (20 credits) Examine a range of different approaches to studying the social significance of films from the USA and Europe in the late 20th and into the 21st century. Watching screenings of films and learn about contextualising these with reference to such things as the conditions of production, historical and social factors pertaining at the time the film was made and released, critical reception and subsequent readings, interpretations and writings about the films by commentators and historians. Focus on the ways that films can be understood to carry significant social meanings and reveal key aspects of social history, such as the way in which societies have been demarcated by inequalities of class, race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity or how film has been used to articulate and, in some cases, challenge these inequalities.
  • Researching Media in Theory and Practice (20 credits) Develop a critical understanding of the history and growth of media research and the importance of continuing to examine media use in contemporary life in the midst of rapid technological change. Gain knowledge of media research and ‘hands-on’ research skills through detailed case studies of past research into media use and a practical research project of your own or a placement should you wish to arrange one. Complete the module with a firm grasp of the complex relationships between ordinary media use and the formation of identities, beliefs and practices and gain useful, practical research and problem-solving skills.
• Optional modules (choose one):
  • Screenwriting (20 credits) Understand the concepts and techniques employed in writing drama or comedy suitable for television or steaming service such as Netflix or Amazon. Learn how to develop an idea through the treatment stage, and finally into a script.
  • Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (20 credits) Examine different theoretical approaches and traditions involved in the study of popular culture and the analysis of texts and practices of popular culture. Learn about the most influential approaches to the study of popular culture including Marxism(s), psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism, using relevant examples such as popular music, advertising, film, television, and consumption (shopping, football and fan culture).
  • Ready Player One: Operating within the Streaming Industry (20 credits) Develop both a practical and critical understanding of one of the fastest growing media sectors in the 21st century: the livestreaming economy. Research the live streaming economy and create content for a unique product through a variety of pre-recorded and live stream videos. Complete the module with an understanding of the importance of the relationships between content creator and intended audience, effective branding and planning, as well as a critical awareness of ethical practices and broadcast regulations.
  • Documentary Production (20 credits) Devise, develop and deliver a short documentary in groups. Analyse the documentary form and further develop production skills such as planning, organisation, production management, camera, lighting, sound, digital workflow, and post-production techniques.

Final year (national level 6):

• Core modules:
  • Media and Society (20 credits) Develop a critical understanding of the industrial links between Advertising and Branding and Quality Television Drama (and many other types of media) in terms of their historical development and production. Gain analytical and evaluative skills by examining the current issues and debates about the impact of media on society. Finish the module with a robust knowledge of the intertwined concerns of creating content, creating profit and the necessity for analysis of media output and industrial systems to maintain a healthy, democratic society.
  • Engaging Screen Audiences: Music, Performance and Genre (20 credits) Explore what makes watching films such a compelling emotional experience and how such experiences affect interpretations of key ideological discourses. Focus on the role played by music, performance and genre in the evocation of emotion on screen. Examine how texts encourage audience identification and empathy, especially in films dealing with sensitive, or contentious topics. Consider the emotional power of all media texts and recognise feeling as a vital part of the overall fabric of our experience of watching and listening.
• You'll also have the option to choose which final project to complete:
  • Media Research Project (40 credits) Undertake a piece of independent-led work, the content of which will vary from student to student and will be based on theoretical or empirical approaches, or a combination of these. Complete the module with a specialist understanding of your chosen area of research.
  • Practical Project: Scriptwriting (40 credits) Produce either a feature-length film screenplay, an hour-long television pilot or a 45-minute radio drama/comedy. Research and plan the project in the first weeks of the module and pitch to the tutors towards the end of the first semester. Work out your idea and develop a treatment prior to the pitch with a series of 2-hour workshops throughout semester 1.

Facilities

• The David Puttnam Media Centre is a thriving place to study and experience media. Rub shoulders with BBC Newcastle and Tyne & Wear TV, who are both based in the building. Volunteer with award-winning Spark Sunderland, write for one of our suite of websites or edit Spark Magazine in our mediaHUB. Get hands-on in TV and Radio Studios, Journalism and Digital editing suites. Learn from experts in this centre of excellence for training.

Entry Requirements

• We don’t currently display entry requirements for Ireland. Please contact the Student Admin team on or .

Fees and Finance

• The annual fee for this course is £9,535 if you're from the UK/Ireland/EU settled/pre-settled.

Career Ready

• Build transferable skills and gain experience to get career ready. Open job opportunities such as teaching, consultancy, TV and film production, new media, marketing and research, PR, advertising, and more.

Work Placements

• We actively encourage you to gain relevant work experience while at university. During every year of your course, you'll be guided and encouraged to gain meaningful experience that'll fit around your studies.

Practical Experience

• Many students get involved in Spark Sunderland, a community radio station based at the University. Students are responsible for all news-gathering, programme production and advertising. Spark has won many awards including four golds at the Student Radio Awards 2012, and holds the Nations and Regions Award for Best Radio Station in the North East.
• Work alongside BBC Newcastle Journalists in our mediaHUB, home to student-run websites covering sport, news, entertainment, fashion, and Spark online magazine.
• Sunderland's daily newspaper, The Sunderland Echo, has a weekly page called 'On Campus' that's written entirely by students. It’s an opportunity to find and research your own stories, take photographs, meet deadlines, and see your name in print.
• Throughout the course, we invite guest speakers to run workshops and masterclasses that allow you to relate your learning to real-life opportunities.

Creative Industries Week

• Creative Industries Week gives everyone in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries the opportunity to participate in a range of projects, workshops, talks, industry visits, and career events. This exciting week encourages interdisciplinary working and broadens your experience to build your confidence and help develop your career path.