Program Overview

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The BA (Hons) in Screen Production is delivered in a brand new studio complex in heart of Belfast's city centre.

It is part of the Ulster Screen Academy, bringing together courses in film, television, interactive design and media, animation and gaming design.

It is located in an exciting and dynamic part of the city known as the 'Cathedral Quarter'. Nearby, are many of the biggest production companies in Northern Ireland and the campus is only a short distance from the famous 'Paint Hall' studios where Games of Thrones was filmed.

The BA (Hons) in Screen Production will introduce you to the widest possible experience of film and television production, combined with critical thinking to help you originate new content and unlock your creativity.

We can help you develop the craft skills you will need to enter the industry and 70% of your class time will be spent in production modules.

The degree can be taken over 3-4 years. 4 years, if you decide to take year three out to work in the industry on placement.

During the placement year, you can also earn a Diploma in Professional Practice.

You will receive significant software training in non-linear editing using the

Adobe Creative Suite

for both sound and video. We have a

dedicated screening room, large Apple Mac labs offering full access to the Adobe Creative Suits software on campus

.

Our studio space is fully equipped with green screens, lighting desk and live broadcast facilities.

We have a full range of

4k Blackmagic cinema camera

s and can edit and colour grade video footage in our dedicated editing suites.

Screens are part of our everyday life.

We want you to be prepared to join a fast-growing, exciting and ever-changing industry that creates the content for all of the screens in our lives, big or small.

Through practice-based learning, you will acquire advanced knowledge of the kind of skills needed for digital film and television production combined with a knowledge of how the industry works, and the writing skills to tell the stories you want to make your way.

The screen-based sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Northern Ireland economy. This programme has been developed with industry partners to ensure that it addresses current and future skills gaps in the sector helping to create entrepreneurial and creative graduates who can not only address current skills gaps but also develop new businesses to grow the local creative economy.

Year One

– Much of your time in the first year will be spent learning the craft skills you need in order to create high-quality film and television outputs. You will study Camera Craft and Composition, the Art and Craft of Editing to develop technical and production skills for the screen, Sound on Screen and Screenwriting to develop your storytelling and audio skills for TV and film production. These are combined with two core modules in the critical and theoretical aspects of screen production. Screen Stories and Screen Cultures. You will be introduced to the core of TV production; compelling stories. You will also gain an understanding of how media affects the world around us and how culture and politics are reflected in the media we produce and consume.

Year Two

– building on your technical and storytelling skills from year one you will focus on a number of core genres; Drama, Documentary and Live Television. Working in teams to develop a wide range of outputs and experience a range of industry roles, you will get the opportunity to better understand and focus your career pathways. Alongside the production modules, you will study Screen Audiences to help deepen your knowledge and understanding of audiences and media publics. Additionally Screen Industries and a short industry placement will help you to focus on your career planning and gain a better understanding of the film and television industries.

On completion of year two, you can opt to take a sandwich year, either undertaking a year placement in industry or studying in one of our partner institutions in America, Europe, or Asia. The placement year or study abroad (see Careers and Opportunities for more information) means that students gain an additional qualification, a Diploma in Professional Practice (DPP) and the International Year means that students gain a Diploma in International Academic Studies (DIAS).

Year Three/(Four after a year out)

– In the final year of study, you will work with internationally recognised researchers and fellow students in other courses under the

Ulster Screen Academy

to develop an innovative Major Project. Leading a team to develop a major portfolio piece, you and your fellow students will take on technical roles in a range of productions from Short Film, Live Television and Documentary.

This will allow you to graduate with a large portfolio of work

, in a range of industry roles helping to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in media production – making you as employable as possible.

Modules

Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.

Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.

Year one

Screen Stories

Screen Stories will invite students to explore how film and television dramas resonate with us in profound ways that shape how we see and experience the world, and therefore act in it. The module sets out to establish some key categories of screen analysis - classic narrative, trans-narrative forms, genre, questions of style, auteur and the ideology - and it provides students with many examples of how to analyse the film and television drama. By being better placed to analyse screen drama, the module strives to make students more self-conscious about the aesthetic choices they make in their own screen productions.

Cinematography

The module is an introduction to the essential skills of video production and the moving image. It allows students to acquire skills in video production, sound, lighting and the moving image and develop a portfolio of short films which showcase their technical skills and competencies.

Sound Production 1

This practice based module considers core concepts in sound for screen and the association of sound and vision in storytelling. The module brings together the core practical skills needed for good location sound and the history and theory of sound for screen. It will also consider a range of technical and aesthetic considerations in producing sound for screen based media. Students will be introduced to sound capture and software manipulation for post production as well as techniques for studio and location sound recording.

Screenwriting

Screenwriting is as essential to the development and production of on-screen drama as storytelling is to being human. Complimenting the student's understanding and knowledge acquired during Storytelling for Screen, this module introduces students to the process of screenwriting; its key skills; and a range of technical, aesthetic considerations in developing a script for screen. It presents this writing practice in context of an understanding of the history and theory of screenwriting, and allows students top demonstrate their knowledge in this field.

Screen Theory

This module will invite students to think historically and critically about what appears in cinemas, on television and the various mobile devices that entertain and inform us. Students will be introduced to key intellectual figures whose thinking has helped us to understand the social and cultural significance of the media in all its variety. In this respect, the module underpins the screen production elements and helps students to understand the social formation of screen forms, and the theoretical and critical debates relevant to them. Students will look at semiotic, psychoanalytic and political economic approaches to understanding what appears on screen; they will look also at ideology, power and pleasure as these pertain to the media and screen cultures in particular.

Editing for Film and Television

This module introduces students to the theory and practice of visual editing. Students will be introduced to key concepts relating visual editing practice such as meaning-making and narrative construction. These will be related to key movements in editing practice such as continuity editing, montage editing and postmodern editing. Students will develop their editing skills through hands-on editing workshops using Adobe Premiere CC and the production of an editing practice portfolio.

Year two

Documentary Film

This module introduces students to key concepts in relation to the history, theory and practice of the documentary genre. It will cover key movements in the genre such as cinéma vérité and direct cinema, alongside contemporary sub-genres such as reality television and the mock-documentary. The module encourages students to consider how the platform affects the content e.g. short-form broadcast content and long-form content on streaming services such as Netflix. Students will apply this knowledge to their own documentary practice by producing 3x2min short-form documentaries that demonstrate understanding of the codes and conventions of particular forms e.g. expository, participatory and poetic.

Screen Identities

Screen Identities introduces students to the historical and contemporary debates about national screen cultures and cultural identity. The module seeks to develop students' sociological and cultural understanding of questions of identity on screen.

The Short Film

In the Short Film module students will produce a 10 minute short fiction film, that draws upon skills already developed previously including sound production, cinematography and screenwriting. The module will seek to build an appreciation of the form as a powerful storytelling medium but also as a development tool for the artist and an industry tool to seek out new talent in fiction filmmaking. The module introduces students to a variety of short fiction film, television drama genres and styles; crime, soaps, comedy, documentary drama, realism, modernism and postmodernism. It invites students to produce a short drama for screen that observes generic codes and conventions of the cinema.

The Live Broadcast

A live television programme module that explores the skills and knowledge required to create live broadcasts. Following the full production cycle of live programme making for television, students get a direct engagement in industry practice, develop enhanced team working skills, an awareness of best practice in industry and build links with the wider community and broadcast industry.

VFX and Virtual Production 1

In this module students will work with green screen and LED monitors, camera tracking technology and computer generated photorealistic virtual worlds to enable them to discover exciting new visual effects techniques for use in their own work and in the industry today. The module will enable students to create new types of content and add value to their portfolio whilst enhancing their own employability and learning experience.

Year three

Industrial Placement: Media (This module is optional)

This module provides students the opportunity to experience life as a professional media practitioner. They will be expected to conduct themselves professionally being an employee of a company and an ambassador for the University during this period. They will be supported by an academic coordinator.

Media: Study Abroad (DIAS) (This module is optional)

This module provides an opportunity to undertake an additional academic year of study which is spent outside the UK. Those who successfully complete it get an extra qualification - the Diploma in Academic Studies (DIAS). Students will develop an enhanced understanding of the media and engage with it first-hand in international contexts. The opportunity to generate educational and cultural networks will be available to the student.

Year four

Major Project I: Pre-production

This module will act as the culmination of the students' theoretical study across the 3 years of their degree where they are able to independently plan and research a major project in the key practice areas of drama or documentary. Students will produce a portfolio that evidences the theoretical and professional pre-production planning and processes that underpin their Major Project. Students will also produce a 3000-4000 word textual analysis of existing media texts.

Major Project II: Production

In this module students will create a final year screen production project under the guidance of an appointed member of Media Studies staff in the key practice areas of drama or documentary. Students will identify and analyse the theoretical and ideological underpinnings of their media practice by writing a 3000-4000 word textual analysis of their major project.

Screen Analysis (This module is optional)

This module is an opportunity to focus on research and critical writing skills whilst demonstrating the student's ability to be self-motivated and independent in their learning. The module will explore a topic of the student's choosing related to the area of Screen or Media Studies and key skills needed to deliver this work will be delivered over two semesters with research skills being taught by academics and projects supervised throughout. Students will learn to author extended essays and develop research proposals. The module offers students a more traditional pathway through the Screen Production degree at level 6 and the opportunity to produce a dissertation appropriate to stage.

Virtual Production and Visual Effects 2 (This module is optional)

This module is a pioneering module in the use and application of real time visual effects for film and television. The module is one of the first of its kind in the UK and Ireland in Virtual Production. In this module students will work with green screen and LED monitors, camera tracking technology and computer generated photorealistic virtual worlds to enable them to discover exciting new visual effects techniques for use in their own work and in the industry today. The module will enable students to create new types of content and add value to their portfolio whilst enhancing their own employability and learning experience.

Associate awards

Diploma in Professional Practice DPP

Diploma in International Academic Studies DIAS

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Attendance

This course must be completed as a full-time degree over three years or four years should you opt to take a placement or international study year.

In line with the University’s attendance policy, attendance at all taught sessions is compulsory. It is expected that you will engage not only with the taught elements but also with independent learning.

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Start dates

September 2023

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Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Students are assessed through creative production outputs, written essays and presentations.

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Academic profile

The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 59% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.

Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (25%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (20%) or Lecturers (55%).

We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic staff (81%) are accredited fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advanced HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.

The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise.  The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff.  This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.

Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.

Figures correct for academic year 2021-2022.