| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2023-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
About the course
Reasons to study
Tell the stories that matter to you in the format the world wants to see – in our age of digital media, nothing is more popular and more powerful than film.
We’ll educate you as a thinker, maker and creator as you rise to the challenge of the creative industries of the future, and develop the creative, analytical and technical skills you’ll need to use the right technologies to shape your chosen narrative.
Our degree in Film Making is aimed at students with the artistic drive to make movies that change how we imagine the world around us – join us, and put yourself at the centre of your own story.
Why study Film Making at Huddersfield?
Program Outline
Course detail
Year 1
Core Modules:
Cinematography and Camera Work
Here’s where you get behind the camera to really start to build your skills in camerawork and lighting for film and TV production. Through practical sessions, demonstrations and extensive supervised time in our studios, you’ll develop a range of technical abilities. You’ll work towards a portfolio of completed filming exercises, allowing you to show off what you’ve learned.
Storytelling and Editing
Making a film or TV show is not just about using a camera, it means knowing how to tell a story. In this module, you’ll learn about what makes a good narrative, and how to achieve it in the editing suite by using software and visual effects. You’ll also be able to put your completed work into context, as you learn about the structure and history of storytelling.
Analysing Content
Analysing Content introduces you to the analysis of fiction and non-fiction visual media, from Hollywood films and television series to news and advertising. You will learn how to conduct more complex analysis of the meaning conveyed through media texts as well as their connection to cultural ideology.
Film and Television Industries and Law
Screen entertainment is as popular now as it has ever been, but who makes our favourite content and how we access it, is changing dramatically. This module provides you with an insight into the key theories, concepts and methods to help you understand the film and television industries. You’ll also get an introduction to the essentials of entertainment law.
Year 2
Core modules:
Production Management
Being a producer in film and TV is an important job, putting you right at the centre of any production. You’ll learn about production management tasks ranging from casting to location scouting, while getting a handle on the logistics of production both in the studio and outside. You’ll also focus on health and safety, knowledge that is more essential than ever.
Light, Camera, Action…and Cut: Specialist Skills in Film Production
You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to careers behind the camera in the screen industries. This module allows you to develop your technical skills in key production areas, such as lighting, cinematography, script editing, directing and sound. You’ll learn through extensive time in our film studio, as well as supervised shoots on location.
Film Pre-Production Project: Ideas, Scripts and Casts
We want you to have the creative vision to use film to help us see the world differently. In this module, you will work as a crew to develop in-depth knowledge and skills so you can start to turn that vision into reality. You’ll learn about development production, screenwriting and casting, while honing your abilities in workshops and supervised time in our film studio.
Global Popular Cinema: Hollywood and Beyond
This module takes you inside cinema, as you examine contemporary film as a global media industry. It’s not just the movies themselves, but how they are produced, distributed, promoted and received. There’s a particular emphasis on how processes of globalisation and circulation allow films to become meaningful, far outside the contexts in which they were originally made.
From Studio to Social Media: Media Careers and Entrepreneurship
You’ll often hear us say that media is changing quickly: and we mean it. This module helps you make sense of what that means for your future career, and why the jobs of tomorrow aren’t always the same as the ones of the past. You’ll work on a career plan, so you can be ready for a placement year and other media work opportunities.
Option modules:
Choose one from a list which may include:
Film and Television Fandom and Participatory Media
From cosplay to fan fiction, few areas of our life inspire the faithful as much as films and TV shows. This module explores the enthusiasm of fans, and helps you analyse the consequences both positive and not. Whether it’s Marvel or Doctor Who, you may find this module teaches you plenty about your own passions, too.
Screenwriting and Genre
This module provides a practical orientation in some of the main genres of film and television, and a training in how to write for them. You will analyse and discuss the narrative structures, character types, and other conventions of a range of genres, and try your hand at writing them yourself. These genres could range from documentary to sitcom, from horror to romantic comedy, or from action movie to period costume drama. Finally, you will become proficient at writing in a particular genre, which you will select from those you have studied. You will produce a script according to a genre-specific brief, and then reflect on the process of writing to the constraints of the familiar generic conventions of the film/television industry.
Scoring the Silver Screen: The Musicology of Film and Television
Scoring the Silver Screen will equip you with the skills for in-depth analysis of film and television soundtracks. You will explore the evolving relationships between technology, economics, and aesthetics in film history from a range of perspectives, with case studies ranging from 'silent' films and classic Hollywood musicals to art-house cinema, contemporary blockbusters, and television serials.
Year 3 - optional placement year
Placement Year
The optional one-year (48 weeks) work placement after the second year can be completed in the UK or abroad. It will give you the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience, insight into your chosen career and open up your graduate employment prospects.
Final Year
Core modules:
Film Production Project: Production and Post-Production
This is a wonderful opportunity to work as part of a crew and make a film. We’ll support you through the production and post-production process, as you turn your idea into movie magic. As well as plenty of supervised studio time, you’ll have access to a production budget provided by us, to help you make a film you can be proud of.
Screens Aesthetics
What is the value of TV and film? That’s the question at the centre of this module. Drawing on a diverse range of cultural, social and literary theory, you’ll explore definitions of value and apply them to different audio-visual forms and genres. You’ll also reflect on the significance of cultural value for your own creative practice.
Film and Television Distribution: Sales, Promotion and Festivals
Getting movies and TV shows in front of audiences is a key task, and it’s one that is changing rapidly in the era of streaming. If you’ve wondered why certain shows drop off Netflix and turn up on a rival service, this module allows you to get inside those processes. You’ll also develop a distribution and promotion plan for a product of your own.
Media Industry Project
Here’s where you put what you’ve learned so far into practice. You’ll spend a minimum of 80 hours doing a placement or working for an external client, producing content you can show off in a portfolio. The types of role available are almost limitless, but we’ll work with you to help you find the right stepping stone to the career you want.
Students who have successfully completed the optional placement year take an additional optional module in place of the Media Industry Project and Employment module.
Option modules:
Choose up to two from a list which may include:
Reality TV and Documentary
Factual entertainment is a huge part of the screen industries, ranging from reality shows to documentary programmes. You’ll create your own TV project, allowing you to further develop your production skills and create a high-quality output. You’ll also put your work in the broader context of how reality is constructed and narrated in factual TV.
Fantasy, Horror and Cult Film
You’ll have heard the term ‘cult movie’, but this module puts the concept itself in the spotlight. Exploring the key genres of fantasy and horror, you’ll consider how cult status is created, sustained and marketed. You’ll explore whether it’s possible to define cult films through certain attributes, and the ways in which fantasy and horror movies have been theorised.
Stars and Celebrity
People all over the world long for their 15 minutes of fame, whether waiting for an audition or trying to become the next big streamer. In this module you’ll think about the power of celebrity in contemporary in society. You’ll examine the cultures of stars and celebrities, particularly in relation to film, music, sport and other popular cultures.
Digital Streaming Platforms: YouTube, Netflix and Beyond
Streaming has changed the way we consume media beyond recognition. In this module, you’ll examine the disruptive impact Netflix, YouTube and other platforms have had on the media industries. You’ll complete a case study investigation of an area of streaming media that you find most interesting.
Teaching and assessment
Our degrees seek to develop your creative, technical and analytical skills, and every aspect of your learning is designed to help you succeed in the media, creative and cultural sectors. We thus work with a wide variety of teaching formats which alongside lectures, seminars and workshops, include newsdays, work-based learning and placements, project work, dissertations, one-on-one and group supervision, and digital learning. We continuously review and innovate teaching formats to reflect changing technologies and industry contexts. An average 28.6%* of the time on your course will be spent with your tutors (either face to face or online) on timetabled activities.
*based on 20/21 programme specifications.
We use a variety of assessments, including video shorts, podcasts, newsroom days, audience research portfolios, essays, production pitches, data analytics, presentations, and dissertation. This allows you the ability to tailor your degree to fit your passions, interests and strengths. You will be taught by world-leading scholars whose research is helping to shape our understanding of how media, journalism and culture operate alongside industry-leading practitioners and producers, supplemented by a variety of guest talks.
Full-time or part-time study
This course is not available to study on a part-time basis on an evening, at the weekend, or via distance learning.
Further Information
The teaching year normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.
Your course is made up of modules and each module is worth a number of credits. Each year you study modules to the value of 120 credits, adding up to 360 credits in total for a bachelor’s qualification. These credits can come from a combination of core, compulsory and optional modules but please note that optional modules may not run if we do not have enough students interested.
If you achieve 120 credits for the current stage you are at, you may progress to the next stage of your course, subject to any professional, statutory or regulatory body guidelines.
Teaching excellence
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Triple proof of teaching excellence: our staff rank in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees, and hold teaching qualifications (HESA 2022). So, you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.
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We are joint first in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 20 since 2008 (2022 data).
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We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).
Global Professional Award
At Huddersfield, you'll study the Global Professional Award alongside your degree* so that you gain valuable qualities and experiences that could help you to get the career you want, no matter what your field of study is. On completion of the Award, you'll receive the Level 5 in Leadership and Management Award from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), meaning you’ll graduate from the University of Huddersfield with an internationally recognised professional qualification, alongside the specialist subject skills and knowledge you gain as part of your degree, which may help to set you apart from other graduates.
Giving students access to the Global Professional Award is one of the reasons the University won ‘Best University Employability Strategy’ award at the National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2021. Find out more on the Global Professional Award webpage.
*full-time, undergraduate first degrees with a minimum duration of three years. This does not include postgraduate, foundation, top-up, accelerated or apprenticeship degrees
Your Career
Film and television are some of the biggest and fastest growing in the UK. This degree will provide you with a combination of creative, technical and analytical skills for a variety of careers and roles in a rapidly developing technological economy.
*Percentage of our undergraduate students from this subject area go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20, UK domiciled, other activities excluded).
90% Graduates employed*Placements
Our Film Making degree includes two exciting placement opportunities. Students are encouraged to undertake a full professional training year in Year 3. We support our students in finding suitable placement opportunities in the film making industries and beyond. During the placement years you are supported by an academic tutor and will build professional experience invaluable for your final year of study and graduate career alike. All students not undertaking a full placement year study our final year compulsory placement module that gives you the chance to put your skills into practice in a short placement. This could be a block of a few weeks or one day a week over several months.
Previous placement providers have included the BBC and independent TV companies, a variety of radio stations and newspapers and magazines, along with leading public relations companies and social media agencies.
A placement is a great opportunity to explore your chosen industry, to understand the sector, network and make valuable contacts, whilst developing your skills, knowledge and experience. A placement is a chance to get involved, to put theory into practice and to work alongside professionals.
Stephanie Bower , Placements Officer