BA Honours Film

Half of your first year of study is dedicated to practical filmmaking and you will learn the foundations of film production and post production. The other half of your first year studies focuses equally on storytelling for screen narratives and film analysis. Half of your second year is dedicated to producing and directing, looking at all stages in the filmmaking process from conception and development to post production. In your final year, you will choose your own film dissertation project. The scope for this project is very broad so you can develop a practical or theory-based film project in any area that excites you. You will also look at film theory and research in more detail, as preparation for your film dissertation. You will also benefit from wider preparation for employment in the film industry, including gaining a greater understanding of finance, distribution and marketing.

Module and programme information is indicative and may be subject to change.

Note: Both core and optional modules are constantly updated and under review. As with most academic programmes, please remember that it is possible that a module may not be offered in any particular year, for instance because too few students opt for it. Middlesex University reserves the right to vary or withdraw any course or module.

• Year 1
  • Screen Storytelling (30 Credits) - Compulsory The module explores different ways in which stories are told on screen, focusing on screenwriting, but also examining how these considerations affect other creative aspects, including direction, sound and image, and how these interrelate to maximum effect. It will also examine the ways in which these elements apply to non-fiction and experimental cinema. You will learn to analyse existing films in narrative terms, and to use these exemplars to develop your own work. This module will complement the theoretical and stylistic work in the other Year 1 modules, as well as laying groundwork for more advanced level screenwriting modules, up to and including the Major Project.
  • Screen Aesthetics (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module considers how filmmakers communicate in image and sound, and through performance. Influential film styles and movements, as well as distinctive filmmakers, will be studied in ways that develop skills in close analysis and open up ideas for creative work. Formal analysis of extracts of film will be contextualised in relation to wider issues of film aesthetics, film history and spectatorship. Skills in creative pre-production practices, such as story-boarding and generating lighting plans and sound design strategies, will be developed, providing a direct practical application of the study of aesthetics.
  • Film Production Fundamentals 1 (30 Credits) - Compulsory The module explores the basic elements of planning, production and post-production techniques employed in most film forms. Driven by a hands-on practical approach, both in workshops and through a number of small group and individual projects, the module enables you to gain disciplined practical experience of camera, sound, lighting, editing and pre-production planning. You will also be introduced to key aspects of directing, producing and art direction. A strong emphasis on teamwork and the development of personal behaviour skills will be introduced in this module as a precursor for all subsequent film-making modules and practices on the three years of BA Film.
  • Film Production Fundamentals 2 (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module further explores the various elements of planning, filming and editing techniques that were introduced in previous modules, as well as the soft skills that make up the professional practice aspect of film-making. This module is also dominated by a hands-on practical approach, which will be employed in workshops along with a number of small group projects, to enable you to gain more discipline in your film-making practice. In addition, you will be expected to participate in the production of a significant group film project at the end of Term 2.
• Year 2
  • Film Producing and Directing (60 Credits) - Compulsory In a workshop environment, you will explore the many creative and practical duties and responsibilities of both producer and director, as well as the nature of the working relationship between the two, and among the rest of the crew. Practical team-based assignments consolidate the acquisition of key skills. In Term 2, you will declare your specialisation from among the six film-making pathways (producing, directing, art direction, cinematography, sound design, editing) and, in teams, produce either a documentary or fiction film developed in the the Screenwriting and the Documentary Film modules, while also playing secondary roles on other teams’ films.
  • Film Documentary (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module examines documentary film and film-making practices through formal and theoretical frameworks and through practical application. In conjunction, with select screenings of feature-length and short documentaries, key aspects of and approaches to the documentary form will be explored. You will acquire an understanding of documentary film development and production processes, and put these into practice in the making of a short documentary. You will also prepare a detailed treatment for a second documentary film which is eligible to be made in the Producing and Directing module.
  • Screenwriting: The Short Film (30 Credits) - Compulsory Further developing knowledge and skills acquired in the Screen Storytelling module, you will consider what kinds of stories and narrative structures are amenable to the short film form. In lectures and workshops you will learn about screenwriting craft – format, style, dialogue, action and narrative focus – and write a short dramatic screenplay which is eligible for production in the Producing and Directing module.
• Year 3
  • Major Project (30 Credits) - Compulsory During this module, you will demonstrate the culmination of your learning and journey through the programme. Working in your specialist role, you will develop the skills, additional experience and project management ability to produce a substantial short film, a show-reel of multiple works in a particular craft role, or an extended script project. You will develop your project ideas and techniques in a workshop environment in which professional practice is emphasised. You are guided through your major project in group sessions and a series one-to-one tutorials with your assigned project supervisor – a member of staff specialising in the relevant field.
  • Film Ideology and Aesthetics (30 Credits) - Compulsory Developing further work on theories already encountered, together with the introduction of theories of film not previously encountered, this module identifies key theoretical ideas underpinning critical and creative practices which warrant elaboration. In particular, work will build on the idea of the filmmaker as a theorist engaging with the world, and on practice as a way of thinking about and interrogating film. You will be required to locate your Major Project within a set of objectives that can then be elaborated through study in film theory.
  • Film Entrepreneurship (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module focuses on career development and employability, and strategies for you to pursue a future in the film-making industry. The choices made in the parallel module Major Project , will help to provide a focus for your work on this module. Throughout the module, you develop an entrepreneurial portfolio which will include a completed CV and website, and at least one social media profile such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter which will assist in finding employment. Additionally, you have the choice of pitching a business idea, undertaking a ‘mock’ job interview or completing a work placement/internship in a production-related environment.
  • Advanced Producing and Directing (30 Credits) - Compulsory Some workshops will be shared and some specialist workshops will be staged for each role. Producing students will develop competencies in funding, project management, risk assessment, scheduling and ethical issues arising out of their projects. Directing students will develop competencies in the creative development of cinematic ideas, interpreting scripts/treatments, visual and aural design, staging, working with actors and heads of departments. Shared workshops will focus on, for example, developing a shared strategy for the project; the relationship between the two roles in project management; negotiation and mediation processes.

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