Film, Photography and Media

Year 1 lays the foundations of the course by helping you to develop your academic and practice-based skills. Core modules will introduce you to screenwriting as well as camera, editing and photographic practices. You’ll then put these into context and build your critical skills with modules on the history and theory of film and communications, and learn more about research in communication and media that can help to inform practice.

In the following year you’ll expand and enhance your skills as you work on a short film project and take further core modules in photography and cinema. You’ll also begin to specialise in topics that suit your interests, career plans and abilities, with optional modules that range from motion graphics to issues of genre in cinema and the role of technology in communication and the media.

By your final year, you’ll be in a position to work on a major project born out of your own interests. You could work on a script, compile a photography portfolio, make a short film (group based), develop a moving image project or complete a written dissertation on a topic in communication and media.

To complete your studies, you’ll choose from optional modules on topics like audience research, mobile media, documentary journalism and international communication – and you could undertake a four-week work placement to gain hands-on industry experience.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Introduction to Media and Communication Research 20 credits
• Camera and Editing 20 credits
• Introduction to Cinema 20 credits
• Photographic Practices 20 credits
• Screen Narrative 20 credits

Optional modules

• The History of Communication 20 credits
• Photographic Histories 20 credits
• Introduction to Media and Communication Theory 20 credits

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Thinking Photographically: Developing Approaches to Photography 20 credits
• Cinematic Themes 20 credits
• Short Film Production 20 credits

Optional modules

• Visual Communication 20 credits
• Critical Theories of Media 20 credits
• Technology in Communication and Media 20 credits
• Communication Skills 20 credits
• Screen Fiction 20 credits
• Working in Digital Media Teams 20 credits
• Creative Practice 20 credits
• Motion Graphics 20 credits
• Communication Research Methods 20 credits
• Videogames: Identities in Play 20 credits
• From Film Noir to Asia Extreme: Questioning Genre in World Cinemas 20 credits

Year 3

Optional modules

In your final year, you'll be required to take one 40 credit module.