Moving image ba(hons)

Year 1

Year 1 has four themed units – identity, place, fiction and documentary – each lasting six to seven weeks.

Each week, group seminars, individual tutorials and screenings of relevant films help you develop your ideas and you present a finished piece in the last week. In this final session you make a formal presentation of your work to the group, learn to critique other student’s work, and also receive feedback from two tutors.

The units are underpinned by a series of introductory technical workshops, film screenings, study support sessions, and by lectures from staff and visiting lecturers.

One day each week is set aside for Historical and Theoretical studies, which take the form of a lecture series with seminar sessions and film screenings. Students read and summarise weekly texts using library study time and complete one final essay per semester.

Historical and Critical Studies in year 1 covers film history then moving on to an in-depth study of the avant-garde and film and video art histories.

You are expected to work independently on your projects, making full use of the facilities: cameras and audio recording equipment, computer editing software and studios.

• Practice 1: Moving Image and Identity

  In this module you will be encouraged to consider the moving image and identity in the widest possible sense. Your project may explore identity in relation to issues such as age, race, sex and class, or the space in which individual and cultural identity cross paths. You will be expected to demonstrate an awareness of how visual language communicates meaning. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation and appropriateness of presentation.

• Practice 2: Moving Image and Place

  In this module you will explore the representation of place in the moving image. The module will introduce you to a range of ideas to understand and explore the many ways in which artists/filmmakers have interpreted the landscape, both urban and rural. The module will be supported by a range of appropriate practical demonstrations and workshops, including an introduction to 16mm film. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, evidence of research through work-in-progress, technical realisation and appropriateness of presentation.

• Practice 3: Moving Image and Fiction

  This module will introduce you to and enable you to engage with moving image practices that are directed, staged, performed and manipulated. You will consider work that deals with narrative, fiction, metaphor, allegory, rhetoric and fantasy. The module will be supported by a range of appropriate practical demonstrations and workshops, including an introduction to studio work and green screen. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation and appropriateness of presentation.

• Practice 4: Moving Image and Documentary

  Tin this module you will explore the full potential of the moving image as document. You will consider work that deals with ideas of truth, fact, realism, ideology and politics of the moving image. The module will be supported by a range of appropriate practical demonstrations and workshops, including an introduction to studio work and green screen. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation and appropriateness of presentation.

• Historical and Critical Studies 1: From Magic Lanterns to YouTube

  This module will provide you with an historical overview and analysis of moving image from the 19th Century magic lantern, to 20th Century film, video and television, to today’s digital practices. You will develop an awareness of how and why history enables meaningful engagement in contemporary debates about moving image practices, and you will develop the ability to conduct simple research, to acquire knowledge through the university’s learning resources; to interpret research, towards seminar discussion and academic writing.

• Historical and Critical Studies 2: One Million Avant-Gardes

  This module will provide an historical overview and analysis of the origins of avant-garde moving image by examining its histories and theories. Where possible examples of work are viewed in entirety. You will develop an awareness of how and why history enables meaningful engagement in contemporary debates about moving image practices, and develop the ability to conduct simple research, to acquire knowledge through the university’s learning resources; to interpret research, towards seminar discussion and academic writing.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.