BA (HONS) FILM & MEDIA PRODUCTION

Students explore how narrative forms and genres have shaped film and media, while developing their own film concept into a detailed pitch. Along the way, they consider the creative, practical and commercial decisions involved in developing a project, including budgeting, intellectual property, copyright and other legal considerations. As part of the development process, students also produce the opening pages of a screenplay, helping them translate their concept into a form that can be communicated to collaborators, producers and potential audience.

This module introduces the aesthetic and practical foundations of screen production, exploring how image, sound and editing shape meaning, emotion and storytelling. Students work with cameras, sound recording equipment and editing software, developing the technical skills and critical vocabulary needed to make deliberate creative choices.

Working in production groups, students create original screen content across forms including news, advertising, information and educational media. Through live action production, they experience different production roles and learn how planning, collaboration and technical decisions come together in a finished piece. Regular peer and faculty feedback helps students develop their work throughout the production process.

Students explore how visual ideas are developed from concept through to production. Using storyboards, shot planning and other pre-visualisation techniques, they learn to make deliberate choices about framing, lenses, camera movement, lighting and production design. These ideas are then tested and refined through practical studio and location work, helping students understand how cinematography and production design work together to shape the visual language of a film.

In this module, students explore the creative and technical possibilities of sound for screen, from recording dialogue and location sound through to editing, sound design and mixing. Through practical exercises and production work, they learn how dialogue, ambience, effects and other sonic elements can be shaped to create space, emotion, perspective and narrative meaning.

Students explore more experimental approaches to screen production through music video and pixilation projects. Working collaboratively in studio and on location, they develop original concepts, take on different production roles, and experiment with performance, rhythm, image and editing. Through repeated feedback, testing and refinement, students learn how creative ideas evolve through the production process and how different visual approaches can be used to engage an audience

Graduates will achieve professional level expertise in their respective specialisations and in professional media production in general. They will acquire a coherent and detailed understanding of key aspects, linked to specialist industry practices and their cultural and professional contexts. Graduates will benefit from advice and tuition from expert industry practitioners throughout the programme.

Through extensive experience, graduates will achieve a professional level understanding of all aspects of professional media production. They will understand uncertainty, ambiguity, and the limits of knowledge, as well as the ability to acquire, evaluate and apply new specialist knowledge in pursuit of self-initiated goals within professional media production and the creative industries.

Graduates will be able to select and use appropriate research and experimental methods, to analyse results, and formulate conclusions for future work, in the development of self-initiated and specialist projects. Graduates will gain a full understanding of due diligence: including production ethics, intellectual property, legal issues, technical standards, budgeting and scheduling, risk assessment and health and safety requirements for professional media production.

Graduates will gain a nuanced contextual understanding of the variety aesthetic aspects of professional media production types and genres and know how to apply these through practical production. They will be able to critically analyse current debate regarding specialist industry practices and products and formulate context-appropriate positions.

Graduates will demonstrate the ability to identify and anticipate problems, explore alternative possibilities, and apply the most suitable solutions within sustained specialist projects in Content Creation and VFX.

Graduates will understand how to collaborate and function correctly within any professional media production team or role. They will be able to communicate information, ideas, problems, and solutions to specialist and non-specialist audiences through appropriate specialist and professional means.

Apply enquiry and analysis methods and techniques to the design, development, and production of industry-level projects, presentations, or written assignments. Graduates will emerge with an industry-ready portfolio in both their specialist area and in general professional media production.

Use critical evaluation to form conclusions about practical and contextual issues in a specialist industry practice/s and demonstrate the ability to exercise autonomy, initiative, and self-direction in preparation for a professional role within the creative industries.