Film and Screen Studies BA (Hons)

Program Overview

The University of Northampton's Film and Screen Studies degree explores the art and industry of screen media through interactive seminars, discussions, and screenings. Students analyze film, television, video games, and other media to understand their cultural, economic, and political implications. The program offers a diverse range of modules and allows students to pursue specialized interests in their final year, preparing them for careers in the creative, cultural, or media industries.

Program Outline

Through exciting interactive seminars, discussion based workshops and free screenings at the local cinema, the Northampton Filmhouse, you’ll study modules that combine world class staff expertise with a contemporary focused and media industry informed curriculum. Learning about processes such as scriptwriting, media curation and exhibition, film festivals and conventions, Film Studies degree will give you the skills you need to understand that screen media not just entertainment: it’s the primary medium for storytelling, and for learning more about the world we live in and the people who live in it with us.

Outline:

The Film and Screen Studies BA program enables students to analyze how screen media creates meanings through particular forms, techniques, and styles; how industrial organization affects the way films are produced and received; and how the social context in which they are made and consumed influence the way we understand and make meaning. The curriculum covers a diverse range of media formats, with emphasis upon popular and contemporary screen media (film, television, streaming services, mobile and digital screen media.)

Year 1

The Film Studies degree is structured on a three-stage progressive model. The first year will introduce students to the history and development of screen media, as well as how society and scholars have sought to understand the content, audiences, and industry of popular media; specific modules include investigating the figure of the superhero, animation and representation, stardom, transmedia, Hollywood film and the auteur.

• From King Kong to The Godfather: Introduction to Hollywood Film (20 credits): This module provides students with a survey of key examples from the early and classical periods of Hollywood Filmmaking.
Students will explore how key films, offer perspectives on the key thematic and representational concerns of US culture.
• Marketing Stardom: Celebrity on Screen (20 credits): This module examines the role of celebrity in screen media, exploring how stars are marketed and how their image is constructed and consumed by audiences.
• Truth, Justice and Adaptation: Superheroes on Screen (20 credits): This module introduces students to ideas and concerns that are relevant to contemporary screen media.
The module will use the superhero narrative, a popular contemporary form, to look at critical debates surrounding scholarly topics including adaptation, representation, transnationalism, cultural materialism, ideology and screen theory.
• Beyond the Disney Princess: Representation and Animation (20 credits): This module critically introduces students to the diverse range of character representatons beyond, and which even challenge, the infamous fairy tale princess in Disney live-action and animated film, tv and video game.
• Youth on Screen (20 credits): This module encourages students to chart the evolution of screen stories for and about the young: considering different approaches and themes from the lighthearted, comic and celebratory to the often darker, more brutal depictions of the challenges of adolescence.
• Studying the Modern Auteur (20 credits): This module studies and interrogates styles and conventions of filmmaking via a range of directors and films across various genres, national movements, and eras, thereby providing students with an introduction to the study of the moving image and the vocabulary of film studies from both technical and critical perspectives.
• A History of a Thousand Faces: Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics (20 credits): This module explores the history and development of hair, makeup, and prosthetics in film and television, examining their role in creating character and enhancing storytelling.

Year 2

In stage two of this film degree, you will build on the skills gained in stage one; more optionality allows focus on specific areas of screen media, developing your knowledge of how film and screen media operate in the field of popular culture and its various industrial contexts. Typical modules include Fan Cultures, scriptwriting, European Cinemas, sci-fi and fantasy genres, and critical and cultural screen theory.

• Genre: Fantasy, Robots and Monsters (20 credits): This module considers the concept and importance of one of the most significant structuring principles for screen media: genre.
This will be achieved through the close study of three specific popular instances: Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror.
• Fan Cultures (research module) (20 credits): In this module, students will be encouraged to use their personal experiences to critically consider the media franchises with which they engage and relate these to theoretical debates in fan studies, with emphasis upon ideas of identity, and the potential power of fandom.
• Global Cinema: Europe (20 credits): This module provides the historical, cultural and industrial contexts that will allow students to view, discuss and interpret film and other screen media from a number of European movements and national cultures.
• Working in Screen Media (20 credits): This module provides students with an overview of the screen media industry, covering topics such as production, distribution, exhibition, and marketing.
• Gender, Race and Sexuality in Contemporary Media (20 credits): This module will introduce students to a diverse range of contemporary identity theory and encourage them to consider how these ideas might be applied to a range of screen media including (but not limited to) film, television, music video and videogames.
• Scriptwriting (20 credits): The purpose of this module is for students to develop an understanding of the working practices of writing scripts for film, covering aspects of short form and feature writing, via the practical development of a series of scripts and related materials following industry practice and to a professional standard.
• It’s Alive!, It’s Alive!
• : Studying Contemporary Character Design (20 credits): This module explores the role of character design in contemporary screen media, examining how characters are created and how they contribute to the overall narrative and aesthetic of a film or television show.

Year 3

In stage three, building on the work done over prior years, module options will provide the opportunity for students to pursue specialised interests, such as Cult Media, East Asian Cinemas, and Videogames.

• Global Cinemas: East Asia (20 credits): Expanding on the European cinemas module in both scope and sophistication, this module provides historical, cultural and industrial contexts that will allow students to view, discuss and interpret screen media from a number of International cinemas and national cultures as well as the implications of transnational productions.
• Contemporary Crime on Screen (20 credits): This module encourages students to investigate screen depictions of crime across a range of genres including film, television drama, real-life crime and documentary, and to consider the significance of the social, historical and psychological contexts in which it has evolved.
• Cult Media (20 credits): The purpose of this module is to enable students to critically examine and evaluate conventions, structures and cycles of `cult?
media and how such media relates to wider social and cultural concerns and contexts.
• Video Games (20 credits): This module explores the history, development, and cultural impact of video games, examining their role as a form of entertainment, art, and social interaction.
• Hollywood and Beyond (20 credits): Building on the level 4 Introduction to Hollywood module, in this module students will extend their understanding of Hollywood filmmaking from the mid-1970s to present day.
Through close analysis and specific case studies, students will critically examine how Hollywood reflects, comments upon, and actively helps shape our understanding of contemporary social and cultural realities.
• Long Dissertation (Can involve Advanced Scriptwriting option) (40 credits): The purpose of the dissertation module is to allow students to develop, at length, a particular interest from the area of Film and Screen studies, and to apply the research, evaluative, analytical and organisational techniques learnt during their degree to a major research project.

Assessment:

You will be assessed in a variety of ways; alongside more traditional assessment methods such as essays, presentations, and projects, you will also engage in innovative technology-supported assessment, such as video essays and podcasts, via the University virtual learning environment. Throughout your film studies degree, we will offer you the best support available to allow you to get the most from your independent and team-based learning.

Teaching:

You will be taught via a variety of lectures, seminars, and workshops, augmented by online blending learning content.

Careers:

Students take Film and Screen studies for a great variety of reasons; whether you wish to pursue a career in the creative industries, or simply explore your passion for screen media, the course will provide you with skills which open up a range of career opportunities. The most common sectors you may find work in are the media, creative, cultural and heritage industries. As well as traditional destinations in the film and broadcasting industries, you may also be interested in other media sectors such as publishing and research. Recent graduates from our film studies degree have secured jobs with Disney, The BBC, and Channel 4, while others have formed their own independent media companies, have pursued careers in web design, publishing, teaching, or gone on to further academic study.

Other:

• Covers a diverse range of film and screen media – from traditional Hollywood cinema to Netflix and Disney+ and the latest cutting-edge video games.
• Engage with vital contemporary issues concerning diversity and social justice movements
• One of the only film studies degree programmes in the UK to teach students in a working independent cinema.
• Opportunity to visit free UK sites and trips, and partake in masterclasses with industry practitioners.
• Taught by staff with internationally recognised expertise
• Guaranteed paid internship with the Northampton Employment Promise.
• HP Laptop and software included with this Film Studies course.

| Degree| Tuition Fees and Payment| | ---- | ---------------------- | | Film and Screen Studies BA (Hons) | UK – Full Time: £9,250
UK – Part Time: £1,540 per 20 credit module
UK – Integrated Foundation Year: £9,250
International – Full Time: £15,200
International – Integrated Foundation Year: £15,200 |