Film & Television MA

Taking part in intensive practical group work, you’ll build technical skills and nurture your creativity in all areas of short film and television project development, including learning about legal requirements, ethical standards and risk assessment. This work will be supported with a reflection on how cultural contexts frame production and audiences.

Our masterclasses and guest speaker series will introduce you to a network of experienced professionals from companies like the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and Pinewood Studios.  

Modules

Contextual Studies: Screen, Culture & Society

In this module, you’ll explore how cultural contexts frame and influence both production/distribution strategies and contemporary audiences' engagement through the analysis of a variety of screen texts. You will consider relevant contexts of funding, commissioning, production, distribution and exhibition and their impact on today’s screen representations and storytelling tactics. 

Not only does this module encourage you to use recent research strategies and methodologies in your investigations of selected film and television examples, but also to apply them to your developing film or television practice. 

Creative Practice: Foundation

Learning in an environment that mirrors industry, you’ll build your practical competence in production workflows. You’ll attend weekly seminars and workshops in pre-and-post-production, screenwriting, cinematography, lighting, sound recording, and editing. 

At the end of this module, you’ll submit a short film or a short TV form, as well as a professional production portfolio of paperwork documenting your familiarity with current risk assessment standards and legal requirements of screen production in the UK.

The second Study Block invites you to develop your thinking beyond the limits of western culture. Collaborating with a crew of your peers, you’ll have an opportunity to deliver a 10-minute film/TV form or screenplay inspired by research into globalisation and screen media. 

You'll also get a tase of industry with the chance to visit an international film festival and undertake work placements and internships.

Modules

Contextual Studies: Screen & Globalisation

In this module, you’ll develop political and social sensitivity through an exploration of how film and television, along with new digital forms of connectivity, are central to representations of identity, social/political conflicts and change in today’s global ‘network society’.  

Your research will interrogate globalisation as a conceptual framework, examining representations of hybridised, diasporic and postcolonial identities, transnational productions, migrations, trade politics and economics, grassroots activism, emerging cultures of protest and environmentalism. You’ll analyse a global sample of narrative and factual film and television examples, and discuss their potential to disseminate knowledge.

Creative Practice: Development

In this module, you’ll develop your practical industry skills by creating a short cinematic or televisual form (documentary, narrative or experimental) or screenplay project that mirrors real-world industry workflows. 

You'll explore critical frameworks, conventions and innovations within cinema, television, online viewing platforms, art galleries, transmedia, social media and citizen journalism. You’ll also learn about the contemporary industry and its commissioning, distribution and exhibition channels.

You’ll choose your final project depending on your career plans. If you're planning to move on to a PhD you can produce a dissertation or research portfolio involving a high level of research, a complex reading of film or television, and further discussion. Alternatively, if you want to head straight into industry you can choose an Industry Practice Project, where you’ll make a 20-minute film /TV form or write a feature screenplay.

You'll consult your work with an assigned supervisor and share it with your peers and the course team for step-by-step feedback.

Modules

Contextual Studies: Final Major Project

Under the guidance of a dissertation supervisor, you’ll practice your research skills and demonstrate your academic expertise through completing an advanced critical analysis on a subject of your choosing. You’ll produce a contribution to the field of cinematic studies, where a clearly articulated research methodology will provide a sound structural underpinning.

You can choose to present your research either in the form of an extended written essay or a video essay with an accompanying piece of critical writing.

Creative Practice: Final Major Project

For your Final Major Project, you’ll create an advanced portfolio consisting of a film or TV project together with a written critical evaluation of your chosen areas of creative practice.  

Your project may take the form of your own short film (narrative, documentary or experimental) or TV pilot which you will write and direct, or you can complete the module via a negotiated skills portfolio documenting your contribution to short film/s directed or produced by your peers.

Over a year of study, you’ll choose specialisms focused on your future career and learn from industry experienced mentors, including screenwriters, producers, directors, editors and sound specialists.

Your practical studies will be led by award-winning, active industry professionals and ScreenSkills tutors, while your contextual studies will be supported by distinguished academics, journal editors, and published authors.

Our visiting lecture series brings renowned figures to the programme. Previous speakers have included critic Dr Mark Kermode, writer Tony Grisoni, producer Mary Burke, Green Wing writer James Henry, production designer Katie Lee, BAFTA-winning director Mark Jenkin, director Brett Harvey, and cinematographer Danny Bishop, among others.

We support our students in finding and securing valuable industry placements, helping them gain hands-on experience and expand their professional networks.

Assessment methods

• Continuous assessment with no formal examinations
• Core theory based on written assignments
• Core practice assessed on visual project and accompanying portfolios
• Elective modules all with theory/practice options
• Dissertation and/or major project in final semester

If English isn’t your first language, you'll need to demonstrate English language skills that are sufficiently developed for successful completion of your studies. We accept a range of recognised English language qualifications that are equivalent to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic minimum score of 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.

International applicants who require a student visa to study in the UK must take a recognised language test that is approved and vouched for by the University. Our Applicant Services Team can help with any questions you may have about study visas or suitable language tests.