BA Film and Media Studies - Year One Compulsory Modules

Introduction to Film Studies
This module is intended to introduce students to the academic study of cinema at undergraduate level. The course will provide a basic outline of narrative techniques and stylistic conventions to enable them to develop their appreciation of cinematic form. Some of the major theoretical issues in relation to the study of film, including authorship, genre, systems of representation and the role of the spectator, will be examined. The course is supported by a series of screenings which will allow students the opportunity to view some of the classics of film history, providing an overview of many of the most influential movements, including German Expressionism, the French New Wave, Hollywood and Soviet political cinema. By the end of the course, students will be armed with a solid grounding from which to develop their scholarly interest in the medium.

Digital Video Production - Level 1
A practical and intensely hands-on introduction to the basic skills used in single and multi-camera digital video production. During the module you will experience working as a team member in the studio-based, multi-camera sessions, while as an individual you will produce a 2-minute video using a digital camera and Adobe Premiere editing equipment. Teaching consists of 10 x 2 hour workshop sessions in groups of 10 - 15 students. On successful completion of the course, you should be able to demonstrate basic technical competence while understanding the roles and processes which support creative video production.

Introduction to Media Studies
This module introduces student to the study of the mass media from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives. Initially the module examines key moments and institutions in the historical development of the mass media using case studies drawn mainly from America and the UK. In the second half of the module, students will engage with the major issues and theories that have concerned media studies as an academic discipline. Through subjects such as semiotics, ideology and reception theory, students will gain a firm foundation for theoretical and practical studies in the second and final years of the degree.

Creative Computing
Utilising industry standard software in the Mac Lab this module concentrates on design and publishing skills in desktop publishing for business. After being introduced to word processing and basic design principles, you will be taught how to use Adobe Photoshop to retouch and enhance photographic images from a variety of sources, such as the World Wide Web, scanners and PhotoCD. 
The primary focus of the module is then on the use of Adobe Pagemaker to incorporate text and images in a desktop publishing project. Suitable for all students wishing to learn presentational and publishing skills to enhance their degree work and employment prospects, this module is completely assessed by coursework.

BA Film and Media Studies - Year One Optional Modules


Genre in Film
The history of cinema has been dominated by the development of key film genres. Whether it is the western, film noir or melodrama, the genre film has provided audiences with a safe formula, seemingly guaranteeing the delivery of reliable entertainment. This module will examine the way in which generic conventions function and change. Students will be gently introduced to some of the dominant theoretical discourses that have shaped the academic study of genre cinema. Key issues, such as historical context, the centrality of gender and the role of the director, will be discussed, and the course will be illustrated with examples drawn from both Hollywood and beyond.

An Introduction to Cultural Studies
Provides an introduction to the cross-disciplinary field of Cultural Studies. 
This course traces the development of key debates and approaches to the meaning of 'culture' and the study of 'popular cultures'. Using a wide variety of examples and case studies, the course engages with different ways that the relationship between culture, society and power can be understood.

Understanding the Social and the Cultural
Introduces various different ways of approaching and researching the complexities of human societies and cultures, social and cultural processes. 
The course explores various methods (e.g. interviews, participant observation, textual and visual analysis, questionnaires) used in research, highlighting the applicability, strengths and limitations of each.
 
+ a range of modules from other Departments across the University.


BA Film and Media Studies - Year Two Compulsory Modules

Film Stars: Representation and Performance
One of the central factors in the continuing popularity of cinema has been the status of the film star. Pampered and promoted, egotistical and overpaid, the film star is still likely to be one of the key elements affecting our choice of viewing. This module will look at the creation of the star system in Hollywood and follow its influence. Changing styles of performance will be examined, from the silent period, through 'the method' style of Marlon Brando, to the modern anti-hero. Students will be introduced to theoretical approaches to the analysis of stardom and the key issue of representation will be examined in detail. The importance of gender and sexuality will be addressed in relation to the creation of identity and the pleasures of spectatorship.

Understanding Television
Television is a hotly debated medium at the heart of contemporary popular culture, a powerful global industry and a key source for both information and entertainment. This module will examine the history of TV, paying close attention to recent developments in public and private sector broadcasting. Drawing case studies from America and closer to home, the module will consider television as a specific textual form, highlighting major genres including the soap opera and so-called reality television. Other elements to be covered will be the regulation of the industry, issues of representation and the consequences these have for television audiences.

Research Methods in Film and Media
This module provides vital preparation for the Dissertation component in Year 3. Students will be introduced to the major areas of research methodology that they will need to employ in the Dissertation, testing each with a relevant exercise. Subjects covered will include researching original source material, content/ discourse analysis and interview techniques. The module will culminate in the production of a detailed proposal for the Dissertation that students intend to pursue in their final year.


BA Film and Media Studies - Year Two/Three Optional Modules

Advanced Digital Video Production
This module develops the basic skills acquired at Level 1. You will be introduced to advanced non-linear editing techniques and set exercises designed to extend your visual and aural awareness and creativity. You will be required to submit 3 video productions; a 30" sound and vision montage, a 1' trailer / promotional video and a 5-minute fact or fiction film. Teaching will be by 10 x 2 hour workshops in the first term, while the 5' video production will be supported by masterclasses and tutorials during the second term.
  
Introduction to Screenwriting
This is a practical course, in which the essential elements of effective screenwriting - character, narrative structure, action, plot, dialogue - are explored through lectures and workshops. Using a variety of screen narratives as examples, students are asked to submit a portfolio of written exercises designed to develop their writing skills leading to the production of a short script. 
The course also explores the role of the screenwriter within the context of commercial programme production.

Advanced Multi-Camera Production
Using the well-equipped 3-camera studio at the Media Centre, this course will build on the skills acquired at Level 1. The studio gallery will operate from our new multi-camera mobile unit, which will also enable us to produce "as live" broadcasts from a various locations. You will undertake most of the roles necessary to multi-camera video production, acting as camera person, sound and vision mixer, production assistant, floor manager, producer /researcher, director and performer as required. Your team-working, management and communication skills will be developed to a high level during this course, as will your appreciation of the hard work and organisation that goes into the most formulaic of television programmes. 

Asian Cinema: Politics and Aesthetics
This module introduces students to examples of several major film cultures that provide alternative models to Hollywood. This begins with an overview of cinema in the People's Republic of China under the Communist government and the related film industries of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The second part of the course examines Indian cinema, the most prolific industry in the world in terms of production. In all cases students will examine the extent to which the films produced in these contexts reflect national and regional issues. Throughout, a key emphasis will be placed on textual analysis, paying close attention to specific features such as the use of song and dance sequences in popular Indian film. 

Professional Publishing
Concentrating on professional publishing skills using Quark Xpress software, this module covers the advanced techniques used in the magazine publishing industry. You will be taught the procedures followed in a commercial printing environment from production and pre-press through to the printing process itself. Issues explored are the role of process colour printing, techniques for colour trapping, prepress checklists and how to ensure that your printed output matches your expectations.

Popular Music: Industry and Society
This module approaches the study of popular music from two broad points of view. In the first half of the course, students will be introduced to the key institutions that are responsible for the global production and mediation of contemporary popular music. An important focus will be recent changes in the industry, not least those brought about by the impact of the Internet. The second half of the module will concentrate on the role of popular music in contemporary debates about identity. Particular case studies will examine the representation of race and gender in popular music culture.

Multimedia: Creative Web Page Design
Taught in the Apple Macintosh Laboratory, the module teaches the concepts and techniques required to create web sites using graphical web design software. You will learn how to plan, create and maintain a suite of web pages; how to create background designs for your web site and prepare images for the web using Adobe Photoshop; effective use of a digital camera and 35mm slide scanner; how to create animations for web page; and how to conform to accessibility standards for the less able. Critically, you will also learn how to ensure that your web site is accessible to users on Windows PCs and other computer systems.

Digital Photography
Traditional photographic methods involving the use of analogue cameras are being extended and, in some respects, being replaced by new digital methods. This practical course explores the technology of digital photography and (in the Departmental Macintosh Laboratory) the key computer software used in the creation of digital images. But digital photography is more than the supplanting of traditional methods by a digital alternative. New types of imagery can be created using digital technology, such as interactive 'Virtual Reality' tours for use on the world wide web. A major part of this course involves the creation of such 'beyond the still image' products.

Cinema, culture and society: the 1960s in Europe and America
Are the 1960s the most influential decade of the twentieth century? This module explores an era whose influence is all around us to this day, whether it is in contemporary pop music and fashion, or in debates about the effects of permissiveness on our society. Whilst this course is centred largely on films, there will be the chance to look at other key cultural developments of the period, including pop music, photography and television. The social and economic context will also be studied. Whilst focusing mainly on Britain and the United States, the module will also look at important developments in other European countries such as France and Italy. From The Beatles to the hippies, via Vietnam, civil rights and the counterculture, this module will take students past the Austin Powers stereotypes into the heart of the revolution.

Encompassing Representations
Explores various issues connected to cultural and media representations of places and spaces at a variety of scales: from the globe as an icon of supposed unity and equality through to the neighbourhood and the home. It explores links between representation and power, through examining how a variety of different kinds of dominant 'stories' about peoples and places are retold, redrafted and subverted through how these 'stories' are told to different kinds of audiences. 

Cultural Technologies
Explores technologies involved in the production, consumption and circulation of cultures and cultural artefacts. The course builds from the idea that technologies do not exist 'apart' from human societies and cultures, and are much more than particular arrangements of metal and plastics etc. built and used for specific purposes. The course is divided into three lecture blocks that look at the key debates around processes of production, consumption and circulation, using examples drawn from TV, film, music and 'everyday life' in contemporary and historical contexts.

Culture and Media in Everyday Life
Explores the use and interpretation of language (English; spoken, textual, sung etc.) in interactions, social cultures and within news, 'lifestyle' and advertising media as situated practices, that are shaped by and may also reshape wider social contexts. Using examples in practical sessions, it investigates links between language, meanings, notions of identity and the operation of power. 

Bodies and Representation
Focuses on the significance of bodies and their connections with individual and collective identities, personal and societal anxieties (e.g. in relation to health, beauty, sex etc.). These issues are explored through examining a wide variety of ways that bodies are managed, (re)presented and interpreted within different social, cultural and media contexts. 

Geographies of Violence
From verbal to nuclear confrontation, this module investigates 'violences' of many different kinds. It examines how various socio-cultural-political, legal and moral considerations combine to justify, 'naturalise', deem 'viewable' or deem illegitimate certain forms of 'violence' within a variety of cultural contexts.


BA Film and Media Studies - Year Three

In their final year, students take at least one of the following:

Dissertation
A 12, 000 word piece of original work on a subject of the student's choice. Based on the proposal written during Research Methods in Film and Media during the second year, this module requires students to pursue in-depth research into a media-related topic.

Media Studies Project
Based on the skills acquired in the first two years of the degree, students devise a project of their choice. Projects undertaken by past students have included the construction of a web site or shooting a short documentary. In all cases, students a required to produce a report on their project, detailing the processes involved.

In addition to the above, students can choose from a range of options including those listed under Year Two and those below which are intended for Year Three students only:

Alternative Cinemas 
Is Hollywood all there is to cinema? One result of the all-pervading influence of Hollywood has been to provoke reactions and occasionally revolt against its dominant style and values. This has taken many forms, from experimental art cinema to the attempt to counteract Hollywood's glossy surface values with a cinema dedicated to capturing the rawness of reality. There have also been those audiences who feel that their concerns and interests have never been fully catered to by the mainstream and who look elsewhere for their entertainment. This wide-ranging course will look at a variety of alternatives to mainstream popular narrative cinema: from documentary realism to European art cinema and the avant-garde; from exploitation and niche films to animation and surrealism. Material that is sometimes challenging, but always rewarding, will be used to offer an alternative view to the one from Los Angeles.

The Films of Spike Lee
Spike Lee is one of the most controversial directors working in contemporary American cinema. He has made films as an independent and in mainstream Hollywood, producing a body of work that has provoked strong reactions from audiences and critics alike. With films such as She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, and Jungle Fever, Lee has been celebrated and vilified in equal measure for the way in which his work has engaged with racial politics. This module will examine Lee's films in the context of key debates about representation and, in particular, the portrayal of African-Americans.

The Media in Wales
This module provides students with a unique opportunity to study the media in Wales. Examining the history of key institutions such as S4C and the Western Mail, the course will look at the way Wales has been represented in cinema, television, the press and popular music. In all cases the specificity of the Welsh experience, in relation to government policy or the role of language, for instance, will be placed in the context of developments in the broader UK and global media.

Introduction to Subtitling
This highly practical module conveys the basic elements of subtitling. Each student will have access to a sophisticated PC unit at the Media Centre in a dedicated Subtitling Suite. In addition to formal tuition there will be assistance in the form of surgery hours to support students as they become competent in 
operating the equipment. Students will learn to subtitle a range of material whilst adhering to the guidelines and conventions specified by the ITC (Independent Television Commission).

Introduction To Television Drama - Its History And Development
An exploration of the development of television drama, from the televised single play to the multi-narrative soaps and series that fill our screens today. Technological advances have affected the stories we tell and how they are told on the "small screen." We will look at the innovative presentations of the past, such as Bleasedale's "Boys from the Blackstuff," Potter's "Singing Detective," as well as the emergence of the "made for TV movie" and the "classical adaptation", the move towards formulaic narratives and genres.
