BA Film & Theatre

If you are looking for a degree that innovatively combines critical understanding with practical skills, the single honours degree in Film & Theatre is for you.

In contrast to other degrees where the study of films, plays and television programmes are analysed in a more literary way, we examine these media in their proper context.

How we teach you

You will watch films in the Department's state-of-the-art cinema and analyse plays as performed. You will learn the 'language' of screen media, from early cinema and classical Hollywood to contemporary film and television, and explore new forms of digital screened entertainment and screened art practice. You will experience theatre at the dynamic intersections between East Asian and Western cultures, and between traditional and experimental forms. You will see staged productions ranging from West End shows to Chinese and Noh theatre (we have one of only two Noh stages in the UK), and performances from the latest exponents of 'intermedial' theatre and performance art. You can also study the continually developing forms and narratives of contemporary US and British Television and their relationships to industrial trends, such as digital broadcasting, multi-platform branding and the rise of writer/producers like Paul Abbott, Joss Whedon and Tina Fey.

Combining theory and practice

Theoretical study and practical work go hand in hand at each stage of your degree and many theoretical modules, which are taught generally by group seminar and lecture, may use practical exercises to explore critical or theoretical questions. There are also practical modules in each year. You will do group practical work throughout your first year and then have the opportunity to direct your own film, performance or TV production in both your second and third years. Student film, theatre or television makers are supervised by academic members of staff and supported by dedicated technicians who specialise in lighting, editing, sound recording and mixing, costume and set design.

Flexible module options

The course is flexible. You may choose to specialise in television, film or theatre practice or, if you feel that practical work is not for you, you can choose a dissertation project instead. You can choose to make television a larger or smaller part of your studies. Core first- and second-year modules in the history and aesthetics of the three media lead to a final year where you may choose from a wide range of options (examples of optional modules listed below).

Part 1

• Introduction to Film & Theatre
• Critical Practice (workshops, performances, short films, multi-camera television work)
• Introduction to Television Studies (optional)

Part 2

• Performance and Nation
• Hollywood and Beyond
• Alternative Forms in Film and Theatre
• Practical Option (an opportunity to direct a 6 minute film or a short play) or Independent Project
• Research Production (optional)
• Work Based Learning in Film, Theatre or Television (optional)

Part 3

• Independent Project (involving directing a 10 minute film, a 45 minute performance, or a studio-based television production)

or

• Dissertation

and

• 2 critical options

Critical components

The range of critical options on offer varies from one year to the next. Subjects studied in recent years include: Contemporary Documentary; Chinese Theatre; British Film; Women's Film & Theatre; Physical Theatre; The Director and the Stage; Contemporary World Cinema; Recent American Cinema; Popular Film Genres; Musical Film and Theatre, Japanese Film, Polish Film And Theatre, Film Style and Technology, French Cinema, Contemporary Television Drama, Popular Film Genres (sci-fi and action cinema); Chinese Theatre; Contemporary Television Drama; Polish Film & Theatre; Contemporary Documentary; The Director and the Theatre; Storytelling in Film; Theatre, Performance and Modernism; Independent American Cinema.

There are also optional modules in which you can gain credit for the knowledge you've developed working on a staff research production or through relevant work experience.

• Research Production (optional)
• Work Based Learning in Film, Theatre or Television (optional)

For a full description of this course please download the BA Film & Theatre programme specification.

Quotes from our students