BA (Hons) Creative Writing and Film Studies

Film Language will introduce you to the key formal and aesthetic properties of film. You will learn different components of filmmaking, such as cinematography, editing, lighting, music, sound and mise-en-scene. This module will equip you with the fundamental tools for close textual analysis and basic elements of academic essay writing.

This module will introduce you to the basic principles of single camera factual filmmaking and introduce you to the organisation, planning, management and production of factual film.

The aim of this module is to develop critical skills in film studies by outlining the different critical approaches to cinema. You will investigate textual criticism, identity politics and various other interpretive paradigms.

This module aims to establish your core knowledge of poetry, encouraging you to look beyond your previous study and embrace what poetry can be in all its different mediums and forms. The emphasis will be on instruction and development of knowledge, and guest speakers and readings will illuminate your experience further.

This module is designed to introduce you to the differing demands of scriptwriting for three major dramatic genres – screen, stage and radio. It introduces you to the formats used in these three forms and encourages you to engage with the process of visual, verbal and aural storytelling in relation to the same.

In this module, you will be tested on your ability to write using accurate and appropriate contemporary language, techniques and devices. You will scrutinise published writers' narrative strategies for important aspects of form, techniques and devices in prose, explore the links between critical and creative writing, and join in with discussion, debate and exercises.

The module offers an overview of historical developments in American cinema from the silent period to the present, highlighting key industrial, technological and aesthetic transformations in its history. It explores the concepts of classical and postclassical cinema, and assesses their usefulness for understanding the recurring group characteristics of American cinema. It focuses on both mainstream and Independent films, and explores the changing social and industrial landscape in which they are produced, distributed and exhibited, and the effects of these changes on the form and style of the films.

In this module you will investigate the relationship between film and source texts such as novels, comic books, graphic novels, scripts, plays, computer games, other films etc. You will also explore the theoretical issues surrounding the relationship of form to content in narrative fiction film as they are highlighted in the process of adaptation, to facilitate the adaptation of a text into a film script.

In this module you will have the opportunity to gain hands on experience, planning and managing a short film production. You will be able to develop specific skills in the areas of cinematography, lighting and sound design, as well as post production skills in editing and colour grading.

Through practice-based learning, you will learn to plan, manage and produce a short film and develop the technical skills associated with filmmaking.

This module serves as an introduction to the range and variety of films produced in Europe, and their industrial contexts. It highlights the diversity of cinematic production in Europe, focusing not only on different national traditions, but also on the fact that European cinemas consist both of art and popular films.

The aim of this module is to give you an understanding of the working practices and organisation of the British film industry in the sectors of film funding, production, distribution and exhibition. It allows you to develop a personal career experience plan to aid future employment.

This module provides a framework for you to develop a critical awareness of film studies and provides the analytical, reflexive, scholarly and practical skills to produce an audio-visual essay. You will use and explore digital technologies in order to investigate their objects of study, using the material itself to ask questions of the medium.

This module aims to further develop your awareness of screen language in relation to screenwriterly concerns and encourage you to examine the narrative devices and structures inherent in film and television productions. It will also encourage you to develop your own storytelling skills.

This module will develop your skills in structuring and writing a treatment and a screenplay. It will encourage individual development of filmic storytelling skills in a critical, supportive environment in preparation for the longer stories you will develop and write in Level 6 Screenwriting modules.

This module engages you in the study of fantasy, horror and science fiction literature and related arts. This has proven the most popular genre amongst undergraduate students and the module provides an opportunity for specialisation in this area. You will produce original, creative work informed by your studies, and present it to your classmates and tutors for formative feedback and further development.

Clearly, a novel can not be completed in one semester, but you should be left with an awareness of what is required to make this huge leap from short story writing. You will emerge with a proposal for its completion and a deeper understanding of what method best suits you to live with, revise, complete and place a book.

In this module you will acquire a deepening understanding of some of the forms which prose takes and learn to write a piece of original prose within a chosen form. You will study examples of short fiction and literary non-fiction, learning some of the key techniques involved. Then, you will reflect on your reading and your own creative processes.

In this module you will focus on structural and technical aspects of poetry and on questions of subject-matter and source material, using examples of modern and contemporary poetry. You will look at students' poems in workshops, analysing them technically, providing feedback, and focusing on the specific uses of form and language.

This module is designed to develop your ability to craft short stories and to broaden your independent reading, honing the ability to read as a writer. It will improve both the identification and understanding of elements of fiction-writing craft and encourage reading as a writer in greater depth. You will develop the habit of writing prescriptively (via set writing exercises that enhance your understanding of the writer's craft) and independently. You will also develop a heightened awareness of your poetics and be able to reflect on the reading that shapes your writing.

In this module you will workshop your script for either radio or stage in tutor-led sessions, offering and receiving constructive criticism, reading, and performing scenes from your developing scripts. We will focus on structural and technical aspects of both forms and analyse the differences and transferable skills between the two mediums.

This module is designed to encourage you to use the technical, cognitive and narrative skills you have acquired to produce a writing portfolio and reflection, using your own strengths and those of the community of writers of which you are a part. As the workshops are based each week on prepared readings of peer students' draft work, suggestions for wider reading and giving thoughtful and detailed critiques mean that your individual contribution is of great importance. The portfolio may consist of fiction or literary non-fiction. 

This module will provide an overview of world cinema so that you can examine cinemas of the world historically and aesthetically, developing an understanding of films from different cultural contexts.

This module is designed to encourage you to use the technical, cognitive and narrative skills you have acquired to produce a writing portfolio and reflection, using your own strengths and those of the community of writers of which you are a part. As the workshops are based each week on prepared readings of peer students' draft work, suggestions for wider reading and giving thoughtful and detailed critiques mean that your individual contribution is of great importance. The portfolio may consist of fiction or literary non-fiction. 

This module allows you to pursue an individually devised creative project in Creative Writing at an advanced level. The module provides you with an opportunity to pursue a project which is not accommodated elsewhere in the programme. The project will follow an interest of yours, and of your own devising, with tutor support.

Within this module, you will learn approaches to pre-production and planning skills for fiction, documentary, and experimental film. You will also demonstrate how to compile a film proposal portfolio and explain how films are commonly pitched to a film industry audience.

In this module you will be given instruction on a wide-range of freelance possibilities and professional occupations open to a writer. In group discussions and 'troubleshooting' sessions you will develop your critical faculties by offering advice to your peers. You will devise and develop a work-based learning project which takes your skills as a writer out into a public-facing position or role, creating a detailed plan of your ideal project. You will also research organisations currently working in a similar area to your interest, producing a case-study of one such organisation.

In this module you will have the opportunity to gain hands on experience of some of the technical equipment required for short video production at an advanced level with either fiction or non-fiction filmmaking.

In this module you will be given instruction on a wide-range of freelance possibilities and ways that writers can earn a living by using their skills. In group discussions and 'troubleshooting' sessions you will develop your critical faculties by offering advice to your peers. You will deliver a work-based learning project which takes your skills as a writer out into a public-facing position or role. You will produce a writer’s CV, or showcase document, which you can use with employers after you graduate.

In this module you will explore historical and contemporary approaches to film interpretation. You will be able to critically examine and evaluate approaches to film interpretation so that you can engage with the serious analysis of film.

This module will focus on in-depth critiquing of students' work, asking you to consider how to disassemble, rebuild and improve your own and classmate’s work. Discussions and reading material will centre around discussion of your own writing processes. Guest masterclasses and readings from leading contemporary poets will be utilized to give you a wider and richer learning experience.

This module provides you with the opportunity to research and conduct an in depth written study in any approved subject in Film Studies.

In this module you will continue to workshop each other’s work, with encouragement towards robust and intellectual insights into your peers' work. Class discussions will centre on how best you might articulate your own poetic practice in ways which will benefit your own development. A series of masterclasses and guest-readings will continue to expose you to the best in contemporary poetry, and you will be exposed to the professional world of poetry, gaining insights on how and where to submit your work.

The aim of this module is to provide you with an opportunity to explore the relationship between theory and practice to be able to research in depth on a specific topic of your own choice.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to widen your direct knowledge of working practices in a media-related field, to widen your contacts and to apply the knowledge and skills you have learnt throughout the course. It also encourages you to develop transferrable skills relevant to the world of work.

This module enables you to develop an understanding of writing for digital platforms and skillsets necessary to produce digital content. Over the semester you will not only discover the creative possibilities of writing for online platforms but also the career opportunities in this field of writing. You will look at diverse areas of text and writing online, from media characters portrayed in social networking, to bloggers, viral campaigns and participatory projects to location based storytelling.

In this module you will examine the relevant genres in detail in workshop sessions, using current examples and with input from visiting professionals. You will be required to use relevant formats, complete storylines/treatments, and drafts of script extracts to deadlines. 

The portfolio module is the last step before you become a fully independent writer or move on to Masters level. In this module, you are encouraged to use the work-shopping skills that you have developed over the previous five semesters to give and receive constructive criticism in peer-led sessions as well as tutor-led work groups. You will be encouraged to independently evaluate each other’s scripts through the drafting and redrafting of a 30-45 minute film or TV series episode, radio play or stage play.