In response to the Climate Emergency, UAL has embedded responsible practices within the curriculum. We shaped our courses around principles of social and racial justice, and environmental sustainability that ensure learning outcomes reflect the urgent need to equip you with the understanding, skills, and values for ethical practice and empower you to work towards an equitable future.
In common with all courses at the University of the Arts London, this course is credit rated. The course is 3 years, levels 4-6. Each year requires you to achieve 120 credit points. To be awarded the BA (Hons) Film and Screen Studies qualification, you need to accumulate a total of 360 credits.
Year 1
Introduction to Film and Screen Studies (20 credits)
This unit introduces key aspects of the course: methodologies and tools for successful research and written work, skills in visual and verbal pitching for academic papers, critical review and curatorial purposes.
Moving Image as an Art Form (40 credits)
This unit provides a grounding in the significance of the moving image as an art form through the 20th Century. Through screenings and lectures, students build an appreciation of film and screen, together with contextual knowledge of key texts.
Students interrogate, debate and reflect on the historic, national, geographic or genre perspectives including World Cinema, European Arthouse, Soviet, Chinese, Indian Hollywood and Experimental film and television.
Innovation and Storytelling (40 credits)
This unit examines the historical and contemporary contexts of how innovation has influenced storytelling and interactivity on the screen.
The unit tracks the development of innovative screen practices - from silent early cinema and the introduction of synchronised sound to modern storytelling in contemporary areas including experimental film, visual art, online screen media, music videos, computer games and virtual reality.
Creative Technologies for Storytelling (20 credits)
The unit introduces the tools and techniques for working with moving images and sound. The unit includes practical, studio-based activity to learn about the elements that go into the production of a moving image project.
Year 2
Distinctive Identities (40 credits)
In this unit students explore the history, critical theories, and the contemporary context and key debates in screen culture for LGBTQA, gender, feminist, race, ethnicity, disability and age issues. This includes studying British-Black and Asian-British screen media in a diasporic, decolonial and international context.
Curating for the Screen (20 credits)
This unit introduces and examines the practical and critical skills for programming, curating, archiving or a screening event. Study trips and internship options to film festivals and cultural organisations will enable students to demonstrate an awareness of industry and external practices.
Interrogating the Truth (40 credits)
This unit examines the documentary form through a historical framework, key debates and narrative structures. The context is a synthesis of traditional and contemporary documentary filmmaking, animation, virtual reality and fact-based computer games.
We will also look at innovations in digital technologies used in screen-based industries and contemporary art practice.
Collaborative Project (20 credits)
This unit offers students an opportunity to develop acquired skills in curation and criticism, working on projects with other courses in the Screen School, or with external organisations.
Projects could include collaborating on a student film production, curating a project online, or applying to film festivals, so as to develop a deeper and/or wider understanding of aesthetic and creative roles in contemporary screen culture.
Year 3
Dissertation (40 credits)
This unit is the culmination of the earlier contextual film and screen studies components of the course. During the unit, ‘The Emerging Future’ students will investigate and formulate a research question and will synthesise their knowledge, critical thinking and analytical skills related to the moving image in an extended piece of work.
The Emerging Future (20 credits)
The unit aims to consider the new films and moving image artefacts emerging through the festivals and exhibitions, cultural and critical debates, and digital screening platforms. Students will integrate investigative and contextual analysis and consider the future of the moving image and the screen.
Major Project (60 credits)
In this unit students will curate and deliver a series of events with a published material. The curated theme could, for example, be a socially engaged project with an external cultural organisation.
This unit enables students to consolidate their knowledge about a subject of their choosing and to consider it in relation to issues of history, context and criticality, audience, community and decolonisation.
The planning work is to curate the programme, invite speakers, and publish accompanying material as well as marketing and publicity material for the programme.
Optional Diploma between Years 2 and 3
Between Years 2 and 3 of the course, you’ll also have the opportunity to undertake one of the following additional UAL qualifications:
Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS) (Optional)
An optional, year-long learning opportunity which enables you to develop your professional skills by undertaking time out for industry experience. Supported throughout the year by academics, you’ll build on the knowledge gained on your course in a range of national or international locations, and graduate with an additional qualification of Diploma in Professional Studies.
Diploma in Creative Computing (Optional)
Between Years 2 and 3, you can undertake the year-long Diploma in Creative Computing. This will develop your skills in creative computing alongside your degree. After successfully completing the diploma and your undergraduate degree, you’ll graduate with an enhanced degree: BA (Hons) Film and Screen Studies (with Creative Computing).
