Film and Screen Studies BA(Hons)

Course in brief

Today screens are central to how we experience the world. Our degree is distinct from conventional film studies programmes in examining all forms of screens in their social contexts, resting on our belief that cinema cannot be studied in isolation from other screen media.

Throughout this degree you will study the histories, theories and industries of screen media. From magic lanterns, through cinema and television, to videogames, digital media and mobile devices, we explore the cultural, social and political dimensions of screens. Our degree focuses primarily on the historical, theoretical and cultural contexts of screen cultures, and practical options include scriptwriting, journalism, photography and documentary production.

The degree is assessed through a broad range of methods, including essays, examinations, presentations, portfolios and research projects, designed to develop your employability as well as academic skills. You will gain transferable skills in research methods and critical thinking, project management and time-planning, team-working and interpersonal abilities, among others. These will be invaluable for your future career or further study.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Grand Parade

UCAS code P390

Full-time 3 years

Apply now with UCAS

Applying for 2017

Places are available on this course for UK, other EU and international students.

Apply now with UCAS

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2017. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

A-levels
BBC.

BTEC
DMM.

International Baccalaureate
28 points.

Access to HE Diploma
pass with 60 credits overall. Humanities, history or politics courses preferred. At least 45 credits at level 3.

GCSE (minimum grade 4 or C)
at least three subjects including English language and mathematics or a science.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

Interview days
Interview days are held throughout the admissions process. The day involves a course talk where applicants can learn more about their chosen degree and, for some, a taster lecture is also available. Existing students are present and you will have the chance to ask them questions. Interviews last between 15 and 20 minutes and are conducted by a member of academic staff. This session offers you a chance to discuss your own personal areas of interest, and to demonstrate your desire and capability for undergraduate study on your chosen course. In some instances these discussions can be conducted via telephone or Skype.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country

Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For academic preparation courses.

Course in detail

Why study with us?

Brighton is a vibrant, creative city, packed with cinemas, galleries and media companies. It is home to England’s leading arts festival, an annual digital media festival and Cinecity, Brighton’s own film festival.
You will explore a diverse, engaging range of screen media, including silent movies, Hollywood classics, television drama, art cinema, sitcoms, music videos, artists’ films, animation and video games.
You will have access to the Screen Archive South East, a significant resource featuring magic lantern slides from the nineteenth century, films, videotapes and digital material. We also have good relationships with the Duke of York's cinema, the oldest picturehouse in Europe, and the Cinecity film festival.
We have a thriving research culture, which means that you will learn from a wide range of visiting artists, filmmakers, historians, researchers and writers.
The course keeps pace with technological change. We consider latest developments such as live cinema, 3D film, touchscreen technology and internet television, and look beyond these developments to what the future holds.
In your final degree show, you will have the chance to present your work to the general public, other scholars, students and potential employers, an opportunity rarely available to students on academic courses.

Year 1

Modules

Screen Histories 1
Screen Industries
Key Issues in Screen Studies
Screen Histories 2
Key Theories in Screen Studies
Screen Consumption

Year 2

Modules

Identities and the Screen
Beyond the Screen
Screens and Power
Contemporary Issues in Screen Studies

Options*

Semester 1

Videogames Cultures
British Television Drama
Screen Authorship
Studying Travel Writing
Creative Writing
Queer Writing
Literature and Art History
Introduction to Journalism
Television Studio Production
French/German/Italian/Spanish

Semester 2

Screening Culinary Culture
Memory, History and Trauma Onscreen
TV Genres
Creative Writing
Literature in Practice
American Literature 1850–1960
Writing for the Stage, Radio and Screen
Media in Practice
Introduction to Journalism
Photography: From Painting with Light to Zeros and Ones
Documentary Filmmaking
Contested Stories
French/German/Italian/Spanish

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

Modules

International Screen Industries
Dissertation
Final Year Workshop

Options*

Semester 1

Framing Women: The 'Female' in Popular Screen Culture
Philosophy on Screen
Community Placement: Theory in Practice
Apocalypse, Utopia, Dystopia
Post-War American Literature
Women's Writing and Feminist Theory
Creative Writing Project
Gothic: Texts and Contexts
Postcolonial Literatures
European Literatures
Television News Production
Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond
From Script to Screen
Media Ethics and Conflict

Semester 2

Screen Comedy
Children's Screen Cultures
The Cultural Politics of Screening Race
Screen Fantasy
Philosophy on Screen
Community Placement: Theory in Practice
Russian Literature and Culture
(Re)Viewing Shakepeare
Adaptations
Victorian Sexualities
Writing the Contemporary
Culture Wars: Revisiting the Great Divide
Images of War
Autobiography and the Screen

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Staff profile

Aris Mousoutzanis Course leader

Aris Mousoutzanis lectures in film and screen studies, researching across literature, film and media. His specialisms include: media representations of trauma and disaster; globalisation and multiculturalism; identity politics on the screen; screen media, power and resistance.

Student views

Emily Lodderhose Film and Screen Studies graduate

“I found the creative vibe of Brighton inspiring, enjoyed interacting with others and liked the city’s close proximity to London because it meant that all the best museums and libraries were right on your doorstep.

"I have learned a lot about things I hadn’t expected to discover. For example, the Science and Screen course I took revealed the impact of technology on science but also showed the benefit of providing vital knowledge to the public through the medium of entertainment.

"The tutors are very enthusiastic about their subjects and that makes people interact and listen closely. Classes are engrossing and interesting to attend.

"You split your time between classes and seminars, independent research, and reading and watching the required documentaries and films. Film Studies touches on history, psychology, ethics, laws, politics... the list goes on. I can honestly say I learned something new every single day.”

Careers and employability

Graduates are equipped with transferable skills applicable to future employment, postgraduate study and further research.

You may consider a career in screen production, distribution and exhibition, criticism and journalism, marketing and advertising, and other jobs within the screen industries.

Employability workshops are integrated into the syllabus from year one in order to ensure that students make the most of the university careers services and leave university with an awareness of particular and specialised skills they have developed and the direction of their potential career. These are run by specialised members of our careers service, and include one-to-one sessions, CV workshops, and confidence-building exercises.

We also run a programme of industry seminars where practitioners from a wide range of industry sectors, including production, distribution, marketing and journalism advise students on actual jobs and how to get them.

There is a thriving student volunteer body working in community projects and university projects, from film festivals and local television to using the screen to work with children. The degree provides great opportunities for work experience and is fully supported by trained staff from career service.

Positions held by Film and Screen Studies graduates in recent years include:

runner for X Factor and other ITV programmes
production secretary for ITV
filming for Film 4
distribution manager for Netflix UK
intern for Cannes Film Festival
editing work for Studio Canal
researcher for Alphapanda film marketing consultancy
graphic designer for Prysm Media Group
script writer, producer and host for Latest TV
production secretary for MPC Media
runner of independent film company Latham and Lane
runner and camera operator for Ricochet Films
producer of apps for Minecraft
artistic creator at London Dungeon
associate agent at Imperium Management talent agency.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 12,660 GBP

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2017–18. Tuition fees are payable for each year that you study with us.

Where UK/EU students are subject to regulated fees, the annual fee increase cannot exceed the UK government’s maximum regulated tuition fee limit set for the relevant year. For all other students, ie those not subject to regulated fees, tuition fees are subject to a maximum annual increase of the higher of 5% or RPI.

You can find out more about our fees in the the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Brighton has been called the happiest place in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. With five miles of pebble beach, more than 300 pubs and a packed festival calendar, Brighton is the ideal place to spend your student years.

Arts and culture: The Royal Pavilion is the most famous landmark in Brighton, opening its doors to around 400,000 tourists every year. Right next door is the Brighton Dome, the south coast’s premier multi-arts venue, and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which holds a diverse collection of decorative arts, textiles and archaeological artefacts.

Festivals: The Brighton Festival is now the largest arts festival in England and a major milestone in the international cultural calendar. Meanwhile, The Great Escape has been established as the UK’s leading event for new music, with over 300 bands playing 30 venues across the city over three days.

Nightlife: Aside from the many nightclubs that line the city’s seafront, student favourites include The Haunt, Concorde 2 and Patterns, which attract leading bands and DJs from around the world. If you don’t feel like dancing, you can take your pick from the many hundreds of pubs and bars that dot the city centre.

Shopping: The quirky North Laine district houses Brighton’s finest collection of boutique shops and independent cafes, while the narrow, winding streets of the South Lanes house collections of jewellery and antiques. Churchill Square is the city’s main shopping centre and serves all of your high street needs.

Sports: Brighton’s seaside location offers the perfect opportunity to try paddle boarding, kayaking and windsurfing. Further into the city, The Level has a skate park for skateboarders and BMX riders to practise their skills.

Campus where this course is taught

Grand Parade campus

Our Grand Parade campus is in the heart of Brighton, across the road from the Royal Pavilion and a five-minute walk from the beach. After your lectures you’ll be right in the city centre, close to all the best pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes that Brighton has to offer.

The campus is home to a creative community of arts and humanities students, specialising in everything from fashion and textiles to politics and philosophy. It is also the location of the University of Brighton Gallery and Sallis Benney Theatre, which host events throughout the festival season and beyond.

The world-renowned University of Brighton Design Archives are in the basement of Grand Parade and offer extensive resources for the study of British design in the twentieth century. St Peters House, the campus library, is also nearby and houses a specialist collection of arts books and journals.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Our Grand Parade campus is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance. We have around 300 rooms available in Phoenix Brewery, which are all ensuite and self-catered.

Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus. All accommodation in Moulsecoomb Place is catered, offering breakfast and an evening meal during term time. There are more than 150 rooms available here, with six to eight rooms per flat.

Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence. The site is four miles from Brighton centre but within walking distance of Falmer train station.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field. Great Wilkins offers 150+ self-catered single rooms and one-bed couples flats, while Paddock Field offers 450+ catered and self-catered single rooms only. All rooms in Falmer are en-suite.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. The rent covers all utilities and includes £5,000 of contents insurance for your personal belongings.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

Find out more on our Brighton accommodation webpages and if you have any questions, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field

Moulsecoomb Place

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Grand Parade campus map

Unistats

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats is an organisation that collects specific data about university courses in the UK which enables you to compare information that is important in your decision-making when choosing a university. All universities publish Unistats data on their online course pages.

Wherever we can we have provided extra information here to help put the data into context so that it is as useful as possible when you are making decisions.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the official university document for each course. They are updated each year, and give a very detailed breakdown of what your course might look like.

Programme specification