Film and Screen Studies BA(Hons)

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Year 1

Modules

• Screen Histories 1

  In this module you will explore a range of screen practices and screen histories from the Victorian period to the emergence of the ‘Movie Palace’ to the rise and decline of the Hollywood studio system in the post-war period. You will be introduced to the scientific, technological, economic and cultural factors which led to the development of the film industry. The module draws attention to the continuities and discontinuities that are found across these histories, and presents a critical perspective on the methodologies used to understand the past.

• Screen Industries

  In this module you will look at the industrial and professional aspects of screen media institutions, and issues of economics, politics, creativity and cultural labour. You will be introduced to theories of political economy and draw on contemporary examples across a range of areas including film, television, video games, and digital media. You will be taught with input from industry practitioners. Consideration is also given to the pressing issue of media convergence.

• Key Concepts in Screen Studies

  This module will introduce you to major concepts used for the analysis of screen texts, by drawing on elements from the disciplines of film studies, media studies and cultural studies. Each week you will focus on one particular concept, such as narrative, editing, cinematography, ideology, representation and so on. You will be encouraged to consider the ways in which these concepts are useful in analysing different screen media.

• Screen Histories 2

  In this module you will examine screen practices during the global development and expansion of screen cultures in the latter half of the twentieth century, and the early twenty-first century. You will explore the emergence and development of post-war screen media, such as television, the personal computer and networked digital technologies, and explore issues of public service broadcasting, the video nasties debate, the emergence of the Internet, and the impact of smart screens on communication and culture. Attention is drawn to the continuities and discontinuities across these screen cultures’ distinct histories.

• Key Theories in Screen Studies

  This module will provide you with a wide range of critical and theoretical approaches to the study of screen media. Structured classes and key readings introduce a topic each week – such as Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis and screen theory, audience studies, authorship – and seminar exercises will enable you to understand key concepts, debates and theories of popular culture and the production of meanings of screen texts and their social relevance.

• Screen Audiences

  This module will provide you with an introductory survey of various critical approaches to screen consumption. The module surveys changing audience engagement with screens and the relationships between consumption and production. It demonstrates the changing critical models around audiences and screen consumption, drawing on a range of screen forms including cinema, television, digital games, and social media. You will be introduced to various methodological approaches to analysing screen consumption through weekly research methods workshops exploring different approaches to analysing audience activities.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Our Film and Screen Studies students talk about what they learn, the breakdown of theory vs practice, living in Brighton and the high level of support they get from the course team.

Year 2

Modules

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

Options*

• Videogames Cultures
• Film Festivals
• Creative Writing for Performance
• Creative Use of the Camera
• Screen Genres
• Writing for Feature Films and Television
• Industry Placement
• Practical Cinematography

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

Second year students on the Media in Practice module using the studios and editing suite.

Final year

Modules

• Dissertation
• International Screen Industries
• Final Year Workshop

Options*

• Television Production
• Screening Sexualities
• Media Policy
• Promotional Media Culture
• Screening the Unreal: Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
• Critical Approaches to the Videogame
• Deconstructing the Nation
• Politics and Political Communication

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

Our Film and Screen Studies degree is based in our Edward Street purpose-built media centre in central Brighton. 

Work-related experience

You will benefit from talks by screen industry practitioners providing opportunities for networking and work experience. A commitment to employability runs throughout the entire course, in the form of workshops with members of our Careers team.

The Film and Screen Studies degree has a thriving group of student volunteers who work on community and university projects, from local cinemas and television to film festivals and archives. Others gain experience as television runners, in social media, running cinema events, radio presenting, creating film blogs, and more while studying the degree.

You will have access to a significant national film and screen collection through one of our partners, Screen Archive South East, based on site at Edward Street. You will benefit from our close relationships with the Cinecity film festival.

Our media students have been on placement with organisations including:

• Ricochet
• Creative Assembly
• BBC Good Food and Olive Magazine
• Absolute Radio
• Brighton and Hove Green Party
• Lowkey Films
• Drop4Drop
• Integrity Music Europe
• YDN Radio
• Life Water
• Electric Square
• ITV Potato
• Renewable World
• Deluxe
• ILOVEDUST
• Bauer Media
• Brighton Dome
• Brighton Fringe.

Meet the team

Your course team are passionate about their subject and include academics, industry practitioners, artists, historians and writers.

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.

Other staff who teach on the course include: Douglas McNaughton and Emma Withers.

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

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Support and wellbeing

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