Moving Image BA(Hons)

International equivalencies

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

Portfolio and interview advice 

Applying for a place in 2018?

Before you come for interview you will be asked to send an online portfolio to show us your work. We would like to see:

• completed film or video works and / or works in progress
• other art work (for example, photography, drawing, installation)
• your ability to develop an idea from concept
• your potential to experiment and explore ideas and techniques
• any examples of written work (for example, a previous essay about film or art)
• awareness of contemporary artists’ moving image
• awareness of film history or art history.

We recommend using Tumblr to create a simple portfolio or blog and YouTube or Vimeo for embedding video. Please note that it is not a strict requirement to have previous film and video work at interview stage – we welcome any creative portfolio and an interest in exploring moving image in future works.

Why study with us?

• By joining us at Brighton, you'll be in an innovative, creative and critical environment.

• You will be taught by practising artists in film, video and digital moving image, and leading artists’ moving image practitioners enrich the course with regular guest talks, screenings and workshops from artists and filmmakers.

• Work produced on the course comes from the contexts of fine art, experimental film and artists’ moving image as well as cinema and filmmaking, looking to find meaningful spaces for new practices in these areas.

• The course is supported by an unrivalled technical provision for experimental film and video, including 16mm film, film hand-processing, Super 8mm and analogue video formats alongside the latest high definition filmmaking equipment and editing software.

• A dedicated art and design library houses a wide range of books, periodicals and audio visual resources to support your studies.

• The Tech-Hub and Media Centre provide access to a further range of specialist equipment for production and editing.

• Every practice unit is assessed by two members of staff and you are given written feedback at the end of each unit.

• You will study alongside other artists in a range of media, developing your own work alongside student photographers and digital sound artists as well as other fine artists.

• We have a staff and student exchange with the International Academy of Art Palestine, in Ramallah. Students have the opportunity to study abroad at this pioneering art school.

• You'll get plenty of space to develop your own ideas and research topics in depth, with practical guidance from our dedicated course technician, who will support you with technical workshops and one-to-one sessions.

• Brighton Film Festival CINECITY and Screen Archive South East are based at the university and there are opportunities to work with these organisations.

• The course’s technical demonstrator, who provides support for students, won the Individual Support Staff Award as "the member of support staff who has really helped my learning" in the Brighton Students’ Union Excellence Awards 2012.

• Student Services offer assistance for students with particular learning difficulties.

Areas of study 

• Artists’ moving image, film history, avant-garde film
• Filmmaking, experimental film and video, video art, installation art
• Narrative, fiction, documentary, experimental ethnographic filmmaking
• Cinematography, experimental imaging, visual effects and video editing
• Digital compositing, animation, green screen
• High definition, studio production, multi-camera production
• 16mm film shooting, developing, editing and projecting
• Hand processing 16mm black and white film, cameraless film (drawing on film)
• Sound art and design, audio recording and mixing
• Film and video for cinema and gallery (Black Box White Cube)
• Exhibition design, planning and installation for film and video
• VJ skills / live video mixing (analogue and digital)

Visit our course Facebook page

The Edward Street building, part of the Grand Parade campus, where our Moving Image course is based

Year 1

Year 1 has four themed units – identity, place, fiction and documentary – each lasting six to seven weeks.

Each week, group seminars, individual tutorials and screenings of relevant films help you develop your ideas and you present a finished piece in the last week. In this final session you make a formal presentation of your work to the group, learn to critique other student’s work, and also receive feedback from two tutors.

The units are underpinned by a series of introductory technical workshops, film screenings, study support sessions, and by lectures from staff and visiting lecturers.

One day each week is set aside for Historical and Theoretical studies, which take the form of a lecture series with seminar sessions and film screenings. Students read and summarise weekly texts using library study time and complete one final essay per semester.

Historical and Critical Studies in year 1 covers film history then moving on to an in-depth study of the avant-garde and film and video art histories.

You are expected to work independently on your projects, making full use of the facilities: cameras and audio recording equipment, computer editing software and studios.

Modules

• Practice 1: Moving Image and Identity
• Practice 2: Moving Image and Place
• Practice 3: Moving Image and Fiction
• Practice 4: Moving Image and Documentary
• Historical and Critical Studies 1: From Magic Lantern to Youtube
• Historical and Critical Studies 2: One Million Avant-Gardes

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.

Year 2

In the second year your four units of study encourage a more focused approach to the combination of sound and vision. You'll look at a range of art practices and recognise the importance of how finished works are presented whether in the gallery, cinema or online.

The projects are: Sound and Vision, Collaboration, Black Box White Cube as well as one day a week on a college option in another area of the university.

The second year show is an opportunity to exhibit publicly in the university gallery.

At the end of the year you'll undertake an independent project which prepares you for the more self-directed study of the third year.

Once again lectures and seminars take place weekly, introducing you to key concepts in contemporary practice, as well as an in depth look at sound and film.

The end of the second year covers dissertation preparation and research skills.

Modules

• Practices 5 and 6: Collaboration and Sound and Vision
• Practice 7: Beyond Black Box/White Cube
• Practice 8: Independent Project
• Historical and Critical Studies 3: Sound/Music and The Moving Image
• Historical and Critical Studies 4: 'The Cinema of Others', Research Methodologies and Extended Essay Proposal
• Option from arts and humanities modules

Final year

In the third year you develop your own personal work through a minor and major project, while also writing a dissertation. 

You are allocated tutors who supervise the development of your ideas. Tutorials are also offered with other members of staff. Regular group crits allow students to build projects with the support of their peers and staff.

For your major project you can expect to have six or seven tutorial slots during a semester, either on your own or with a small group you can share ideas with.

One-to-one technical support is focused on each individual student project, ending with a public exhibition of work in the graduate show.

Professional practice sessions are taught in the last semester to help prepare you for life after graduation.

Modules

• Practice 9: Major Project
• Practice 10: Major Project
• Historical and Critical Studies 5: Extended essay
• Professional Practice

Staff profile

Matthew Noel-Tod – Course Leader

Matthew is an artist and filmmaker whose work is held in the collection of the Pompidou Centre, Paris; the British Film Institute National Film and Television Archive and is distributed by LUX, UK. Matthew studied Fine Art at The Slade School of Fine Art, Norwich School of Art and Design and Fachhochschule Aachen and holds and MA in Feature Film from Goldsmiths. His career in the field of moving image includes: a Film London Artists’ Film and Video Award for his film Nausea (2005), Arts Council England Grants for Arts award for BANG! (2012); periods as artist-in-residence at The Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw and the Chisenhale Gallery, London and visiting artist at San Francisco Art Institute; and recipient of the ACME Studios Firestation Work/Live residency 2010-2015. In 2008 Matthew curated the DVD and touring programme; George Barber, BEYOND LANGUAGE Selected Video Works 1983 – 2008 for LUX. Matthew is also an accomplished director of photography for many artists’ films and he has 10 years experience of teaching film and fine art.

Claudia Kappenberg – Admissions Tutor 

Claudia Kappenberg is an artist and academic specialising in live site-specific performance and screen dance.

Her interests include cinematic and choreographic practices, critical theory and philosophies of art and the body. She leads the Screendance Network and is Co-editor of the International Journal of Screendance. She lectures in fine art performance and moving image and founded the University's MA in Performance and Visual Practices. Find out more...

C.Kappenberg@brighton.ac.uk

Student views

Daisy Gardner

“I found this course when I was 16. The 70% practical, 30% theory split is really interesting for me. I did my foundation year and applied here straight away. My interview was what made me choose Brighton and then I went to the graduate show and some of the work they were producing was something I wanted to be a part of. I’m from Southampton; I like the south coast, especially Brighton. It’s always busy, it’s always loud, I like that, I like that about Brighton. Being here is completely different: everyone’s on the same page.”

Rosie Townsend

“Excellent one-to-one tutorials provide a deep criticism of your work. If you love art and you love film, this is the course for you!”

Location

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Grand Parade campus map