Film and Media

This module introduces students to the importance of storytelling in shaping media, culture and society. Combining theoretical exploration and creative practice, students will explore how narratives construct meaning, identity, and reality across different media forms and contexts.

Students will examine and apply narrative theories and concepts, from classical structures to contemporary approaches, and consider how stories circulate and evolve within the media.

Alongside critical discussion, students will develop their own original narratives in a chosen medium—such as video, audio, digital, or interactive design—aimed at attracting and engaging specific audiences.

The module encourages reflection on the ethical, social and material implications, including environmental and sustainability concerns, of storytelling in a connected world and supports the development of narrative skills, a key attribute across media, creative and communication industries.

This module introduces students to the essential technical and creative skills required for digital media production. It provides a foundation in multi-media design principles, media capture, editing, and integration using industry-standard tools. Emphasis is placed on building confidence with software, file management, and digital working practices while developing an understanding of how tools are used to create and refine visual outcomes. Students will explore the role of digital media in contemporary communication and develop a portfolio of practical work using industry-standard software including the Adobe Creative Cloud.  The module also introduces and develops various skills required for the production of digital video, such as how to handle a camera, how to assess and capture sound and light, and how to edit footage.

The module offers an introduction to the basic procedures for reading film, writing about film and the terminology most widely used in film analysis. Methods of close textual analysis are explored, foregrounding major filmic devices, or procedures, such as mise-en-scène, editing, sound and narrative – encouraging students to investigate critically ways in which these devices contribute to meaning. The module also introduces students to the academic study of film by outlining concepts, theories and critical paradigms central to Film Studies. These include critical notions, debates and theories relating to genre, narrative, star study, film authorship, psychoanalysis and feminism. In addition, students are introduced to the concepts of semiotics and ideology, and to matters pertaining to spectatorship and audience reception.

This module builds on knowledge and skills acquired in Term 1, extending analytical skills in relation to the operation of film narrative, and introducing students to histories of cinema and ways of constructing film history. A range of narratological approaches will be introduced and considered against various films (for example, classical Hollywood narrative, German Expressionist cinema, Russian montage, and post-classical narrative forms). Additionally, students will be introduced to a range of national and international cinema movements, styles, and moments in film history, such as pre-cinema, the Hollywood studio system, post-classical Hollywood, the French New Wave, and ‘World/Transnational Cinema’. These will be explored through examination of key film texts, discussion of which will be framed by key factors behind their emergence and historical moments (touching upon economic, social, cultural, political, technical and geographical influences). Together, the two strands of the module expand and consolidate essential knowledge for the study of film.

This module aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of a number of the main theoretical approaches and research methodologies used in the discipline of media and communication. It focuses upon a number of key theoretical perspectives used in the study of the media, and connects these to relevant research techniques that are employed in researching texts, institutions and audiences, both in contemporary as well as historical contexts.

On completing this module, students will be able to choose which theories and research methods are most appropriate in developing their own original research questions, and be fully prepared to begin work on research that may form the basis of their final year projects. 

A proliferating array of internet-connected devices now enable vast quantities of digital data to be extracted from increasingly intimate areas of our everyday lives. Search engines supposedly know our deepest fears. Algorithms track our tastes and provide us with targeted ads and media recommendations. Likewise, as more of us turn to the ‘cloud’ to store our photos and files, growing volumes of digital information and assets are moving into the hands of multinational technology corporations, intersecting in complex ways with the development of generative AI tools and platforms.

This module will interrogate the bleeding edge of media today by presenting a range of theories and concepts needed to critically navigate our contemporary culture and society – particularly how it is increasingly shaped by the interests of Big Tech. Students will consider the impact of technology on society and the environment to understand how to use it responsibly, and trace lines of development to explore potential futures and effects on their own lives and career trajectories.

Classifying and labelling films has occurred since early cinema in some shape or form. However, the framework for demarcating the boundaries of one type of film from another has been much debated and contested. Therefore, Film Genres considers a critical facet of filmmaking that relates to industrial practices, audience engagement and comprehension, and critical discourses around films. This module explores film genre by offering case studies of specific genres after examination of wider issues such as the importance of genre theory, definition of genre as a critical category and the place of genre in cinematic modes of production and consumption. The main focus, however, will be on the study of film genres such as gangster and crime film, science fiction and fantasy, superhero movies, comedies, rom-coms and musicals. Each case study will examine social and cultural contexts, institutional patterns, generic transformations, sub-generic forms, ideological resonances, and audience reception and fan cultures where relevant.

Please Note: This module’s overall content may vary year-by-year based upon the tutor or tutors leading and teaching on the module, with genres covered potentially being changed to reflect the research interests and knowledge bases of the staff.

Students can choose either Option Module A or Option Module B

Option Module A: Social Media, Branding, and Strategic Communication

This module introduces students to the study and practice of social media. It develops students’ ability to use social media strategically, while encouraging them to understand its applications across a range of contexts. Through theoretical perspectives and practical exercises, students will engage with key debates about the influence of social media on contemporary social and political issues, analyse campaigns and brand initiatives, and apply techniques in branding, storytelling, PR, and audience engagement. The module also addresses the ethical, legal, and professional challenges associated with social media use.

Option Module B: British and European Cinema

This module will offer case studies of British and European Cinema. In Term 1, the former area will be examined by drawing on understandings of class, gender and ethnicity to investigate the representation of national identity and examine areas such as comedy, Hammer horror, the ‘heritage film’, adaptations of British ‘classics’, the ‘Brit-Grit’ genre and the British ‘Rom-Com’. The case study of European Cinema focuses on contemporary film to explore concepts of national cinema, ‘art’ and ‘entertainment’, national identity and areas such as ‘belonging’ and ‘otherness’, memory and trauma, the role of the auteur and the function of popular genres.

The Extended Independent Study in Film and Media Studies will give you opportunities to employ the academic, critical and practical skills that you have acquired through the Film and Media Studies programme in order to pursue your own interests in developing either:

• a traditional academic research project (10,000-word dissertation)    or
• a practical media project (for example a portfolio of journalism, videos, advertising campaign, public awareness campaign, producing a video game) alongside a shorter critical reflection of approximately 4,000 words.

Teaching and support will be provided throughout the year through regular tutorials with a designated supervisor as well as regular group study sessions.

This module supports students in connecting academic study with professional creative practice through industry engagement and career-focused development. Students undertake a work placement or client-led project that enables them to apply their skills within real or simulated professional contexts, building confidence, independence, and professional judgement. Alongside this, students develop a coherent professional portfolio and career strategy aligned to their chosen pathway within the creative industries. The course emphasises reflective practice, ethical awareness, research-informed decision-making, and professional communication. Through their portfolio development and critical reflection for career planning, students consolidate their creative and professional identity and prepare for transition into graduate employment, freelance practice, or postgraduate study.

Choose from:

Stardom and Desire - 30 Credits

The module raises questions about notions of stardom, evolutions of star systems, the history of star studies, and the relationships between star, audience, fandom and desire. Broad areas include correlations and discrepancies between connotations of ‘star’, ‘celebrity’ and ‘actor’. A range of methodologies are investigated, including textual analysis, semiotics, intertextuality and ethnography, illuminating the shifting signification of specific stars, over time, and across different cultures. Debates surrounding authorship and genre are explored, together with identity concepts such as race, ethnicity and gender. The module provides a close study of critical approaches to gender, desire and sexuality in film and media, interrogating critical frameworks, including psychoanalytic concepts of fantasy or desire and cultural constructions of sexuality. A range of materials are studied to explore these areas including film, popular magazines, social media, video games, advertisements, photography, music and television, analysing the complex relationship between star image, fandom, identity, desire and context.

Animation - 30 Credits

The module will consider the history of animation from early cinema through to contemporary computer-animated blockbusters, taking in traditional cel animation in studies of individual studio styles in the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood cartoons, avant-garde animation, animation and Art, anime, digital animation and the rise of contemporary studios such as Pixar, Dreamworks, Studio Ghibli and Aardman. Theoretical perspectives on realism, narration, gender, consumption and the function of film will be explored to analyse animation’s place within a history of moving images. Questions of representation and reception will also be addressed enabling a focus on how animation has used and challenged a range of stereotypes.

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Media Mythologies: From Stories to Worlds - 15 Credits

A mythology is a narrative and symbolic structural formation which, rooted in socio-cultural beliefs and understandings concerning the nature of the world, gives shape and definition to relationship between individuals, communities, and wider societies.

In this module, students will explore mythologies both of the media and those which perpetuate through the media in our contemporary digital culture. Drawing from the work of Roland Barthes and later critics and theorists, they will critically engage with how the notion of a ‘mythology’ can be useful for articulating not just ancient belief systems, but the disposition of cultural discourses and socio-political narratives in the world today.

Topics may include media iconography and semiotics, transmedia and multimedia franchises, processes of remediation and reconciliation via technology and spectacle, virality and memetic media, affective media structures, the relationship between aesthetics and politics, as well as celebrity culture and 'relational media.'

Ghost in the Machine: Empathy, Design and Artificial Intelligence - 15 Credits

In the 21^st Century, we have seen the shift from broadcast to participatory media. Now, empathic media is coming to the fore. This is media that monitors, responds to, and potentially manipulates users’ emotions and motivations. This might take the form of social media algorithms that seek emotional triggers to stoke our anger and maintain our attention; facial recognition technology that categorises and simplifies our rich emotional life to make predictions of our future behaviour; or AI-chatbots, masquerading as companions and friends, mimicking social relationships to drive platform use. This raises a range of new challenges for media consumers and producers.

Building on theory and approaches to categorising and understanding emotion and distinctions between human and emulated empathy, this module equips students to critically engage with and understand contemporary and future forms of media, interrogating trends to understand the social and industry-related impacts of this form of technology.

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Political Communication: Media, Power and Society - 15 Credits

This module introduces students to the field of political communication by critically examining how political actors, media institutions, and citizens interact within contemporary democracies. Emphasising the role of the media in politics, students will engage with key theoretical frameworks in political communication, such as framing theory and the mediatization of politics, to understand how the media influences political processes including election campaigns, policy debates, social movements and armed conflicts. Drawing on these theoretical approaches, students will apply their understanding to analyse media texts and contemporary political issues and concerns, such as trust, through a series of case studies.

Creativity and AI - 15 Credits

Creativity and AI in design explores the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and creative automation in the design industry. Students will develop an understanding of AI-driven tools, generative design, and ethical considerations while mastering both traditional and emerging design techniques. This module prepares students to work with innovative digital technologies and understand the evolving nature of design work.