BA Drama and Film Modules - first year

Year one

Performance: Theory, Practice and Critique 

This modules aims to equip students with a basic understanding of the relationship between theatre, culture, performance and politics. Over the course of the module, students develop an awareness of and the ability to apply different methodological approaches to their own work and the work of others.

Studio Practice 

This module aims to prepare students as artists, theatre and performance makers by opening up a space for experimentation and enquiry, and building their skills through attention to key principles of performance and theatre (for example: presence, focus, responsiveness/listening, full embodiment, psychophysical impulse).

Engaging Performance  

Engaging Performance is an introductory module to explore core principles of performance and theatre. It uses a blended teaching approach, interlacing critical discussion and practical exercise-based workshop, in order to encourage students to explore the disciplinary connections between theoretical and practical approaches in Drama. In this manner, it seeks to disturb easy dichotomies of theory and practice and emphasize the many intersections between studio and seminar room.

The module will explore the role and function of the broad concepts of performance (such as body, space, and time). Each of these concepts will be explored across a series of weeks, with readings, viewings and tasks between sessions that seek to highlight the complexities and diversity of each identified theme. The module will encourage collaborative and devising practice centred around these core concepts.

Production Skills

The module is a comprehensive introduction to the practical aspects of staging and organising shows and live events. Throughout the module students will be guided through the various production processes involved - encompassing the fields of stage technologies, such as lighting and sound, scenic and costume design, and stage management. Students will also focus on understanding health & safety procedures that need to be considered whilst working on productions / live performance events.

The module aims to give the students a foundational insight into these essential areas of backstage theatre and live events production. Through practical classes and engaging in departmental productions, students will develop a broad range of production skills and a clear understanding of the complexities and timelines involved in staging live events, whilst supported and guided by professional staff.

Introduction to Film: Styles and Forms  

Introduction to Film Studies: Styles and Forms will embed the practice of film analysis, with a specific focus on ‘close reading’ to evaluate the specific formal and stylistic of individual films. The critical vocabulary of film studies will be introduced and utilised within student work. Aspects of film history will also form the basis of this module, as texts from particular periods are studied in order to build a sense of cinema’s chronology.

Introduction to Film: Approaches and Methods   

Introduction to Film Studies: Approaches and Methods will engage critically with the various ways in which film is evaluated and understood alongside various theoretical, social and historical contexts. Individual film texts will be studied in detail and in relation to these underlying concerns and interests.

Filmmaking 

This module is designed to equip students with a range of filming and editing skills appropriate to the task of completing a short audiovisual project. Sessions will be structured to deliver training in the various elements of film production through a series of class assignments and interactive tutorials. Students will work in groups on a particular theme or idea and will take responsibility for developing this project into a short-length film. The module will aim to develop students’ practical skills alongside critical skills, in keeping with the overarching structure and format of the English BA and related programmes. To this end, sessions will also incorporate a consideration of film texts, encouraging students to analyse existing works in relation to their own practice.

Film Culture and Media Skills 

Film Culture and Media Skills will provide an introduction to film, television and digital media in its industrial contexts.  Seminars will focus on the ways in which films are made, sold and consumed at regional, national and international levels.  The three lectures will focus on [1] academic skills; [2] job seeking skills; [3] media creative skills.