MA Film, Television and Creative Practice (Part time)

Key details

MA FILM, TELEVISION AND CREATIVE PRACTICE (PART TIME)

Start Year

2023

Attendance

Part Time

Award

Degree of Master of Arts

Duration (years)

This MA is for you if you love to be creative and you’re brimming with ideas and concepts – but you want to understand the theory behind your passions too.

Film and television are multi-billion-pound global industries that play a crucial role in shaping how we understand the world around us.

On our MA Film, Television and Creative Practice, you’ll master the essential skills for a career in film and television, in a pioneering centre for the subject.

You’ll develop your creative and critical skills through an exciting mix of practical work and studies of media history and theory.

You’ll graduate with practical and creative skills for the job market combined with a deep understanding of the social, cultural, political, industrial, and aesthetic aspects of film.

About

Prepare to combine the development of your existing creative skills in film and television production with a fascinating grounding in the historical and theoretical approaches to the two media.

Your core modules will focus on creativity and developing ideas, the study of media forms, short film, and video production – giving you a strong base of knowledge. You’ll then have free rein to pick complementary modules from a range of options covering areas such as gender in media, Hollywood cinema, and national and international film cultures.

One of the most important aspects of your MA is the dissertation-by-practice: an audio-visual project combining your intellectual and theoretical knowledge with your practical skills, supervised by a faculty member. This is your chance to focus in depth on a subject that inspires you and takes you closer to your career goals.

Your studies will come to life in a number of different ways. As well as lectures, seminars and film screenings, you’ll have access to UEA’s Television Studio and our state-of-the-art Media Suite, packed with cutting-edge media technologies including editing suites, cameras, sound equipment, a sound studio and a digitisation suite. You will have the opportunity to be fully trained in how to use this equipment, deepening your understanding of how film and television is produced.

We are also home to the extensive East Anglian Film Archive, a unique resource which you can make use of during your time here. And we have close links with the British Film Institute in London.

Graduates from our MA frequently progress to PhD study and have gone on to rewarding careers in various fields including archiving, academia, journalism, and the film and television industries.

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the courses listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the regular review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. Changes may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will inform students.

Assessment for Year 1

We know that every student has different strengths, so we use a range of individual and group assessment methods – from essays to presentations and assessed discussions. All of these assessments help strengthen your critical thinking and give you skills that are attractive to future employers.

We also use formative assessments, which do not contribute to your overall mark, but do prepare you for the assessments that do. These offer an excellent opportunity to test the knowledge you have learned through your modules and strengthen the chances of better marks at the end of them.

Structure

You can take the MA Film, Television and Creative Practice as either a one-year full-time course or a two-year part-time course.

You will have the opportunity to refine your existing critical academic and practical production skills through a series of core modules, which will be followed by a choice of optional modules, allowing you to specialise in the areas that interest you most and align with your career goals.

If you opt to study on a part-time basis, in the first year you will complete all the compulsory modules except the Dissertation.

You’ll begin by exploring the methods and theories commonly used to study media topics, and the scholarly approaches to studying television’s connections to society. You’ll get hands-on with a compulsory module on video production.

Teaching and Learning

You’ll learn from world-leading academics in many different ways – from the more traditional lectures, tutorials and seminars to regular film and television screenings, workshop-based teaching, production modules and practical assignments. You’ll also have access to our Media Suite, full of cutting-edge media technologies including editing, camera and sound equipment. So, prepare to get hands on with these to develop essential skills for the job market and a deeper understanding of how film and television content is produced.

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Open Days

Assessment for Year 2

Once you reach your second year in the MA programme, you’ll be moving towards even more independence in your assessment. At the culmination of your MA, you will be assessed on your dissertation-by-practice, where you’ll channel all your academic knowledge and creative skills into the making of your own audio-visual project accompanied by a supporting written portfolio.

Structure

In the second year, you’ll complete the optional modules and your Dissertation.

You’ll choose two theory-based modules to tailor your course to your own interests and career goals. On a more practical note, you will also learn how to pitch ideas to industry through a module on the business of film and television.

You’ll produce a dissertation-by-practice – which is an audio-visual project supported by a written portfolio. For this, you’ll develop an academic question, which you will then answer using your production and research skills – for example, by making a documentary on your topic of study.

Your dissertation is the perfect way to combine your intellectual and theoretical knowledge with your practical skills.

Teaching and Learning

We’ll support you to become a fully-independent researcher and creative practitioner by the time you submit your dissertation. Up until that point you’ll spend the majority of your time on independent research and practical experimentation, with your learning guided and framed by the structure of your taught modules.

You will then work under supervision to devise and develop your own unique dissertation-by-practice. This is your opportunity to demonstrate all your creativity and to fully immerse yourself in the area that you’re most passionate about. Your supervisor will be there to help you and enable your project to reach its fullest potential.

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Open Days

Assessment for Year 1

Compulsory Modules

STUDYING FILM AND TELEVISION

Code AMAM7021A

Credits 20

Studying Film and Television introduces major topics in the fields of film and television studies and provides you with essential preparation for the Creative Critical Dissertation. These topics include key approaches to studying film and television that will be useful in the dissertation and in Semester 2’s modules. The topics may include things like: gender, sexuality, genre, nation and authorship. We introduce these topics through weekly case studies taken from four types of film and television: feature films, television drama, documentaries and short films.

WRITING THE SHORT FILM

Code AMAM7022A

Credits 20

Great movies begin with great scripts. This module introduces the key elements of building the dramatic script, with a focus on developing the skills necessary to produce a strong dissertation project. The module will focus on short scripts, looking at the common structures and approaches that define the genre. It will introduce basic screenwriting technique, including pitching, scene form, story structure, dialogue, action, and character. All students will learn professional screenplay format and make use of screenplay formatting software. Students will make use of a range of supplemental texts. Primary texts will cover an array of short film styles and genres, as we look at compelling short films and well-crafted screenplays. Secondary texts will include Linda Hutcheon’s work on adaption, David Ball’s writings on dramatic action, Peter Bloore’s research on screenplay development, as well as Lajos Egri and Aristotle on dramatic structure. We’ll also look at works by so-called screenplays ‘gurus’, such as Kevin Dancyger, Syd Field, and Philip Parker. In addition, students will make use of the UEA/Creative Skillset online course “An Introduction to Screenwriting.”

Optional A Modules

(20-40 credits)

FEMINISMS AND TELEVISION

Code AMAM7009B

Credits 20

You will learn about the relationship between feminisms and the cultural history of (primarily) US and UK television from second wave feminism to the present. Your module charts the dialogue between feminism and television in Anglophone contexts from the 1970s through to the 2010s, focussing on flashpoint moments for feminism (e.g. the women’s liberation movement; millennial postfeminism; the global financial crisis) and touchstone texts (e.g. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Prime Suspect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sex and the City, Girls, Scandal) that have resonated particularly strongly with female audiences (e.g. soap operas; lifestyle TV; women centred dramas), struck a chord with feminist concerns (e.g. work/life balance, sexual freedoms, empowerment, the politics of relationships/singlehood/friendship), and generated foundational criticism by feminist television scholars. It will be structured chronologically, and topics may include feminism and female audiences; action heroines on television; the figure of the female detective; women’s work; intersectional identities (queerness, post-racial discourse, masculinities) and recessionary culture.

ANALYSING HOLLYWOOD CINEMA

Code AMAM7011B

Credits 20

'Hollywood' as an industry, cultural institution and maker of films has dominated the global cinematic imagination for decades. On this module, we investigate the history, production cultures and texts made by the US film industry from its classic period to contemporary filmmaking. This will include analysing Hollywood from a range of perspectives, which may include things like studio filmmaking, independent filmmaking, genre filmmaking and the blockbuster. In doing so we will discover the multiplicity of cinemas at work within the concept of Hollywood.

FILM AND COMICS

Code AMAM7017B

Credits 20

Comic books have a long association with the world’s film and television industries. Comics have long provided the origin sources for film and television adaptations, from the early animation and live action television to today’s blockbuster films. Moreover, comics from around the world, from Marvel and DC Comics in the USA to European bande desinee to Japanese manga, have become the origin points for vast multimedia franchises. This module seeks to understand the relationships between comics and their media adaptations. To do so, you will take a global view of the comics in film and television, considering examples from Hollywood to Asia. In doing so we will consider the range of genres and topics that comics have influenced within film and television cultures including: issues of ideology and gender, issues of adaptation, franchising and transmedia production.

SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENT, CREATIVITY, AND PRODUCTION FINANCE IN THE FILM AND TV BUSINESS

Code AMAM7020B

Credits 20

Unlike some other art forms, film and television drama productions are very influenced by the businesses and marketplaces in which they operate. This module will provide a practical understanding of the processes of creative script and project development; the workings of the independent film business and the TV business; and how to develop a story and package for the marketplace. By the end of it you’ll know how films and TV dramas get dreamt up, how they get pitched, and how they get financed. You will learn how the industry actually works.

CRITICALLY QUEER: SEX, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Code HUM-7009B

Credits 20

How are sex, gender and sexuality brought together to ensure the normative privileging of heterosexuality and the sex/gender binary? What possibilities are there for resistance to these norms? How does such resistance situate us socially, culturally, and politically? With queer theory as its focus and drawing on case studies from different fields – literature, film, drama and performance, politics, history, among others – in this interdisciplinary module, you'll examine sex, gender, and sexuality as effects of historically specific socio-cultural and geo-political power relations. Rather than approaching queer studies as a singular or coherent school of thought, you'll be encouraged to continuously problematise queer studies as a field and a mode of analysis, asking: What does it mean for theory, in particular, to be queer? What is involved in queering theory and being critically queer? What kinds of bodies or desires does queer describe? What are the promises of queer theory, and what are its perils? What is the future of queer? While doing so, you'll explore a variety of topics, such as politics of difference, representation and cultural production, performance and performativity, temporality and spatiality, subjectivity and embodiment. Overall, in this module, you'll problematise and challenge normalisations, hierarchies and relations of domination and explore the powerful processes and languages that attempt to fix sex, gender and sexuality as unchanging and universal.

CULTURAL HERITAGE & ARCHIVING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Code HUM-7011B

Credits 20

This module introduces you to the theoretical and practical study of digital heritage and archiving, through an engagement with the collections of the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA) and the British Archive for Contemporary Writing (BACW). It will address theoretical developments in cultural heritage and digital humanities, comparing traditional approaches to archival principles and practices to new developments in preserving digital media. The module will allow you to explore practical issues of collection management and administration, including collection development, appraisal and accessioning policies, cataloguing and accessing data, copyright and licensing issues, and ethics and standards. It will take you through the ‘lifecycle’ of the archival object from acquisition to arrangement, description, preservation and subsequent access. Along this journey we will consider topics such as digitisation, migration, authenticity, restoration and copyright. At the end of the module you will have a good understanding of key issues and processes within the archive sector and be in a position to apply for internships or volunteer opportunities within UEA Archives or other heritage organisations.

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Open Days

Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring and review of modules. Where this activity leads to significant change to a programme and modules, the University will endeavour to consult with affected students. The University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. Availability of optional modules may be restricted owing to timetabling, lack of demand, or limited places. Where this is the case, you will be asked to make alternative module choices and you will be supported during this process.

Assessment for Year 2

Compulsory Modules

FILM, TELEVISION AND CREATIVE PRACTICE DISSERTATION

Code AMAM7501X

Credits 60

A dissertation is an opportunity to be creative and to pursue your own research interests. You will propose, plan and conduct your very own project, specialising in an area of academic research that interests you and you will contribute to this research with your dissertation. You will discuss academic research and produce a short film that speaks to your chosen field of debate. To help you make this project a success, you will be assigned a dissertation supervisor who will support you throughout your research journey. You will be able to discuss with them your research proposal, your contribution to existing research and your project plan.

VIDEO PRODUCTION

Code AMAM7018A

Credits 20

This module introduces you to key skills in video production and provides them with the opportunity to take an idea from conception through to the final product, deepening their knowledge of the processes and procedures behind the camera. You will engage with questions about the cinematic expression of narrative, exploring them through practice-based coursework. Students wishing to take this module should have previous experience of video production, though the module will offer basic technical training with digital-video cameras and the Avid non-linear editing system.

Optional A Modules

(20-40 credits)

FEMINISMS AND TELEVISION

Code AMAM7009B

Credits 20

ANALYSING HOLLYWOOD CINEMA

Code AMAM7011B

Credits 20

FILM AND COMICS

Code AMAM7017B

Credits 20

SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENT, CREATIVITY, AND PRODUCTION FINANCE IN THE FILM AND TV BUSINESS

Code AMAM7020B

Credits 20

DIRECTING WORKSHOP

Code AMAP7041B

Credits 20

The module will develop more advanced directing skills, deepening the understanding of the craft and providing new creative skills that will aid in the production of the course dissertation. Students may focus on dramatic, documentary, or art/experimental forms, and will work in production groups to produce a series of short videos. This is a genuine WORKshop, as most of the coursework will consist of producing a series of short videos. Each video exercise will be tied to a specific critical question or area, perhaps addressing a specific style or genre, a key issue in film theory, or approach to practice. Exercises may include pastiche, or may use scenes from previously produced films. Research will include critical readings and primary source screenings that will form part of each assignment. By the end of term, each student will have developed a portfolio of video work and critical reflections. Synoptic assessment will make use of these skills in producing a Creative-Critical project.

CRITICALLY QUEER: SEX, GENDER AND SEXUALITY

Code HUM-7009B

Credits 20

CULTURAL HERITAGE & ARCHIVING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Code HUM-7011B

Credits 20

September 2023 opportunities. Discover more

Open Days

Important Information

Entry Requirements

Degree classification

Bachelors degree - 2.2 or equivalent

Degree subject

Humanities or Social Sciences

Additional entry requirements

Applicants are expected to have experience working in film or television, or have educational training in these areas. Details of your experience and your familiarity with digital cameras and digital editing software should be listed on the relevant section of the application form.

Students for whom english is a foreign language

We welcome applications from students whose first language is not English. To ensure such students benefit from postgraduate study, we require evidence of proficiency in English. Our usual entry requirements are as follows:

IELTS: 6.0 (minimum 5.5 in two components only, with 6.0 in the other two)
PTE (Pearson): 64 (minimum 59 in only two components with 64 in the others)

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

Other tests, including Cambridge English exams and the Trinity Integrated Skills in English are also accepted by the university. The full list of accepted tests can be found here: Accepted English Language Tests

INTO UEA also run pre-sessional courses which can be taken prior to the start of your course. For further information and to see if you qualify please contact intopre-sessional@uea.ac.uk.