Film Studies with a Foundation Year – BA (Hons)

Our cutting edge new BA (Hons) Film Studies with Foundation Year degree course will develop your awareness of key film studies debates, production practices and industry conventions. You will be taught by noted film professors, cinema scholars and established practitioners, who will all provide you with their knowledge of international film debates and practice perspectives.

The course is part of Birmingham City University’s Film Futures suite, designed to develop graduates with the theory, practice and industry trends that will enable them to succeed in a rapidly changing film environment.

About foundation courses

This four year programme has been specifically designed to allow you to undertake additional level 3 study, to ensure you are successful on your chosen degree course.

After successful completion of your foundation year, you will have the flexibility to switch (should you wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programmes within Birmingham School of Media.

What’s covered in the course?

This course explores a wide range of debates within film studies, with the opportunity for you to apply key concepts to your own creative cinema practices.

You will be taught by leading film professors and scholars in the field, who will explore cinema patterns in their generic, representational and global contexts. Not only will you gain an understanding of Hollywood cinema conventions (from the silent cinema era to modern blockbuster spectaculars), but you will be able to apply these filmic techniques to a variety of production scenarios. As well as looking at American cinema, you will also be introduced to other international trends that range from European film and TV patterns and global considerations of cult media to Bollywood film traditions and beyond.

A focus of the course will be on combining film theory debates with filmmaking practices and industry conventions. As well as receiving foundational film training, you will be able to create documentary films as part of a wider examination of debates within this field. In addition, modules on film festival programming and film entrepreneurship provide key skills relevant to the film industry.

How you will learn

You will be taught in a range of lectures, seminars, writing workshops and production sessions, while regular film screenings help you contextualise cinema traditions against your own creations.

Your formal studies will be enriched by the possibility to work on a range of external events, such as the Cine-Excess International Film Festival. This annual event attracts visiting international filmmakers, as well as hosting UK theatrical premieres on a regular basis. Having previously operated in London’s West End and Brighton, the festival has relocated to BCU to operate as a central resource for the course.

Why Choose Us?

• The course combines theory, practice and industry approaches to film studies and includes training in documentary film techniques and film festival programming.
• You will be taught by noted film professors, cinema scholars and established practitioners. Staff on the programme work together to ensure that you receive a balanced understanding of theory, practice and industry skilling relevant to the field.
• You will be taught at the city centre campus, home to a £62 million suite of media resources, studios and edit suites.
• You will have the opportunity to work on a range of established film festivals that are associated with the BA. These include the annual Cine-Excess International Film Festival, which features visiting international filmmakers, UK theatrical premieres and industry mentoring sessions.
• You will also have the opportunity to work on film projects completed for the Cine-Excess festival. One recent production completed by BCU students and staff was the award winning documentary Tax Shelter Terrors (2017).
• You will have access to film collections that will enrich your course of studies. These include the Cult Film Archive, a collection of 4,000+ resources (including films, screenplays and promotional materials) that have been donated directly from leading filmmakers and distribution companies in the field.