Building on the knowledge and skills gained in the prerequisite Introduction to Film Production, you gain a variety of production techniques, from research, script writing, adaptation, location shooting and editing. You also address key management skills, from learning how to properly plan a project, to collaborating with actors. Working as part of a small group, you conclude the module by producing an imaginative and creative short film.

Focusing on a number of different approaches to directing, in this module you learn how to work creatively and collaboratively with actors for film. You take inspiration from famous film directors and critically analyse their directing style. You cover the process of directing from start to finish, from script analysis for casting, rehearsals and film production. It involves both theoretical and practice-based sessions, allowing you to study directing in a realistic environment.

This module will explore the essential collaborative nature central to the creation and design of technical theatre arts and theatre. You will examine the design principle, its concept, interpretation and application through the forms and disciplines of lighting, sound, set and stage management technical practice. The module will give you an appreciation for design by exploring the principles and aesthetics and broaden your perspective through an exploration of the historical and modern context of technical theatre in the UK.

What are the links and connections between texts? Do these exist even if the plays seem diverse? Explore a range of texts from the medieval period to the 1980s, analysing genre, dramatic form, language, narrative and dramatic debate. Through practical sessions, consider approaches like staging, verse-speaking, montage and character development.

How are Aristotle’s theories about tragedy still useful? How have they been modified or rejected by playwrights since? And can you write a short tragedy? Examine tragedy in theatre, from classic Greek tragedy to now. Understand how playwrights adapt tragic forms and structures to speak more powerfully to their audience.

One of our highest rated modules examines how the theatre explores and exploits gender in performance. Can theatre make a significant contribution to our understanding of the shifting picture of sexual identity and ideology? This module takes a dynamic historical sweep to examine how the theatre has debated sexual politics. Here we apply gender theory and feminist criticism to examine a range of plays, theatre practitioners and performance artists. This is a module for anyone curious to understand the many ways perceptions of gender influence identity, image, expression and power.