Undergraduate Course

BA Film and Drama

(Including Foundation Year)

How to apply

Overview

The details

Course: Film and Drama (Including Foundation Year)

UCAS code: P403

Start date: October 2021

Study mode: Full-time

Duration: 4 years

Location: Colchester Campus

Based in: Essex Pathways

Our four-year BA Film and Drama (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance.

This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies.

Our course is perfect for the creative types. Upon graduation you’ll be ready to break into the world of cinema, the stage and behind the scenes - and a whole range of other graduate careers in the arts, media, education, and the creative industries. We don’t stop there though, we make sure you know the theory behind theatre and the screen too.

You study themes in drama such as gender, identity, tragedy, human rights, devising and playwriting. Your film modules explore directing, screenwriting, classic and contemporary texts and many aspects of screen media, from cinema to social media.

You also gain the skills in technical theatre and film production, like design and stage management, camerawork, editing and film-making. You’ll still write essays as in any other Humanities degree, but alongside honing your critical writing and thinking, you’ll also have the chance to be assessed on your creativity, performance and technical skills.

What makes us different? We also offer many modules which bring the disciplines of film and drama together. Our modules Directing Actors for Film and Introduction to Screenwriting give you a seamless mix of both film and drama so you can excel throughout the screen and the stage.

Our high-spec facilities mean you’ve always got somewhere to rehearse and edit. You’ll also be offered careers guidance and training, preparing you for the career you want upon graduation.

This course is based in our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies. You’ll be taught by academics who are also practitioners in their field and have significant experience in the industry – from film-makers to award-winning theatre specialists.

We are ranked top 20 for dance, drama and cinematics in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021.

Why we're great.

We equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed at Essex and beyond.
Guarantee your place on your chosen course if you successfully complete your foundation year at Essex.
Small class sizes allow you to work closely with your teachers and classmates.

THE Awards 2018 - Winner University of the Year

Our expert staff

We have some of the best teachers across the University in our Essex Pathways Department, all of whom have strong subject backgrounds and are highly skilled in their areas.

Core teaching staff on this course include:

Dr Liam Jarvis has been Co-artistic Director of Analogue, an award-winning alt. theatre company with whom he has created devised work that has toured the UK/internationally since 2007. He is also a member of many organisations in the industry. Some of his research and teaching interests lie within immersive performance and participation and Experimental Neuroscience, Selfhood, Embodiment and Body Transfer Illusions in Performance. His new book explores the science behind inhabiting another’s body.
Professor Jonathan Lichtenstein is a playwright who has written for Radio 4 and the National Theatre. His awards include a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival and his plays have been performed internationally. He is a recognised expert in teaching playwriting and dramatic form.
Eirini Konstantinidou specialises in science fiction films about memory and technology. Her first feature film was released in 2019 and is called Mnemophrenia, a self-reflexive film exploring artificial memories and their close relation to the medium of film. Eirini has also directed and written four short films, two of which are award-winning and all of which have played in various international film festivals.
Nic Blower is an industry specialist and has worked extensively for the BBC, producing and directing documentaries and drama documentaries. His critically acclaimed film Transplant followed both sides of the organ donation story, a first for UK television. He teaches and supervises students in fiction and documentary filmmaking.
Mary Mazzilli is a renowned specialist in World Theatre and is also a practicing playwright and Creative Director of Lumenis Theatre company. As well as touring her work internationally, Mary has published on Chinese Theatre, dramaturgy, translation and digital theatre.
Bevan Walsh's Love Does Grow on Trees, was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. It premiered in the US at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it was named one of New York Magazine’s “Top Five Shorts at Tribeca” and then went on to win numerous accolades at festivals internationally.

Specialist facilities

You have priority use of industry-standard editing facilities, two state-of-the-art studios, and a range of cameras and other filmmaking equipment. You also gain experience using professional film production software including Avid and Final Cut; everything you will need to produce films to an expert standard.

You also have access to our other departmental facilities:

Show off your work on our Vimeo channel
View classic films at weekly film screenings in our dedicated 120-seat film theatre, equipped with digital HD projection facilities and surround sound
Our on-Campus, 200-seat Lakeside Theatre has been established as a major venue for good drama, staging both productions by professional touring companies and a wealth of new work written, produced and directed by our own staff and students
Participate in regular workshops at the Lakeside Theatre which help you to improve your performance skills
Our Research Laboratory allows you to collaborate with professionals, improvising and experimenting with new work which is being tried and tested
Write for our student magazine Rebel or host a Red Radio show

Entry requirements

UK entry requirements

UK and EU applicants:

All applications for degree courses with a foundation year (Year Zero) will be considered individually, whether you

think you might not have the grades to enter the first year of a degree course;
have non-traditional qualifications or experience (e.g. you haven’t studied A-levels or a BTEC);
are returning to university after some time away from education; or
are looking for more support during the transition into university study.

Standard offer:

Our standard offer is 72 UCAS tariff points from at least two full A-levels, or equivalent.

Examples of the above tariff may include:

A-levels: DDD
BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma: MMP

If you are unsure whether you meet the entry criteria, please get in touch for advice.

Mature applicants and non-traditional academic backgrounds:

We welcome applications from mature students (over 21) and students with non-traditional academic backgrounds (might not have gone on from school to take level 3 qualifications). We will consider your educational and employment history, along with your personal statement and reference, to gain a rounded view of your suitability for the course.

International applicants:

Essex Pathways Department is unable to accept applications from international students. Foundation pathways for international students are available at the University of Essex International College and are delivered and awarded by Kaplan, in partnership with the University of Essex. Successful completion will enable you to progress to the relevant degree course at the University of Essex.

International & EU entry requirements

We accept a wide range of qualifications from applicants studying in the EU and other countries. Get in touch with any questions you may have about the qualifications we accept. Remember to tell us about the qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.

Sorry, the entry requirements for the country that you have selected are not available here. Please select your country page where you'll find this information.

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 5.5 overall. Specified component grades are also required for applicants who require a Student visa to study in the UK.

Other English language qualifications may be acceptable so please contact us for further details. If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels required. Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications

If you are an international student requiring a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Additional Notes

Our Year 0 courses are only open to UK and EU applicants. If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to your chosen degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College.

Structure

Example structure

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of compulsory and optional modules chosen from lists. Below is just one example structure from the current academic year of a combination of modules you could take. Your course structure could differ based on the modules you choose.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore all modules listed are subject to change. To view the compulsory modules and full list of optional modules currently on offer, please view the programme specification via the link below.

Teaching and learning disclaimer

Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.

The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently planned for 2021 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.

See full list of modules

1939–2019: Eighty Years in the Life of the United Kingdom

Britain has experienced unprecedented changes in the last 100 years. What has brought about these changes and how have they affected the Britain of today? This course will outline political, economic, social and cultural change in the UK during the Twentieth Century and beyond and offer an insight into Britain’s place in the modern world.

View 1939–2019: Eighty Years in the Life of the United Kingdom on our Module Directory

Major Writers in English Literature

Want to study Hamlet? And contemporary works by Angela Carter or Kazuo Ishiguru? Interested in World War One poetry? Study a range of drama, poetry and prose fiction. Describe, analyse and reflect on key texts from Shakespeare to the present day. Become familiar with the crucial terms for assessing literature.

View Major Writers in English Literature on our Module Directory

Philosophy: Fundamental Questions, Major Thinkers

What can we know? How should we live? Study two important areas of philosophy – epistemology and ethics. Examine the work of key thinkers and understand the major themes in Western philosophy. Analyse contemporary issues using philosophical arguments. Become confident in the expression of your own thoughts and ideas.

View Philosophy: Fundamental Questions, Major Thinkers on our Module Directory

Research and Academic Development Skills

View Research and Academic Development Skills on our Module Directory

Approaches to Film and Media

How do we analyse moving images? What innovations have transformed the cinema experience? What moments and movements have been key to film history? Study the development of international cinema, looking at all aspects of the form, including analysis of theoretical issues, film language, and a variety of important directors and genres.

View Approaches to Film and Media on our Module Directory

The Humanities Graduate: Future Pathways

View The Humanities Graduate: Future Pathways on our Module Directory

Introduction to Theatre Studies

This is the foundational module for your BA Drama Degree. We enrich your existing knowledge of major theatre practitioners – Aristotle, Brecht, Artaud and Stanislavski – and complement these studies by introducing new theatre theorists, movements and styles. Examine plays from Ancient Greece to today, discussing issues like genre, representation, reception, modernism and postmodernism. This module blends together practical and theoretical classes to create the building blocks for an informed study of theatre practice.

View Introduction to Theatre Studies on our Module Directory

Models of Practice

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.

View Models of Practice on our Module Directory

Documentary Filmmaking (optional)

Documentary film makers have been unveiling new and surprising truths to the masses since the 1920s, and the genre is as popular today as it has ever been. You examine different documentary forms through the work of practitioners such as John Grierson, Molly Dineen, and Agnes Varda, and gain key production skills, including the formulation of the idea, research methods, handling techniques, legal and consent issues, recording techniques and documentary editing. By the end of the module, you will have created your own individual documentary film.

View Documentary Filmmaking (optional) on our Module Directory

Introduction to Screenwriting (optional)

What are the practical aspects of screenwriting? And the theoretical? Explore the construction of a range of screenplays, investigating their shared structural elements. Write your own short films. Produce reports reflecting your understanding of screen writing. Participate in the creative pitching of ideas.

View Introduction to Screenwriting (optional) on our Module Directory

Gender in Performance: Sexual Politics and the Stage (optional)

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.

View Gender in Performance: Sexual Politics and the Stage (optional) on our Module Directory

Directing Actors for Film (optional)

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.

View Directing Actors for Film (optional) on our Module Directory

Cultural Ideology and Film

How do films tackle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Or issues about surveillance and asylum? What about gender and violence? Explore the complex relationship between cinema and ideology through a diverse selection of international films. Analyse how cinema can be an ideological medium, both sustaining and interrogating our social and cultural values.

View Cultural Ideology and Film on our Module Directory

Interactive Performance-making: Shaping Audience Participation

This new module allows you to explore a vital feature of contemporary trends in British and international interactive theatre and performance-making – namely, the shifting role of the audience. From the ethics of the face-to-face encounter to technologies that prompt interaction, this module cultivates a theoretical awareness of the politics of audience participation, agency and labour. You will explore key debates that have emerged in theatre, fine art and other related fields, develop your own artistic manifesto, and build confidence in shaping live experiences that are completed by the involvement of unrehearsed participants.

View Interactive Performance-making: Shaping Audience Participation on our Module Directory

Theatre and Human Rights

Nominated for module of the year, we examine here how theatre practitioners have approached the urgent political crises of the last century. We ask how theatre and human rights interact, and can they intervene in changing hearts and minds. You study a range of plays alongside the ideas of influential practitioners, plus political films and works of art. This module gives you the chance to make your original theatre pieces in response to social issues and world events.

View Theatre and Human Rights on our Module Directory

Writing for the Theatre

Taught by award-winning professional playwrights, this module takes you through the A-Z of writing full-length plays. In this laboratory environment we study the tools and techniques you need to write successfully for the theatre. The module examines the different approaches available to the playwright, and challenges ideas about form, structure and use of language. Studying a range of playscripts in depth, you will develop your skills through practical exercises and assignments. This module gives you the opportunity to enhance your own creative process and progress your professional career.

View Writing for the Theatre on our Module Directory

Shakespeare: The Tragedies

To what degree are Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello tragedies? How useful is this term in understanding them? Undertake a close reading of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies. Critically discuss recent issues about each, in groups and in your own work. Gain an understanding of their enduring and/or present significance.

View Shakespeare: The Tragedies on our Module Directory

Teaching

Your teaching mainly takes the form of lectures and classes, the latter involving about 20 students
A typical timetable includes a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your four modules every week
Our classes are run in small groups, so you receive a lot of individual attention

Assessment

Your assessed coursework will generally consist of essays, reports, in-class tests, book reviews, individual or group oral presentations, and small scale research projects

Fees and funding

Home/UK fee

£9,250

International fee

£16,850

EU students commencing their course in the 2021-22 academic year will be liable for the International fee.

Fees will increase for each academic year of study.

Home/UK fee information

International fee information

What's next

Our events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex. We run a number of Open Days throughout the year which enable you to discover what our campus has to offer. You have the chance to:

tour our campus and accommodation
find out answers to your questions about our courses, student finance, graduate employability, student support and more
meet our students and staff

Check out our Visit Us pages to find out more information about booking onto one of our events. And if the dates aren’t suitable for you, feel free to book a campus tour here.

Applications for our full-time undergraduate courses should be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Applications are online at: www.ucas.com. Full details on this process can be obtained from the UCAS website in the how to apply section.

Our UK students, and some of our EU students, who are still at school or college, can apply through their school. Your school will be able to check and then submit your completed application to UCAS. Independent applicants in the UK or EU can also apply online through UCAS Apply.

The UCAS code for our University of Essex is ESSEX E70. The individual campus codes for our Loughton and Southend Campuses are 'L' and 'S' respectively.

You can find further information on how to apply, including information on transferring from another university, applying if you are not currently at a school or college, and applying for readmission on our How to apply and entry requirements page.

Please note that this course is not open to international applicants

Applicant Days and interviews

If you are an undergraduate student who has received an offer from us to study with us from October 2021, you will be invited to attend a Virtual Applicant Day so that you can get to know us from the comfort of your own home. Our Virtual Applicant Days will run until June 2021 and give you the chance meet academics online from the department you’ve applied to, and attend live talks and Q&A’s on our Virtual Applicant Day platform.

Some of our courses also require a compulsory interview. If you have applied to one of these courses you will receive an invite to a Zoom interview via email, along with further details about the interview process.

Home to 15,000 students from more than 130 countries, our Colchester Campus is the largest of our three sites, making us one of the most internationally diverse campuses on the planet - we like to think of ourselves as the world in one place.

The Campus is set within 200 acres of beautiful parkland, located two miles from the historic town centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded town. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.

How to get to Colchester Campus

Find out more

If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360 degree virtual tours allows you to explore our University from the comfort of your home. Check out our Colchester virtual tour and Southend virtual tour to see accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.

Our staff travel the world to speak to people about the courses on offer at Essex. Take a look at our list of exhibition dates to see if we’ll be near you in the future.

At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.

Find out more

The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses 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 also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications.

The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.