On this page you can find detailed information about the BA Film Studies and combined honours programme structure, assessment and programme time allocation.
Combined honours
If you are taking Film Studies as a combined honours student you will take the equivalent of eight modules in total every year, four in Film Studies, and four in your other chosen subject (e.g. English, French, German, History, Philosophy or Spanish). As a single honours student you will take the equivalent of eight modules every year (at least three-quarters from Film). In Film Studies, there is a distinction between compulsory and option modules. Compulsory modules are designed to give you a comprehensive education in the major areas of Film Studies as an academic discipline over your period of study, while option modules encourage you to develop your personal interests, or to study particular areas in greater detail. You may also want to concentrate in your option modules on areas which are related to the other part of your degree; for example, if you take the BA Film and French, you may wish to pick a module on French cinema.
In terms of the hours you'll spend in lectures, screenings, seminars or workshops, your timetabled hours will be approximately twelve hours per week. However, at University you are also expected to work independently, whether reading, studying films or conducting practical work, and this should contribute about another four hours for each hour in class, adding up to the equivalent of a full working week.
Your tutors, who are all subject specialists, will encourage you to develop critical skills while never losing sight of the pleasures offered by films.
The first year
Not everyone will have studied Film before, so the first few weeks of your degree will ensure that everyone is up to speed and gains confidence in the kind of analytical skills and theoretical approaches you will need on your course. You will learn how to critically distance yourself from films that will be both familiar and new to you and understand how they work to produce meaning for different audiences in both the US and Europe. If you are taking single honours, the Theory, Culture and Society module will develop your understanding of contemporary debates in the discipline. The innovative Writing for Film module will hone your writing skills whilst developing your understanding of the deep structures of films. Each of our combined courses also develops the foundation theoretical and critical skills you will later need. Film will form an important part of your studies on both components of your degree and you will discover a great interconnection between them.
The second year
The second year is about building on your skills and knowledge from the first year through a greater focus on more specific genres or contexts, while offering you choice in the options you take for half of your modules. As well as the core modules on early and silent cinema and Hollywood in the 1930s, you can choose from a range of modules that include Film Noir, British Contemporary Filmmakers, French or German Cinema, which may be of particular interest to those taking combined courses with modern languages. While everyone on our single honours and combined courses take core modules that provide important material for your overall academic development, we also offer you a range of option modules to choose from, enabling you with the flexibility to develop your own interests within our curriculum. Whatever course you are taking, you may also elect to an alternative module in each semester from another discipline, perhaps to build your language skills. In your second year, you may also be able to take film modules at a partner university abroad or use the opportunity to gain work experience.
*Modern languages combined honours only.
The third year - the year abroad If your studies are combined with a foreign language, your third year will normally be spent abroad in a country where your chosen language is spoken, whether in Europe or further afield. You will have the choice of studying university courses or in employment. During this year, you will normally carry out an investigative project on a current local issue, with the guidance of a tutor. Study, research or work may relate to your interest in Film. For further information about the year abroad visit the Modern Languages website.
The final year
If you are studying Film in combination with a language, your final year will be your fourth year. If you are taking single honours Film, or Film in combination with English, History, or Philosophy, your final year will be your third year of study.
As part of your overall degree, the final year is weighted more heavily in terms of marks (roughly 60 per cent) to reflect the greater knowledge and experience you will have gained over your course and the maturing interests you may have developed through your choice of options. While your core module, World Cinema, extends the range of films and methods you've studied so far, including the exciting cinemas of Brazil and Africa, as well as Bollywood and Anime, you will also be able to choose from options including Hollywood Cinema, which brings the material studied in the previous years right up to date, Music in Film and Television, Cinema and Childhood, Science-Fiction Film, and Screenwriting. Each of our combined honours courses have modules that connect to each other in each year, including many that focus on Film in particular. These include ‘Fantasy Film and Fiction' and ‘Philosophy of Film' for Film, with English and Philosophy respectively. Whatever course you are taking, everyone in the final year writes a dissertation (*unless you are taking modern languages with Film, in which case the dissertation is optional as you've already written your year abroad project). This offers flexibility as you can write your dissertation on any topic with your tutor's approval, so you can pursue a subject that you've encountered on your studies in more detail, or write about something not covered on the degree. Your tutors will also be happy to advise you on career options, in this and all years while you are at Southampton, and by successfully completing your degree you will have an excellent foundation upon which to embark on your chosen career.
- You can review the modules for Film Studies programmes online; modules change from time to time, so a listing here does not guarantee a module will run in a particular year.
- Additional programme structure information can be found on each programme specification (Check within the webpage of the relevant Film programme, e.g. BA Film and English).
Assessment
At Southampton we believe in offering a varied and challenging assessment profile that develops your abilities as both an individual learner with unique needs and as a member of a team working collaboratively. Most of our assessment is in the form of essays ranging from focused 1,500 word tasks, the 2,000 word standard essay, to extended pieces of writing such as the 10,000 word final year dissertation, which may be written on a topic of your choice.
Other types of assessment will help you to develop your skills of independent research. These include projects such as exploring cinema history in the silent era in your local area, or researching the promotion and critical reception of a foreign film, such as Whale Rider, in the UK. In seminars you will also give oral presentations either individually or in groups to build your communication skills, and if you're taking single honours Film, you will also be able to engage with professional practice, for example, by producing a pitching tape as part of your assessment. Programme specific assessment details can be found on each programme specification. (Check within the webpage of the relevant film programme, e.g. BA Film and English).
Programme time allocation
While Film Studies is an enjoyable, rewarding, and intellectually engaging subject to study at university, it is also hard work and as challenging as most other Humanities courses you can choose from. In terms of the hours you'll spend in lectures, screenings, seminars or workshops, your timetabled hours will be approximately twelve hours per week. However, at University you are also expected to work independently, whether reading, studying films or conducting practical work, and this should contribute about another four hours for each hour in class, adding up to the equivalent of a full working week. While we understand that students often need to work part-time for financial reasons, you need to make sure that such activities do not affect your ability to concentrate on your academic work.
We're committed to helping you choose the course that best suits your aspirations and continuing that support throughout your degree.
We review all our modules on an on-going basis to ensure our courses meet the needs of all our students. We are currently implementing an exciting new curriculum to accommodate new topics and introduce the latest developments in research. The overview of modules above reflects our current curriculum, but if you click on the links below, you can also get a preview of some modules arriving in the years ahead.
Other University of Southampton sites
