Film, Television and Moving Image MA University of Westminster

Wednesday 7th June 2023 - On campus - 5:30-7PM (BST)

Our innovative Film, Television and Moving Image MA build on its prestigious heritage as one of the longest-running degree programmes of its kind in the UK. We aim to equip you with wide-ranging skills, knowledge and critical awareness to meet your career aspirations in sectors in which moving images play a central role. Our curriculum incorporates an exciting variety of learning and teaching activities designed to foster your capacity for researching and rigorously analysing different aspects of film, television and moving images. You’ll have the opportunity to develop key skills for communicating about and with moving images across a range of contexts and platforms.

Although this is not a film production course, you can choose to have a broad-based learning experience in film, television and moving images, or specialise in moving image curation or screenwriting via our pathways.

The core teaching team consists of members of the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries. The course has close links with the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), the leading research centre in the UK for arts and design, whose members include internationally renowned filmmakers, film and television theorists and historians, and moving image artists and curators. To ensure that you develop the skill sets, and the full range of critical awareness that is in demand and to deliver an exciting learning experience for you, we combine research-enhanced teaching with classes delivered by film, television and moving image art professionals.

The course combines core and optional taught modules. The design and delivery of our taught modules draw on CREAM’s research excellence in the documentary, Asian and European cinema, moving image curation, and television history. The coursework requirements for some modules are research essays or a combination of research essays, presentations and research-informed content production for online platforms. Other modules require a broad range of research-informed professional modes of writing such as a pitch, a treatment, a screenplay, a curatorial proposal or an exhibition review. You’ll also undertake a substantial piece of independent research as a major part of your MA studies. To provide you with the flexibility to undertake a piece of independent research suited to your career aspiration, the final project module offers you the choice between writing a traditional dissertation or completing a theoretically-informed professional project such as curating a film programme or moving image exhibition, writing and producing a series of themed blog posts, or writing a screenplay.

Top reasons to study with us

• Pathways suited to your career aspirations – Our choice of pathways give you the flexibility of a learning experience suited to your career aspirations
• CREAM research expertise – This course has strong ties with CREAM, the leading UK research institute for arts and design. Our teaching is informed by their research excellence in documentary, Asian and European cinema, moving image curation, and television history
• Industry knowledge – You’ll be taught by an experienced team of film, television and moving image art professionals, as well as learn from guest speakers from the moving image and culture industries, and arts and media sectors

Why study this course?

• Research-enhanced teaching
  Our course has strong ties with CREAM, the leading UK research institute for arts and design, with our teaching informed by their research excellence in the documentary, Asian and European cinema, moving image curation, and television history.
• Outstanding facilities
  You’ll have access to a wide range of facilities, including dedicated project spaces and London Gallery West, and access to the industry-standard screenwriting software, Final Draft, available in our Harrow Campus.
• Industry links
  We have strong links with key London exhibition and research venues as well as key critics, theorists, curators and festival programmers. We offer field visits to these sites and also work with festivals to share programmes and experiences with our students.

Graduates of the Film, Television and Moving Image MA have progressed into careers in film, and television distribution, marketing, and arts administration, and an increasing number go on to pursue doctoral research.

Our graduates also find work in state-funded arts bodies, culture and media industries, and independent arts sectors. The knowledge and understanding, and specific and transferable skills developed through studying on this course, have no doubt helped our graduates find employment in all sectors of the moving image and culture industries, and in the arts and media sectors.

• Pathways suited to your career aspirations
  Our choice of pathways gives you the flexibility of a learning experience suited to your career aspirations.
• Industry expertise
  You’ll be taught by an experienced team of film, television and moving image art professionals, as well as learn from guest speakers from the moving image and culture industries and arts and media sectors.
• Employers around the world
  The University’s Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.

Industry links

We have strongly developed links with key London exhibition and research venues such as the BFI Southbank, LUX, and Close-Up Film Centre, as well as key critics, theorists, curators and festival programmers. We offer field visits to these sites and also work with festivals like the Rotterdam Film Festival, Open City Docfest, and Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival to share programmes and experiences with our students. We have also developed links with Sayle Screen, an agency for screenwriters and directors.

Leading researchers, professionals and practitioners regularly speak on the course, sharing their expertise and insights into current practices and future developments in the field.

Our guest speakers have previously included:

• Chiara Maranon, Director of Content for Mubi
• Eva Robinson, Agent, Sayle Screen
• Julian Ross, Programmer, Rotterdam Film Festival
• Maria Palacios Cruz, Director Open City Documentary Festival
• Peter Taylor, Director of Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival

Job roles

This course will prepare you for roles such as:

• Content creator
• Digital curator
• Film programmer
• Researcher
• Screenwriter
• Script reader

Graduate employers

Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:

• Cake Distribution
• Fluid Touch Pte Ltd
• ITV
• Jellysmack London
• MUBI
• Saatchi & Saatchi
• TeachFirst
• WeVision

Westminster Employability Award

Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.

The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, comprising a set of core and optional extracurricular activities.

Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up for a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.

The course is taught in two modes: full-time and part-time.

Full-time postgraduate students study 180 credits per year. For the award of MA in Film, Television and Moving Image, you must complete two 20-credit core taught modules, four 20–credit optional modules and a 60-credit final project module.

You can choose to follow either an entirely theory-based pathway or a combined theory-practice experience by choosing one of the two suggested pathways specialising in film programming and moving image curation or in screenwriting.

Curation Pathway: The curation pathway is designed to give an introduction to key issues in film programming and moving image curation, exploring the theory and practice of curation with a diverse range of guest speakers active in the field, and site visits and practical projects. We'll explore the history of film curation to understand its origins and developments from cinemas to galleries, and film festivals to streaming platforms. As part of this pathway, there are opportunities to curate moving image exhibitions, film programmes, and online exhibitions utilising the University’s resources and venues such as London Gallery West.

Screenwriting Pathway: On the screenwriting pathway, you learn how to develop compelling characters and original stories for thematically rich fiction films, television dramas and web series. You'll produce a pitch, a treatment and several screenplays and learn how preparatory documents such as beat sheets and step outlines can help you structure your ideas. The creative emphasis of the pathway is supplemented by written screenplay analysis, and you are also encouraged to situate your work in the industry context. In class, we watch many films and read screenplays, which are discussed and analysed alongside your developing ideas.

The following modules are indicative of what you'll study in this course.

Core modules

• Key Concepts in Film, Television and Moving Image
• Contemporary Issues in Moving Image and Screen Studies
• Final Project

Option modules

• Cinema Distribution and Exhibition (recommended option for Curation Pathway)
• Film Programming and Moving Image Curation (recommended option for Curation Pathway)
• Advanced Screenplay Preparation (required option for Screenwriting Pathway)
• Introduction to Screenwriting (recommended option for Screenwriting Pathway)
• Asian Cinema: Time, History, Memory
• Contemporary Television: Diversity, Aesthetics, Platforms
• Documentary Aesthetics, Sites and Spectatorship
• Modern and Contemporary European Cinema