Film Production

This module aims to develop your understanding of how to approach finding work opportunities within the film and TV industries and the professional skills needed to succeed. The module starts with a particular focus on the development of the ‘soft skills’ you'll need to develop your understanding of the commitment and practice needed by film crews to successfully produce a short film.

The module will support you as you gain an understanding of employment opportunities available within the film and media industry during your time at Winchester. You will explore a variety of strategies and techniques used by early career filmmakers to gain experience within the industry, such as the development of CV writing skills, the development of a professional social media presence and the process of finding potential work experience. Additional approaches such as freelancing and starting a business are also covered.  

In this module, you will begin by developing your storytelling and scriptwriting skills by focusing specifically on the study and writing of short screenplays. The focus will be on the analysis and implementation of narrative devices (including narrative shortcuts and the use of sound), the development of story and character (and the interrelationship between the two), and on skills in writing visually and succinctly. The module then progresses to allow you to turn your idea from script to screen as you take your screenplay and develop it into a final film piece. You can participate in both the creative dimensions of fiction filmmaking, including directing performance, cinematography and editing, and the organisational dimensions of producing and production management. 

You will also complete the BAFTA Albert Education Partnership programme as part of this module as you consider the carbon footprint of your productions. This will lead to an industry-recognised certification for all students completing on the programme as well as making your productions more sustainable throughout your degree.  

This module offers you the opportunity, through intensive hands-on training, of gaining core competencies in professional cinematography and sound-recording equipment and a chosen piece of editing software for use in both drama and documentary production work. Throughout the module you will hone your skills and creativity and be tested through weekly exercises designed to foster knowledge and practical application across both drama and documentary disciplines.

This module serves as an introduction to documentary film-making. Through the exploration and experience of producing a 'cinematic documentary portrait', you will develop fundamental skills including conducting filmed interviews and creating meaning through the combination of words, images and music in the edit. Through the study of documentary film references and using their practice, this module also allows you to appreciate the social impact of documentary films and to view them from an ethical perspective.

In this module, you will examine how real-life events can be shaped into screen stories of the factual genre. A toolbox of storytelling skills will be practised, with particular emphasis on techniques for writing narration such as delivering backstory, eliciting the audience's curiosity and devising emotional cues. Guidance is also given on the early stages of project development including the identification of stories with potential, researching them, and organising a film production as a team of specialised crew roles.  

This module develops your directorial and cinematographic skills (which you will have developed during your first year), to inform creative authorship and technical camera operation. The module explores the attributes of a film’s Director and Cinematographer and their relationship with other heads of departments during the production of a film. Through taught sessions and workshops with active industry professionals, you will develop core skills in direction, mise-en-scene, lighting and cameras. You will learn the craft and skills needed to become, or work with, a Director and Cinematographer during the production of a film. 

This module begins with the development of your understanding and practical execution of location sound recording. After an introductory overview, you will study the specifics of location sound recording in the film-making process through technical workshops and practical exercises. The module then progresses to develop a deeper understanding of the practical, theoretical and historical practices and aspects of cinematic editing both as a technical skill and as a narrative convention.

You examine specific areas of editing through lectures and workshops focusing on areas such as montage, editing of moving images for film and media industries, colour grading and delivery. In the final stage of the module, you will develop and hone your skills and understanding of post-production sound design including sound mixing, foley, ADR and sound effects. 

In Semester 1 students can choose EITHER Option Module A or Option Module B

Option Module A: Producing Practices

This module provides students with a ‘live’ project element to develop entrepreneurial, communication and networking practices appropriate for the film industry. Students work to investigate a range of industry practitioners and producing practices ranging from project organisation through to budgeting, promotion, and distribution. Producing Practices provides students with the skills necessary to take an existing screenplay or film concept and develop it to be ‘production ready’. The module requires students to take part in or research a film industry event in which they can develop their entrepreneurial, producing and networking skills and engage with a range of local and/or global filmmakers, producers, distributors, and exhibitors.

Option Module B: Screenwriting: Adaptations

This module is designed to allow students to explore critical and theoretical issues surrounding the process of adaptation for film and television through practical engagement with that process. Using analysis of existing adaptations, consideration of and experimentation with a range of ‘adaptable’ materials and through the origination and development of a single-authored short, adapted screenplay, students will gain a comprehensive working knowledge of the possibilities and pitfalls of adaptation and the skills necessary to reimagine existing stories in cinematic terms.

In Semester 2 students can choose EITHER Option Module C or Option Module D

Option Module C: VFX Production

This module develops an understanding of how VFX post-production techniques are deployed in the modern film production process. Using a wide range of VFX applications, such as, but not limited to, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, etc. students will create a short film sequence utilising and demonstrating VFX post-production techniques. In-class workshops will explore examples of post-production techniques in current use and provide historical context to improve understanding. This module will equip students with advanced skills in post-production appropriate to entry into the film and media production industries. 

Option Module D: Digital Distribution

In this module students research and discover how current and emerging social media platforms can be utilised to enhance the promotion of a film project using creative, viral marketing techniques. Students will be introduced to the shifting landscape of online film promotion and its potential reach to a global online audience. Students will put their knowledge and skills into practice by effectively constructing a professional promotional online marketing campaign for a film project.

At this stage of your academic journey, you will now have a strong idea of which role within the film industry you want to pursue after university. This module gives you the chance to produce two short films, one documentary and one drama that you feel will demonstrate your creative identity, professional conduct and specialist skillset whilst also developing your portfolio of work.

You will also explore any areas for professional development that need to be targeted to make you ready for a career in the film or media industry in your chosen role. The module will culminate in an exploration of post-study employment opportunities. The module aims to provide you with a realistic knowledge of the current employment possibilities within the film industry and develops the important aspects and understanding of industry requirements needed for graduate entry into the industry. Professional and current practitioners will advise and tutor you on seeking and securing work within a particular sector. 

The film industry is continuously evolving year on year, incorporating new techniques and moving away from outdated practices and ideologies as well as looking back at how our history has informed our present and the future of the film industry. While barely more than one hundred years old, film as a medium of mass communication, an industry and as an art form, has had an undeniably strong impact on society. Considering how media convergence, advancement in technology, social media and globalisation are pushing their evolution, it is important to be able to understand where these fundamentally social technologies come from before we can look to the future.

This module provides you with a historical overview of the main technological, social and institutional changes in the fields of film and TV and challenges you to relate the legacy of these developments to contemporary practices. You will then progress to explore a variety of contemporary emerging approaches to film-making, from emerging social movements to the practical application and understanding of how filmmakers can use new and existing technologies. This module aims to develop your confidence and creativity towards particular research areas, whilst encouraging you to apply your theoretical and practical film-making skills to challenge conventional cinematic approaches used to tell stories.

Across both Semesters 1 and 2, students can choose EITHER Module A or Module B

Option Module A: Broadcast TV Production

Skills gained from the Film Production degree are transferable into lots of different industries with the closest linked industry being the broadcast TV industry. This module develops your knowledge and skillset for creating broadcast-ready content in varying formats. From exploring the deliverables needed to get a student’s projects onto Netflix to live TV studio operation, this module aims to examine how your skills can be transferred across media outputs. 

Option Module B: Large Scale Production

This module provides the opportunity for you to work as part of a large film crew to make a 10-20 minute film. Roles will include, director, producer, 1st AD, DP, camera operator, 1st AC, production designer, sound mixer, boom operator, editor, colourist and sound designer. Starting with the ‘pitching’ and ‘greenlit’ process, students will be expected to work collaboratively and reliably throughout pre-production, production, and post-production in their chosen role. The module will mirror, as closely as possible, industry protocols and practices set by larger film crew productions.

AND EITHER Option Module C or Option Module D In Semester 1

Option Module C: Corporate Film

This module allows you to produce a moving-image live-brief artefact in consultation and conjunction with a live client brief. The aim is that you will make a positive and personally rewarding contribution to the regional community whilst also reflecting critically on the collaborative experience and developing practical skills needed for producing filmed content for a client, which will enhance both your employability and personal development.

Option Module D: Creative Industry Collaboration

This module allows you to explore industrial practice in your chosen field through collaboration with other creative practitioners. It invites students from different practical and creative backgrounds to produce unique and original works driven by specific briefs. This could include new short films, music videos, site-specific performances, interactive audio-visual exhibitions and festival entries (non-exclusive). Students will create together, whilst learning how to disaggregate their roles in the creative process and how to understand their creative practice as a sum part of a whole.

AND EITHER Option Module E or Option Module F In Semester 2

Option Module E: International Collaboration

The nature of film, its industries and film-making movements allow it to flow across national borders. This transnational aspect is the core of this module, allowing you an understanding of the importance of cinema flowing across borders in the shape of ideas and capital and offering you the opportunity to experiment with how your film-making might take advantage of this international context. Throughout the module, international universities and their relationship with Winchester will be utilised with the specific objective of having their students make a collaborative film production with Winchester students. The module aims to establish real working relationships with film communities and individuals in the country of choice, bringing a shared sense of purpose to the collaborative investigation. Over the first couple of weeks, you will have the opportunity to meet these international students through activities and tasks that students from all universities will carry out in parallel. The objective is to co-produce a short film of between 3 and 5 minutes.

Option Module F: Festivals

This module will focus on the key theoretical principles and practices associated with hosting and participating in film festivals. The module aims to prepare you for the processes needed to distribute, market and sell your films on the national and international film festival circuit. The module will also equip you with an in-depth knowledge of the workings of film festivals, what is required by applicants to film festivals and how they differ between types. You will work closely with the Winchester Film Festival throughout the module, including the opportunity to work on this annual event in a variety of roles. You will use this gained knowledge to organise and participate in an end-of-semester film festival for films made by all students in the third year. Professional and current festival organisers alongside the teaching team will advise and guide you on the organisational, fundraising, promotional and networking skills needed to deliver a successful film festival programme and event.