Film & Television MA (Online)

With this module, you start building your film and television industry competence to shape practical projects from an initial idea to a final screen artefact. Your tutor offers step-by-step professional instruction to nurture your creativity.

You'll get acquainted with production workflows across various creative, professional and technical roles. On completion, you'll have grasped a command of essential professional skills and an understanding of the fundamental standard processes of the contemporary film and television industries. 

To complete this module, you will devise and develop a creative project pitch (industry standard treatment), a short (scene or sample) screenplay and a short pre-production portfolio with optional audio-visual samples (clips). Your submission will be accompanied by a written critical reflection on the process and potential funding and distribution strategies.

You'll be documenting your progress in an online journal, sharing ideas and your weekly tasks with your tutors and peers to help you organise your work. Weekly webinars will give you a chance to learn by example and to receive constructive feedback on your progress.

(30 credits)

Working on a case study, you develop a critical understanding of practical skills that underpin contemporary film and television industries' operations and project/business management challenges.

This industry research module uses student-centred practice, offering you an opportunity to spend time on in-depth research of a chosen sector of film and television industry, one that aligns with your interests, career plans and ambitions. Focussing on a case study of your choice you'll manage your project under supervision of your tutors and via sharing with your peers.

Starting with factual queries and gathering of information, you'll then progress to critical research to evaluate and analyse your industry data. You'll document your research journey and your findings in an online journal which will inform weekly webinar discussions.

As you progress through your course and later when you enter the job market, the in-depth knowledge of sources and informed critical arguments you acquire here, will help you gain confidence in your professional choices as well as support you making informed decisions, whether you choose pre-production, on-set work, post-production or exhibition/distribution and reception of film and television.

(30 credits)

In this module, you'll pre-produce a short cinematic or televisual form or a screenplay. Practice informed by a critical study of selected examples will help determine your potential contribution to film and television culture.

Designed for you to excel in film and television practice in an informed, professional way, yet crafted to help you follow your interests, this module offers two options: pre-production or screenwriting.

You'll explore critical frameworks and screen practices as they pertain to fields of cinema, television, online viewing platforms, art galleries, transmedia, social media and citizen journalism. Active participation in practical project development will take you through the typical stages of film and television production, making you aware of real-world industry workflow. An overview of the contemporary industry and its commissioning, distribution and exhibition channels will help you situate your original ideas and skills within the current film and television market.

(30 credits)

This module helps you expand your knowledge of how global cultural, political and social contexts frame and influence both production/distribution strategies and contemporary audiences' engagement with various available screen texts.

You'll explore inter-disciplinary contexts interrogated by scholars and critics who now examine film and television as focal points in a wide range of socio-cultural analyses. The shift from modernism to postmodernism followed by the arrival of the internet served as catalysing moments for the emergence of new critical approaches to the contemporary film and television industries. This module will introduce you to the most impactful and recent among such debates.

Every week, you'll sample examples from media studies and cultural studies as disciplines that build on previous academic thought, but exemplify new strategies of understanding creativity in the digital age. Next to analysing traditional film and television texts, you'll discuss transmedia as well as the broadly understood moving image that is available online.

You'll consider relevant contexts of funding, commissioning, production, distribution and exhibition and their impact on today's screen representations and storytelling tactics.

Not only does this module encourage you to use these recent research strategies and methodologies in your investigations of selected film and television examples, but also to apply them to your developing film or television practice.

(30 credits) 

This module culminates your academic and creative learning, providing a bridge for your professional aspirations. Working on your portfolio with your supervisor, you advance your chosen film and television expertise in one of the following areas: production, screenwriting, or academic research.

You'll have the opportunity to excel in practising the following skills that can be used in professional settings in film, television and the creative industries, as well as in academia and beyond.

Using student-centred practice, your tutors will start by discussing your project proposal with you to advise on the format and the option that would best suit your interests, ambitions and career plans.

You'll work on the same project across two study blocks, the first of which will be dedicated to preparation (research, writing, conception), and the second to execution (compiling and presenting your portfolio).

(60 credits)

You'll learn through a blend of lectures, webinars, guest talks, tasks and discussion forums, which you'll access via our dedicated virtual learning environment. This is also where you'll find all key documentation, get course announcements and access extensive learning resources.

How will I be supported?

You'll be supported academically by Online Tutors, who will also deliver weekly webinars and facilitate the online forums. As you progress through the course, formal teaching will gradually shift towards more independent exploration and learning.

If you need assistance with anything that isn't directly related to course material, a dedicated Student Advisor team will be on hand to help. You'll also have access to Falmouth University's excellent Employability Service.

You'll refine dynamic filmmaking practices, spending 20-25 hours a week working on your craft. We incorporate optional face-to-face events for all our online students. There will be up to two per year, and they'll typically run over weekends, to fit around your other commitments.

What are my study hours?

A postgraduate student should dedicate at least 20-25 hours per week for study.

Find out more about learning online

Assessment methods

Assessment provides the course team with a means of offering tailored guidance alongside advice on how to progress knowledge and skills in key areas that relate to the course Learning Outcomes. The course team will identify your strengths and weaknesses as an individual and discuss them with you throughout your time on the course.

You will be assessed via coursework at the end of each module in the form of visual, verbal and written assignments. You will also receive regular feedback via webinars, Q&As and workshops with your peers.

You can apply to begin your studies in May 2024 by selecting the relevant course route below:

Apply for MA

Apply for PGDip

You can apply to begin your studies in September 2024 by selecting the relevant course route below:

Apply for MA

Apply for PGDip

An honours degree or Level 6 equivalent qualification is desirable. However, candidates without a degree or formal qualification are still encouraged to apply. If you'd like to discuss our entry requirements, speak to an advisor.

We’ll ask you to provide a piece of work that relates to the moving image, which you have been involved in making. This could include an example of a screenplay, a film, a showreel, or a piece of writing that demonstrates your commitment to the theory of the moving image. It could include previous project work and/or your current work in progress and could take the form of a link to your blog or website. Please also provide a statement of approximately 250 words that gives information on what your contribution was to this work. 

If your first language is not English, you'll need to take an English Language test.  We accept: 

• IELTS - minimum overall score of IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.0 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening 
• TOEFL iBT (online test) - minimum of 88 overall and at least 21 in all 4 components 
• LanguageCert (online test) - a High Pass from the ESOL B2 Communicator test in reading, writing, speaking and listening (2 parts) 

We also accept a range of other recognised English language qualifications.  You can visit our English Language Requirements page for more information. 

For more information about equivalent international qualifications or English language requirements please contact our friendly Course Advisors.