English and Film and TV Studies BA

About the Course

This flexible degree enables students to carry out critical analysis of some of society’s most powerful media: literature, film and television. You will explore the ways in which film and television relate to history, culture and identity, in addition to studying major areas of English literature. You will develop an informed understanding of current debates in both these fields and are encouraged to explore your own ideas and interests.

English

This degree provides you with a varied, challenging, and enjoyable programme. You will engage in in-depth study of the major areas of English literature from the Renaissance to the most recent publications in poetry, fiction and drama, whilst developing an informed understanding of current debates in the subject. You will explore literature by looking at its structures and forms as well as the varying contexts in which it is produced and read. 

Film and Television Studies 

From Hong Kong cinema to Hollywood and from Science Fiction to Documentary, Film and TV Studies at Brunel examines a wide range of recent and contemporary production for big screen and small. The course offers many innovative, exciting and distinctive modules, taught by a team of enthusiastic staff.

Individual modules focus on both mainstream and alternative practices, the latter including American Independent Cinema, Third Cinema and Alternative Film and Video Practices. Popular genres such as Horror and Comedy and studied alongside, and informed by, more theoretically oriented material.

Limited opportunities will be available for practical work, but significantly less so than is the case for single honour students.

About the School of Arts 

The School of Arts at Brunel includes single and joint honours degree courses in English, Journalism, Music and Creative Music Technology, Film and Television Studies and Modern Drama. This is a vibrant, friendly and creative place to study. Research conducted by staff provides the basis for much of our teaching, ensuring that modules are connected to debates and issues that are current within these interdisciplinary areas.

We also benefit from the activities of the Arts Centre, which organises tuition, performances and exhibitions across a range of arts.

Each programme develops basic skills within its discipline but allows you to explore your own particular interests through a range of optional modules.

View student profiles

Aims

English

The degree is designed to develop your ability to read texts in increasingly complex and diverse ways. 

Our lecturers have a good record of research and publication but, because our own areas of expertise are wide-ranging, we don’t promote any single critical approach as the ‘right way’ of reading literature. Instead we aim to introduce you right from the start to a variety of critical perspectives in preference to a routine chronological survey. 

Film and Television Studies

You will study film and television texts from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and develop the critical and technological vocabularies and theoretical frameworks with which to conduct close textual and contextual analysis.

Enquiries

Wendy Knepper
Admissions Tutor
School of Arts
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH
 
Tel +44 (0)1895 266554
Email english-admissions@brunel.ac.uk

Xavier Mendik
Admissions Tutor
Film and Television Studies

Tel +44 (0)1895 266879
Email ftv-admissions@brunel.ac.uk

Related Courses

• English BA
• Film and Television Studies BA
• English with Creative Writing BA

Special Features

English

• English has a growing international reputation focused around the Brunel Centre of Contemporary Writing and Entertext, an interdisciplinary eJournal.
  
  
• All staff are research-active and experts in their fields, which goes on to inform and enhance teaching for all our students.
  
  
• You have the opportunity to specialise in areas that particularly fascinate you, eg 20th century literature and creative writing, or to maintain a broad-based degree.
  
  
• The University is within reach of London with its West End theatres, the British Newspaper Library, and museums and other research centres of national and international importance.
  
  
• Our annual Open House festival showcases new performance work by students and visiting artists.
  

Film and Television Studies 

• The department hosts the annual Cine-Excess International Cult Film Conference and Festival in London’s West End, and has recently launched an acclaimed Cine-Excess DVD Label. Further details of both the festival and the DVD label can be found at www.cine-excess.co.uk.
  
  
• Film and TV Studies at Brunel is strongly committed to making links between teaching and research, with most modules taught by staff who have published authoritative work in their field.
  
  
• Modules focused on alternative practices are supported by the Cult Film Archive, an internationally-recognised research resource housed by the Screen Media Research Centre, of which FTV staff and postgraduate students are members.
  
  
• The degree focuses on film and television, NOT journalism or radio. The Students’ Union, however, has a radio station and a student magazine for those aiming at careers in news/presenting.

Facts and Figures

English at Brunel was rated in the top 20 English Departments in the UK in the Guardian’s Good University Guide 2010.

Brunel has a growing reputation for its teaching and research in the fields of Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing, and for its work in the areas of Renaissance Studies, Nineteenth Century Literature, and Postcolonial Studies. It offers innovative courses across a broad range of periods and genres covering a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional texts, all taught by enthusiastic staff who are specialists in their fields.

Course Content

English

There are opportunities for specialisation through a wide range of options which you may select according to your own particular tastes and interests, be they in contemporary poetry, drama, fiction, in literatures of the past or in literatures from cultures remote from our own.

There is only one compulsory module, and that is at Level 1. It deals with the most important approaches to criticism and theory that inform English studies in universities throughout the country. As such, it acts as a foundation for your other English studies. Other modules concentrate on different approaches to poetry, dramatic text and prose.

We also offer modules which concentrate on periods and themes. These include Early Modern Writers and Popular Fictions. 

Levels 2/3 

At Level 2, you will study some period based modules such as Romanticism and Revolution, Shakespeare, The Nineteenth Century Novel, and Modernism, as well as conceptual modules that build on themes explored in the Level 1 compulsory module, such as Post-Colonial Writing and The Women’s Movement. At Level 3, you can choose from a wide range of modules that are research-led by experts in the field, including: Shakespeare – the Return of the Author; Writing Ireland; Critical Perspectives (Historical and Contemporary); Nineteenth Century Literature and Culture; and Post-Millennial Fiction, 2000 to the Present.At Level 3, you can choose from a wide range of modules that are research led by experts in the field, including: Shakespeare – the Return of the Author; Writing India; Critical Perspectives (Historical and Contemporary); Jane Austen; Nineteenth Century Literature and Culture; and Post-Millennial Fiction, 2000 to the present.

Film and Television Studies

You will begin with a series of foundational modules at Level 1 that introduce you to film and television form, critical frameworks that have shaped the subject, historical and social context and an understanding of the relationship between theory and practice. At Level 2, you will be given more choice, to develop these understandings in relation to more specific media, geographical and/or genre contexts, and to undertake video practice. At Level 3, you are expected to develop increasingly sophisticated frameworks of analysis across a range of modules, including those focused on alternative practices in a variety of contexts. Level 3 practical options are restricted, however, to single honours students.

Teaching and Learning

The teaching team consists of a core of full-time and part-time tutors who are all active, published researchers in the field, and is supplemented by part-time specialist tutors. 

How will I be taught?

Depending on individual modules, teaching will consist of a combination of lectures, seminars, class screenings, workshops and tutorials.

Assessment

Level 1 does not count towards your final degree mark but you have to pass this level in order to continue with your degree. Level 2 is worth a third, and Level 3 is worth the rest. The final year project is worth a third of Level 3 marks.

Assessment is by a variety of methods. These include essays, projects, presentations, audiovisual production and ‘seen’ exams.

Employability

English is particularly good at developing the transferable personal skills that employers prize in graduates. The degree emphasises imagination, independence of thought and intellectual flexibility. Emphasis is placed on both acquisition of knowledge and analytical skills and on your ability to manage your own learning and develop personal and collaborative communication skills.

Our undergraduate programmes are designed to sharpen creative and analytical skills, develop confidence in working in teams and in problem-solving techniques.

Careers

There are openings in the fields of journalism, publishing, research, critical writing, arts administration and programming. Our programme also provides a good basis for postgraduate study and the pursuit of higher qualifications in both theoretical and practical areas.

The Students’ Union has a radio station and a student magazine for students who are interested in getting experience in journalism/production/presenting.

Brunel English graduates have gone on to work in companies such as the BBC and Universal Studios.

Film and Television Studies graduates have excellent employment opportunities and have gone on to work for the BBC, Granada Television and Ridley Scott Associates in roles as diverse as casting agents, researchers, production assistants and film officers.

Fees for 2013/14 entry

UK/EU students: £9,000 full-time; £6,750 part-time

International students: £12,000 full-time

We are introducing over 700 scholarships for 2013, meaning that one in five applicants who join Brunel next year will receive financial support from the University. See our fees and funding page for full details

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements for 2013 Entry

• GCE A-level Typical offer AAB, including Grade B in English (General Studies/Critical Thinking accepted). Applicants who have already achieved at least ABB at A-level and have Personal Statements showing a strong interest in the course and transferable skills will also be considered. Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants within this range.
  
• Irish Leaving Certificate AAABB, including English.
• Scottish Advanced Highers AAB, including English.
• Advanced Diploma Progression Diploma Grade A in Creative and Media, including A-level English at Grade B for Additional and Specialist Learning
  
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma D*D*D in a related subject (Applicants without A-level English will be required to submit a written sample of work on request).
• IBDP 35 points including Higher Level 5 in English.
• Access Complete and pass a related subject Access course with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. All English units must be Distinctions at level 3.

For all of the above, 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above are also required, to include English and Maths (please note that these must have been gained by the time you submit your UCAS application).

English Language Requirements

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.