BA (Hons) Screen Acting and Film Production

AI Creative Practice

This module introduces you to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within contemporary creative practice. It is designed to develop awareness, confidence, and a basic critical understanding of how AI is used across creative disciplines. 

You will be introduced to the ways AI intersects with areas such as writing, media production, performance, audio, and visual design. Early teaching provides an accessible overview of key ideas including authorship, originality, bias, and ethical considerations. 

Following this, you will undertake an individual exploration into the use of AI within a chosen creative context or area of practice. This exploration may involve practical experimentation, comparison of outputs, or a combination of both. 

The emphasis of the module is on exploration rather than technical mastery. You will be encouraged to try out AI tools, observe their effects, and begin to recognise your own judgement in relation to the outputs you produce. 

Introduction to Film Production

This module aims to engage you with the fundamental practices and underpinning principles of camera operation, sound capture, and lighting for screen‑based production.

Through a combination of practical workshops and guided exercises, you will develop an understanding of how technical and creative choices impact visual and audio outcomes.

The module focuses on building core technical confidence, encouraging you to apply industry‑informed techniques in a range of controlled production scenarios. By the end of the module, you will be able to practically demonstrate essential skills in camera, sound, and lighting at a competent and proficient level, forming a foundation for more advanced production work and collaborative practice.

Introduction to Screen Acting

This module of study will be focused towards developing the sense of ‘company’ and on developing effective independent practice and study.

Movement work, vocal work, concentration and trust games will help to develop an open and creative work environment, enabling the trainee actor to engage with specific acting methods.  

Exploring acting practices, methods and texts, you will begin to understand the potential of your emotional range, imagination, and creativity. 

Towards the second half of the semester, you will be introduced to working with cameras and the basic acting techniques needed for screen acting. 

Film Practice

This module provides foundational training in video production, introducing key technical and procedural skills across contemporary digital film practice.

Working in groups, you develop core competencies in the five principal areas of production: camera, sound, lighting, editing, and delivery.

Through practical work, the module explores processes spanning pre-production, production, and post-production, while promoting safe working practices. It also fosters transferable skills in teamwork, planning, and time management, supporting the development of foundational professional craft skills. 

Writing the Short Film

This module introduces you to the craft of writing for short film, focusing on how ideas are translated into concise, visually driven screen narratives. 

The short film is explored as a distinct storytelling form with its own conventions, including economy of storytelling, clarity of premise, and effective audience engagement. You will be encouraged to think in terms of action, behaviour, and visual storytelling, rather than description or exposition. 

The module is designed for students from a range of creative disciplines, including screenwriting, film production, performance, and media. It provides accessible entry points for those with little or no prior writing experience, while also enabling more experienced writers to develop and refine their practice. 

You will develop two original short screenplay projects, allowing you to explore different narrative approaches and apply core storytelling principles across multiple ideas.

Screen Acting Techniques

This module’s programme of study builds on Introduction to Screen Acting and reflective journal work. Acting methodologies and techniques will be used to explore and develop more in-depth scene work, more advanced on-camera techniques, and more sophisticated acting choices.  

Experimentation and independent research will be encouraged with a deepening exploration of acting practices, methods and texts.

During this module you will continue to develop your emotional range, imagination, and creativity. 

Projects

The module provides a structured framework within which you will undertake a suite of specialist projects appropriate to your degree programme, developing independent working practices.

You will be expected to respond to multiple project briefs (typically 2-4) across two semesters, managing time, resources, and creative or research-based workflows. 

The projects support the development of discipline-specific technical, creative, and analytical skills to a standard appropriate for progression to major projects and career preparation. Most projects will require team/group work and collaboration, sometimes between degree pathways, reflecting industry practice wherever possible. 

You should engage with non-practical forms of inquiry (e.g., essays, reports, case studies, critical analyses) alongside practical production, fostering critical reflection and research literacy. 

The module prepares you to evaluate your own work against professional, academic, or audience-facing criteria, articulating strengths, weaknesses, and lessons for future practice. This will in most cases involve team/group work on the projects themselves, and working to fixed delivery deadlines across both semesters. 

Alongside the project(s) outcomes, be that written or practical, students document and critically reflect upon their research, creative influences, production processes, and final outcomes through a structured individual portfolio. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Screen Acting Techniques – Meisner

The aim of this second-year module is to further develop screen acting skills with a specific focus on the Meisner Technique and its application to scripts and scene work. 

Further exploration of the technique will be used to develop spontaneity, connection, and emotional confidence. 

Integration of methodologies and communication between creatives will make up the later part of the module, developing your ability to sustain and evolve character across multiple scenes.  

Experimentation and independent research will be encouraged with a deepening exploration of acting practices, methods and texts. You will continue to develop your emotional range, imagination, and creativity. 

Motion and Performance Capture

This module introduces you to the principles and practices of contemporary motion capture production.

You will develop knowledge and practical understanding of motion capture workflows, including studio protocols, capture methodologies, performer requirements, and the translation of recorded movement into digital outcomes.

Through workshops and project work, you will engage with the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of motion capture production, contributing through technical, creative and performance-based roles as appropriate to the brief.

The module enables you to develop professional skills in planning, problem-solving, communication and the realisation of motion capture outcomes within a production context. 

TV Series Development and Pitch

This module introduces you to the development of original television series, focusing on the creation, shaping, and communication of ideas for long-form screen storytelling. 

You will work collaboratively to develop a series concept, exploring character, world, and narrative structure across multiple episodes. The module emphasises development as an iterative creative process, requiring you to generate, test, and refine ideas in response to feedback and constraints.

Alongside this, you will develop the ability to articulate and position your ideas, considering audience, genre, and industry context. 

The module is suitable for students from a range of creative disciplines, including screenwriting, performance, and production, supporting collaborative approaches to storytelling. 

Directing

The module will provide you with the opportunity to explore the craft of directing actors. Focusing on the relationship and communication established between director and actor, you will be expected to engage with analysis and practice throughout.

The module will consider the different styles and approaches used in the forms of cinema and television drama, and you will be encouraged to apply this to your own work. 

Action Performance

This module will enhance professional practice by providing you with a range of specialist industry training in unarmed combat, sword fighting and firearms.

You will gain an assortment of practical skills and knowledge, essential for pursuing careers as professional action performers or as actors wishing to deliver safe and convincing on-screen performances. 

Writing the TV Script

This module focuses on the development and writing of a complete television episode, enabling you to apply your understanding of character, structure, and series design within a sustained piece of screenwriting. 

You will develop an original pilot episode for a television series, addressing both the demands of a contained narrative and the requirements of an ongoing series. The module emphasises narrative progression, character-driven storytelling, and the craft of writing for television. 

The module introduces and develops key principles of character, structure, and series design, enabling you to shape an original idea into a structured television screenplay. 

Prioritising drafting and redrafting, it will encourage you to refine your work through feedback and iterative development. 

Dissertation

You will undertake a substantial, self-directed project (group or individual) that represents the culmination of your undergraduate study.

It will require you to synthesise, where applicable, technical skills, theoretical knowledge, creative vision, and professional practices to produce a substantial piece of original work (group or individual) accompanied by an individual portfolio exploring research methodologies and underpinned by critical reflection. 

The dissertation is defined not by a single format, but by its significance, ambition, and rigour. You will propose and execute a project that aligns with your discipline while demonstrating an understanding of its context within the broader screen arts landscape. Unlike traditional written dissertations, this module accepts diverse outputs—from films and screenplays to audio dramas, sports documentaries, essays, media campaign analyses, or technical portfolios—as long as they are underpinned by systematic research and critical reflection. 

All productions/projects should be analysed using the BFI Albert Sustainable Production Framework.

Audition Technique

This module introduces you to the essential skills and comprehension required to effectively compete within the entertainment marketplace.

Intensive practical exploration will equip you with casting practices, common audition scenarios, audition techniques, technical skills, and working under pressure.   

Career Prep for Actors

This module hopes to engage you directly with a wide range of industry practitioners. You will have the chance to research the invited guests in anticipation for live Q&A’s about entering the industry or other related careers. 

Audio Story

This module explores storytelling through sound within a collaborative production environment, requiring students to develop and realise an original audio drama. 

You will work across disciplines to conceive, write, perform, and produce a fully realised audio narrative. The module focuses on how character, narrative, and meaning are communicated without visual elements, emphasising dialogue, pacing, and the expressive use of sound. 

Narrative development remains central to the process, evolving through rehearsal, sound exploration and, where appropriate, performance.

You will engage in an iterative development process in which scripts are tested, refined, and realised through production, reflecting industry practices in audio storytelling. 

Facial Performance Capture

This module develops your knowledge and practical understanding of contemporary facial performance capture production.

You will engage with the principles, workflows and creative applications of facial motion capture, including performer preparation, head-mounted camera systems, facial tracking technologies, capture methodologies, retargeting processes, and the translation of recorded facial performance onto digital facial rigs.

Through workshops and project work, you will explore the relationship between performance, technical setup and postproduction practice, including the integration of facial capture with wider body-based motion capture workflows. The module enables you to develop professional skills in planning, problem-solving, communication and the realisation of facial performance capture outcomes within a collaborative production context.