With the film and media landscape constantly changing, the subject area has never been as vibrant, vital, and relevant. This programme enables you develop an understanding and appreciation of the ways in which the inter-related release of film, television, and modern digital media not only entertain a global audience, but also serve to reflect, shape, and influence the societies in which they are created.
Staff who teach on this course are experienced in a range of disciplines and specialism which encompass anything from film and television history to media theory, aesthetics, and criticism. You may also be able to hear from industry professionals and creators as part of the teaching on the course.
Teaching is delivered through a blend of lectures, workshops, seminars, study groups, collective projects, screenings, research presentations, and independent study. You may also be able to collaborate with students from related programmes on interdisciplinary projects.
Through the first year of study, you can gain an overview of the theoretical, historical, philosophical, and critical approaches to various aspects of film, television, and audio-visual digital media. There is also a focus on production-centred aspects of the discipline, with chances to explore critical thinking and creativity in a practical space.
This continues in the second and third year, alongside the opportunity to begin to specialise through optional modules in a range of critical and practice-centred areas. This enables you to explore topics which are relevant to you own creative interests and career ambitions. This specialisation is taken further in the third year through an independent, research-centred project which you undertake.
There may also be opportunities in the second year to take part in a study abroad option with one of our partner institutions in Europe or the USA. Please note, you are responsible for you own travel, accommodation, and general living costs while undertaking study abroad.
On this module, students will be introduced to a range of established and emerging critical and theoretical approaches to film and television. It aims to enhance students’ critical thinking around several broad contexts, developing personal insights and socio-cultural awareness. Students will learn how film and television forms express themes and content, while generating meaning and affect. Students will develop skills of detailed observation and analytical expression, informed by an understanding of the place held by film, television and media forms in larger contexts. Group teaching sessions will be supported and consolidated by screenings and discussion. Taking a decolonizing approach and recognizing the increasingly global reach and interaction of film and television cultures, the module supports students in developing the skills to critically read film and television texts. This will also enable students to locate film and television’s place in the present and future media landscape.
Cultivating Creativity is a first-year interdisciplinary module designed to develop students' creative thinking and industry awareness. The module fosters curiosity, ideation, and practical application while equipping students with essential academic, creative and professional skills. Through engagement with contemporary issues, students will explore how these topics intersect with their chosen industry contexts.
Recognising that life today is lived with and through digital media technologies, devices and networks, this module offers a critical examination of digital media as cultural, social, and political phenomena. Students will interrogate the ways in which digital technologies mediate and transform modes of communication, subjectivity, and power dynamics in the 21st Century.
The module will introduce foundational concepts in contemporary media and cultural studies, with collaborative reading activities designed to help students develop the intellectual tools and media literacies needed to interpret, critique, and participate in digital culture.
Through exploratory workshops and seminars, the module will examine how digital media reflect and construct the social, political, economic, and aesthetic conditions that characterise life in the digital age. Emphasis is placed on reflexivity, encouraging students to critically position their own digital experiences within these contexts.
By developing conceptual vocabulary and reflective analysis, students will be equipped to interpret and critique digital media cultures with scholarly rigour, preparing them for advanced core modules at levels 5 and 6. The module seeks to empower students to engage with, challenge, and transform the conditions of contemporary media culture.
This module equips students with the core creative and technical skills essential for today’s film and media practitioners. Through hands-on workshops and practical exercises, students will gain experience with key production and post-production tools, developing creative confidence and knowledge of practice workflows and industry standards. Learning is consolidated through a reflective journal that captures technical progress, creative experimentation, and future applications in media practice.
This module introduces students to the historical development, formats, and cultural practices of criticism across film, television, and screen media. It explores the distinctions and overlaps between criticism, reviewing, and analysis, developing students’ understanding of how each operates within different professional and cultural contexts.
Through collaborative discussion and close engagement with a range of media texts, students will strengthen their ability to articulate informed interpretations and critical judgements for diverse audiences. The module supports the development of both analytical rigour and creative communication skills.
The module culminates in the production of a portfolio of critical work across multiple formats — which may include written, audio, video-based, and interactive pieces — reflecting the varied ways in which contemporary screen media criticism is produced and shared.
Your learning on this module encourages you to be adaptive and inquisitive in the face of change, equipping you with the critical awareness and agility needed to navigate a rapidly shifting media landscape. Alongside theoretical inquiry, you will engage in practical experimentation with selected emerging technologies or tools, analysing their creative potential through testing and evaluation. You will communicate your findings through research-led creative outputs, such as a video essay or another critically informed presentation format.
Expanded Film invites students into the world of experimental and artist-led moving-image practice. Through screenings, lectures and hands-on workshops, the module explores how filmmakers and visual artists challenge conventional storytelling to create bold, alternative screen works. Students experiment with a range of techniques and forms, such as expanded cinema, installation, video essay and title-sequence design. W, while developing their own short experimental artefact. Along the way, they learn to connect creative choices with key artistic influences and critical ideas, building confidence in imaginative, boundary-pushing practice.
The module is designed to be flexible in both content and assessment. Students may use a wide range of tools, methods, and forms. The portfolio format supports different working styles and access needs. Readings are short, accessible and available digitally.
This module introduces students to experimental approaches within animation, encouraging exploration beyond conventional workflows through the use of 2D rigs, hybrid techniques, and emerging digital tools. Students engage in short practical projects that integrate traditional animation principles with innovative processes, developing confidence in creative risk-taking and technical experimentation. By testing the boundaries of animation practice, students broaden their understanding of how alternative methods can enhance storytelling, motion design, and visual expression. The module provides a foundation for more advanced creative and technical development in later years.
Sound for Visual Media equips and empowers you to apply fundamental sound production skills in a variety of visual media contexts. Through a range of industry-aligned methods and practices, you will create complex soundtracks in response to specific visual media, drawing on key principles and theories of sound.
This module examines the role of visual media in shaping how we see, think, and engage with the world around us. Focusing on the influence of screen-based media on the formation of social values, identities, and everyday experiences, the module invites students to explore how images construct meaning across diverse social and cultural contexts. Through the study of key theories, practitioners, and media texts, students will develop advanced critical and analytical skills for interpreting visual culture in its historical, aesthetic, and political dimensions. The module also incorporates opportunities for creative engagement, enabling students to respond to contemporary issues through the production of video essays that merge theoretical reflection with audio-visual expression.
Creative Collaboration is a Level 5 shared core module that develops students’ ability to work effectively with others in the conception, development, and presentation of creative media projects. Through a series of intensive design sprints, students will collaborate in small groups to respond to a set of themed creative challenges aligned with real-world contexts such as social impact, sustainability, and emerging cultural practices.
The module emphasises collaboration as a creative and professional practice, foregrounding communication, negotiation, leadership, and problem-solving alongside ethical and cultural awareness. Students will be supported to reflect critically on both the creative outcomes and the collaborative processes that shape them.
The module culminates in a project-pitching event in which students present their collaborative projects and participate in a panel discussion, demonstrating their ability to articulate creative intent, evaluate collaborative dynamics, and respond to critical questioning.
On Global Film and Television, you'll broaden your knowledge of screen media by exploring how it travels across the world. You'll engage with a range of theoretical perspectives such as global cultural waves and flows, transnational audiences and the creative industries. We will study how film and TV is produced, distributed, exhibited and consumed in various global contexts. We will look at film/TV industries and cultures from a critical perspective and discover new ways of analysing them. We will advance key transferable skills, such as critical thinking, global awareness and communicating with diverse audiences.
Screen Histories will take students beyond standard stories about how film, TV and media have developed over time. We will look at screen histories from different angles and consider alternatives to mainstream accounts. We will even think about when screen histories begin: is yesterday’s media already history? We will discover the tools and materials that film, TV and media historians use, and develop our own capabilities as researchers. And we will develop presentation skills by communicating our interpretation of historical documents and materials to a non-specialist audience by presenting work in written, spoken, visual or video form.
This module offers a critical and creative exploration of social media platforms, networks and applications, investigating how they increasingly shape contemporary life. Students will engage with digital platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube to interrogate how they transform the ways we connect, consume, and interact with the world, from everyday forms of communication and self-expression to global cultures of participation and influence. Through a combination of lectures and workshops, the module examines topical themes such as virality, meme culture, algorithms, misinformation, and digital activism. Students will respond creatively to these issues, producing a digital portfolio that provides reflection on their own social media practices and considers the broader online cultures they are part of.
This module aims to give you an opportunity to immerse yourself in a specialist area within the creative arts. The content of the module is shaped by the research and practice expertise of staff members who actively collaborate with and mentor you throughout your exploration of this specialist area. This ensures that you benefit from the latest insights and methodologies within the chosen specialist area, gaining a well-rounded understanding that integrates theoretical knowledge with practical application.
This module explores the creative and technical processes of post-production for animation and visual effects. Students learn to integrate multiple visual layers, rendered passes, and live-action plates to produce seamless, cinematic imagery. Workshops cover keying, rotoscoping, tracking, and grading using professional software and emerging novel tools that enhance efficiency without replacing creative control. By the end of the module, students will produce a short composited sequence demonstrating visual coherence, colour harmony, and narrative intent — preparing them for advanced production and real-time workflows in Level 6 study
This module introduces students to the principles and practices of commercial motion design, where animation, graphic design and video combine to create moving visuals for professional and promotional purposes. Motion design is widely used in advertising, branding, broadcast, digital and social media, as well as in corporate communication and experiential contexts such as title sequences, film credits, music videos, product launches and digital interfaces.
Power up your audio production skills with this hands-on, deep dive into the virtual worlds of game audio. Learn how sound designers and studios create atmospheric and action-packed soundscapes to accompany complex gameplay. From creating bespoke sound assets to integrating audio into game engine software, this module is tailor made for those seeking to work in the game audio sector.
The module aims to introduce you to a range of conceptual and theoretical approaches to the study of horror in popular culture. It explores the history of the genre and selected subgenres as well as contemporary manifestations, both supernatural, and realist horror.
The module looks at the horror genre in terms of various social, cultural and national contexts. Students can study psychoanalytical approaches to these fictions as well as approaches such as affect theory which attempt to go beyond psychoanalysis. Through lectures, screenings and discussions, students are encouraged to apply these approaches to the analysis of selected media texts and subgenres.
Ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes on a professional film set? This module lifts the curtain on the fascinating world of the lesser-known – but absolutely essential – roles that bring a production to life. From discovering what an Assistant Director actually does to exploring the creative magic of a Foley Artist, you’ll get an inside look at the craft, the teamwork, and the problem-solving that power the screen industries.
You’ll be introduced to the full range of production roles, learning what each one does, how they collaborate, and the specialist skills involved. By the end of the module, you’ll have a confident, industry-level understanding of the entire production pipeline—and a clear sense of where you might fit within it. Whether you’re aiming to step onto set, into the studio, or behind the scenes, this module helps you discover the exciting career pathways that lie ahead.
This module is part of the University's commitment to academic programmes that encourage a high level of vocational relevance. This module encourages students to think beyond their University life, reaching into the wider community to hone their skills and target future employment possibilities. The module aims to enable students to examine how arts-based organisations, educational and non-traditional arts-based establishments function and provide students with valuable workplace experience.
Discover the twin pillars of professional screenwriting: creating original story material and evaluating scripts with an industry-ready eye. In this module, you’ll learn how to develop compelling film and television ideas, shape them into concise story outlines, and craft polished opening pages of screenplay that showcase your voice and creative intent. You’ll also step into the world of script development, where you’ll analyse feature film screenplays and produce clear, insightful script coverage — a skill used daily across studios, production companies, agencies, and development rooms. Through workshops, practical tasks, and guided feedback, you’ll build the creative, analytical, and communication skills that underpin successful writing careers. Whether you’re aiming to write your own projects or support the development of others, this module gives you the tools, confidence, and professional mindset to thrive in the screen industries.
The Industry Placement Year is an exciting opportunity for students to take a year out of formal study to gain real-world experience in the creative industries. Whether you’re looking to build industry connections, develop professional skills, or explore career options, this year will give you a full-time, hands-on experience within an arts, cultural, or creative organisation.
This year is a collaborative experience between you, your employer, and the University—ensuring that you get the most out of your time in a professional setting.
Study Abroad is an optional module which enables students to spend a semester studying abroad at one of the University’s approved partner institutions. Eligible students must have completed their first year of study to a satisfactory standard and successfully completed the application process for the study abroad scheme. During the semester spent abroad, students share classes with local students and study on a suite of locally-delivered taught modules which have been approved in advance by the University. Upon their return, as part of the assessment for this module, students are required to critically reflect upon their experience of living and studying in a different cultural environment and the skills acquired.
This module aims to give students a thorough understanding of production design, together with practical and creative skills to develop their own design solutions. Using key examples of production design throughout cinematic and televisual history, students will develop an understanding of how the role has evolved and changed over the years, and where it may be going. Using diverse examples of production designers across multiple genres, the aim is to provide a broad range of contextual references, to provide a foundation for the students’ own creative exploration and experimentation. The students will develop and realise their own production design proposal. This will be presented in an industry-inspired portfolio.
The space occupied by Youth is one that is frequently highly contested, debated and dissected. From ideas of alienated Other to active change maker, youth culture is situated as a fascinating in between site (as a bridge between child and adulthood), as challenging authority and belonging nowhere. The screen scrutinises youth culture through a socio-political lens and asks questions of it, such as how is it perceived, where is it positioned and what does it want?
Screening Youth explores the representation of young people in film and television within the context of society, culture and politics. The module will address youth on screen through themes that contextualise young people in and out of society, which may include image, space, sexuality, violence, identity and sub-cultures to enable students to understand and disseminate youth representations on UK, Hollywood and Global screens.
Enter the exciting world of sound design for moving image, where you will learn the methods and techniques employed by audio professionals working on some of your favourite films and television shows. You will be taken through the processes of creating the soundtrack for a dynamic moving image production, from its inception to completion. Using your imagination, you will channel your creative ideas into sound, using a range of industry-aligned equipment and facilities.
Storytelling for Animation and VFX equips students with the creative skills needed to write compelling narratives that challenge preconceptions of the medium. Students explore global animations, comics and folklore as inspirations and create their own original short form stories.
Creative Futures is a final-year module designed to prepare students for the transition into professional life. Through guest talks, lectures, tutorials, and flexible online learning, students gain a critical understanding of creative careers and the wider labour market. The module focuses on key transferable skills such as emotional intelligence, resilience, digital literacy, critical thinking, leadership, and intercultural awareness. Students will reflect on their strengths, values, and goals, and emerge confident, career-ready, and equipped to thrive in diverse professional environments.
Dissertation Project is an independent research module that enables students to undertake an in-depth written analysis of a defined topic related to film and media. Through guided lectures and seminars, students will learn how to develop a focused research question, select appropriate concepts and frameworks, and plan, organise and structure their dissertation project. A mid-year presentation will allow students to outline and receive feedback on their intended research topic, key literature, proposed methodology and planned chapter outline. Students will then work closely with an assigned supervisor to draft, refine, and complete their dissertation, receiving ongoing feedback and support throughout the research and writing process.
Film and Media Showcase immerses students in the research culture of University of Lincoln through discovery-based learning, critical enquiry, co-production and creative experimentation. Throughout the module, students will collaborate on the organisation, promotion, and delivery of a Film and Media Showcase event. Students can work individually or in teams to develop a Showcase project that responds to real-world issues, in whatever format is best suited to their particular skills and interests. These projects will be presented at a co-curated symposium and exhibition, where they be shared with external audiences. Students will each produce a portfolio that documents and reflects on their individual and collective contributions to the Showcase event, as well as demonstrating a range of transferable professional skills, such as effective communication, collaboration, project management, self-promotion, and entrepreneurial practice.
Media Arts explores the dynamic intersection of technology, culture, and power. Through lectures, practical workshops, and hands-on experimentation, students engage with the politics of media systems by interrogating critical issues in contemporary society and culture. Students will respond to a series of conceptual provocations, developing creative interventions that critique, subvert, or reimagine dominant ideologies and power structures. The module combines critical theory and media arts practice, inviting students to investigate how artistic expression can provoke dialogue, raise awareness, and drive transformation in society.
This module explores the technical backbone of animation production, focusing on rigging, technical animation, and character-effects workflows used in professional pipelines. Students learn how to design, build, and manage functional rigs for characters, props, and articulated systems, while integrating procedural or effects-driven elements to enhance motion and performance. By combining creative problem-solving with industry-standard production methods, students gain the core technical direction skills that underpin modern animation and VFX practice
Community Impact gives students the opportunity to apply their creative skills to real-world challenges in collaboration with external partners and communities. Working individually or in teams, students research, propose, and deliver creative responses to community-focused briefs that address social, cultural, or ethical issues. The module develops professional and transferable skills including project management, communication, collaboration, and reflective practice, while encouraging students to consider how creative work can make a meaningful contribution beyond the University environment.
This module helps you discover how to market and promote creative work effectively. You’ll build practical skills in communication, marketing, and distribution, exploring how creative products and services are positioned and reach audiences across different sectors. You’ll also learn research approaches that give you insight into industry trends and apply these ideas to real-world contexts. Through hands-on assignments, you’ll develop strategies to showcase your work and make it stand out in the competitive creative industries.
This module examines principles of games and play as cultural, aesthetic, and conceptual forms across multiple film and media contexts. It considers how these principles increasingly shape visual culture and digital media practices, including cinematic games, streaming cultures, and forms of interactive storytelling. Through critical study and creative experimentation, the module explores gamification, gameful design, and the growing influence of play-based systems across media and everyday life. It culminates in the creation of design prototypes that reflect games as spaces of cultural expression and innovation.
In this module, you’ll develop skills and knowledge in immersive audio. You’ll explore cutting-edge concepts, technologies, and production techniques that bring sound to life in three dimensions. Through hands-on experience, you’ll work with spatial audio formats like Ambisonics, Dolby Atmos, and binaural rendering, while mastering the principles of multichannel capture, mixing, and monitoring in a professional immersive studio environment.
This module gives students the opportunity to explore how digital content can shape physical spaces, real time environments and interactive experiences. Through hands on experimentation, rapid prototyping and user centred design, students investigate contemporary immersive practices and develop adaptable production methods suited to a fast-changing creative landscape. By the end of the module, students will have produced a small-scale immersive prototype that demonstrates clear problem solving, creative exploration and confident technical decision making.
The module focuses on screen media representations of minds and bodies with an emphasis on moving beyond assessing accuracy of portrayals to understanding the ideological contexts, discourses of power and critical debates in which perceptions of authenticity are constructed. It expands students’ knowledge of screen media’s role in processes of racialization, gendering and othering. Students taking this module will venture beyond film and media scholarship to develop intellectually rigorous critical reading. Drawing on this advanced engagement with established and contemporary debates students will undertake nuanced close textual analysis Students taking this module will develop research skills and written argumentation to support preparation for independent study or similar in-depth engagement with critical ideas.
This module offers students the opportunity to produce a professional-quality short film project that reflects their creative interests and career ambitions. Working within an open brief, students will develop and realise a moving-image work that demonstrates both creative intent and professional production practice. The completed film will serve as a key portfolio piece, supporting progression into industry or further study.
This module offers students the opportunity to develop a professional-quality screenplay project tailored to their creative interests and career goals. Working within an open brief, students will produce an original screenplay artefact that demonstrates advanced storytelling and professional presentation, forming a strong addition to their final portfolio.
This module immerses students in the creative and technical processes of real-time animation production. Using digital content creation (DCC) tools and game engines, students design cinematic sequences that bring animated stories to life in real time. They explore 3D layout, digital cinematography, and shot composition while learning how to manage efficient real-time workflows used in pre-viz, game cinematics and virtual production. By end of the module, students will have produced a short real-time cinematic sequence that demonstrates professional storytelling, aesthetic control, and technical proficiency suitable for contemporary animation and VFX pipelines.
† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.
We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, and contact hours.
You will be assessed in a variety of ways, including critical essays, but there is also an emphasis upon individual or group presentations, creative production work, audio-visual essays, viewing logs/blogs, critical evaluations, reports, and diaries. There are no formal examinations on the course.
104 to 112 UCAS Tariff points.
This must be achieved from a minimum of 2 A Levels or equivalent Level 3 qualifications. For example:
A Level: BCC to BBC
BTEC Extended Diploma: Distinction Merit Merit
T Level: Merit Overall
Access to Higher Education Diploma: 104 to 112 UCAS points to be achieved from 45 Level 3 credits.
International Baccalaureate: 29 points overall.
GCSE's: Minimum of three at grade 4 or above, which must include English . Equivalent Level 2 qualifications may be considered.
The University accepts a wide range of qualifications as the basis for entry and do accept a combination of qualifications which may include A Levels, BTECs, Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).
We may also consider applicants with extensive and relevant work experience and will give special individual consideration to those who do not meet the standard entry qualifications.
Non UK Qualifications:
If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages
https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.
EU and Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page
If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-sessional English and Academic Study Skills courses.
If you would like further information about entry requirements, or would like to discuss whether the qualifications you are currently studying are acceptable, please contact the Admissions team on 01522 886097, or email admissions@lincoln.ac.uk
Please note application assessment criteria may vary by country and we may close to applications from some domiciles. Please view the Your Country pages of our website before making an application.
Going to university is a life-changing step and it's important to understand the costs involved and the funding options available before you start. A full breakdown of the fees associated with this programme can be found on our course fees pages.
For eligible undergraduate students going to university for the first time, scholarships and bursaries are available to help cover costs. To help support students from outside of the UK, we are also delighted to offer a number of international scholarships which range from £1,000 up to the value of 50 per cent of tuition fees. For full details and information about eligibility, visit our scholarships and bursaries pages.
The best way to find out what it is really like to live and learn at Lincoln is to visit us in person. We offer a range of opportunities across the year to help you to get a real feel for what it might be like to study here.
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