BA, 3 years, UCAS: WP43
Typical A level offer: AAB-ABB
Subject overview
Why film studies?
One of the most powerful cultural forms over the past 120 years – from the silent screen to the digital era – film has established a unique place within the imagination of audiences across the globe. As entertainment, art, documentary or propaganda, film has shaped how we see ourselves and others, and how we understand the world in which we live.
Enjoyed by audiences, explored by artists and censored by governments, the medium of film has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to reflect our lives, to mirror our fantasies, and to influence our conception of reality.
This stimulating medium continues to fascinate, to provoke debate, to incite controversy, and to maintain its relevance in the era of digital communication technologies. It has also inspired exciting critical, theoretical and practical work that has ensured the place of film studies as one of the most vital and agenda-setting disciplines within the humanities.
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Why film studies at Sussex?
Media and film at Sussex is ranked in the top 10 places to study in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013, in the top 15 in the UK inThe Sunday Times University Guide 2012 and The Complete University Guide 2014, in the top 25 in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2014, and in the top 100 in the world for communication and media studies in the QS World University Rankings 2013 – we are leading the debate about the future of film.
Our research centrally underpins our teaching and pushes the boundaries of thinking about media and film. We were rated joint 8th in the UK for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 100 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 75 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher.
At Sussex we investigate in detail both how film constructs its meanings and pleasures and why it is important. This is your chance to gain a deeper understanding of this exciting and endlessly surprising medium.
Film studies at Sussex focuses not just on film but on how it intersects with a rich history of art forms, cultural representations, and contexts. From Hollywood to Bollywood, and beyond, you will study how relations between cinema, society, industry and technology have shaped our attitudes and cultural beliefs, developing critical insights that will enrich your thinking about the medium, its possibilities and its significance.
Working with films from across the globe and from different historical eras, you will explore how diverse cultures are represented onscreen through a range of formal modes – such as classical cinema, contemporary commercial films, art cinema, avant-garde and experimental works, independent cinema, and documentary film.
Our teaching team includes faculty of international repute at the cutting edge of film studies. In covering exciting new areas of study, we aim to reinvigorate established debates by bringing new perspectives to bear on traditional questions and approaches.
Film studies makes extensive use of current teaching and learning technologies, particularly through our dedicated virtual learning environment, Study Direct. The School of Media, Film and Music has a well-resourced media library to support teaching, with thousands of films and television programmes on DVD, as well as individual viewing facilities and an onsite viewing theatre.
As a single-honours student, you can take the School’s innovative practice modules alongside your theory modules across all three years of study, enjoying the benefits of our state-of-the-art production and post-production facilities. We strongly believe that creative work complements critical work in a well-balanced programme of study.
Brighton enjoys a thriving, world-renowned cultural scene with numerous arts and film festivals. It is also a strong hub for creative media industries in the UK. Its proximity to London means that you may benefit from the resources available via key institutions such as the London Film Festival, the British Film Institute (BFI) Library, the BFI Southbank film theatres, and the British Library.
Why drama studies?
Studying drama equips you with a broad range of skills, both practical and theoretical, that are transferable in a variety of cultural spheres and contexts.
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Why drama studies at Sussex?
Drama studies at Sussex was ranked 4th (87 per cent) for organisation and management and also scored 93 per cent in the teaching category of the 2012 National Student Survey (NSS).
Drama at Sussex was ranked in the top 15 in the UK in The Complete University Guide 2014 and in the top 20 in the UK inThe Times Good University Guide 2013 and The Sunday Times University Guide 2012.
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), 95 per cent of our drama research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and over half rated as internationally excellent or higher.
Throughout your course, you will explore a range of ideas, issues and questions relating to theatre and performance, in particular how such practices relate to different social, political, aesthetic and cultural arenas. You will address these through a rigorous combination of theory and practice, and develop confidence and ability both as a creative practitioner and thinker.
Specialist teaching from active practitioners and researchers in specific historical periods, as well as in international contemporary theatre practices and performance.
Our curriculum explores the relationship between theory and practice in the seminar room, in studio workshops and with professional visiting artists and practitioners.
Programme of study that moves from the introduction of first principles, via their more sophisticated application, to areas of research-led individual specialism.
Strong relationships with local and national arts organisations (including the Brighton International Festival), and opportunities to work with them during your course. We encourage you to gain valuable professional experience and thus develop your career prospects.
Emphasis on group work and collaboration in teaching and assessment.
Full-scale performance project taught to professional standard (final year) to an invited public.
Programme content
This course provides an approach that integrates two ways of presenting cultural narratives and explorations – film and dramatic performance. The film studies element of the course offers a firm foundation in visual literacy, film genres and film theory by introducing you to a wide range of film-making and viewing across the globe.
As well as the drama studies core modules, first-year modules explore film analysis and issues in film studies.
In Year 2 you look at issues of film theory and film genres in greater depth, before moving on to explore a range of cinematic practices.
In the final year, you take two thematic options from a range of film studies modules and complete a film studies dissertation.
You take all the drama studies core modules for the full three years, alongside film studies core modules.
We continue to develop and update our modules for 2014 entry to ensure you have the best student experience. In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.
Core content
Year 1
You explore the wider landscape of film from Hollywood to a range of international cinemas through topics such as film histories and film geographies. You are also introduced to the terminology and techniques of close film analysis and critical approaches to genre, authorship, narrative, style and technology
Year 2
You consider key debates and developments in film theory and deepen your engagement with the history of American cinema. The second term allows you to choose from a range of options on various national and transnational cinema contexts such as French, Indian, Spanish, Cuban and British cinema
Year 3
You choose specialist options, examining topics such as popular genres, post-1960 Hollywood, experimental film, questions of adaptation, representations of gender and sexuality, and filmic representations of race and ethnicity. You will also be supported in your work on a final independent research project
How will I learn?
Lectures by Sussex’s internationally recognised experts in film studies will introduce you to new frameworks within which to explore film. You will be able to refine your thinking in seminars and small-group debates designed to challenge you, and to develop a critical edge to your arguments in a supportive environment.
For more information, visit Studying at Sussex.
What will I achieve?
Our courses are designed to challenge your thinking in order to challenge others. Your ability to ‘read’ film will deepen your analytic faculties, giving you a vital head start to your future career.
We continue to develop and update our modules for 2014 entry to ensure you have the best student experience. In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.
Core content
Year 1
You are introduced to some of the ways theatre is made, significant theories on drama and theatre from the Greeks to the present day and the specific skills required to read and stage theatre texts. Teaching is through academic and practical methods throughout your course
Year 2
You familiarise yourself with developments and debates in contemporary theatre performance and composition • the study of the historical/cultural shift from modern to postmodern drama • writing for theatre • the early modern drama period
Final year
You specialise and choose from topics such as the study of theatre and ethics • approaches to making theatre politically • the body in performance • postdramatic theatre. You also choose from one of two final performance projects in which you undertake technical and performance roles
How will I learn?
You learn through a combination of seminars and practical workshops, where practice enables you to examine theoretical concepts, topics, methods and debates you are researching. Some modules are taught through seminar only. You also spend sustained periods in the studio, rehearsing and preparing performance projects and workshop presentations.
Your work is assessed by various means including seminar presentations, essays and longer dissertations, which train you in the academic disciplines of close reading and analysis, researching, writing, logical thought, critical evaluation of ideas, articulation of complex concepts, succinct expression and meticulous verbal presentation. There is also scope within your course to develop your own writing for theatre, as well as development of specialist production skills (eg devising, lighting, design, sound, directing). Your practical work is assessed through group workshop presentations, productions and critical reflective essays.
For more information, visit Studying at Sussex.
What will I achieve?
- a detailed knowledge of drama, theatre and performance, focusing on the modern and contemporary periods
- exploration of practical and performative concepts in drama, staging and the writing of texts
- an understanding of theatre as a social and political construct and as a form of communication. Performance offers a rich source of information about the way different cultures have developed
- intellectual understanding of the role of drama within society, as well as practical awareness – gained through exercises in writing, devising, acting and performance – of how drama is composed and staged
- by studying drama alongside other related subjects such as film, English or a language, you are able to make interdisciplinary connections
- a wide range of skills relating to analysis of texts, research, constructing bibliographies, presentation and articulation of ideas, collaboration and leadership, and critical and creative thinking
- if your course includes a language, the ability to speak and write the language to a high level, and to read dramatic texts in their original language.
Please note that these are the modules running in 2012.
Year 1
Core modules
Year 2
Core modules
Options
Year 3
Core modules
Options
Film Analysis: Hollywood Narrative and Style
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1
Film Analysis 1 explores the diverse uses to which filmmakers put such key techniques of cinematic expression as narrative, cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound, performance and special effects. You will explore not simply how such techniques are accomplished (ie the creative choices available to filmmakers) but also the potential they have for generating meaning and pleasure when combined together to produce filmic texts. The module is based around a series of reading assignments, which will be discussed in seminars along with the week's set film and extracts from other films. In particular, Film Analysis 1 examines one of the most influential and most pervasive models of cinema: the classical narrative film produced during the era of the Hollywood studio system (from approximately 1915 to 1960). You will consider several films from this era, as well as films produced subsequently, in the light of influential propositions by David Bordwell and other film scholars regarding the systematic organisation of stylistic and narrative norms within classical Hollywood storytelling.
Issues in Film Studies 1B: European Film Cultures
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1
This module is an introduction to the history and study of film and cinema. Through lectures, seminars and screenings, you will explore silent and sound cinema, the concept of mass culture, developing cinematic practices in different countries, and the aesthetic and institutional procedures of various film industries.
Issues in Film Studies 2: Global Film Cultures
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1
Building on Issues in Film Studies 2, this module continues to examine modes of film making and cinematic contexts from a range of national settings and historical moments. You will both expand your knowledge of different cinematic practices, and deepen your skills of textual and contextual analysis.
Making Theatre
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1
The aim of this module is to introduce you to the processes by which theatre or performance may be created. You will participate in and reflect on group-based approaches to making theatre, be they in the field of devising and/or text-based production. Games and exercises will encourage you to work with other students, creatively and productively with a view to generating material for performance. The module aims to develop ways of making theatre that stress interaction, teamwork and the value of focused workshop practice. The module will culminate in a group presentation in which short pieces that have either been devised or directed will be performed.
Reading Theatre Texts
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1
This module introduces you to ways of reading and thinking critically about theatre texts. You will examine a number of texts in relation to dramatic conventions, as well as issues of theatre production and performance. You will look at how plays from different historical periods vary in form and content, focusing on stylistic and structural differences from a comparative perspective. The module aims to introduce you to analytical approaches to reading plays and to key issues in theatre and performance. Texts to be studied may include plays from different periods of theatre history.
Staging Text
15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1
This module concerns the staging of dramatic text in theatrical space. It will consider the many choices facing the actor or performer when delivering text, and will introduce you to contrasting practitioners' approaches to performing text. In addition, you will encounter approaches to stagecraft, which may include treatment of lighting, design, multimedia or costume, and the ways in which such issues affect the presentation of text.
Theories of Drama
15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1
Theories of Drama will focus on the innovations of major drama theorists relating to the text, the audience, the performer and the performance space. You will study a range of writers that will include Aristotle, Stanislavsky, Brecht, Artaud, Grotowski, Boal, Lecoq and Brook. The module begins with an introductory session on what we understand by drama, theatre and performance. This will be followed by seminars based on the close study of a range of theoretical texts from Aristotle to the present. We focus on the major changes that these theorists have brought to thinking about theatre, as well as exploring their links with other forms of literary and critical theory. Each week, individual students will be asked to give short presentations based on the theme of that week's seminar. The topic will be agreed in consultation with your module tutor.
Approaches to Contemporary Performance
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2
This module will familiarise you with approaches to contemporary performance, which acknowledge the opportunities afforded by theatre and theatricality in a profoundly uncertain world. You will engage with issues in contemporary stagecraft on a practical level, although workshops will necessarily be informed by a range of theoretical positions. Work will focus on the treatment of character but there will be opportunities to explore, for example, issues of signification on stage, non-linear plotting, and comprehensibility.
Film Theory
30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2
This module examines a range of different approaches to film studies including semiotics, narratology,psychoanalysis, reception studies in debate with spectatorship theory, post-modern theory and postcolonial theory.
Modern and Postmodern Drama
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2
This module will be taught as a series of seminars exploring the shift from naturalism to modernist and postmodernist theatre from the late 19th to the 21st century. It examines a number of plays that address important issues of modernity (and postmodernity), both in their form and content. We will look at the contribution and response of drama to social and cultural debates around the role of art, gender and sexuality, the family, the state and the nation. You will study a different play each week, give a short presentation in one of the seminars and engage fully in the discussion of all the texts.
Early Modern Drama and Contemporary Theatre
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2
This module is designed to allow you to follow your interest in the play texts and performances of the early modern theatre, studying a single play from this period in detail. This play may be chosen from the many plays that do not have modern editions (plays by Goffe, Brome and Davenant for instance), but might instead be a well-known play from the period (Shakespeare's Hamlet, for instance). A facsimile reproduction of an early edition will be used. This will allow you to encounter the text in its original format, unmediated by modern editorial conventions.
The module will be divided into two sections. The first will be based on an exploration of the playing conditions of the early modern theatre, the text itself and/or the context in which the play under consideration was both written and initially performed. The teaching and study will be tailored towards the themes of the play under consideration in any given year. You will work in a group towards producing a basic edited version of the play (with notes where necessary), familiarising yourself with the issues involved in editing such a text - for example questions of punctuation, format, spelling conventions, and textual variations.
The second part of the module will take what you have learned from your intensive focus upon the text, and use the edition you have produced as the basis for a performance that you will devise in a workshop environment. This will be done in conjunction with further study of the play and its performance history, and will aim particularly at using performance to elucidate interesting or contentious areas of the play text that can be identified. The final assessed performance that you produce will not necessarily be a simple performance or reading of the play itself, but will use the play as a starting point.
Locating Cinema: British Cinema A
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2
The module begins by examining critical approaches to a history of British cinema and the dominant ways in which this cinema and its characteristics have been understood. It then moves to an examination of British cinema from the 1920s to 1980, beginning with the factors which shaped it, in particular the debates about the social and cultural importance of a specifically British cinema against the background of the massive influence of Hollywood, and the representations of 'Britishness' that this produced. The later weeks of the module examine in more detail British cinema's attempts to deal with the various forms of 'otherness' that it has sought both to define and to contain in the changing cultural and political climate of the post-war years, and with the different 'British cinemas' that this produced.
Locating Cinema: Cuban Cinema A
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2
This module offers a historical, critical, and theoretical survey of Cuban cinema. You will look at the specific political, social, economic, technological, and aesthetic factors that have influenced the shape and character of imaging practices in Cuba since the arrival of cinematography on the island in 1897. Key topics may include: pre-classical (1897-1919) and classical eras (1920-1960) in Cuba, whose imaging practices are often ignored or overshadowed by the cinema of the Cuban Revolution; pre-revolutionary and revolutionary cinema, ; the 'other' island films, created by exiled Cubans; and films articulating the experience of the Cuban diaspora, particularly in terms of Cuban-North American culture. The module also addresses contemporary issues and practices in the shadow of profound technological, economic and political changes, including the co-productions of globalisation/digitalisation.
Locating Cinema: French Cinema A
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2
This module will examine a range of films produced in France from World War I to the present day. It will move between popular cinema and the art film and review a number of national styles and genres, such as the moment of the Nouvelle Vague (the New Wave) including Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Jean-Luc Godard; the lyrical social documentary of Jean Vigo; policier detective dramas such as Pepe le Moko, the musical, including Jacque Demy’s Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, and the horror film Les Diaboliques. A series of directors will be studied, including Claude Chabrol, Rene Clair, Alain Resnais, Roger Vadim, Luis Bunuel, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Jean Luc Godard. There will be close readings of specified films, as well as an examination of them in terms of their larger social and cultural meanings.
Writing for Theatre
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2
This module focuses on writing for the theatre from a critical and creative perspective. You will explore the work of a number of contemporary playwrights, examining the way they approach writing, and the techniques they employ. You will focus on how playwrights have experimented with theatrical form and structure, and investigate the way in which themes and critical issues become manifest in theatrical writing. You will also consider how such writers might provide starting points for your own work. To complement this, a range of creative writing exercises will encourage you to develop your own theatre writing, through the composition of monologues, dialogues and dramatic scenes.
Final Year Performance Project
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3
The aim of this module is to allow you to engage in depth with processes leading to a full-length production or performance. You will be expected to feed into their work (and into that of the group) the most relevant areas of skill and knowledge which they have gained elsewhere on the programme. In the context of preparing and rehearsing for performance, you will be expected to practice, to extend and to develop the physical, creative, intellectual and practical skills necessary for the work. You will also analyse and reflect on their own and the group's processes. You will be expected to develop their own approaches to researching and studying the text or material which forms the basis for the process and the performance. You will be expected to document and analyse your own work and the group's work effectively, and make suggestions of how it might be developed further.
Adaptation: Filming Fiction
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3
This module examines film adaptations of fiction from the silent period to the present day. A diverse range of film texts will be considered, along with critical and theoretical perspectives on adaptation, authorship and intertextuality. The module focuses on film adaptations of nineteenth-century and twentieth-century novels, short stories and picture books, including works by Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allen Poe, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Mann, Raymond Carver and Maurice Sendak. We will consider the significance of the idea of fidelity for the reception and theorisation of film adaptation. The module will approach adaptation as both an industrial mode of commercial production and a creative mode of critical interpretation. Cinematic strategies deployed to reproduce literary devices will be analysed in order to think about adaptation's value for theories of medium specificity. The module will also examine the politics of cross-cultural adaptation by looking at Indian and African films based on European source texts. Directors studied during the course include: Roger Corman, David Lean, Max Ophuls, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Claire Denis and Spike Jonze.
Alternative Cinemas
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3
Hollywood Comedian Comedy
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3
Comedian-comedy has been one of the most persistent genres of popular Hollywood cinema since the silent era, but until recently it has received little serious critical attention. This module will consider a range of individual performers and the diverse historical, cinematic and extra-cinematic contexts in which they worked. Drawing upon a range of critical and theoretical paradigms, the module will examine the key fictional and extra-fictional features of the genre; the relations between performance, gags and narrative; the shifting relationships between comedy in film and other media (such as vaudeville and television); and the representation of class, gender, ethnicity and race. Films studied may include comedies featuring such performers as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Mae West, the Marx Brothers, Jerry Lewis, Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy.
Hollywood Industry and Imaginary
30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
Performing the Body
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
This module considers some of the ways theatre and performance studies documents and theorizes the body in and as performance. In particular, you will focus on the use and representation of the body in performance, from the late 20th century to the present day. We will consider the complex and intriguing ways in which live performance (theatre, dance, performance art, protest marches, exhibitions) positions the body as a fluid and performative site through which historical, cultural and social identities can be located and contested. How do constructions of the body produce hierarchizing and marginalizing effects? How does embodiment both delimit and explode the rhetorics and discourses that frame the body in live performance? You will examine a range of key debates that focus on the body and on notions of subjectivity and identity politics. You will examine specific performance "scenes" and artists in order to develop in-depth discussions that will culminate in a series of performative seminar presentations. The module will foreground some of the critical issues that arise when we consider the body as an event that problematizes the distinction between the live and the mediated, the "real" and the performed, the staged and the everyday.
Postdramatic Theatre
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
This course will introduce you to notions of post-dramatic theatre by examining theoretical positions and practical applications. You will consider what might constitute theatre in a post-representation world, and the ways in which the fundamentals of dramatic theatre - character, plot and dialogue - are called into question. You will also examine the aesthetics of the post-dramatic through your own practice and will be invited to develop approaches to performance that seek to bracket or banish representation in the theatre.
Race and Ethnicity in Popular Cinema 1
30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
Sexualities and the Cinema
30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3
This module centres on the critical study of sexualities and how they are represented in a range of film texts. Through screenings, seminars and self directed study, you will consider in detail and depth, the ways in which sexualities have been both theorised and represented in film. Debates considered in the module may include: the politics of sexual identification; the idea of sexual 'perversity'; sexual stereotyping (especially of lesbians and gays); and the critical concept of 'queer' in theory, identity politics and cinematic genre (queer cinema).
The Musical
30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
This module will examine the musical, tracing the hegemonic Hollywood genre to its roots in European vaudeville, cabaret culture, stage musicals and operas. It will also explore musicals that may seek to defy or respond to Hollywoodcentric, Eurocentric and heterosexist conceptions of genre. The module is divided into two sections. The first section will analyse the Hollywood musical of the studio era, by examining both the stylistic features and historical context of some of its different sub-genres; the show/backstage musical, the fairy tale musical and the folk musical. It may also explore the diverse ways in which the studio era musical as entertainment may work ideologically in relation to issues of race, ethnicity and sexuality.
The second section of the module will focus on the musical as it has developed beyond Hollywood (and beyond the conceptual framework of Hollywood). Topics may include; the subcultural musical, the animated musical (arguably, the most common form of the contemporary musical in both its mainstream (Disney) and counter mainstream forms (South Park)) and may conclude with a consideration of the future of the musical in terms of gender, age and physicality.
Theatre, Performance and Ethics
15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
This module looks at a series of contemporary plays and theatre productions in relation to the ethics of representation. It will explore the writer's or the director's responsibilities in staging the self and the other in theatre and the strategies they adopt to highlight and problematise this process. By combining theoretical, textual and performance analysis, the module will engage with debates surrounding the representation of violence, trauma, sexuality, alterity and cultural and autobiographical memory in theatre. We will look at concepts such as meta-theatre and the role of the author in the theatre text as well as practices that aim to embody ethical positions in and through performance. In addition to recent thinking about ethics and representation in theatre and performance, the module will cover contemporary British and Irish playwrights and productions by contemporary theatre practitioners from the UK and France.
Viewing Women
30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3
Early work on the relation of women to film considered woman's 'to-be-looked-at-ness', examining representations of women as objects of the male gaze, constructions 'cut to the measure of [male] desire' (Laura Mulvey). You will consider the female spectator, positioned by particular film and television genres (melodrama, the 'woman's film', and soap opera). More recently, attention has shifted to women as social audiences and producers of meanings, differing from one another and constructing from texts their own meanings and pleasures. This module traces these developing and interacting strands of research, considering questions around the location of meaning, the relationship between text and context, and the usefulness of different strands of feminist research in enabling us to understand film texts and their representations and positioning of women. It considers a range of popular and feminist film texts and their viewers.
Entry requirements
Sussex welcomes applications from students of all ages who show evidence of the academic maturity and broad educational background that suggests readiness to study at degree level. For most students, this will mean formal public examinations; details of some of the most common qualifications we accept are shown below. If you are an overseas student, refer to Applicants from outside the UK.
All teaching at Sussex is in the English language. If your first language is not English, you will also need to demonstrate that you meet our English language requirements.
- A level
Typical offer: AAB-ABB
- International Baccalaureate
Typical offer: 34 points overall
For more information refer to International Baccalaureate.
- Access to HE Diploma
Typical offer: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with at least 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher.
Specific entry requirements: The Access to HE Diploma should be in the humanities or social sciences.
For more information refer to Access to HE Diploma.
- Advanced Diploma
Typical offer: Pass with at least grade B in the Diploma and A in the Additional and Specialist Learning
Specific entry requirements: The Additional and Specialist Learning must be an A-level (ideally in a humanities or social science subject).
For more information refer to Advanced Diploma.
- BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma
Typical offer: DDD-DDM
For more information refer to BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma.
- European Baccalaureate
Typical offer: Overall result of at least 77%
For more information refer to European Baccalaureate.
- Finnish Ylioppilastutkinto
Typical offer: Overall average result in the final matriculation examinations of at least 6.0
- French Baccalauréat
Typical offer: Overall final result of at least 13/20
- German Abitur
Typical offer: Overall result of 1.8 or better
- Irish Leaving Certificate (Higher level)
Typical offer: AAAABB-AABBBB
- Italian Diploma di Maturità or Diploma Pass di Esame di Stato
Typical offer: Final Diploma mark of at least 90/100
- Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers
Typical offer: AAABB-AABBB
For more information refer to Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers.
- Spanish Titulo de Bachillerato (LOGSE)
Typical offer: Overall average result of at least 8.0
- Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma
Typical offer: Pass the Core plus at least AB in two A-levels
For more information refer to Welsh Baccalaureate.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall, with not less than 6.0 in each section. Internet-based TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 19 in Reading, 21 in Speaking and 23 in Writing.
For more information, refer to alternative English language requirements.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex:
Undergraduate Admissions,
Sussex House,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 678416
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E ug.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
Related subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Home/EU students: £9,0001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £9,0002
Overseas students: £13,0003
1 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Care Leavers Award (2014)
Region: UK
Level: UG
Application deadline: 31 July 2015
For students have been in council care before starting at Sussex.
First-Generation Scholars Scheme (2014)
Region: UK
Level: UG
Application deadline: 12 June 2015
The scheme is targeted to help students from relatively low income families – ie those whose family income is up to £42,622.
First-Generation Scholars Scheme EU Student Award (2014)
Region: Europe (Non UK)
Level: UG
Application deadline: 12 June 2015
£3,000 fee waiver for UG Non-UK EU students whose family income is below £25,000
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Undergraduate Study (2014)
Region: UK
Level: UG
Application deadline: 1 March 2014
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Undergraduate students following an undergraduate degree courses in any subject.
Careers and profiles
Working independently and collaboratively, this course will prepare you for a wide range of careers in the creative industries and beyond.
Recent graduates have taken up a wide range of posts with employers including: account co-ordinator at 33 • business development executive at Progressive Digital Media • intern at Lex Records • PR intern at Blue Dolphin • IT manager at Credit Suisse Group • sales executive at the Daily Mirror • account executive at Brighter Option • creative director at Concrete Rose Productions • fashion PR assistant at Blow PR • learning support assistant at Darrick Wood Secondary School.
Specific employer destinations listed are taken from recent Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education surveys, which are produced annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Also refer to Department of Media and Film: Industry links.
This course prepares you for employment in fields such as theatre and performing arts, arts administration, further study to Masters and PhD level at professional conservatoires and drama schools, and for the media, film and journalistic professions. Other graduates will use their skills in applied and socially engaged practices, such as drama therapy, community and prison work, and teaching.
Recent graduates have taken up a range of posts with employers including: associate producer at Brand New School • marketing executive at Triniti Marketing • operations executive at Boundary i-Media • senior team leader at IMG • marketing executive at Future Publishing • PA to Head of Business and Legal Affairs at BBC Worldwide • production assistant at the Arcola Theatre.
Specific employer destinations listed are taken from recent Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education surveys, which are produced annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Also refer to School of English: Career opportunities and School of English: Student perspectives.
Careers and employability
For employers, it’s not so much what you know, but what you can do with your knowledge that counts. The experience and skills you’ll acquire during and beyond your studies will make you an attractive prospect. Initiatives such as SussexPlus, delivered by the Careers and Employability Centre, help you turn your skills to your career advantage. It’s good to know that 94 per cent of our graduates are in work or further study (Which? University).
For more information on the full range of initiatives that make up our career and employability plan for students, visit Careers and alumni.
Helen's career perspective
‘Film Studies at Sussex is perfect for anyone interested in cinema and its cultural context. The degree is designed to allow you to pursue your own interests – I’m interested in feminist film theory and was able to explore this across three years and during my final dissertations.
‘The atmosphere at Sussex is very welcoming and Brighton is a real cultural hub. There’s a fantastic arthouse cinema, and plenty of film societies on campus. The Library is also an excellent resource for audiovisual material.
‘Since graduating, I’ve worked solidly for the past few years. A week after graduation I began working at Birds Eye View (the London-based women’s film festival) as an Events Producer, and have spent the last 18 months as UK General Manager for Shooting People, an online network for independent filmmakers. I’ve travelled to festivals, worked as a journalist, been involved in film programming and put on my own events. I couldn’t have chosen a better degree.’
Helen Jack
Manager, Shooting People
Sam's career perspective
‘Film Studies at Sussex was a perfect start for my career in the film industry. The great range of modules on offer opened up new film worlds and gave me the critical language and research skills to begin to examine a wide variety of visual cultures.
‘Being based in Brighton, a cultural hub that continues to grow and evolve, allowed me to take my first steps in the industry, working with local film festivals and organising the programme for the film society on campus. Since graduating, I've worked for City Screen in a variety of roles and am currently one of the managers of the Hackney Picturehouse.
‘The skills I developed and the opportunities I was afforded at Sussex ,alongside the excellent teaching, support and resources in the Department, have helped me achieve something I thought of only as a dream.’
Sam Cuthbert
Film Programmer and Cinema Manager
Contact our School
School of Media, Film and Music
The School of Media, Film and Music combines rigorous critical and historical studies of media, film, music and culture with opportunities for creative practice in a range of musical forms and the media of photography, film, radio, and interactive digital imaging.
How do I find out more?
For more information, contact the admissions tutor:
Media, Film and Music,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RG, UK
E mfm@sussex.ac.uk
T +44(0)1273 873481
F +44(0)1273 877219
Department of Media and Film
School of English
Over the last 30 years, English at Sussex has played a key role in shaping the direction of the discipline in Britain and throughout the world. The School of English offers you exciting potential for engaging with English as a world language and literature.
How do I find out more?
For more information, contact:
Drama Studies, Arts B,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9QN, UK
E ug.admissions@english.sussex.ac.uk
T +44 (0)1273 877303
School of English
Visit us
Sussex Open Day
Saturday 5 October 2013
Open Days offer you the chance to speak one to one with our world-leading academic staff, find out more about our courses, tour specialist facilities, explore campus, visit student accommodation, and much more. Booking is required. Go to Visit us and Open Days to book onto one of our tours.
Campus tours
Not able to attend one of our Open Days? Then book on to one of our weekly guided campus tours.
Mature-student information session
If you are 21 or over, and thinking about starting an undergraduate degree at Sussex, you may want to attend one of our mature student information sessions. Running between October and December, they include guidance on how to approach your application, finance and welfare advice, plus a guided campus tour with one of our current mature students.
Self-guided visits
If you are unable to make any of the visit opportunities listed, drop in Monday to Friday year round and collect a self-guided tour pack from Sussex House reception.
Jonathan's staff perspective
‘Sussex provides world-leading teaching and excellent academic facilities, with a vibrant student life in a fantastic location. All of this meant that I left Sussex with a unique set of experiences and a degree that has prepared me for my future.
‘Joining Student Recruitment Services at the University has enabled me to share my experiences of Sussex with others. Coming to an Open Day gives you the opportunity to meet our research-active academics and our current students, while exploring our beautiful campus. But don’t worry if you can’t make an Open Day, there’s plenty of other opportunities to visit Sussex. Check out our Visit us and Open Days pages or our Facebook page to find out more.
‘I’ve loved every moment of my time at Sussex – these have been the best years of my life.’
Jonathan Bridges
Graduate Intern, Student Recruitment Services