University of Kent

This course offers students an introduction to the terms, ideas and craft, involved in the creation of screenplays. Students explore the conventions of dramatic structure, new narrative forms, and short film variations. They are encouraged to think critically about screenplay writing and have an opportunity to write their own screenplay. The course does not aim to provide vocational training for students wishing to pursue careers in the feature film or television industries.

This course examines film history and historiography through a series of case studies. In carrying out this investigation students are invited to work with secondary and primary sources held in the library and are encouraged to evaluate the aesthetic, technological, economic, social, and political histories presented in this course. Students examine the role and value of the contextual study of film and are given the opportunity to research and write on selected aspects of film historiography. 

This course is founded on the understanding that through engaging with narratives of dystopias, futures, and other speculative realities, we can gain some clarity of the pressing issues we face in the world today. Through examining five thematically structured units over the course of the term, students consider how the study of narratives that exist in 'other worlds' can offer insightful and nuanced analyses of complex questions involving environmental, political, historical, and/or societal concerns. Students also consider how these broader contexts and concerns can be utilized to further interrogate literary texts.