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French with Film Studies (BA) (Full-Time, 2021 Entry)

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UCAS Code
R1W6

Qualification
Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Duration
4 years full-time, normally including a year abroad

Start Date
27 September 2021

Department of Study
School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Location of Study
University of Warwick


Our French with Film Studies (BA) degree gives you the opportunity to specialise in French language and culture, while spending a quarter of your time on Film Studies.


Course overview

French with Film Studies at Warwick provides the opportunity to explore the extraordinary breadth and depth of French and Francophone language and culture in collaboration with recognised experts in the field. You’ll study the French language through and alongside the historical, cultural, geographical, and political contexts in which French is spoken across the world. By spending a quarter of your time on Film Studies, you will also acquire a specialist knowledge of French cinema, Hollywood cinema, and other European film cultures. You will normally spend your second or third year abroad, consolidating and enhancing your learning in a Francophone environment.

During your time on campus, you will cover topics spanning politics, philosophy, literature, visual culture and history. Wherever you decide your interests lie, you can tailor your programme of study in a way that suits you. You’ll be part of a dynamic, interdisciplinary, research-active culture, playing an active part in your own learning. Having developed foundation skills in your first year, you will hone your language abilities in your subsequent years, and explore your own academic interests beyond the language.


Course structure

Having acquired foundation skills in your first year, you will go on to develop your language skills on more advanced language modules in the intermediate and final years, as well as pursuing your own particular interests beyond the language. Our modules reflect the research specialism of academics in the French department and cover a broad range of subjects in French and Francophone culture, society, literature, politics, philosophy, film and history.

Alongside this, you will spend a quarter of your time on Film Studies. You will take modules in Film Studies introducing you to formal strategies and critical and historical concepts necessary for understanding and analysing films.


How will I learn?

We employ a variety of teaching styles, including: lectures; seminars of about 15 students, in which the emphasis is on student participation; and written and spoken language classes in small groups. You will spend the rest of your time studying independently, preparing for classes, reading and analysing materials set for study, writing essays and working on your language skills.


Contact hours

12 hours per week (15 hours per week in first year).


Class size

Seminars generally involve around 15 students.


How will I be assessed?

We will track your progress through language assignments, essays, presentations, portfolio submissions and examinations (written and oral). Throughout your course you will receive detailed, personalised feedback to help you to improve your skills.

The final degree classification is determined by your intermediate- and final-year marks; each of these years contributes 50%.


Your year abroad

We strongly recommend that students take a year abroad, if they are able to. Students may move to a three-year degree if circumstances do not permit them to complete a year abroad. In such cases, there will be further language reinforcement work and students will be encouraged to spend time abroad in other ways, during vacation times.

You will usually spend your year abroad doing one of three things:

  • Working as a language assistant teaching English in a primary or secondary school
  • Studying full-time at a partner university in your chosen country
  • On a work placement

The year abroad options are flexible so we recommend you check the department's subject pages for more details.

General entry requirements

A level:

  • ABB to include French.

IB:

  • 34 to include 5 in Higher Level French.

BTEC:

  • We welcome applications from students taking BTECs alongside A level French.

Additional requirements:

You will also need to meet our English Language requirements.


International Students

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

Find out more about international entry requirements.


Contextual data and differential offers

Warwick may make differential offers to students in a number of circumstances. These include students participating in the Realising Opportunities programme, or who meet two of the contextual data criteria. Differential offers will be one or two grades below Warwick’s standard offer (to a minimum of BBB).


Warwick International Foundation Programme (IFP)

All students who successfully complete the Warwick IFP and apply to Warwick through UCAS will receive a guaranteed conditional offer for a related undergraduate programme (selected courses only).

Find out more about standard offers and conditions for the IFP.


Taking a gap year

Applications for deferred entry welcomed.


Interviews

We do not typically interview applicants. Offers are made based on your UCAS form which includes predicted and actual grades, your personal statement and school reference.

Year One

Modern French Language 1

You will deepen your understanding of French grammar and syntax with the help of tutors experienced in facilitating the transition from A-level to university-level competence. You will learn appropriate technical vocabulary and handle complex structures. You will develop the skills required to produce authentic and accurate translations of journalistic material from French to English. Finally, writing in formal French introduces you to the structures and methods used to debate ideas on contemporary issues. You will increase your reading and comprehension skills and develop your ability to exploit texts for vocabulary, idioms, syntax and grammatical structures. Working with a native speaker in small groups, you will discuss topics on contemporary French culture and society, using audio, video and written resources.

The Story of Modern France

Why is modern France so deeply invested in the past? What are the milestones in the creation of modern France? How have notions of France and Frenchness been shaped through the stories told about them? These are some of the questions you will explore through close reading of primary sources from major periods and events in French history. You will explore a range of materials, from the cartoons of May 1968 to prints dating back to the French Revolution, and from stories of Charlemagne to films and texts reflecting France’s ongoing preoccupation with its (often controversial) recent past. Equipped with these foundations, you will be well prepared to study further aspects of French and Francophone culture in the later stages of your degree.

Film Analysis and Methods

This module is intended to introduce students to the techniques and skills of textual analysis. This module aims to introduce and familiarise students with the principles of film form, narrative, and style as well as the basic methodologies of film criticism. It gives students the opportunity to study historical and contemporary cinemas from a range of national and industrial contexts. It intends to equip students with a critical vocabulary for analysing films and will give them significant practice in discussing and writing about cinema.

It aims to introduce cinema through a range of critical lenses and frameworks, familiarising students with key formal strategies and critical concepts that are necessary for analysing films. It is designed to ensure that students are adept at examining the various visual, aural and narrative conventions by which they create meaning and how these meanings have been understood within the academic field of Film Studies.

Film History and Methods

This module will focus on film and history, exploring the various ways film texts have been analysed as reflecting social and cultural historical moments, filmmaking movements of particular eras, and how films have historicised individuals and events. There are many ways to ‘do’ film history and this module is not be an exhaustive survey of the history of cinema. Instead, it will offer some key contexts, methodologies, and traditions that have formed the wide-ranging study of film and history.


Intermediate Year^

Modern French Language 2

You will consolidate and develop the productive and receptive language skills you acquired in your first year. By the end of the module, you should have appropriate knowledge of vocabulary and syntactic and grammatical structures to produce written French in two prescribed genres. You will develop your skills in translation to and from French, with a focus on specific translation problems, and increase the accuracy with which you use grammatical structures. In spoken French, you will comprehend and produce structured spoken French on a range of topics of contemporary significance in the context of simulated scenarios.

Hollywood Cinema

This core module will build on what students have learned about Hollywood in first year modules by expanding their knowledge about Hollywood in what has been deemed its ‘classic’ period. The module will illustrate important aspects about the industrial system that dominated Hollywood filmmaking from the late 1920s to the early 1960s, including style, genre, and stars. By first focusing on Hollywood as an industry, examining the practices and cultures of film production, the module will then consider its ideological influence by promoting specific American values and traditions through political issues, such as race and ethnicity.

French Cinema

This module introduces candidates to a cross-section of major French films from the silent period to the present day, with particular reference to the 1930s (Vigo, Renoir), the post-war years (Clouzot, Bresson), the 1960s (the nouvelle vague of Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Rivette), and developments through the 1980s and 1990s and since (Malle, Beineix, Denis, Kassovitz, and others). Particular attention will be paid to changes in style, genre, and cinematographic form and to the evolving social and political context of film-making in France during the period.


Final Year

Modern French Language 3

You will consolidate and develop your ability to write and speak confidently and at a level of intellectual sophistication in correct French. By the end of the course, you should be able to produce a structured written argument on a topic related to your intellectual interests or of cultural concern, in French that is grammatically correct, idiomatic, varied in vocabulary and grammatical structure, and in an appropriate register. You should be able to translate from French to English and English to French accurately, using your detailed knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and idiom, and employing an appropriate register. You will strengthen your skills in pronunciation and intonation and demonstrate these through fluent oral presentation and discussion of an intellectually serious topic.


Examples of optional modules/options for current students:

^Year Two or Three depending on when the year abroad is taken

Tuition fees

Find out more about fees and funding


Additional course costs

There may be costs associated with other items or services such as academic texts, course notes, and trips associated with your course. Students who choose to complete a work placement or study abroad will pay reduced tuition fees for their third year.


Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2021

We believe there should be no barrier to talent. That's why we are committed to offering a scholarship that makes it easier for gifted, ambitious international learners to pursue their academic interests at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. This new scheme will offer international fee-paying students 250 tuition fee discounts ranging from full fees to awards of £13,000 to £2,000 for the full duration of your Undergraduate degree course.

Find out more about the Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2021

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for employers including:

  • Amazon
  • British Airways
  • Civil Service
  • Grayce Consulting
  • HM Revenue and Customs
  • HSBC
  • Ipsos Mori
  • Lidl
  • NBC Universal
  • Save the Children International and The Department for International Trade

They have pursued careers such as:

  • Business and financial project management professionals
  • Chartered and certified accountants
  • Financial accounts managers
  • Human resources and industrial relations officers
  • Management consultants and business analysts
  • Public services associate professionals, teachers and other educational professionals

Helping you find the right career

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant to support you. They offer impartial advice and guidance, together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

  • What are you doing after Warwick? Career planning for final year language students
  • Careers in the Public Sector
  • Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
  • Completing effective CVs and Application Forms for students from the School of Modern Languages
  • Reflecting on Your Year Abroad
  • Languages Alumni Evening

Find out more about careers support at Warwick.

Isabella, current student

"Friendly and easy to talk to"

"The department is incredible, they’re always on hand to help me whether it was with my year abroad queries or just general language-related issues. The best thing about them is that they’re really friendly and easy to talk to."

Isabella

BA Modern Languages


"My favourite module so far is France and the Right, from Dreyfus Affair to Le Pen, mainly because I love looking at French politics. You also get to interact with different source materials such as songs, videos and pamphlets which makes it really interesting, and for the assessment in the module I’m able to write an essay with my own title."

Adam

BA English and French

Transcript

This information is applicable for 2021 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our terms and conditions to find out more.