Studying Film
Welcome to Film and Television Studies, housed within the Department of Communications, Drama and Film.
We are a vibrant and diverse department that introduces you to the multiplicity of film and television cultures, from nineteenth century pre-cinema to the digital era and from all around the world. Our stimulating programme will help you develop a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of film and television as both popular in their appeal and radical in their practices.
Our teaching and research is supported by access to the unrivalled resources offered by the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum and you will have the opportunity to interact with historical cinema artefacts hands-on. If you decide to study Single Honours, you will have the opportunity to participate in a special industry-facing module that includes a field trip to the Berlin Film Festival. Students studying either Single honours Film or Combined honours Film entirely within the Department of Communications, Drama and Film can also study practical film-making guided by our expert tutors and tech team.
Read more from Fiona Handyside
Fiona Handyside
Director of Education: Film
Undergraduate
At level 1, you will be introduced to the main fields of film studies. Modules develop your ability to perform close technical and aesthetic analysis; to engage with film history and historical methods; to participate in the main theoretical debates about film; and to understand industry structures. Single Honours students participate in field-trips to London and Berlin Film Festival.
At level 2, you can begin to hone your interests and shape your degree in the directions that most interest you. Modules engage with how film might function as way of thinking about the world; with the in-depth industrial aesthetic, and cultural impacts of American and European cinemas; with the modes and processes of film adaptations and with television and its own complex history and forms. Single Honours students also have the possibility of studying practical film-making.
At level 3, you are able to choose from an exciting array of modules that have been developed to reflect staff research interests and which will enable you to partake in some of the most cutting-edge debates in the field. Modules at this level vary as staff interests develop and change, but currently students are able to study female filmmakers; audiences and how to carry out audience research; American independent cinema; representations of girlhood in contemporary media; queer film and television in Britain; the British film industry and its history; ecological crisis and the cinema and representations of war in films, television, and gaming.
Postgraduate taught
We offer distinctive and exciting Masters degrees tailored to different study interests and career pathways. Across these flexible programmes you benefit from expert teaching, world-class facilities, and the very best resources and support to pursue your academic and career aspirations.
London Film School
London Film School (LFS) is the first film school in the UK. For over 65 years it has been the place for emerging creative talent to hone their craft, find their voice and engage directly with the vibrant UK screen industries. With a student cohort from every corner of the globe, it has always been a cultural hub where fresh voices, experiences, and perspectives rub shoulders with tradition and history.
Since 1956 LFS has trained thousands of directors, cinematographers, editors and other film professionals now working across the globe. Alumni include many great filmmakers and very successful technicians, covering all kinds of cinema - names like Mike Leigh, Michael Mann, Tak Fujimoto, Roger Pratt, Ueli Steiger, Iain Smith, Danny Huston, Franc Roddam, Anne Hui, Duncan Jones and Bill Douglas. LFS is one of only three ‘Skillset Film Academies’, accredited by the UK film industry as a Centre of Excellence.
The University of Exeter is excited to work with such a long-standing, world-leading and industry-connected organisation, to nurture the imagination of our students and grow new talent in this industry.
University of Exeter and London Film School partnership
The University of Exeter and the London Film School jointly deliver the MA International Film Business. Students will benefit from the campus experience offered at the Streatham Campus, which has recently received £380 million in investment and is known as one of the most beautiful campuses in the UK. It is also home to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, the biggest film-related archive in the UK outside the British Film Institute. Staff and lecturers at the London Film School bring real-world experiences to their teaching, which students will greatly benefit from during their time in London at the LFS. The partnership will also enable postgraduate and doctoral film students to hone their filmmaking skills alongside their academic studies.
Learn more about our courses
Image credit: Production still, ‘Dye, Rinse, Repeat’ dir: Nairika Lodhi
Postgraduate research
Our academic staff have expertise across Film and Television studies and can help you to tailor your individual research project. All our students have two supervisors, and benefit from extensive research training and our strong research culture and resources. We supervise both standard written MPhils/PhDs and Film Practice research projects.
