Film and Television

Film and television studies is the academic discipline that takes moving image culture seriously as an object of intellectual inquiry. It asks how films and television programmes are made, what meanings they carry, how they reflect and shape the societies that produce and consume them, and how they have evolved as technologies and cultural forms across more than a century of screen history. The discipline draws on aesthetics, cultural theory, history, and media studies, combining close analysis of specific works with broader theoretical and historical frameworks.

At the University of Bristol, which has a long and distinguished history of film and television teaching and research going back to the late 1960s, this three-year full-time degree includes a foundation year for those who need additional preparation before entering the main programme. You will study the history and theory of cinema and television, engage with film and television from a range of national traditions and genres, and develop the critical and analytical skills that allow you to write and argue about screen media with rigour and originality. Bristol's research strengths in screen studies, documentary, and television history give the programme an intellectual depth that reflects active scholarly engagement with the field.

Film and television graduates work across the screen industries in roles including production, editing, research, commissioning, programming, distribution, marketing, and critical writing. The analytical skills the degree develops, close reading, cultural analysis, historical research, and the ability to write compellingly about visual media, are also valued in journalism, arts administration, cultural policy, and education. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in film studies, media production, cultural studies, or journalism.

Others enter the industry directly, using the critical understanding of how screen media works as a foundation for practical creative careers.