Film and Television

Film and Television studies at university takes seriously the most popular and culturally pervasive art forms of the modern era. Cinema and television have shaped how people understand the world, told stories of remarkable power and diversity, and functioned as industries of global significance. Studying film and television academically means learning to engage with them as cultural objects worthy of close analysis: examining how narrative, visual style, editing, sound, and performance create meaning, and understanding the industrial, institutional, and historical contexts in which different works are made and received.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme develops a sophisticated critical and analytical engagement with film and television across their full historical and geographical range. You will study the history of cinema from its origins to the contemporary moment, engage with different national and transnational traditions, and develop the analytical vocabulary needed to discuss visual and sonic elements with precision. Television studies brings the specific characteristics of that medium into focus: its serial and episodic forms, its relationship to broadcasting institutions, and its distinctive ways of addressing audiences over time.

A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study film and television in a different national context, which enriches your comparative understanding of how screen culture varies across national boundaries.

Edinburgh has a strong tradition in film and screen studies, and the city's own rich cultural life, including major festivals and a vibrant arts scene, provides a stimulating context for this kind of study.

Graduates pursue careers in film and television production, criticism and journalism, arts administration, distribution, programming, education, and cultural policy. Many go on to postgraduate study in film, screen studies, or related disciplines. The programme develops the critical and analytical skills that are applicable in any profession concerned with culture, communication, and the media.