Film Practices

Film Practices is a degree that takes a hands-on approach to the study of cinema, treating filmmaking as a craft and an art to be practised as well as analysed. Where Film Studies typically centres on critical and theoretical engagement with films as texts, Film Practices develops your ability to make moving images, working through the full production cycle from idea and script through cinematography, editing, and sound design to finished work. At the same time, practice without theory produces technicians rather than filmmakers; the programme situates your creative work within the history of cinema, the aesthetics of different movements and traditions, and the industrial and cultural contexts in which films are made and received.

At Newcastle University, this three-year full-time programme integrates practical and critical approaches throughout. You will make short films and screen-based works across different formats and genres, developing your command of the tools and techniques of production while also studying film history, film theory, and screen aesthetics. The programme includes a sandwich year and a year abroad, giving you the chance to gain professional experience and to encounter filmmaking culture in a different national context, as well as a work placement component that connects your studies to industry practice.

Newcastle's creative scene and the university's connections with the UK screen industries provide professional context for the programme.

You will develop skills in directing, cinematography, editing, producing, and screenwriting, and you will learn to articulate your creative intentions clearly and to situate your work within broader conversations about what film can do.

Graduates pursue careers in film and television production, documentary making, commercial production, arts and cultural organisations, and digital content creation. Many go on to postgraduate study in film practice, producing, or screen studies. The combination of practical skill and critical understanding is well suited to the range of career paths the screen industries offer.