Film with a Year Abroad

Film is a discipline that combines rigorous critical and theoretical engagement with the moving image as an art form and cultural institution with the practical skills of filmmaking and production. It examines how films are made and what they mean, asking how editing, cinematography, narrative structure and sound design work together to create meaning and emotional effect, and how different cinematic traditions have developed their own distinctive aesthetics and concerns. At the same time, learning to make films develops your visual intelligence and deepens your understanding of the creative decisions that shape the work you analyse as a critic.

At Queen Mary University of London this four-year, full-time programme includes a year abroad, extending your studies at an international partner institution and giving you the opportunity to engage with different cinematic cultures and academic traditions. You will develop practical filmmaking skills in creative, technical and analytical thinking, working in production alongside your theoretical and historical study of cinema. Queen Mary's location in London, with its extraordinary concentration of cinemas, archives, festivals and film industry connections, including with the BFI, enriches your education with access to the full breadth of film culture and the professional world.

You will engage with a wide range of cinematic traditions, from classical Hollywood and European art cinema to world cinema and experimental and documentary forms.

Graduates pursue careers in film production, direction, screenwriting, editing, cinematography and post-production, as well as in film programming, curation, criticism and journalism, arts administration, distribution, film education and the broader creative and cultural industries. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in film, screenwriting or screen studies, and some progress into academic research and teaching. The combination of critical intelligence and practical filmmaking skill the degree develops opens a wide range of professional paths.