MA in Film and Television Studies

The MA in Film and Television Studies provides you with in-depth knowledge of critical perspectives and research skills in the study of film and television. The programme combines the textual, theoretical and historical study of film and television in both past and contemporary contexts. Guided by staff with expertise across a range of national cinemas, film practices and historical periods, optional units explore subjects such as contemporary film, film theory and style, writing and directing for film and television, television drama, and national cinemas.

You attend regular research seminars featuring visiting academics and filmmakers. A number of major research projects take place in the Department, including Professor Sarah Street's ongoing work on colour films. The Department also has a lively postgraduate culture, shared with students on the MA in Film and Television Production and the MA in Performance Research, and with postgraduate students across the Faculty of Arts.

Bristol is an excellent city in which to study film and television, with its varied cinema, television and digital media spaces such as Arnolfini, BBC Bristol, The Cube and the Watershed Media Centre, various multiplexes and one of the UK's oldest community cinemas - the Curzon Cinema, in nearby Clevedon. Bristol is also home to the annual International Encounters Film Festival, the Slapstick Festival and the Afrika Eye Film Festival. It is possible to undertake an industrial placement for your dissertation, and in the past students have been placed at the Encounters Film Festival and the Curzon Cinema.

The programme has been designed to develop skills and knowledge cumulatively, while allowing you the opportunity to tailor your learning to your specific areas of interest. All students take two mandatory core units and four optional units and write a dissertation.

Core unit:

• Screen Forms and Analysis
• Screen Research Methods

Optional units:

Across Teaching Blocks 1 and 2, optional units examine different facets of film and television, deepening your knowledge of key areas such as: film theory, film and television history, contemporary cinema, television forms, national and transnational cinemas, and the aesthetics of film and television. The option of Supervised Individual Study allows you to focus on a research area of your choice, supervised by a member of staff.

A select number of units are available from other programmes across the Faculty of Arts, including Film and TV Production, Classics, Historical Studies, Modern Languages, Theatre and Music.

Dissertation

The dissertation provides the opportunity for you to to apply the analytical, methodological and intellectual skills that you have developed up to this point. This is a major piece of independent research that will be supervised by one or more staff advisors. There are three options for the dissertation: a 15,000-word written dissertation; an industrial placement in a film, television or related organisation accompanied by a written element; or a practice-based dissertation with a written element.