Film Studies BA(Hons)

Why choose this course?

This course explores the history and theory of film, focusing on national cinemas from around the globe in relation to the dominant cinema of Hollywood. It examines how film language is used to create meaning, and also studies films in their social and national contexts, investigating the key theories surrounding authorship, realism, feminism, genres and star systems.

Watch a video to find out why you should study Film Studies at Kingston University:

What will you study?

The degree is structured around three main strands: practical film making (full field only); Hollywood, the dominant system of film production; and 'alt cinema', our term for the national movements or experimental trends that have presented an alternative to Hollywood. If you choose the single honours route, the practical film-making activities you will participate in include scriptwriting and video production.

Film studies at Kingston University offers a traditional academic approach exploring film history and film theory, combined with a practical film-making strand.

We will teach you the key foundations of film theory and film history, and you will learn how films make their meanings, and how those meanings fit into and interact with their industrial, social and cultural context. Specialist modules focus upon Hollywood cinema, cult film, theories of identity and representation, plus a range of national and world cinemas.

Other specialist modules focus upon group and individual research projects, training you to become independent scholars in film. Our degree programme therefore offers you a respected academic qualification, showing you can think independently, manage your time and produce work of a high standard, all of which are highly transferable skills. Our range of assessments encompass key skills which you can take into the job market, including the traditional academic essay, group work, which will encourage you to work in teams, research and presentation skills.

This traditional academic approach is complimented by a 25% practical filmmaking strand (available to full-field film students only) which offers students the chance to get to grips with the practical aspects of film making. This will involve making a short news piece in the first year; a documentary in the second year; and a short fiction film in the final year, which many students use as a calling card for the industry.

When you join film studies at Kingston, whether as a full field student (taking a degree in film studies only) or half field (combining with another subject), you join a community of scholars passionate about cinema in all its forms, from short films made on mobile phones to Hollywood blockbusters like Inception and Avatar. You'll develop your skills, understanding and knowledge in the first year, and from there pursue your own interests within the range of modules which we offer in the second and third years. Cinema is as diverse as the people and cultures which make it. Join us to explore cinema in all its global glory.

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Year 1

• Approaches to Cinema 1: Film Language and Form
• Approaches to Cinema 2: Film Context and History
• Silent Cinema
• The Hollywood Cinema: 1927 to 1997
• Introduction to the Process of Digital Video Production
• The Business of Media
• Transforming Texts: Literature and Adaptation
• TV Times

Year 2

• Case Studies in Contemporary European Cinema
• Investigating Cinema and Film
• Production of a Short Documentary
• Realism and Representation
• Screenwriting
• Case Studies in World Cinema
• French Cinema
• Popular Genres: Ideology, Archetype, Myth
• Post-1945 German History and Film
• Watching the Detectives
• What's so funny? Film, Radio and TV Comedy

Year 3

• Advanced Film Production
• Advanced Pre-Production
• Identity and Difference
• Big Ideas for the Small Screen
• Cult Films, Trash Aesthetics and Exploitation
• Dance on Screen
• Film Dissertation
• Gangsters, G-Men and Gangstaz
• New Wave Cinema
• South of the Border: Spanish and Latin American Cinema
• Special Study: Avant Garde and Experimental Cinema
• Special Study: Getting 'High' on Cinema: The 'Drug Experience' Film
• Vamps, Divas, Tramps, Lolitas
• Watch the Skies: Science Fiction Television and Film
• We Are The Champions: Sport and Broadcasting