Film Studies

Film studies is the academic discipline that examines cinema as an art form, an industry, and a cultural force. It asks how films are made, how they create meaning, how they reflect and shape the societies in which they are produced and received, and what the history of cinema tells us about the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is a discipline that develops close viewing, critical writing, and an understanding of film in its industrial, aesthetic, and social dimensions, all of which are valued skills in the media industries and well beyond.

This part-time programme at Sheffield Hallam University includes a foundation year, a sandwich year, and a work placement, making it a programme that combines intellectual depth with substantial professional experience while accommodating students who need to study flexibly. The foundation year prepares students who need additional academic preparation before degree-level study. The main programme covers film history, film theory and criticism, genre and narrative, documentary, world cinema, and the analysis of specific films and movements.

The sandwich year and placement give you professional experience in the screen industries or related cultural organisations, connecting your academic study to the realities of the film and media world.

Graduates from film studies programmes pursue careers in film and television criticism and journalism, film programming and distribution, cultural policy and arts administration, education, broadcasting, and the wider creative industries. Many work in film festivals, cinemas, archives, and cultural organisations that need people who understand cinema seriously. Others move into scriptwriting, production, and the business side of the screen industries.

Postgraduate options include film studies, creative writing for screen, media studies, and arts management, and the critical and analytical skills developed in the programme provide a strong foundation for any of these routes.