AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ

Key facts

Entry requirements

104 or DMM

Full entry requirements

UCAS code

P303

Institution code

D26

Duration

3 yrs full-time, 4 yrs with placement

Three years full-time, four years with placement

Fees

2025/26 UK tuition fees:
£9,535*

2025/26 international tuition:
£16,750

Entry requirements

UCAS code

P303

Duration

Three years full-time, four years with placement

We offer more than a degree — every course is designed with employability and real-world experience at its core.

AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ is one of the few universities where you’ll benefit from a unique block teaching approach.

Enhance your studies and broaden your horizons, and develop new skills with our international experience programme, AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ Global.

This course immerses you in the industry, from real‑world cinema experience to international festivals like Cannes.

In today’s media-driven world, this course is designed to transform your passion for film and television into a career, equipping you with the essential skills required for a wide range of technical and creative roles. You’ll develop a strong theoretical understanding of film history and theory, exploring topics such as major studios like Disney and Warner Bros, the global cinema landscape, and fan and material cultures. Alongside this, you’ll gain hands-on experience in areas such as filmmaking, film reviewing, screen archiving, and planning film festivals.

This course blends practical training with academic study, helping you build a robust theoretical foundation while developing transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, and critical analysis.

You’ll have the chance to learn in a real cinema setting through our collaboration with Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema and Arts Centre, take advantage of placement opportunities, and even organise and manage your own film festival. As part of your degree, you can choose to follow a specialist route in Creative Writing, Drama, English Literature, History, Journalism or Media, broadening your knowledge and enhancing your employability across a wider range of industries.

You’ll benefit from the expertise of academics from our renowned Cinema and Television History Research Institute and hear from industry professionals including directors, writers, distributors, journalists and film exhibitors through guest lectures. Graduates from this course have secured roles with major employers such as the BBC, Film4 and Odeon Entertainment, working across areas like research, education, public relations, film journalism and screenwriting.

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Saturday 28 June

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Degree Show

2025

This course will be exhibiting at the 2025 Degree Show, for more information visit our event page.

What you will study

Block 1: Filmmaking 1 – Introduction to Moving Image Production

This introductory module to moving image production focuses on audio-visual storytelling for short film production, including introductions to camera, sound and editing techniques.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours
  • Studio/lab: 80 hours
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours
  • Assessment: 60 hours

Block 2: Film History and Theory 1 - Foundations of Film Studies: Concepts, Analysis, Film History

An introduction to the key tools and concepts for film analysis, concerns and debates of academic Film Studies and the history of global cinema as a visual medium and social and cultural institution. You will engage with films as social, cultural and artistic products, as entertainment and communication, and learn to understand, decode and analyse their aesthetic and signifying practices.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours
  • Seminar: 30 hours
  • Tutorial: 30 hours
  • Workshop: 30 hours
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours
  • Assessment: 62 hours

Block 3: The Film Industry 1 - Disney, Warner Bros and the Business of the Film Studio

Understand the historic and current operation of major film studios, by reviewing their releases, changing structures over time, and their practices today. Through studying the activities of these key entities, you will gain an ability to analyse, evaluate and categorise the structures, market conditions and actions of studios.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Seminar: 30 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours

OR you can select to study one route from the list below:

  • Media: Media, Culture and Society
  • Journalism: Understanding Journalism
  • Creative Writing: Writers Salon
  • English Literature: Introduction to Drama: Shakespeare
  • History: Global Cities
  • Drama: Shifting Stages

Block 4: Professional Practice 1 – Film Reviewing

This module encourages critical thinking about the nature, character and function of public film discourse, specifically film reviewing. You will explore and participate in the practice of film reviewing, learning how to speak and write critically about cinema in a way that is insightful, informative but also engaging for its audiences.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 140 hours 
  • Assessment: 100 hours 

Block 1: Film History and Theory 2 – Cinemas of the World: Concepts, Movements, Case Studies

Explores some of the key theoretical and critical concepts and debates essential to a fully-rounded textual and contextual understanding of developments in World Cinema. The module focuses on contemporary developments and film, region and/or director case studies.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture 18 hours
  • Seminar 30 hours 
  • Tutorial 30 hours 
  • Workshop 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study 130 hours 
  • Assessment 62 hours 

Block 2: Filmmaking 2 - Moving Image Portfolio

This module builds on the skills that you learnt in the Introduction to Moving Image Production module. You will work to three set briefs, with each brief focusing on a particular moving image production style and distribution method, such as moving image content for a website, a corporate film and a short film based on archival material.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Studio/lab: 80 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 60 hours 

Block 3: Professional Practice 2 – Screen Archives: Preservation, Conservation and Usage

Learn about the management and usage of screen archives and how to identify, approach and mitigate the threats that time and space pose to the preservation of film and media heritage for future generations.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 60 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours 

OR continue with the route selected in the first year:

  • Media: Public Relations
  • Journalism: Beyond News
  • Creative Writing: Story Craft
  • English Literature: Digital Humanities
  • History: Humans and the Natural World
  • Drama: Theatre Revolutions

Block 4: The Film Industry 2 - Filmmakers

This module is about models of screen authorship, the roles of the filmmaker, and the practices of filmmaking. You will develop knowledge and understanding of the questions, theories and controversies which have informed critical issues and theoretical debates on film authorship.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Seminar: 30 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours

As part of this course, you will have the option to complete a paid placement year which offers invaluable professional experience.

Our award-winning Careers Team can help you secure a placement through activities such as mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and you will be assigned a personal tutor to support you throughout your placement.

Block 1: Professional Practice 3 - Planning Film Festivals

Provides an understanding of the history, organisation and functions of global and domestic film festivals. You will develop practical ideas and themes for a film festival including delivering pitches to professional practitioners and developing strategies for festival branding, design, marketing and audience development in conjunction with industry professionals.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Studio/lab: 60 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours 

OR

The Film Industry 3 - The Film Industry Now

Introduces current developments and opportunities available in the global film industries today, and teaches you how to understand the marketplace for film and media products, and how to position themselves within this marketplace. You will be taught in depth about working practices across the film and TV industries, and they are asked to review and analyse current trade developments.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Seminar: 30 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours

Block 2: Professional Practice 4 - Delivering Film Festivals

This module offers you practical experience in organising and delivering a film festival at Phoenix Cinema and other venues as appropriate. You will work closely alongside and industry professionals and community organisations and venues to deliver a public film festival hosted and presented by the student cohort.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Studio/lab: 60 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours 

OR

The Film Industry 4 – Fan and Material Cultures

Explores the role that consumers, fans and promotional activities targeted at these groups play in the cultural, historical and economic structure of the film industry. The goal is to familiarise yourself with the roles that they and other consumers and fans of movies play in a wider set of social, cultural and economic practices.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours 
  • Seminar: 30 hours 
  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 130 hours 
  • Assessment: 62 hours

Block 3: Filmmaking 3 – Independent Project: Idea Development and Pre-production

This module is for you to develop, plan and manage a moving image project to set deadlines. You will develop a proposal for a self-managed programme of creative lens-based work from initial concept, script writing, storyboarding, through to the completion of pre-production.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours
  • Workshop: 30 hours
  • Self-directed study: 140 hours
  • Assessment: 100 hours

OR

Film History and Theory 3 – British Cinema: Creativity, Independents and Interdependence

This module asks you to explore and understand British cinema, its cultural specificity and its remarkable creative and cultural diversity within an industry-grounded framework, with a particular focus on the post-studio period since the late 1960s and developments between the 1980s and the present.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Lecture: 18 hours
  • Mandatory & guided film viewing: 22 hours
  • Seminar: 24 hours
  • Tutorial:16 hours
  • Workshop: 30 hours
  • Self-directed study: 120 hours
  • Assessment: 70 hours

OR continue with the study route selected in the first and second year:

  • Media: Gender and TV Fictions
  • Journalism: Music, Film and Entertainment Journalism
  • Creative Writing: Creative Misbehaviour
  • English Literature: World Englishes
  • History: The World on Display
  • Drama: Performance, Identity and Society

Block 4: Filmmaking 4 – Independent Project: Production and Delivery

The focus of this module is for the student to produce and complete a creative moving image project independently and to develop its distribution strategy.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 140 hours 
  • Assessment: 100 hours 

OR

Film History and Theory 4 – Film Studies Dissertation

The Film Studies Dissertation offers you the opportunity to define and investigate in some depth a Film Studies topic of your own choice, subject to project validity and viability and approval by the Dissertation Module Leaders/Team.

This block module runs over seven weeks of teaching time with the following delivery pattern:

  • Tutorial: 30 hours 
  • Workshop: 30 hours 
  • Self-directed study: 140 hours 
  • Assessment: 100 hours

Prerequisite modules

In years one and two, you will take two foundation modules in each of the programme’s four strands, namely filmmaking, film history and theory, the film industry, and professional practice. In year three, you are given the opportunity to specialise in two of these areas by taking two modules in each. As such, these blocks of two modules in each of the four strands must be taken as a pair to enable You the necessary degree of specialisation. To ensure this, the second module in each block has the first as its prerequisite.

In addition, under the block teaching system, you will be entitled to take modules that fall within block 3 on our programme. While this does not present a problem for most modules in this position, it would be unwise to offer FILM3103 if you have not taken previous filmmaking modules, and hence lack the necessary skills to succeed on this module, or who will not go on to realise the filmmaking project initiated in FILM3103 during FILM3104 in Block 4.

As such, the full list of prerequisites on the programme is as follows:

  • FILM3102 Professional Practice 4 – Delivering Film Festivals requires you to have taken FILM3101 Professional Practice 3 – Planning Film Festivals.
  • FILM3112 The Film Industry 4 – Fan and Material Cultures requires you to have taken FILM3111 The Film Industry 3 – The Film Industry Now.
  • FILM3103 Filmmaking 3 – Independent Project: Idea Development and Pre-production requires you to have taken FILM2102 Filmmaking 2 – Moving Image Portfolio.
  • FILM3104 Filmmaking 4 – Independent Project: Production and Delivery requires you to have taken FILM3103 Filmmaking 3 – Independent Project: Idea Development and Pre-production.
  • FILM3114 Film History and Theory 4 – Film Studies Dissertation requires you to have taken FILM3113 Film History and Theory 3 – British Cinema: Creativity, Independents and Interdependence.

Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

Study routes

Students taking the Film Studies degree can choose to take one optional module per year in another programme such as Media or Journalism. Students cannot switch between programmes and must specify their choice at the start of the first year.

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Our facilities

As a Film Studies student, you will have access to a wide range of specialist facilities to support your academic, creative and professional development.

Our Film and TV production studio is used for multi-camera television work and green screen filming, providing hands-on experience in a professional environment. You will also have a dedicated social, screening and work area available for collaborative projects and community engagement.

Our AV Loans service offers access to a variety of film and photography cameras, sound recording and mixing equipment, lighting, and accessories. This equipment is available for both assessed and non-assessed projects.

You’ll also benefit from dedicated editing suites, equipped with high-performance workstations and industry-standard software for post-production, 3D rendering and advanced simulations. Our facilities include access to archives of film-related memorabilia, offering opportunities to engage with international collections and training in digitisation, cataloguing, and virtual reality exhibition.

The main Kimberlin Library on campus offers a wide range of study spaces, print materials, computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology. In addition to the physical resources, our extensive digital library provides e-books, specialist databases, journals and streaming films, all accessible online from anywhere.

Library and learning zones

On campus, the main Kimberlin Library offers a space where you can work, study and access a vast range of print materials, with computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology also available.
As well as providing a physical space in which to work, we offer online tools to support your studies, and our extensive online collection of resources accessible from our Library website, e-books, specialised databases and electronic journals and films which can be remotely accessed from anywhere you choose.

We will support you to confidently use a huge range of learning technologies, including LearningZone, Collaborate Ultra, AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ Replay, MS Teams, Turnitin and more. Alongside this, you can access LinkedIn Learning and learn how to use Microsoft 365, and study support software such as mind mapping and note-taking through our new Digital Student Skills Hub.

The library staff offer additional support to students, including help with academic writing, research strategies, literature searching, reference management and assistive technology. There is also a ‘Just Ask’ service for help and advice, live LibChat, online workshops, tutorials and drop-ins available from our Learning Services, and weekly library live chat sessions that give you the chance to ask the library teams for help.

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What makes us special

Phoenix Cinema

Phoenix Cinema

Students have opportunities to benefit from our relationship with Leicester’s independent Phoenix Cinema, providing the opportunity to undertake placements and organise and manage an annual film festival.

The cinema is also the location for some of the teaching and screening sessions on our Film Studies course, so students can experience the real cinema environment at film showings.

Taking part in the wide range of events and festivals held at the cinema throughout the year also helps students to build a broader knowledge of their subject.

Students in New York

AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ Global

Our innovative international experience programme, AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ Global, aims to enrich studies, broaden cultural horizons and develop key skills valued by employers.

Through AV¶ÌÊÓÆµ Global, we offer an exciting mix of overseas, on-campus and online international experiences, including the opportunity to study or work abroad for up to a year.

Film studies students have been on trips to the famous Cannes Film Festival and also the WonderCon comic book, science fiction, and film convention in Hollywood, where they immersed themselves in fan culture and met celebrities on the red carpet of a premiere. Students have also been to visit one of the most iconic and historically important cinemas in Berlin.

Where we could take you

Students in radio studio

Placements

Work placements are offered as part of this course and can boost your skills and experience while studying, as well as improving your chances of gaining a graduate level job.

We have links with organisations both in the UK and internationally, and the placements team can help you find a placement to suit your interests and aspirations.

Our partnership with Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema provides placement opportunities that Film Studies students can get involved with. Film Studies students have also gone on to do internships with BBC Films, Warp Films and others.

Students at the Careers Hub

Graduate careers

The course provides a broad grounding in film history, criticism, practice and industry skills. Students may pursue a variety of careers in the film and cultural industries.

Over the past five years, graduates have gone on to work for employers such as BBC Films, BBC Sport, Film4 and Odeon Entertainment. They’ve also gone on to work in roles as film and television production staff and researchers, writers for film news media, public relations writers and executives, film journalists, independent film-makers, camera people, and commercial managers.

Other students have gone on to work as teachers and academics, or pursued careers in PR, banking, finance and other fields.

Course specifications

Course title

Film Studies

Award

BA (Hons)

UCAS code

P303

Institution code

D26

Study level

Undergraduate

Study mode

Full-time

Start date

September

Duration

Three years full-time, four years with placement

Fees

2025/26 UK tuition fees:
£9,535*

2025/26 international tuition:
£16,750

*subject to the government, as is expected, passing legislation to formalise the increase.

Entry requirements

  • Normally 104 UCAS points from at least two A-levels or
  • BTEC National Diploma/ Extended Diploma at DMM

Plus, five GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including English or equivalent.

Alternative qualifications include:

Pass in the QAA-accredited Access to HE course with at least 30 level 3 credits at Merit or equivalent, with English GCSE required as a separate qualification.

We will normally require students to have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

  • International Baccalaureate: 24+ points
  • T Levels Merit

Interview and portfolio

Interview required: No

Portfolio required: No

Mature students

We welcome applications from mature students with non-standard qualifications and recognise all other equivalent and international qualifications.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

UCAS tariff information

Students applying for courses starting in September will be made offers based on the latest UCAS Tariff.

Contextual offer

To make sure you get fair and equal access to higher education, when looking at your application, we consider more than just your grades. So if you are eligible, you may receive a contextual offer. Find out more about contextual offers.