We offer three innovative degree programmes covering different aspects of film.- 3rd in The Sunday Times University Guide 2013
- 9th in the National Student Survey (2012)1
- 2nd for graduate level employment and postgraduate study rates2
- World class film research resources
- Based in the English Department which is ranked 1st in the UK for world leading research3
- Distinctive international approach to film analysis, history and theory
- High rates of students graduating with a 1st or 2:1 degree
- Vibrant programme of events, including writers, filmmakers and others from the creative industries
Film Studies at the University of Exeter is based in one of the top rated English departments in the UK for research, teaching and student experience. The dedicated Film Studies team have a wide range of expertise across American, East Asian, European and other World cinemas and receive excellent student feedback for their teaching. You’ll also have access to outstanding resources, including the extensive holdings of The Bill Douglas Centre, the largest library on the moving image in any British University.
As a student of Film Studies you’ll gain a deep and wide ranging knowledge of film as a cultural, social, industrial and global phenomenon. Over the duration of your degree you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and concepts to enable you to understand how and why cinema developed as it did, and how new moving image forms are shaping and defining film in the 21st century. The emphasis is on broad chronological and geographical coverage, a range of theoretical and conceptual approaches to film, and flexibility and choice for students.
Your studies will encompass the distinctive features and contexts of national and transnational film genres, movements and styles, such as German expressionism and the Hong Kong new wave. You will explore the aesthetics and technologies of the moving image, from pre- and silent cinema, through Hollywood classics, the special effects of blockbusters, and the forms of avant-garde film, as well as the features of cross-cultural cinema and contemporary digital screen media. You will engage with concepts of cinematic space, place and time and questions of gender, sexuality and identity. You’ll gain an understanding of the interaction between different film making contexts and industries and the directors, filmmakers and stars that worked in them.
From the beginning of your degree you’ll benefit from a focus on your personal and professional development alongside your academic performance. You’ll be supported throughout your degree by personal tutoring and a range of study skills and employability training. You’ll also learn to work flexibly and creatively with others and engage in debate as well as exercising independent thought and judgement whilst becoming an effective independent learner.
All our staff are members of Exeter’s Centre for Research in Film Studies (CRIFS). Established in 1998 it provides a lively interdisciplinary research forum for research staff, academics, postgraduates and film practitioners. It encourages intellectual exchange between film theory, history and practice and regularly hosts external speakers from both academia and the creative industries to give papers, presentations and workshops. This all feeds into the teaching at undergraduate level as it ensures that your lecturers are up-to-date and engaged with current developments in the subject area. Recent speakers have included filmmakers Don Boyd, Mike Figgis, Mike Leigh and Nicolas Roeg, screenwriter Andrew Davies, and sound designer Tom Sayers.
The different degree programmes in film at Exeter offer choices in how you wish to study film. The Single Honours programme allows you to specialise in the study of cinema; the modules on offer cover a diverse range of films and critical and theoretical approaches.
The Combined Honours programmes allows you to divide your time 50-50 between the study of film and another subject area. Combining English and Film Studies gives a firm foundation in the study of film and allows you to choose widely from the field of English Literature and Creative Writing. The Combined Honours programme in Film and a Modern Language allows you to combine the study of film with advanced linguistic and cultural study and includes a year of study abroad.
Film may be studied in combination with other subjects on the Flexible Combined Honours programme.
Film Studies brochure
Download the Film Studies brochure (pdf) for Undergraduate study.
Information about funding, applications, accommodation and studying at Exeter can be found at the university’s Undergraduate Study website.
I had never studied film before coming to Exeter and it’s been the best decision I ever made! The modules are well put together and include a huge range of film from the very first films ever made to the most recent which gives any student a solid knowledge of film studies as a whole. There is a good selection of module choices that gives you freedom to specialise in the areas you are most interested in.
Nicola Holter, 3rd Year Student
1based on the average percentage of positive responses across all survey categories for full service universities
2based on proportion of UK domiciled, full-time, first degree graduates in Film Studies with a known career or study destination (HESA 2009/10)
3RAE 2008 based on the percentage of research categorised as 4*
