Our BA Film Studies (including Foundation Year) could be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entry requirements for a three-year version of our arts and humanities courses and you want a programme that improves your skills to support your academic performance.

Open to UK and EU applicants, this four-year course includes a Foundation Year (known as Year Zero) which is delivered by our Essex Pathways Department followed by a further three years of study in our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies.

During Year Zero you will study on our Arts and Humanities Pathway which will cover topics such as Analysing Film, Text and Image and Theory of Knowledge. At the end of Year Zero all students who pass the Arts and Humanities Pathway will have a choice of which course to progress with. As well as BA Film Studies students on the Arts and Humanities Pathway could also study BA Literature or BA History, amongst other courses.

At Essex you combine studying the history and theory of cinema with practical film production, so you don't just critically examine cinema – you create it. Your production modules enable you to develop and apply your academic knowledge and understanding of film, refining and enriching your own practical work.

We give you the opportunity to explore film across a broad range of genres, time periods, and regions, from Hollywood, world and independent cinema, to documentaries and television. Simultaneously, you gain hands-on experience in film production and production management, essential for careers in the film and television industry.

We nurture the creative talent for tomorrow, developing filmmakers, scholars, and thinkers with a dynamic worldview:

Gain hands-on experience of camera work, sound recording, editing, lighting, and scriptwriting

Explore the formal aesthetics of film composition and structure in relation to different contexts of production and reception

Discover the history and social significance of film as a global medium

Understand the links between critical analysis and creative practice

Produce both group films and personal projects

By graduation you will have built up a fully rounded portfolio of work, enabling you to showcase your experience, versatility and creative potential to future employers.

We offer a varied, flexible and distinctive curriculum, focused on developing your abilities in film, and also enabling you to take options from the other courses within our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies including literature, creative writing, journalism and drama.

A typical timetable involves a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar or a two-hour seminar for each module every week, but there are variations in place depending on the module.