Master of Arts in Film Studies

Our course has a distinctive focus on international, alternative, and documentary cinemas, while also providing a solid foundation in key elements of film history and theory, including Hollywood. This critical appraisal of such a wide range of genres gives you a solid understanding of what makes film work well, enabling you to improve your own production skills in camerawork, editing, lighting, screenwriting and production management.
You also benefit from a series of masterclasses conducted by invited industry professionals which focus on the craft of filmmaking: developing your technical understanding of cinematography, directing and editing/postproduction.
These also introduce you to potential employment routes and industry career pathways, from setting up your own production company, to identifying and tapping into distribution networks, and preparing and marketing your completed films.

We actively encourage and assist you to find appropriate internship and work placement opportunities during your studies, allowing you to practice and develop your skills and experience as well as enhancing your graduate employment prospects.
A number of our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies graduates have gone on to undertake successful careers as scholars, university lecturers, teachers, publishers, journalists, arts administrators, theatre artistic directors, drama advisers, filmmakers, film editors and translators.

We also offer supervision for PhD, MPhil and MA by Dissertation in different literatures and various approaches to literature, covering most aspects of early modern and modern writing in English, plus a number of other languages.

A 2.2 degree in Creative Writing, Theatre/Drama Studies, Literature, Film and Media Studies, Modern Languages , Art History, Music, Philosophy, History, American Studies, Performance studies, Journalism, Law, Politics and Sociology.
You may be asked to provide a piece of creative writing if you do not hold a degree in a relevant field.
A degree with an overall grade of between 51 to 56% OR 5.4 to 6/10 OR 2.16 to 2.4/4 depending on the degree institution

Official transcript(s), in English or a certified translation of your academic results to date, showing marks or grades, must be provided at the time you make your application. (Transcripts are not required from current or previous University of Essex students, or from students who have previously completed a degree at Colchester Institute awarded by the University of Essex).

IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum component score of 5.5 except for 6.5 in writing
TOEFL IBT - 100 overall with minimum component scores: Listening: 17 Reading: 18 Writing: 17 Speaking: 20