Film and Television

Whether you are interested in the moving image as an art form or an industry, our diverse degree in Film and Television Studies will give you the space to explore different technical and critical approaches in a creative environment. We offer specialist teaching on documentary film-making, fiction film-making, experimental film-making, multiplatform production, studio production, and scriptwriting, as well as art cinema, horror and cult cinema, Hollywood, gender studies, television aesthetics, digital cultures, and video games. Designed to equip students with a combination of practical skills, creative confidence, and critical awareness, this versatile course opens up multiple pathways into an exciting industry.

The Department of Theatre, Film & Television studies has superb facilities and resources for practical work: three rehearsal studios, each with flexible technical facilities; 2 large professionally-equipped studios with digital lighting rigs controlled via ETC Congo and Strand Lighting consoles, Yamaha and Soundcraft PAs, Sanyo AV systems and Strand lighting and two NXAMP; and costume and wardrobe facilities. Students also benefit from our close links with Aberystwyth Arts Centre, one of the largest arts centers in Wales, which regularly presents national and international theatre and dance work.

This course is taught through the combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops. Our teaching is frequently mixed-mode, interrogating theory through practical investigation and practice through the lens of various theoretical perspectives. You will be assessed through formal and performed essays, written and practical examinations, critical and creative portfolios, practical productions, seminar presentations, and group activities.
In your first year, you will explore:

• Practical modules that develop skills in all stages of the production process: scriptwriting, shooting, directing and editing

• Core introductory modules in the history of film, theory, and analysis of film and television

• A choice of optional modules: Movements in Film, History, studying communication, and studying media.

In your second year, you will have the opportunity to:

• Develop skills in studio production, fiction film production, documentary filmmaking and writing for film and television

• Gain knowledge and key critical skills in a range of complementary theoretical modules that span mainstream cinema, documentary filmmaking, art cinema, and contemporary issues in digital culture

• Increase your employability prospects and transferrable skills through the core work placement module.

In your third year you will be able to:

• Specialise in documentary production, fiction film, experimental media or scriptwriting and build advanced skills in these areas

• Study specialist subject areas that deal with contemporary film, histories of technology, experimental film, cult cinema, and television in the 20th Century

• Embark on an independent research project, leading to a dissertation on a film and television-related topic of your choice

• Benefit from extensive support and guidance whatever pathway you decide on.

Many of our students have been successful in obtaining employment in these fields; Acting and performing; Directing; Designing; Scriptwriting; Teaching and education; Arts administration; Marketing; Management; Public Relations. One of our notable and esteemed alumni is Alex Jones who is currently the longest-running female presenter on the One Show. During her time at Aberystwyth University, Alex Jones studied Drama and Theatre Studies.