BA Film Studies and English Literature / Course details

BA Film Studies and English Literature aims to develop your understanding and awareness of the rich possibilities of this creative medium and encourages you to approach the study of film from a range of historical and theoretical perspectives.  

Film Studies

• You will expand your experience of film through taught units and screenings that focus on both classical and contemporary films, covering a wide range of film cultures from around the world. 
• You will study mainstream and non-mainstream films in order to broaden your understanding of the history of film, as well as the debates and issues that are informing and generated by current practice in film and shaping its future.
• As you enhance your skills of close analysis, you will also develop an understanding of how film engages with socio-cultural and political concerns, placing the films you study in their historical context as well as thinking about current debates and future challenges for cinema as a medium.
• The course emphasises historical and theoretical approaches to studying film rather than practical production. 

English Literature

• You will explore more than 1,000 years of literature and culture: from medieval romance to the postcolonial and postmodern.
• You can specialise in English Literature, American, Irish and post-colonial literatures, cultural theory, creative writing and film.
• You will engage with a range of literary/non-literary genres including film, music and texts, from Anglo-Saxon times to the present.
• Benefit from our research activity in English and American Studies, with more than 12 active research groups ranging from Anglo Saxon literature to 21st century writing and film.
• Enjoy creative writing course unit options in your second and third years of study.

• Develop your understanding and awareness of the rich possibilities of Film
• Broaden your approach to the study of Film from a range of historical and theoretical perspectives.
• Give you an in-depth understanding of English Literature and works published over the course of the last millennium by English, Irish, American and post-colonial writers.

Placement year option

Apply your subject-specific knowledge in a real-world context through a placement year in your third year of study, enabling you to enhance your employment prospects, clarify your career goals and build your external networks. 

Connect with likeminded students

Join The University of Manchester Filmmaking Society, which exists to provide a platform for aspiring filmmakers attending the university to meet, exchange ideas and create their own cinematic productions.

Or you could join The University of Manchester Drama Society, which is for anyone with an interest in drama, be that acting, directing, writing, filmmaking, costume, set building, stage managing or just watching. One of the largest in the Student Union, the society has links with many of Manchester's award-winning theatrical venues, including the Contact Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre. Each summer the society showcases at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The English Society also puts on social and cultural events. Its annual programme usually includes talks, readings, parties, theatre visits and a play production. Together, these societies run an annual Student Ball.

You will learn through tutor-led lectures, seminars and tutorials. For some course units you'll join in group work and other forms of collaborative learning.

Classroom time is frequently supplemented by new media, such as the virtual learning environment, Blackboard. You will also have access to other digital resources to support your learning.

There's emphasis on attending film screenings, which are compulsory and designed to enable you to better understand the distinctive qualities of film as a medium.

There's also emphasis on close analysis which is designed to enable you to learn to interpret films and their discursive surround, including relevant paratexts (eg promotional material such as trailers and posters).

You will spend approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions. For every hour spent at University, you will be expected to complete a further two to three hours of independent study. You will also need to study during the holiday periods.

The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, or revising for examinations.

A significant part of your study time will be spent reading, taking notes, preparing presentations and writing essays (which examine particular aspects of a subject in greater depth).

You will be assessed in various ways, including:

• written and oral examinations;
• coursework essays;
• research reports;
• practical tests;
• learning logs;
• web contributions;
• small-scale practical assignments;
• seminar presentations and participation;
• library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection.

Many course units are assessed through a mixture of techniques.

In your final year, you can choose to write a dissertation.

Your second-year work counts toward 33% of your final degree result. Your third-year work accounts for the remaining 67%.

Our comprehensive facilities include the Martin Harris Centre - home to 150-seater The John Thaw Studio and our main `lab' for exploring performance - and workshops and rehearsal rooms fully equipped with state-of-the-art sound-editing and video editing suites. Manchester also has the 2nd highest concentration of theatres in the UK.

One of only five National Research Libraries, The University of Manchester Library holds extensive, internationally renowned collections in the medieval, Victorian, and American literary fields.

The latter includes the Walt Whitman Collection and the Upton Sinclair Collection. Holdings also include the archive material of the Manchester Poetry Centre.

American history is also well-served by several major research databases dedicated to topics such as the African American Experience, the nineteenth-century US press, and American religion.

The English and American Studies Film Library is another substantial and growing learning resource.

You will enjoy exclusive access to special collections of the John Rylands Library, including Shakespeare's first folio, and Elizabeth Gaskell and Ted Hughes' first archives.

Learn more on the Facilities page.