MA Screen Studies

Overview

The MA in Screen Studies is designed for you if you have an interest in both the industrial and economic aspects of contemporary screen based media (especially film and television) and in the complex ways in which they interact with societies and cultures on a global level. Whether it is blockbuster films from Conglomerate Hollywood; independent documentaries that are distributed online; streaming platforms and services that provide competition to and new opportunities for existing content; public service broadcasting that redefines its remit; or cult television shows that are defined as much by the practices of their fans as they are by their storylines, screen-based media operate in ever-changing conditions of production, dissemination and consumption.

The programme aims to provide you with the opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge of the industrial and cultural dimensions that permeate screen-based media. Focusing on both the historical evolution of film and television and their shifting place in contemporary media industries and cultures, it aspires to help you understand the complexity of current media trends on a global scale while also cultivating transferrable skills related to media research, applied knowledge, real world insights and practical experience, all strongly informed by digital-led approaches and tools. Strongly interdisciplinary, the course brings together elements of film studies, communication studies, media studies, sociology, policy studies, political economy and others.

The MA provides excellent preparation for a research degree in a Department with a strongly established “Screen and Film Studies” research cluster, but it is also intended to answer the needs of students who wish to master skills and expertise as a means to building a career in the field of screen industries, and to improve employability skills for a career in the broader media and creative industries sector.

Why Communication and Media?

Close knit-community

Communication and Media is a close-knit community of dedicated, innovative teachers and researchers that extend a warm welcome to postgraduate taught and research students. You can benefit from a personalised approach which treats you as an individual and encourages you to become involved in the life of the department. Our approach enables a productive dialogue to be created between and amongst our postgraduate community and our staff, so that we are all engaged in the pursuit of excellent scholarship and research and, more broadly, making a contribution to the development of our field.

Career prospects

The MA in Screen Studies provides a comprehensive and balanced postgraduate level in screen-based media studies, a subsection of the broad communication and media studies. The degree is designed to provide a strong platform from which to progress to further research at PhD level that is supported and supervised by the members of the Screen and Film Studies research cluster in the Department of Communication and Media.

Career opportunities in screen-based media exist in a number of sectors, including: media industries (production, distribution, exhibition, sales, research in film, television, streaming platforms/on-demand video companies) on a global scale; local, regional, national, international institutions and organisations that support, regulate, collaborate with screen-based companies; local, regional, national, international organisations, institutions, publications and projects that research, analyse and report on screen-based media.