English and Film Studies MA (Hons)

Our English and Film Studies degree will teach you film origins, filmmaking techniques, and various genres. You will explore classic Hollywood movies, art cinema, and filmmaking from around the world. You will develop skills in screenwriting, media production, and editing using specialist tools.

You will also gain literacy study skills. This will enhance your understanding of how texts are adapted across various forms. These include novels, films and video games.

English and Film Studies will equip you with the skills to understand visual media. You will learn how film is made, how to interpret it critically, and why it has had such a profound impact on the world.

Combining literary study with the study of film helps you develop skills in research and analysis. You will be able to express your ideas confidently and with style.

You will analyse filmmaking techniques in lectures, seminars and film screenings. You will learn about directors, performers and other influential film figures.

You will also have the opportunity to stretch your creative muscles in screenwriting and editing. You will read novels, poetry and dramatic writing, and learn how to analyse both literary and visual texts.

Our courses cover topics such as:

• Classic Hollywood
• film theory
• film adaptation
• film art
• International cinemas, from France to Japan, Australia and Iran
• screenwriting and editing
• Science Fiction literature and film
• English-language literature from the 16th century to today, including Victorian, Romantic, Modernist and Contemporary Literature
• Global literatures
• Creative Writing across major genres, including fiction, poetry and drama
• Theatre and performance studies
• Gender studies

Film studies at Dundee has a lively extracurricular culture including a Film Club where you can attend screenings of rare and difficult-to-find films.

The University of Dundee Archives has a major collection of film scripts which you can use in your research and facilities to help you experiment with your own filmmaking.

Dundee is a great city for film, with a fantastic screening programme at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, including the annual Dundead Horror Film Festival and regular film quiz nights.

The Film programme has research and teaching links with the thriving creative communities in the city, such as the Dundee Rep Theatre, The McManus, Dundee Comics Creative Space, and V&A Dundee. The Dundee University Review of the Arts (DURA) gives students a platform to publish their own critical writing and the student-run Magdelen Magazine helps you learn about publishing from the ground up.