Film Studies and Media with Foundation Year

Film studies and media is a degree that examines two overlapping but distinct forms of cultural production and consumption. Film studies takes cinema seriously as an art form and cultural force, using critical, theoretical and historical approaches to examine how films mean what they mean, how they are made and circulated, and how they reflect and shape the societies that produce and watch them. Media studies broadens that lens to encompass the full range of contemporary media, from broadcasting and journalism to social media, advertising and digital culture, asking how media affects who we are and how we understand the world.

At York St John, this four-year programme includes a foundation year, a sandwich year, a year abroad and a work placement, making it one of the most comprehensively structured media and film degrees available. The foundation year builds the academic grounding needed to engage with degree-level film and media study. Across the main programme you will develop close analytical skills for reading and interpreting films and media texts, engage with film history and major movements, and explore the evolving media landscape in which both film and digital culture operate.

The sandwich year, year abroad and work placement give you professional and international experience that connects academic study to the realities of working in media.

You will develop the critical vocabulary to analyse film and media rigorously, alongside research, writing and communication skills that are valued across the creative and cultural industries.

Graduates move into the screen industries, broadcasting, journalism, content creation, digital media, arts and cultural organisations, public relations, education, film criticism and distribution. Some graduates pursue further study in film, media, journalism or cultural studies.