History of Film and Visual Media (MA) - 2010/2011 entry
Why study this course at Birkbeck?
- Ideal if you have already studied film and/or visual media at undergraduate level or would like to enter the field from another academic or professional area.
- Choice of either a work placement within a media company or institution, or a research report.
- Guest speakers, including leading film- and television-makers, critics and media managers.
- Gain British Film Institute Library membership.
This programme will give you an up-to-date postgraduate orientation in film and visual media studies, within a progressive history of art and media environment. It places strong emphasis on the historical understanding of technology, institutions and culture, and on their theorisation and practice into the digital era.
Teaching and supervision are informed by current staff research interests, which include nineteenth-century ‘new media’ and their relationship to today’s digital media, many areas of cinema and television history, as well as contemporary artists’ moving image work.
The programme will give you a solid foundation for further research, for a career in teaching or arts administration, as well as for many kinds of arts and media practice which require advanced research skills, and a broad knowledge of history and theory.
What will I be studying?
The programme consists of a combination of core modules, a choice of option modules, a research project or placement, and a dissertation. Subjects covered include early photography, pre-cinema media, early cinema, sound recording, early television and digital media.
The core provision of study is designed to introduce you to the basic methodologies and issues involved in the area concerned, as well as research skills and methods.
Option modules allow you to pursue specific interests and areas of research. These may include:
- Avant-Garde Film and Video
- British Film and Television 1960–1985
- Contemporary US Cinema
- Film Festivals
- London Screen History
- Post-War European Cinema at the Crossroads
- World Cinema – Production, Processes and Industries.
A unique feature of the programme is the placement, which offers you the experience of working within a prominent media company or institution. Alternatively, the research project gives you the chance to undertake independent research and reflect on research methodologies.
You will complete the programme with a 15,000-word dissertation.
Study resources
The Film Department is based in the purpose-built Centre for Film and Visual Media Research in Gordon Square, housing projects that follow on from the AHRC Centre which Birkbeck co-ordinated in 2000–2005, and offering exceptional screening and reference facilities.
In addition to the Birkbeck Library, you will have easy access to the nearby University of London Library, the British Film Institute and the British Library, as well as other specialist collections and institutions in central London. You will be encouraged to attend other lectures and screenings of interest.
We attract a rich programme of visiting scholars and practitioners. There is a self-access centre for audio-visual materials and we have well-equipped computer facilities, including a multimedia laboratory.
Make your application
You can apply online from the link below.
What can I go on to do?
If you are interested in further research, we offer an MPhil/PhD in Film/Television/Media Studies.
Film and visual media graduates also go on to careers in film and television companies, in museums and galleries, in arts adminstration or teaching.
