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English and Film Studies

Entry Year: 2024

2 study options

English and Film Studies BA (Hons)

Key information

Degree
BA (Hons)
Duration
3 years
Start
September 2024
UCAS code
QW36
Institution code
Q50
Typical A-Level offer
Grades ABB at A-Level. This must include grade A or above in A-Level English Literature, English Language and Literature or English Language. Excludes General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Full entry requirements (including contextual admissions)
Home fees
£9,250
Overseas fees
£23,350
Funding information
Paying your fees

English and Film Studies with Year Abroad BA (Hons)

Key information

Degree
BA (Hons)
Duration
4 years
Start
September 2024
UCAS code
QW6Y
Institution code
Q50
Typical A-Level offer
Grades ABB at A-Level. This must include grade A or above in A-Level English Literature, English Language and Literature or English Language. Excludes General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Full entry requirements (including contextual admissions)
Home fees
£9,250
Overseas fees
£23,350
Funding information
Paying your fees

Year abroad cost

Finances for studying abroad on exchange

View details

Overview

Unpick film theory and analyse what we see on the screen while learning how to interpret texts with a critical eye.

English and film studies are made for each other. Studying film will teach you the theory and practical skills of production. Meanwhile, exploring English will give you a chance to study a global subject that influences writing and performance all over the world. 

Our top-ten rated film department, conveniently located in London, is on the doorstep of major film studios, post-production houses, and the sought-after resources of the BFI. Youll get insight into all aspects of films by looking at the theory that drives this craft. 

Register your interest

Home to experts in both areas 

While studying English you’ll benefit from the expertise of 40 academics who are either world experts or rising stars – you might have already come across them on the radio or TV. The topics they cover are varied and inclusive, spanning the whole history of writing in English and a wide geography from the East End of London to India.

Achieve your career goals with the support of our specialised careers service. You could be joining our graduates as directors, screenwriters, cinematographers or editors. Or perhaps you see yourself applying your skills in the world of publishing and journalism.

Structure

You can complete your English and Film Studies degree in three or four years. If you choose to do a year abroad this will take place in Year 3 and Year 3 modules will instead be studied in Year 4.

Year 1

You will take the following modules (all compulsory)

  • English: Poetry
  • English: London Global
  • English: Literatures in Time: Epic and Romance in the Middle Ages
  • Film Studies: US Cinema: Key Concepts
  • Film Studies: Decolonising Approaches to Film Analysis

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 2

In English you will take one 30 credit module from List One or Two, and at least one module from Lists Three or Four:

 

List One: Medieval and Early-Modern Studies

  • Chaucer: Gender, Faith, Identity 
  • Renaissance Drama
  • Renaissance Literary Culture

List Two: Eighteenth Century Studies, Romanticism, Nineteenth-Century Studies

  • Representing London: Writing the Eighteenth Century City
  • Romantics and Revolutionaries
  • Victorian Fictions 

List Three: Modern, Contemporary, and Postcolonial Studies 

  • The Long Contemporary
  • Modernism
  • Postcolonial and Global Literatures

List 4: Special Options (Modules offered on this list changes each year). Modules may include:

  • American Romanticsm
  • Art Histories: an Introduction to the Visual Arts in London
  • Global Shakespeare
  • James Baldwin and American Civil Rights
  • Terror, Transgression and Astonishment: the Gothic in the Long Nineteenth Century
  • The Crisis of Culture: Literature and Politics, 1918-1948
  • The Thousand and One Nights

In Film, you take the following compulsory module:

  • What is Cinema? Critical Approaches

You then choose your remaining Film modules from a list that changes each year. Modules may include: 

  • Brazilian Cinema: The Social Tradition
  • Contemporary World Cinemas
  • Film Curation
  • From Page to Screen
  • Introduction to British Cinema
  • Research Methods (Film)
  • Scriptwriting: Adaption and Original Script

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 3

You will take one of the following modules: 

  • English Research Dissertation
  • Film Research Project

You then choose your final year modules from a wide range of options that changes each year.

Modules may include

  • British Fictions of the 1960s
  • Feminism(s)
  • Film Archaeology
  • German Narrative Fiction in Text and Film
  • Gullotines, Ghosts and Laughing Gas: Literature in the 1790s
  • Mapping Contemporary Cinemas
  • New Independent Indian Cinema
  • Reading the Middle East
  • Shakespeare: the Play, the Word and the Book
  • Slavery, Colonialism and Postcolonialism in African Cinema
  • Teaching Trans Lives
  • Time, Narrative, Culture
  • Victorian Sensation Fiction

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Study options

Apply for this degree with any of the following options. Take care to use the correct UCAS code - it may not be possible to change your selection later.

Year abroad

Go global and study abroad as part of your degree – apply for our English and Film Studies BA with a Year Abroad. Queen Mary has links with universities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia (partnerships vary for each degree programme).

Find out more about study abroad opportunities at Queen Mary.

Additional Costs

A few modules may require you to buy tickets to shows or exhibitions (often at a discounted rate) as well as pay for travel within London.

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Testimonial

I really liked the course and how it is assessed. The range of modules available is unbeatable! It was very hard to pick my second year modules – they all seemed fabulous.

Sharika Alam, English (2018)

Teaching

Teaching and learning

You'll receive approximately 10 hours of weekly contact time, in the form of lectures and seminars. Modules may also include field trips, tutorials and workshops. You also attend regular timetabled film screenings.

For every hour spent in class, you'll complete a further four to six hours of independent study.

Assessment

Assessment typically includes a combination of exams and coursework, often in the form of essays but sometimes as extended projects, presentations, log books and portfolios. 

Resources and facilities

The Schools offer excellent on-campus and London-based resources to aid your studies, including:

  • BLOC - a Film & Drama Practice research facility including a state-of-the-art cinema with DOLBY Atmos, film studios, post-production suites and live streaming equipment.
  • rehearsal spaces and the Pinter Studio for performance
  • access to the Film and Drama Studio including motion capture equipment, allowing students to explore innovative practices with new technology and film
  • access to Senate House Library and the British Library – the most important intellectual resources in London
  • our state-of-the-art 41-seater Hitchcock Cinema
  • a large range of professional and broadcast-standard production and post-production equipment, including a film production suite, two film studios with professional lighting grids, two edit suites, and motion capture equipment
  • opportunities to meet and network with publishers, curators, archivists, poets, novelists, activists and filmmakers
  • proximity to specialist archives and collections such as the National Theatre Archive, Live Art Development Agency Study Room, Women’s Library, Black Cultural Archives
  • opportunities to write, edit and publish for student newspapers and magazines.

Entry requirements

A-LevelGrades ABB at A-Level. This must include grade A or above in A-Level English Literature, English Language and Literature or English Language. Excludes General Studies and Critical Thinking.
IBInternational Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 32 points overall, including 6,5,5 from three Higher Level subjects. This must include a minimum of 6 in Higher Level English A.
BTECSee our detailed subject and grade requirements
Access HEWe consider applications from students with the Access to Higher Education Diploma. The minimum academic requirement is to achieve 60 credits overall with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 15 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. This must include at least 6 Level 3 credits in English Literature or Literacy modules at Distinction.
GCSEMinimum five GCSE passes including English at grade C or 4.
EPQ

Alternative offers may be made to applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification.

For further information please visit: qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/entry/epq

Contextualised admissions

Our standard contextual offer: Grades BBC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level. Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

Our enhanced contextual offer (for care experienced students, refugee/asylum seekers or students who have completed Realising Opportunities or Access to Queen Mary): Grades BCC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level. Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

More information on how this information is used for a contextual offer can be found on our contextualised admissions page.

A-LevelGrades ABB at A-Level. This must include grade A or above in A-Level English Literature, English Language and Literature or English Language. Excludes General Studies and Critical Thinking.
IBInternational Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum of 32 points overall, including 6,5,5 from three Higher Level subjects. This must include a minimum of 6 in Higher Level English A.
BTECSee our detailed subject and grade requirements
Access HEWe consider applications from students with the Access to Higher Education Diploma. The minimum academic requirement is to achieve 60 credits overall with 45 credits at Level 3, of which 15 credits must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit or higher. This must include at least 6 Level 3 credits in English Literature or Literacy modules at Distinction.
GCSEMinimum five GCSE passes including English at grade C or 4.
EPQAlternative offers may be made to applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification. For further information please visit: qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/entry/epq
Contextualised admissionsOur standard contextual offer: Grades BBC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level. Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

Our enhanced contextual offer (for care experienced students, refugee/asylum seekers or students who have completed Realising Opportunities or Access to Queen Mary): Grades BCC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level. Excludes General Studies, Critical Thinking.

More information on how this information is used for a contextual offer can be found on our contextualised admissions page.

Non-UK students

We accept a wide range of European and international qualifications in addition to A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC qualifications. Please visit International Admissions for full details.

If your qualifications are not accepted for direct entry onto this degree, consider applying for a foundation programme.

English language

Find out more about our English language entry requirements, including the types of test we accept and the scores needed for entry to the programme.

You may also be able to meet the English language requirement for your programme by joining a summer pre-sessional programme before starting your degree.

Further information

See our general undergraduate entry requirements.

Funding

Loans and grants

UK students accepted onto this course are eligible to apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans from Student Finance England or other government bodies.

Scholarships and bursaries

Queen Mary offers a generous package of scholarships and bursaries, which currently benefits around 50 per cent of our undergraduates.

Scholarships are available for home, EU and international students. Specific funding is also available for students from the local area. International students may be eligible for a fee reduction. We offer means-tested funding, as well as subject-specific funding for many degrees.

Find out what scholarships and bursaries are available to you.

Support from Queen Mary

We offer specialist support on all financial and welfare issues through our Advice and Counselling Service, which you can access as soon as you have applied for a place at Queen Mary.

Take a look at our Student Advice Guides which cover ways to finance your degree, including:

  • additional sources of funding
  • planning your budget and cutting costs
  • part-time and vacation work
  • money for lone parents.

Careers

English and Film Studies graduates go on to work in many different sectors, including the creative arts, media and broadcasting, teaching and publishing.

Recent graduates have gone on to work for:

  • Curzon PR
  • Equinox Film and TV Production
  • Hedgehog Films
  • Historic Royal Palaces
  • Penguin Random House
  • The Independent.

Career support

You’ll have access to bespoke careers support during every step of your degree, including personal academic support from experts in both film and English literature. A third-year module will prepare you for the transition from university to working life by researching career, entrepreneurial and postgraduate study prospects. 

Our careers team can also offer:

  • specialist advice on choosing a career path
  • support with finding work experience, internships and graduate jobs
  • feedback on CVs, cover letters and application forms
  • interview coaching.

Learn more about career support and development at Queen Mary.

Data for these courses

English and Film Studies - BA (Hons)

English and Film Studies with Year Abroad - BA (Hons)

The Discover Uni dataset (formerly Unistats)

About the Schools

School of English and Drama - Department of English

We provide a first-class learning environment - the Departments of Drama and English are in the top 35 in the world (QS World Rankings by Subject 2018). And you’ll learn from leading experts: Drama is ranked first and English fifth in the UK for research quality (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

Our degrees make full use of the literary and cultural riches of London, with trips to venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Library.

School of Languages Linguistics and Film

The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film explores global culture and communication through a vibrant interdisciplinary environment with five interconnected areas of academic excellence. Our multilingual community brings together brilliant minds from across the world to share a wealth of expertise – from practical film-making and contemporary literature to experimental neurolinguistics and 11 different modern languages – so that students can become truly global citizens.

Our School’s departments are united by the common threads of communication and culture. Both a single and richly varied entity, our work enables creative thinking that goes beyond national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. We combine research excellence with a commitment to social justice and mobility, true to the Queen Mary spirit, achieving the previously unthinkable through our unique mix of bright minds.

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