Is 3D the future of cinema? Does Wikileaks threaten the integrity of the State? Would the 2011 London riots have happened without Twitter? The BA (Hons) Film and Media Studies degree will stimulate your engagement in some of the most vital debates of our times. It will develop your critical understanding of contemporary cinema, historical film movements, and the media in their political and social contexts. Looking at cinema, the course contextualises film culturally, aesthetically and politically as well as analysing the economic importance of film, past and present. Placing your study of film alongside media you will investigate how the media operates as a set of symbolic practices and as an industry in a contemporary global context. Studying film texts, film histories and national cinemas from a variety of theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives will provide you with the critical tools to understand contemporary film theory and its connections within a wider digital culture. Complementing your study of film, you will look at the media in terms of image analysis in photography, film and television and engage in debates about social change, cultural consumption, theories of representation and identity, media histories and technologies. You'll also be introduced to a range of writing and presentational skills. This course will challenge you to articulate and sustain a convincing argument, and in so doing you will gain highly developed analytical, critical and communication skills. You will also be given the opportunity to develop transferable skills and aptitudes including group presentations, writing short screenplays and film production dossiers. Lectures are accompanied by weekly film screenings, meanwhile in seminars you'll explore different dimensions of film and media, and develop a deeper understanding of the pertinent issues in conjunction with your student colleagues. This course does not have a film or media practice element. If you are interested in studying a practice-based degree you should consider one of our single honours media or film courses, such as BA Film Studies or BA Multimedia Journalism.

This course will equip you with the skills to work in the film, media and cultural industries in a range of roles, covering film curation, TV production, journalism, public relations, publishing, marketing, the music industry, advertising and administration. Although the course does not offer professional film or media production training, it will give you the intellectual and practical skills and abilities that are premium requisites in the media and creative industries, and our graduates have gone on to work for the BBC, ITV and Universal (Europe). This course can also help you secure a career wherever the skills of analysis, clear communication and reasoned persuasion are valued, such as in business, local government and voluntary organisations. Recent graduates from this course have become marketing advisers, box office analysts and teaching assistants. If you graduate from this course, you will be able to apply for further study at postgraduate level, including for a place on our full-time MA Independent Film Practice (Editing and Montage) or our part-time MA Digital Film. LSBU is committed to supporting you develop your employability and succeed in getting a job after you have graduated. Your qualification will certainly help, but in a competitive market you also need to work on your employability, and on your career search. Our Employability Service will support you in developing your skills, finding a job, interview techniques, work experience or an internship, and will help you assess what you need to do to get the job you want at the end of your course. LSBU offers a comprehensive Employability Service, with a range of initiatives to complement your studies, including: direct engagement from employers who come in to interview and talk to students Job Shop and on-campus recruitment agencies to help your job search mentoring and work shadowing schemes.