Film and Media MA

Fascinated by media that transcends borders? Interested in the relationship between media, culture and identities? Studying our fantastically flexible MA Film and Media degree you’ll critically engage with film and media using methodologies from the humanities and social sciences.

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Overview

Course length:	1 year full-time 2 years part-time
Start dates:	September 2025 September 2026
Location:	Edge Hill University
Example offers:	2:2 or above (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. View full entry criteria
Subject(s):	Film, Media and Broadcast Production
Faculty:	Arts and Sciences
Department:	English and Creative Arts

Four students chat and study together while sitting in a classroom in Creative Edge.

Our MA Film and Media allows you to tailor your studies to your own areas of interest in film, contemporary media and popular culture. Perhaps you’ll choose to focus on European cinema and its relationship to American commercial cinema. Or maybe you’ll explore the new wave of Asian cinema.

You’ll develop your research skills throughout the programme and gain the confidence to critique and expand existing theories, analyses and methodologies. And you’ll produce a piece of independent academic research. This could take the form of a traditional dissertation or an industry research project.

This programme engages with a multitude of creative industries and media facets – policy, industry, content and audiences. You’ll get a good understanding of how a media product is generated, circulated and consumed.

Course features

International students can apply

What you'll study

You’ll start this postgraduate film and media course with two compulsory modules which examine key film and media theories and methodologies across the 20th century. They include integrated research training to help you contextualise your own research.

You’ll go on to choose a number of optional modules to tailor the course to your interests. You might focus on media and the creative industries, which includes television, film, music, print and online digital industries. Or you might look at the history, context and conventions of a specific genre in film or television.

If you’re studying part-time, you’ll complete the taught modules over two years, delivering your dissertation at the end of Year 2.

Compulsory modules:

Expand all

Four of:

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Deconstructing Liverpool focuses on the cultural representation of Liverpool and the surrounding city region in popular culture, from film, television and music to novels and art. The module will explore how Liverpool has featured in popular culture and how a regional identity has been constructed through its cultural representations. You will assess how we can read and create against preconceived images and ideas in relation to the place and people of the contemporary Liverpool city region, as well as how can we apply our knowledge of cultural theory and organisations to gain an understanding of the creative economy of Liverpool city region today. The module will enhance your skills in critical analysis and close reading, while providing supplementary augmentation to the work-based experience of operating within a regional cultural organisation.

Module code: MED4004

Credits: 20

Assessment

50% Coursework

50% Practical

European Cinema examines the history of European cinema, including British cinema, and its role within World cinema as a whole, especially its relationship to American commercial cinema. The module will focus on the significant movements and new waves that have contributed to the evolution of European cinema from the early twentieth century, as well as the discourses and debates that have continued to shape it. Additionally, you will explore the contemporary film production landscape and the contemporary and future health and vitality of cinema on the continent.

Module code: MDM4007

Credits: 20

Assessment

75% Coursework

25% Practical

Working in the International Creative Economy provides a practitioner-led account of the practical concerns of cultural institutions. The module will be taught by leading figures in the North West creative economy. It will examine the priorities for cultural policy in the UK and explore how leaders of cultural organisations balance the competing concerns of government, funders, the public, and cultural necessity. You will consider how best to understand the problem of access and audiences for cultural institutions, while also reflecting on the role of entrepreneurship in the creative economy. With input from industry professionals, the module will provide you with first-hand experience of organisational issues and policy debates in the creative economy in a variety of cultural and institutional settings.

Module code: MED4002

Credits: 20

Assessment

50% Coursework

50% Practical

How you'll study

The taught programme involves lectures, seminars, tutorials and case study work. Formal teaching will be augmented, where appropriate, by guest speakers.

While working on your project/dissertation during the summer you will meet with your supervisor for regular one-to-one meetings.

How you'll be assessed

You will be assessed through a variety of methods, from the traditional academic essay to reports, research portfolios and projects. To a large extent, your choice of research topic will determine the type of assessment employed.

Who will be teaching you

You will be based in the Department of Creative Arts and will be taught by experts in their respective fields. Staff within the department are active, internationally recognised researchers in a broad range of subjects. These include film and television studies, cultural industries, critical animal studies, sound, fandom, social media, diasporas, family origins and racism, adaptation and identities.

Staff research activities include international conferences, funded research projects, monographs, book chapters and contributions to journals such as Screen, Journal of Popular Television, Studies in European Cinema, The New Soundtrack, Journal of Language and Politics, Critical Studies in Television and Science Fiction Studies. There is a vibrant research culture within the department with a regular programme of visiting speakers, professors and industry professionals.

You can expect to receive your timetable at enrolment. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day or evening of the week.

Where your course includes optional modules, these are to provide an element of choice within the course curriculum. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by timetabling requirements. Some restrictions on optional module choice or combinations of optional modules may apply.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements (2025 / 2026)

You should have a degree equivalent to UK first-class or second-class honours (2:2 or above) in a relevant subject.

English language requirements

International students require IELTS 6.5, with a score no lower than 6.0 in each individual component, or an equivalent English language qualification.

If your current level of English is half a band, one band, or one-and-a-half bands lower, either overall or in one or two elements, you may want to consider our Pre-Sessional English course.

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course.

Please choose the application form for your preferred intake date and mode of study.

Please see our international student pages for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Should you accept an offer of a place to study with us and formally enrol as a student, you will be subject to the provisions of the regulations, rules, codes, conditions and policies which apply to our students. These are available at www.edgehill.ac.uk/studentterms.

Facilities

Film and Media students are based in Creative Edge, a state-of-the-art £17million building offering highly contemporary suites of outstanding facilities for the Department of English and Creative Arts.

Key features include TV studios with broadcast capacity and full production capabilities, recording studios, sound-editing suites, animation studios, photographic studio, radio studio and multimedia laboratory.

The building also features a lecture theatre, seminar rooms, IT facilities and smaller tutorial spaces, as well as social learning areas which encourage a more informal and interactive style of learning.

Where you'll study

Finance

Tuition fees

£9,250

for the course

£51 per credit

for 180 credits

£17,000

a year

The University may administer a small inflationary rise in tuition fees, in line with Government policy, in subsequent academic years as you progress through the course.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as Irish nationals, may be eligible for the UK tuition fee rate.

Financial support

Please view the relevant Money Matters guide for comprehensive information about the financial support available to eligible UK students joining postgraduate courses at Edge Hill University.

Money Matters

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme may be eligible to apply for financial support. Irish nationals can ordinarily apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). If you are an EU student who does not have settled or pre-settled status, or are an international student from a non-EU country, please see our international student finance pages.

Your future career

You’ll leave our MA Film and Media course with a whole host of transferable skills, preparing you for a wide range of career options.

What can you do with a film and media degree? Our graduates could apply their skills to rewarding careers in the creative arts sector, including:

arts organisation and management
festival and cultural events organisation
journalism
curation
archiving

You could also go on to further study with an MPhil or PhD, or go into teaching.

Course changes

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information, however our courses are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may necessitate alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses.

Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of professional bodies, revisions to subject benchmarks statements, to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

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Film and Media

Film and Media MA

Overview

Course features