Film BA Honours at Middlesex University

Our course brings together the theoretical and the practical to give you everything you need to start a  career in this diverse industry. You’ll get to explore all the stages of the film-making process, covering a range of production roles, conception and development, post-production, script writing, cinematography, and direction.

The purpose-built £80 million Grove building on our north London campus houses all the facilities, studios, and workshops you’ll use during your studies and is recognised as one of the best in the country. The facilities you’ll be able to use include Avid Media Composer Edit Suites, Dedicated Recording Studio, Motion Capture Suite, Greenscreen Virtual Studio.

You’ll be taught by staff working in the film industry, with professional experience across a range of different aspect of film. This includes producers, directors, screenwriters, and more, with backgrounds covering everything from experimental film-making through to corporate film. During your time with us, you’ll learn from guest speakers. Past speakers include Ben Wheatley (Kill List, High-Rise, Doctor Who), Kim Longinotto (Divorce Iranian Style), Sean McAllister (A Syrian Love Story).

Your first year will serve as an introduction to all things film. After this, you will have the opportunity to follow different pathways like editing, directing, screenwriting, cinematography and many more. You can also choose to keep your interests broad to gain an all-round foundation in film practice and theory. Just like in the film industry, you’ll work closely and collaboratively with fellow film students on a variety of projects that’ll help you with better understanding the world of professional work.

Your second year will be focused on production, familiarising you with producing and directing as you work on all stages of the film-making process. In your third year, you’ll get the freedom to define the scope of your final project – this can be as broad as editing a coursemate’s film or creating a whole film from start to finish.

Our students frequently participate in a number of festivals to showcase their work and gain real-world experience. In 2018, our BA Film students presented their work at Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York.

A film degree can open a lot of doors and we’re here to help you find the right career path. Graduates of this course become writers, editors, sound technicians, and camera assistants. Some have joined major institutions like the BBC while others have set up independent companies, attracting commercial work and funded commissions. Ben Charles, having graduated only a few years back, has already worked on various visual effects projects, including CGI work for the most recent Star Wars film.

What will you study on the BA Film?

Half of your first year of study is dedicated to practical film-making and you will learn the foundations of film production and post production. The other half of your first year focuses equally on storytelling for screen narratives and film aesthetics.

Half of your second year is again dedicated to production, with a focus on producing and directing. Here you will work in all stages in the film-making process in a variety of production roles, from conception and development to post production. The rest of the year depends on your own interests. You can choose to continue studying the practice of screenwriting, begin to work on documentary films, or improve your skills in cinematography, sound design, editing or art direction. At the beginning of Term 2 students declare a specialisation from among producing, directing, screenwriting, cinematography, sound design and art direction, and from that point forward receive additional tuition in their chosen area.

In your final year, you choose the nature of your own final project. The scope for this project is very broad so you can develop a practical film project in any area that excites you: for example, you might choose to write and direct a short film; act as cinematographer on a number of your course mates’ films; or develop a portfolio of projects as producer, editor, sound designer, or art director. You will also continue your investigations into film theory, ideology and aesthetics – subjects that will inform your filmmaking and screenwriting practice. You will also benefit from wider preparation for employment in the film industry, including gaining a greater understanding of finance, distribution and marketing.