Digital Media Arts & Film

Film at Surrey

Film Studies was established as an undergraduate subject at the University of Surrey in 2007. Located in the School of Arts, the programmes, extracurricular activities, and career prospects are enhanced by constant interaction between students of film studies and students in dance, theatre and music. A significant aim of the film studies team is to develop students’ awareness of the relationship between screen media and the performing arts, as well as students’ collaborative skills, recognising this as an a engine for the creative industries.

Scholarship in the film studies programme is marked by an ongoing theoretical and practice-based engagement with documentary, exploring the boundaries between fiction and documentary, and between the developing forms of recorded, live and interactive screen media. 

Staff research into the film industries, animated documentary, social documentary and activism, and avant-garde practices in film and digital media engages with contemporary debates about how films generate significant experiences and meanings for audiences worldwide.

The principle aims of both degree programmes are:

• to build and further students’ understanding of film and cinema, and of the moving image more broadly, as a medium of mass communication, of entertainment, of historical record, and of artistic practice; 
• to enhance students’ media literacy and to meaningfully integrate media literacy in wider frames of citizenship; 
• to provide students with interdisciplinary education that builds independent analytical skills in the (critical) evaluation of and engagement in the interplay of economy, society, technology and culture;
• to prepare students for professional careers in the media and cultural industries and beyond as reflective, responsible and progressive practitioners

The creative writing programme has the additional aim:

• to facilitate the capacity to produce creative texts, to reflect critically on them, as well as on the work of others

Practice engagement

An important part of the undergraduate programmes is the development of screen media skills. All students participate in digital film projects in their first two semesters and can then go on to choose optional modules in screenwriting, documentary, short fiction, and TV Studio work.

Creative writing students develop both critical and imaginative writing skills as part of their programme, working with staff and students in the English department.

An important part of practice engagement involves working with clients on 'real world' projects promoting social activities, health, safety, and scientific projects.

Working with actors is a key skill in both documentary and fiction projects. Our aim is to develop technical competence alongside the ability to manage creative teams with skill and sensitivity.

Study engagement

Screen media are highly complex forms of communication and entertainment. The film industry has played a significant role in the formation of national and regional identities. Research and study at Surrey involves engagement with world cinemas such as Latin American, Asian, and Southeast Asian cinema, as well as British, European and US cinema. This work engages with the relationships between social history and aesthetics. At the same time, screen media raise questions about how individuals interact with the screen. Research and study engage staff and students in developing methods to interrogate their own as well as others responses to screen media products.