Film Studies Research and Study Opportunities

Thousands of study and academic opportunities in Film Studies are available internationally. Conferences and summer schools in Film Studies are organized regularly in the best academic centers of the world. The majority of universities and many foundations also offer BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs in Film Studies as wells as postdoctoral research grants, awards, and fellowships. Below you will find the updated list of international opportunities available in Film Studies.

Film Studies Scholarships

Film Studies Fellowships

Film Studies Conferences

Film Studies relevant accounts on Twitter

What is Film Studies?

Have you ever participated in film discussions, those cozy events when you gather with a small to medium group of interested people, watch a movie and then discuss it? Now imagine that entertainment activity can become the scope of your university studies and your future career. 

Film studies is a specific discipline with Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees that focus on:

  • film history
  • film theory
  • film culture
  • film genres
  • national cinemas
  • film criticism and analysis, etc. 

Film studies typical student routines are watching the movies and listening to lectures about the movies. Often, students have discussions with their peers, where they discuss their interpretations of the watched movie. Similarly, film studies papers or exams are passed by taking a film, watching it, and documenting the shot by shot analysis.

Film studies are not Filmmaking

The clarification between those two terms is essential to fully understand film studies and what career applications it promises to graduates. Film studies are not filmmaking. It does not teach how to shoot films or implement technical processes needed for film production. 

Film studies view the film as an art and discuss it in the social and cultural context. Just like studying literature & poetry doesn't make you a writer yourself, film studies also don't make you a filmmaker. Film studies explore the film's content, and the form in this content is presented to the audience. It also explores narrative, techniques, stylistic elements, and other components of movies. 

Students might contradict what is stated above because there are several film production modules in many film studies programs. However, those courses are additional, based on the educational institution's preferences, and they are usually offered only in undergraduate, not at a deep level. Therefore, though in parallel with the theoretical concept of films, you may also study some production courses in some of the academic programs that are not the main purpose of the course. If you want to learn how to produce a film, the individual practical courses of digital filmmaking, processing, printing, etc., would be a better choice. 

Skills Film studies graduates acquire

Film studies courses vary from film history and film genres to more expansive areas like criminal justice in film, Politics, propaganda in film, etc. As movies are an essential channel of information acquisition and opinion formation, film studies graduates explore how sensitive aspects like gender, sexuality, culture diversification, etc., are presented through movies. Students also the main types of films such as media historiography, global film cultures, audio-visual environments, etc.

Therefore, students gain all the comprehensive skills to watch films for pleasure and analyze and understand the actual values they carry to society. Students get knowledge to judge and develop contemporary cinema both as an industry and as a cultural product. The main skills film studies graduates have upon graduation include critical analysis, effectively articulate opinions, resourcefulness, and creativity, etc. 

Research in film studies

There are two contexts within which the research in the film industry can be viewed. The first one is classical research that scholars carry in many other disciplines. As a film studies graduate, you can take the research topic during Ph.D. studies, deepen your academic knowledge of the subject and bring your interpretation and improvement suggestions for it. To gain an approximate understanding of what are the main film studies research directions, below are the research areas offered by Yale University:

  • Animation
  • Filmmaking. Producing, etc.
  • Genres, Styles, Categories, Series
  • International Cinema
  • Literature & Film
  • Music & Sound in Movies
  • Directors, Actors, Writers, etc.
  • The Movie Business & Studios, etc. 

Here you can explore the full list of film studies research.

In parallel to the mentioned research directions, there is also a specialization of a Film Researcher. They are responsible for validating the accuracy of the information presented in the film during the production phase and before it goes public. Film researchers get the scripts and research all the presented facts in advance. If film researchers do not approve the accuracy, it should be modified and submitted for review or film researchers. The role of Film researchers is crucial, as otherwise any film producer could include any information, both accurate and not, and mislead society. 

Just reflect how the films you watched shaped your attitude to many aspects of life and how they influenced your personality to understand the role of an educated approach to films. Generations believe what they watch in films; they undergo real emotions presented through film scenarios and take many film ideas to their personal lives. Therefore, film studies specialists are responsible for the quality of materials that go public through cinemas. We hope this section of ARMACAD will help you succeed in regulating the film industry.