Equal balance of theory and practical work
When you join our creative, compelling and critical Department of Media Arts you will be taught by world-class scholars and media practitioners with substantial industry experience.
Our BA Film, Television and Digital Production is one of the few in the country to place an equal weight on the teaching of practice and theory, with our students pursuing and developing their practical and creative skills as well as fostering their analytical and critical faculties in the study of media history and theory.
Our BA in Digital Media Culture and Technology introduces you to the range of expanding professions in the digital industries, from gaming to podcasting, web design, graphic design, social media marketing and video content creation.
Our BA in Video Games Art and Design course introduces you to the range of expanding professions in the Games, Immersive Storytelling and Virtual Production industries. You will make Indie, high-level ray-traced and group games as well as learn and produce beautiful Unreal Engine Environments.
The distinctive features of our degree programme includes a strong emphasis on the practice of film, television and contemporary media as creative arts and a focus on the theory and history of film, television and digital media.
This genuinely unique equal balance between theory and practical work make our degrees creative, critical and compelling.
We're also highly rated for employability.
BA Film, Television and Digital Production
Our established BA Film, Television and Digital Production is designed to provide an equal balance of creative practical work and critical, theoretical and historical work.
It combines the critical study of film, television, digital media and video art with a range of creative, hands-on courses offering you the ability to develop your critical skills in the generation of content for audio-visual media.
In the first year, you’ll gain a comprehensive grounding in the practical and theoretical areas, which lay the foundations for more advanced study in your second and third year.
All BA Film, Television and Digital Production students have 24 hour access to our full range of cutting-edge technical facilities and equipment, including our TV studio, editing suites and location camcorders, to name just a few.
BA Film Studies
The degree in Film Studies builds on the established strengths of our highly-rated Department of Media Arts, combined with expertise in international film from the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Royal Holloway.
The degree programme offers a comprehensive grounding in the history and theory of moving image media, and the opportunity for you to develop your own appreciation and understanding of film and television’s rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions.
With a particular emphasis on Hollywood, European cinemas and UK television, the degree also offers ample scope to study non-western cinemas, global television and non-narrative film.
Over the three-year degree, you’ll encounter film and programme-makers as diverse as Michael Mann, Dennis Potter, Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion, Alan Ball and Jean Renoir - to name but a very few - in numerous genres, movements, historical periods and social context.
BA Film Studies with Philosophy
How do film and television interact with society? Do audio-visual media reflect the world around us or do they help make it what it is? This degree programme gives you the opportunity to combine Film Studies with Philosophy, the latter comprising 25 per cent of the programme.
You'll learn about the history and theory of moving image film while developing your own appreciation and understanding of the rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions seen in film and television. In addition to exploring Hollywood and European cinemas and UK television, you’ll have the chance to study non-Western cinemas, global television and non-narrative film.
The Philosophy course units will complement your studies by deepening your understanding of issues such as contemporary politics, literature and art. You’ll be introduced to key elements of the subject, covering areas such as ancient philosophy and reason, argument and persuasion.
Each year, you’ll take three course units offered by the Media Arts department and one by Philosophy. The Film Studies element focuses on critical, historical and cultural approaches to the study of global film, television and other screen media. Seminars and workshops, usually based around screenings, are the main teaching forms used.
For Philosophy, you’ll take two introductory half-unit courses in the first year and then choose from a wide array of courses in your second and third year. These cover ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato as well as specialist fields including the philosophy of art and radical political theory.
BA English and Film Studies
Our exciting new joint degree programme, BA English and Film Studies, brings together two internationally-renowned departments and enables the detailed study of literature and the moving image.
From Beowulf to the Booker Prize, the English department at Royal Holloway prides itself on offering both the full historical range of English literature and the latest developments in the field.
The department of Media Arts will provide you with a comprehensive grounding in the history and theory of moving image media, and the opportunity to develop your own appreciation and understanding of film’s rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions.
The variety of cutting-edge research in the two departments ensures you’ll be able to study a vast range of course units in many areas of film and English literature, from Shakespeare to The Sopranos, from contemporary novels to classic Hollywood and from poetic practice to experimental film.
BA/BSc Digital Media Culture & Technology
Our lives are shaped and mediated by the digital. Social media platforms, streaming and viral media, personalisation algorithms, gaming, podcasting and creative digital content have changed what it means to be a human today. This innovative degree will allow you to become an expert in the practices and cultures of digital media and to understand how they have transformed almost every industry. It will also give you the industry-standard skills to create the best digital media content in the world and prepare you for a flourishing career in the creative digital industries.
The creative industries are the UK’s fastest-growing economic sector, worth £71.4 billion a year and making up 5.6% of the work force (Department of Culture, Media & Sport), and within the creative industries, digital media looks set to grow the fastest over the next few years. Opportunities are everywhere and this degree will equip you for an exciting career in this ground-breaking field, giving you the critical and creative skills to excel in media production and an appreciation of the technologies that make it all go round.
BA Video Game Art and Design
Our BA in Video Game Art and Design will give you the tools to create cutting-edge high-fidelity work for the elite level of gaming and at the same time develop your abilities as a digital artist to create smaller bespoke personal Indie game products. The most important thing is that we encourage you to find your own voice and your own home in the gaming or digital industries. As the games industry develops at a fantastic rate, there is a growing need for new artists, designers, writers, coders, marketing teams, animators and more. The opportunities are infinite and whatever aspects of videogames interest you, you’ll find your place at Royal Holloway.
Our brilliant technical and academic staff are on hand to teach you the skills you need to succeed. We also have one of the worlds leading Immersive Storytelling initiatives, StoryFutures and there are opportunities for exploring VR and AR content creation, animation and visual effects, screenwriting, location-based games and more recently a move towards Virtual Production wall technology and creating backdrops for real time film and TV production in the Unreal Engine. The Video Games market in the UK is growing extremely rapidly, the market is valued at more than 5.3bn with over 36.3m game users worldwide. The area around our campus is home to companies at the forefront of the industry and out proximity to and connections with companies here and in London along with our own industry-focussed experience make us the ideal gateway into the games industry.
