Overview
What is Film?
Why do films affect us the way they do? How did filmmakers and film theorists respond to the introduction of sound? What is a digital story world? These are just some of the many questions that Film asks students to consider in lectures and small-group seminars. Over the course of your degree, you will encounter a wide range of film styles and movements from the beginning of film up to the present day. You will engage with diverse critical perspectives and explore the social, cultural, and ideological implications of film as art and popular culture. In addition to academic assignments, you will be encouraged to respond creatively to critical issues via projects, presentations, practical exercises, and video essays, as well as to develop your screenwriting skills.
Do you enjoy:
- Watching and analysing a wide range of films from around the world?
- Formulating opinions and arguments about film and media culture?
- Expressing your ideas critically and creatively in words and images?
Film: The course for you?
Film at Trinity is not a practical or professional training programme. Instead, the course is built on strong academic and intellectual foundations. Depending on the pathway you choose, areas of study in the first two years may include; film analysis, the history of Hollywood cinema, introduction to non-Western cinemas, aspects of European cinemas, cinema and Ireland, theories of the digital image, basic screenwriting using the format of the writers’ room, the potential of the smartphone to create mini-dramas, documentary theory and short documentary film practice. In third and fourth years, you will build on what you have learned with more advanced options that provide a range of opportunities for critical and experiential learning.
Film at Trinity
Trinity is ranked in the top 50 for Performing Arts (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025.) Film students are encouraged to collaborate with other students in the School through shared learning modules and facilities. Many film students are engaged with DU Film Society and with Trinity Film Review, the student-run film journal. Our students regularly attend film festivals and organise screenings and film events.
Our ‘In Conversation’ series of public talks offers students the opportunity to attend talks by leading practitioners. Participants to date include: Lenny Abrahamson, John Butler, Emer Reynolds, and Ed Guiney.
Pathways
The pathways available are Single Honours, Major with Minor and Joint Honours. There may also be an opportunity to take this subject up as a New Minor Subject from second year.
Graduate skills and career opportunities
A degree in Film offers career opportunities in many areas of the film and media industry along with several other pathways. Recent graduates of Film at Trinity have gone on to be involved in the film and media industry in a number of ways, from directing, editing, and writing feature-length films, to production and administration, as well as critical journalism, digital media, advertising, and marketing. This degree also offers opportunities in the many general areas open to arts graduates, such as administration, teaching, civil and public service. A number of our graduates have gone on to further study in film and associated areas.
Your degree and what you’ll study
First and second years
Depending on the pathway you choose, core modules in the first and second years for all Film students may include: Introduction to Film Analysis, American Cinema from the Silent Era to the 1930s, American Cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s, Introduction to European Cinemas, Introduction to Non-Western Cinemas, Introduction to Digital Media, Ireland and the Cinema. In addition, Single Honours core modules include Introduction to Film Practice, Introduction to Screenwriting, Introduction to Editing, Video Essays, and Introduction to Documentary Theory and Practice. Core modules are subject to change from year to year.
Third and fourth years
In the third and fourth years, students choose from a wide range of electives. Recent electives include: Current Issues in Irish Cinema, Melodrama, Digital Theory and Practice, Writing for the Small Screen, Writing for the Big Screen, Writing for Film, Women and Film, Music in Audiovisual Media, Punk Cinema, Film Theory, Film Festival Studies, TV History and Theory, Contemporary Non-Western Cinemas, Creative Producing, Practical Visual Storytelling, New Hollywood Cinema, Cult Cinema, Issues of Film Style and Performance. Chosen pathways may affect the electives available to you. Electives are subject to change from year to year.
Assessments include essays, assignments, individual and group projects, class presentations, blog posts, practical exercises, video essays, and class participation. In their final year, students undertake a Capstone project. This is a 10,000 word dissertation, or a screenplay plus a 4,000 word critical analysis, or a video essay plus a 4,000 word critical
analysis, or a series bible plus a 4,000 word critical analysis.
There are QQI/FET routes available for this course. Please see www.cao.ie for details.
Study abroad
Film has Erasmus exchanges with a number of universities. Students regularly participate in non-EU exchanges (at UCLA, USC, University of British Columbia and others). For more information on study abroad destinations and requirements visit: www.tcd.ie/global/mobility/
Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University Dual Degree Programme
Film is also available within the Dual Degree Programme between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University. Please note: The Dual Degree is only open to Single Honours students. Joint Honours students cannot apply to the Dual Degree. For more details, see www.tcd.gs.columbia.edu.
