51cg

I had a fantastic time in Aberdeen. I loved learning about the different historical and political movements that have influenced filmmaking from the beginning, and are still making a mark on filmmakers today. I really enjoyed as well learning about visual culture, which I didn't actually know too much about starting the course. I now work in a post production company in Manchester and we work on shows like Match of the Day, The Voice, Comic Relief, but also stuff for Netflix.

I had incredible classmates, incredible teaching staff, and the subject just opens up so many different avenues. You get to be creative, you get to discover so many new films, and study so many topics that you wouldn't expect necessarily in an academic context. Since graduating I've gotten to apply those skills [you develop] in volunteering and working in festivals, and now I'm doing a fully funded masters in film at Oxford.

Aberdeen has a lot to offer students. It teaches you not just the basics of cinema academically, but also practically. Thanks to Aberdeen I've been able to actually start a career in the film industry. Scotland is becoming a bit of a hotspot for film at the minute...with a degree from Aberdeen I've been able to take a lot of the practical skills that I gained there and build upon there, and apply them daily to what I do.

The course covered so much in four years, and that gave me a really strong foundation to explore film in different ways. I also really loved how small and tight knit the department was. You really felt like you knew everyone, and that was just a great sense of community to have. I'm on the selection committee for the Edinburgh Short Film Festival, and I helped launch the Napier Student Film Festival. My undergrad was instrumental in gaining that experience.

I always felt the class environment was very open and everyone was able to bring up their points, their discussions, their observations. All the film lecturers were great in building those points up and facilitating conversation. I was able to create my own short documentary with some classmates and [through a student club] with the film department we created a little independent film festival. It was an amazing experience that gave me insight on what I'd be interested to do in the future.

The professors [in the film and visual culture department] are really supportive; I felt that support from day one, and especially while I was writing my dissertation in my fourth year, and they're very passionate about what they teach which shows in their courses.

Whether you love film already, or you just quite like the creative subjects and you know you're into English and reading and analysis and stuff, I think this is a perfect degree for you. It's just so fun and you learn so much - so many soft skills, so many transferable skills, but also just so much about film.

I joined [the MA Film and Visual Culture and International Relations] not knowing what I was getting myself into, but I'm glad I did because I gained key skills that I can use for the rest of my life: critical thinking, having a deeper analysis, and argumentative reasoning, both written and spoken.