A Day in the Life of a Film Studies MA Student

Rhys, a Film Studies MA student

Hi, I’m Rhys! I’m in the second semester of my part-time Film Studies MA at King’s and loving every second of it. As I’m part-time, my Masters’ takes place over two years and, this term, I’m only in classes once a week (on a Tuesday!). When I am in, though, I tend to go through a fairly typical day that’s not too different from my coursemates’, so let me run you through it now…

Morning – I try to get up early in a morning, probably around 6.30-7am. I live at the top of Brixton Hill and if I go out for a 45 minute run (which I do my best to!) then I can do a full lap of Clapham Common and get back home before 8am to shower and get ready. I like to cycle into uni and this usually takes about half an hour so long as there’s nothing too wild happening on the roads! I get to the Strand campus around 10am and like to settle down somewhere calm to do my reading ahead of the afternoon’s screening and seminar. Some of my favourite spots are the café space at the top of Bush House which has incredible views of the London skyline, one of the study rooms in the King’s building or maybe even the public spaces in the National Theatre over the river. I’ll drop a text to the course group chat too, just to see who’s around!

Depending on where you live, it can be very easy to cycle in to uni.

Afternoon – The screening for my ‘Cinema & Sentiment’ module starts at 1.30pm, so I usually take my lunch into the screening (Tesco just added a vegan version of the hoisin duck wrap to the meal deal, winner!). We’ve already had quite a wide variety of films as part of this course, including Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, some classic black and white comedies featuring the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton, and Wong Kar-Wai’s incredible Hong Kong romance 2046. We’ll watch the films with the assigned reading in mind and then, after a quick dash to the nearby Pret for a cheap filter coffee, jump into a two-hour seminar discussion. This is a mix of our convenor, Dr Jinhee Choi, giving lectures to break down the complex philosophical concepts of the week, freewheeling group discussion and also structured discussion based around questions submitted by a couple of students each week. I’m pretty nervous about when my turn comes around to submit in a few weeks..!

In Film Studies, we analyse a wide variety of Films, including Gladiator!
Tesco now sells plant based hoisin wraps as a part of their meal deal, which is great for students!

Evening – The Strand campus is a fantastic location to study because it means once uni’s finished for the day, you’ve got the cultural heart of London at your disposal! The South Bank and Waterloo are fantastic for all kinds of food and some great pubs, so I’ll sometimes treat myself to dinner out either with course mates, with some of my other London-based friends or my girlfriend, who works nearby in Aldwych. I always try to make a point of getting to an evening screening at the BFI, too, as I still qualify for £3 25-and-under tickets for another 11 months. This gives me a chance to keep up with the latest releases, catch up with essential classics and forgotten treasures, and to generally keep enjoying movies outside of our prescribed viewing list for the MA. Then, I’ll enjoy a nighttime cycle home and get ready for the rest of the week, which usually involves all kinds of odd jobs (I’m a freelance journalist) to bring in the (vegan) cheddar.

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For more information on Film Studies, Rhys has also written 5 Things I Love About a Film Studies MA.

Looking for information on the Film Studies BA? Check out Liv’s Day in the Life of a Film Studies Student.

 

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