Aalto University Film and Television Master’s Thesis Guide: 2026–2028 Curriculum

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Film and Television is organised by the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The programme is broad, covering documentary film, editing, cinematography, directing, producing, sound design, production design, costume design and screenwriting. Despite those disciplinary differences, the current 2026–2028 curriculum uses one common thesis architecture across the programme.

For the PT Writers English-admissions portfolio, this guide covers the eight current English-facing study options: Documentary Film, Film Editing, Cinematography, Film Directing, Film and Television Producing, Film Sound Design, Production Design, and Costume Design: Performing Arts and Film. Screenwriting is also a major inside the same Aalto programme and uses the same current thesis codes, but its applicant route is Finnish/Swedish and therefore sits outside the initial English-admissions portfolio.

Where the thesis sits in the degree

The Master of Arts (Art and Design) degree is 120 ECTS. Under the current curriculum, the degree contains 90 ECTS of major studies and 30 ECTS of elective studies. The 30 ECTS Master’s thesis is included in the advanced studies of the major.

Across the current majors, Aalto repeats the same thesis entries:

• FILM.thes Master’s Thesis: 30 ECTS;
• FILM.matr Maturity Test: 0 ECTS.

The programme also lists a separate thesis-seminar sequence in the majors:

• ELO-E1030 Master's Thesis Seminar 1: 2 ECTS;
• ELO-E1031 Master's Thesis Seminar 2: 2 ECTS.

That gives a separate 4 ECTS thesis-seminar sequence. It should not be added to the thesis and described as a 34 ECTS thesis. The thesis itself remains 30 ECTS, while the seminars are separate studies within the major.

What kind of thesis can Film and Television students make?

Aalto’s current curriculum deliberately allows several thesis forms. The thesis can be theoretical, artistic or applied research. It may be a work of art, a combination of artistic and research work, or a thesis with a production component.

This flexibility matters because the eight English-admissions study options do not produce identical thesis objects. Depending on the major and topic, a thesis may involve a film, sound work, screenplay-related research, production study, design work, visual documentation, practice-based research, critical analysis, or a combination of artistic production and written research.

Aalto nevertheless requires a written component in every thesis. If the thesis combines a production or artistic component with a written component, the student should specify how the components are weighted in evaluation. The thesis is then evaluated as one whole attainment rather than as unrelated pieces.

There is therefore no single compulsory empirical method for the whole programme. A directing thesis, a film-sound thesis, a documentary practice project and a production-design thesis can require very different research strategies. The topic, artistic objective, research question and supervisor guidance should determine the appropriate method.

Current written-component recommendation

Unlike many programmes where no current public length guidance exists, Film and Television does publish a current recommendation in the 2026–2028 curriculum.

Aalto recommends that the written component is approximately 25–70 pages, or about 50,000–140,000 characters, depending on the extent of the possible production component.

The important word is recommended. This is not a fixed rule saying every student must produce the same number of pages. A thesis with a substantial artistic or production component may reasonably allocate the total thesis effort differently from a primarily theoretical thesis. Students should therefore use the programme range as planning guidance and confirm the appropriate balance with the supervisor.

The programme does not publish one universal citation style or one mandatory chapter template for all majors. A film history or theory-oriented written component may be structured differently from a practice-based reflective component or a production-focused research report.

Use the thesis seminars to develop the project

The two thesis seminars are not decorative additions. They give the thesis process a structured academic setting across the programme. The current curriculum places Thesis Seminar 1 in the first study year and Thesis Seminar 2 in the second study year.

Students should use the seminar sequence to refine the topic, connect artistic practice with research thinking, develop source use, test the written argument, and create a realistic production and writing plan. For artistic projects, the research problem should not be added only after the production is finished. The written and artistic components should be planned as parts of one thesis logic.

Start the formal thesis record in MyStudies

Aalto manages the current thesis process through the Thesis tab in MyStudies. The student enters the thesis topic, supervisor and advisor information there. The supervisor confirms the supervision and approves the topic and advisor or advisors.

The thesis page also describes staged progress inside the 30 ECTS thesis. The supervisor approves Part I (10 ECTS) and Part II (10 ECTS) as interim thesis parts. These are progress stages within the full 30 ECTS thesis, not separate extra credits to add on top of it.

After Part II is completed, thesis examiners are named. The programme director confirms the examiners. The supervisor is normally one of the examiners, while the other may be programme faculty or an external expert from the relevant field.

This structure means the thesis should be treated as a supervised, staged project. Students should not wait until the final upload to clarify the topic, research framing or relationship between written and artistic components.

Supervisor, advisor and examiner roles

The supervisor carries the central academic responsibility for the thesis process. The supervisor confirms supervision in MyStudies, approves the topic and advisors, reviews the work, and eventually gives permission for examination when the thesis meets the requirements and the oral presentation has been completed.

Advisors can support the student more closely with research execution, artistic development, production issues, writing and discipline-specific feedback. The exact arrangement depends on the project and major.

Before final submission, the student should present the completed work first to the advisor and then to the supervisor. Examination permission is not automatic. If the supervisor determines that necessary changes remain, the student must make them before examination, or may receive conditional permission tied to specified corrections.

Turnitin and AI checks

During the thesis process, the student should take a Turnitin originality report according to programme practice. The thesis advisor checks the report. This is best used during drafting so citation, quotation and paraphrasing issues can be corrected before the final submission.

When the final thesis is submitted through MyStudies, an originality check and an AI-detection check are automatically created for the thesis text, and the supervisor receives access to those reports.

Aalto’s university-wide AI guidance allows AI to support learning unless a teacher or assessment context restricts it. Students remain responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of submitted work. AI-generated text must not simply be presented as the student’s own unmodified academic writing.

A stricter rule applies to the maturity component: Aalto currently prohibits AI in maturity exams. In Film and Television, the thesis abstract serves as the maturity test, so students should complete that assessed component under the current maturity-exam restriction.

The oral presentation is compulsory

An oral presentation is mandatory and must take place before the complete thesis is submitted for examination.

Students can participate in the programme’s public oral-presentation event or, by arrangement, complete the presentation in a more informal setting with the supervisor. The public presentation offers a useful chance to receive final feedback before the submission deadline.

Students planning an informal presentation should contact the supervisor early enough to ensure it happens before examination permission and final submission.

Artistic and production components

For many Film and Television students, the thesis contains an artistic or production component. The Department of Film notes that the artistic component is usually a film, although the programme’s thesis architecture allows other forms depending on the major.

The artistic or productive component is submitted for examination at the same time as the written work. The student is responsible for making all necessary material available to the examiners on time.

Copyright requires additional care. Aalto specifically recommends that links to film material are sent directly to the examiners, supervisor or Film learning services rather than being left in the MyStudies electronic archive where copyright-sensitive links could be exposed.

This is an important distinction between examination access and public archiving. The examiners need access to the complete artistic work, but the student should follow Aalto’s current instructions for how copyrighted audiovisual material is delivered and documented.

Maturity test and abstract

For the Master of Arts degree, the thesis abstract functions as the maturity test. The supervisor approves the maturity test.

Language requirements depend on the student’s earlier education and whether the required language studies and maturity demonstration were already completed at bachelor level. Students educated in Finland in Finnish or Swedish may have additional language-check requirements if those requirements were not completed earlier. Students whose language of education is neither Finnish nor Swedish write the abstract in English, with the supervisor evaluating its content.

Because this can depend on individual educational history, students should follow the current programme instructions rather than assuming that every student has the same bilingual abstract requirement.

Final submission requirements

The finished thesis is submitted through MyStudies for evaluation, approval and archiving. Aalto requires the thesis file to be in PDF/A format and below 100 MB. Submission will not go through if the format or file-size requirement is not met.

The Aalto thesis template is available in English, Finnish and Swedish, but the programme states that using the template is not mandatory.

Before final submission, check that:

• the thesis information in MyStudies is complete;
• the topic, supervisor and advisors have been handled correctly;
• the oral presentation is complete;
• the abstract/maturity requirement is complete;
• the final PDF/A is valid and below 100 MB;
• any artistic or production documentation is supplied in the appropriate form;
• the current programme submission deadline is still valid;
• the Sisu study plan is up to date if graduation is planned.

Public thesis and Aaltodoc

The thesis and its metadata are archived in Aaltodoc. Students can decide whether to grant permission for full-text online publication, but declining online publication does not make the thesis confidential.

Aalto states that the thesis remains a public document. If full-text online publication permission is not granted, the archived file can still be made available on request. Aalto also allows the online publishing date to be postponed for up to one year, for example because of another publication, a patent application or corporate interests. The public-document status still remains.

This is particularly important for externally connected film or production work. Confidential source material, contracts, unreleased footage or commercial information should be handled before the thesis is finalised. Students should not rely on online-publication settings to create confidentiality that the thesis rules do not provide.

2027 thesis submission dates

The current programme thesis and graduation pages list four confirmed 2027 MA thesis submission dates:

• 26 May 2027, with committee decision window 14–18 June 2027;
• 30 July 2027, with committee decision window 23–27 August 2027;
• 17 November 2027, with committee decision window 7–10 December 2027;
• 31 December 2027, with committee decision window 17–21 January 2028.

The thesis page marks 30 July and 31 December as supplemental return dates. It warns that normal vacation periods may reduce supervision and guidance around supplemental deadlines. Students using those dates should plan more independently and confirm supervisor availability early.

The page heading still refers to a 2025–2026 thesis schedule while the table itself contains explicit 2027 dates. This guide uses the explicit 2027 dates verified on 29 August 2026, but students should always recheck the live thesis and graduation pages before committing to a final production, presentation or submission schedule.

Graduation in Sisu

Graduation is requested through the student’s primary study plan in Sisu. The study plan must be current and suitable for graduation, and the student must be enrolled as attending on the graduation day.

For a Master of Arts degree, the other studies included in the degree should be completed and registered when the graduation request is submitted. The thesis must be returned in final form to MyStudies for grading. The thesis grade can be registered later after the Degree Programme Committee has made its decision.

The thesis is therefore one part of a broader graduation readiness check. A technically successful thesis upload does not compensate for an incomplete or invalid Sisu plan.

A practical thesis workflow

A robust Film and Television thesis plan can be organised as follows:

1. Use Thesis Seminar 1 to explore the topic, artistic/research problem and sources.
2. Decide whether the thesis is theoretical, artistic, applied, production-based or combined.
3. Define the relationship between the written and artistic/production components.
4. Confirm supervisor/advisor arrangements and create the MyStudies thesis record.
5. Build a realistic production, research and writing schedule.
6. Complete the staged thesis work and use supervisor/advisor feedback before finalising major decisions.
7. Use Turnitin during drafting and correct source-use problems.
8. Complete the compulsory oral presentation before examination permission.
9. Finalise the thesis abstract/maturity test without prohibited AI use.
10. Prepare the final PDF/A under 100 MB and organise artistic documentation or examiner links correctly.
11. Submit through MyStudies by a current programme deadline.
12. Keep the Sisu study plan and graduation request aligned with the thesis schedule.

The central planning principle is integration. In Film and Television, the thesis can connect artistic practice, production and research in many ways, but the components must form one assessable academic whole. The current Aalto framework gives students substantial creative flexibility while still requiring clear research-oriented thinking, a written component, supervised progression, oral presentation, maturity demonstration and a formally archived final thesis.