Film BA Honours
University of Westminster
Key Information
Select location
Campus location
London, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
3 - 4 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
GBP 15,400 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* international | UK: £9,250
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Introduction
This three-year degree is one of the best-known film courses in the world, with an international reputation for its academic and practical teaching.
Our students’ films are shown at festivals globally and have won a host of honours and awards, including Royal Television Society Awards, a Student Academy Award and a Grierson Best Student Documentary Award.
We operate from a purpose-built studio facility in Harrow, with two large film and television studios, a set construction workshop, a 3D workshop, and extensive post-production facilities. The environment is both scholarly and creative, with all students studying film history, criticism and aesthetics alongside their practical work.
You'll learn to collaborate creatively as you develop production specialisms in areas such as writing, producing, cinematography, directing, production design, editing and sound. You'll also gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.
We aim to develop thinking filmmakers who have something to say to and about the world. A very high proportion of our students go on to work in film and television, and recent work from notable alumni includes The Greatest Showman and Nocturnal Animals (Seamus McGarvey, cinematographer), Senna and Amy (Asif Kapadia, director) and No Time to Die and Skyfall (Neal Purvis, screenwriter, producer). Under the Shadow, the first feature directed by 2005 graduate Babak Anvari, was selected as the UK entry for the 2017 Best Foreign Language film Oscar and won the Outstanding Debut Award at the 2017 BAFTA Awards.
The course receives substantial support from the industry, and you will gain experience in working with professional actors, negotiating with facilities houses, equipment hire companies and local authorities.
Based at the recently refurbished Harrow Campus – home to the Westminster School of Arts – you will work alongside students from design, photography, music, fashion and journalism in a unique hothouse of creative opportunity.
Through an excellent network of industry contacts, some of whom teach on the course and including many alumni of the course, students have opportunities for part-time work, placements and work-related learning activities.
The second year includes a core work-based professional learning module in which students may undertake a short work placement and begin to develop their industry connections and awareness.
Students may also undertake an optional year-long placement between their second and third year.
Top reasons to study with us
- Westminster is ranked top 10 among UK institutions for Communication and Media Studies in the QS World University Rankings 2021
- Oscar- and BAFTA-winning film alumni – graduates of this course have gone on to celebrated careers in the film industry
- State-of-the-art facilities – a purpose-built studio facility with two large film and television studios, a set construction workshop, a 3D workshop, and extensive post-production facilities
- Work experience with a difference – recent placements include Industrial Light and Magic, Working Title Films and positions on King Arthur, Jack Ryan and Mary Queen of Scots
Why study this course?
- Acclaimed films
Our students’ films are shown at festivals globally and have won a host of honours and awards, including Royal Television Society Awards (the latest in 2021), a Student Academy Award (2011), and a Grierson Best Student Documentary Award (2015). - Industry experience
The course receives substantial support from the industry, and you will gain experience in working with professional actors, negotiating with facilities houses, equipment hire companies and local authorities. - World-class facilities
We operate from a purpose-built studio facility in Harrow, with two sound stages, a set construction workshop, and extensive post-production facilities.
Programme Recognition
This course is industry-recognised by ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK's screen-based industries, and carries the ScreenSkills Select quality-mark, which indicates courses best suited to prepare students for a career in the screen industries.
Career Opportunities
- Join our successful alumni
A high proportion of our graduates go on to well-paid and creatively satisfying careers in a wide range of production roles. - Industry-focused teaching
Your practical and creative development is supported by workshops and tutorials led by practising industry professionals, as well as by the course team. - Graduates in work and/or further study
90% of our Film BA students are in work and/or further study 15 months after graduation.
Source: Discover Uni (Accessed November 2020)
Work experience
London is the centre of the UK’s film and television industries, so there are plenty of opportunities for students to gain work experience during their course, and doing this makes it easier to find paid work upon graduating. Students undertake work experience that relates to their desired career path as part of the third-year Professional Practice module, and recent placements include:
- Art Assistant on Bohemian Rhapsody
- VFX Production Assistant on King Arthur
- Location marshalling on Jack Ryan Season 2 and Annihilation
- Roles at Industrial Light and Magic, Working Title and Envy Post Production
- Positions at Emmerdale, Broadchurch and Mary Queen of Scots
- Runners for ESPN: Wimbledon and US Open
- Casting Assistant at Aston Casting
- Sound Assistant at Phenomenon Films
Industry links
Our strong industry links mean that the course is supported by professionals in the sector. Students benefit from workshops and tutorials that introduce them to different skills and specialisations and allow them to develop these skills in an industry-style production context. As well as influencing career choices, leading professionals also tutor students on their productions.
Recent visiting professionals include:
- Kit Fraser (Director of Photography, Eternal Beauty, Under the Shadow)
- Louise Hooper (Director, Flesh and Blood)
- Mick Audsley (Editor, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
- Sara Dunlop (Commercials Director)
- Paul Trijbits (Producer, Fish Tank, Saving Mr Banks)
- Seamus McGarvey (Cinematographer, The Greatest Showman, Atonement, Anna Karenina, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Godzilla)
Job roles and graduate employment
Film and television can be difficult industries in which to gain a foothold. Our emphasis on equipping graduates with skills in entry-level roles as well as experience in Head of Department roles allows them to gain immediate employment and opportunities to progress.
Typical entry-level roles can include:
- Art department trainee or assistant
- Location runner/location assistant
- Camera trainee
- Production assistant
- Script reader
- Script supervisor’s assistant
- AD runner or 3rd AD
- Researcher
- Editorial trainee/ 2nd assistant editor/assistant editor
Examples of graduate employment include:
- Assistant Location Manager on Annihilation (Saba Kia) and locations Assistant on The Nutcracker (Tara Acton)
- Production Assistant on The Danish Girl (Behnam Taheri) and on Set Production Assistant on Spider-Man: Far From Home (Pippa Howson) and Production Co-ordinator on Yesterday (Jannika Oberg) and Downton Abbey (Aneta Chalas)
- Director's Assistant: 2nd Unit on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Lois Gration) and 1st AD/2nd Unit Director on 47 Meters Down (James Nunn)
- Central Loader on Cats (Hannah Jell) and Aladdin (Cenay Said), clapper Loader: 2nd Unit on No Time to Die (Phil Barnes), 2nd AC: Sprite Unit on Bohemian Rhapsody (Maiya Rose) and Camera Trainee on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Sarah Collins)
- VFX Production Assistant on Dumbo (Jack Lewis) and VFX Editor on Hellboy (2019) (Kieran Waller), and VFX Data Capture on Cats (Chris Upson)
- Assistant Script Supervisor on Men in Black: International (Alice Guillot)
Other recent graduates have gone on to study further, including:
- National Film and Television School – graduates currently doing MAs in Screenwriting, Cinematography, Editing, and Commercials.
- MA Film and Screen Studies, Cambridge University
- MA History of Dress, Courtauld Institute
- PhD, Film Directing, University of Liverpool
- MA English Literature, City University
- MFA Production Design, American Film Institute
Graduate Success
This course has helped to shape the careers of some of the most influential names working in the industry today, such as:
- Seamus McGarvey - Cinematographer (The Greatest Showman, Atonement, Anna Karenina, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Godzilla)
- Asif Kapadia - Director, 2016 BAFTA and Oscar Winner (Amy, The Warrior, Senna)
- Cinders Forshaw – Cinematographer (Poldark, The Athena, Tipping the Velvet)
- Paul Trijbits - Producer (Jane Eyre, Saving Mr Banks, This is England)
- Neal Purvis - Writer (Jonny English, Casino Royale, Skyfall, Spectre)
- Lucia Zucchetti - Editor (Colette, The Queen, Rat Catcher, Testament of Youth, Game Change)
- Babak Anvari - Director, 2017 BAFTA Winner (Under the Shadow)
Other recent graduate credits include:
- Cinematographer's Assistant – The Mummy, Wonder Woman, Beauty and the Beast (Jack Mealing)
- Production Assistant – Wonder Woman (Lois Gration)
- Cinematographer - Eternal Beauty, Wounds (Kit Fraser)
- 2nd Unit Electrician – Spiderman: Far from Home (Greg Probert)
- DoP – The Will Smith Bucket List (Edgar Dubrovsky)
- Technical Assistant – Warner Brothers Television Production UK (Amanda Fox)
- Writer/Director ‘After Love’ (BFI and BBC Films) – Aleem Khan
- Editor, ‘The Trip to Greece’, ‘The Trip to Spain’ – Marc Richardson
- Art Department Trainee on Spider-Man: Far From Home (Nathalie Carraro)
- Oscar for Best Live Action Short 2016: ‘Stutterer’ – Shan Ogilvie, Producer
- Oscar for Best Live Action Short 2017: ‘Sing’ – Kristof Deak, Writer/Director
- 2019 Screen Daily Star of Tomorrow – Dionne Edwards, Writer/Director
- In Competition at Cannes 2016: ‘Dreamlands’ – Sara Dunlop, Director
Admissions
Curriculum
The course emphasises group work, with students participating in small-scale productions in the first year, larger groups in the second year, and substantial crews in the final third-year productions, which may include the participation of second-year students. This film practice gives students the opportunity to explore different disciplines, before finding a specialism in the second year.
Teaching of specialisms on the course is supported by input from professionals through workshops, tutorials and feedback, introducing students to specialised skill-based roles that are crucial to a professional crew and may inform their career path.
The academic side of the course is assessed through presentations and coursework essays that build in length through the levels up to a substantial research project in the final year, where you carry out in-depth exploration into an academic or practical area of your own choice.
The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.
Year 1
Each student will have roles in a range of documentary and fiction production projects, shooting and editing on 16mm film as well as digitally, and working in small groups. You'll be able to choose from a number of specialist screen option modules.
Subjects of study include:
- Introduction to Film and Television
- Constructing the Real: Documentary Filmmaking
- Creativity and Collaboration
- A Screen module from a range of options, including Production Design for the Screen; Visual Effects and Animation; Working with Actors
Credit Level 4
Year 2
The focus is on specialist areas, including directing, cinematography, screenwriting, producing, editing and sound, to enable you to work in larger crews. You will also undertake a core work-based learning module, which will include a short work placement or alternative equivalent work-based experience.
Subjects of study include:
- Drama Production
- Work-Based and Placement Learning
- Cinemas of the World: Contemporary Issues and Trends
- Contemporary Television Drama
- A Screen module from a range of options, including Camera and Lighting Skills; Identities: Race, Class and Gender in Film and Television; Short Form Film and Video
Credit Level 5
Placement Year
Between Years 2 and 3, you may also undertake an optional year-long placement. If you take advantage of this option, you’ll undertake an additional year-long industry placement year module running parallel to your work placement, and their final degree award will be BA Honours Film with Professional Experience.
Year 3
You'll work on drama, documentary and commercials production, engage in a research project and develop your understanding through an Industry module to prepare you to move into your chosen career.
Subjects of study include:
- Research Project
- Advanced Production
- Understanding the Film and Television Industry
- Advanced Screenwriting
- Advanced Documentary Production
Credit Level 6
International Opportunities
Many of our courses offer international study and work experiences, and the University provides other global opportunities that all students can apply for - so whatever you're studying, you'll have the chance to go abroad.
Opportunities could include:
- Taking part in a semester or year-long exchanges at institutions around the world
- Attending an international summer school or field trip
- Developing your CV through volunteering or work placements abroad
International experience broadens horizons, boosts self-confidence, and improves global understanding, alongside being fantastic for your career.
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Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible undergraduate students, which cover all or part of your tuition fees.
English Language Requirements
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