Film BA(Hons) Degree

Course outline

Stage 1

• Professional Practice 1: Film
• Craft/Screenwriting
• Approaches to Film
• Professional Practice 2: Film
• Craft/Journalism
• Criticism, Analysis & Theory
• History of the Moving Image 

Stage 2

• Postmodernism, Film & New Media
• Research & Method: Audience, Archive or Work Placement
• Documentary, Advanced Screenwriting: Shorts or Sound Design
• Experimental Cinema, Advanced Screenwriting: Features, Writing About Film or Script To Screen  

Plus two options, for example:

• American Cinema
• British Cinema
• The Weather: Film & Eco-Activism
• Black Cinema
• Women & Film 

Stage 3

• Research Practice followed by Dissertation
• Professional Development Portfolio followed by Professional Practice Portfolio

Tell me more about the BA(Hons) Film course

 BA(Hons) Film award information form (113.91 KB)

At Falmouth flexibility is our watchword - you decide how your course develops. You can choose from documentary, sound design, film criticism, screenwriting, or shooting short narrative and experimental films. Whatever your choice, our team of academics, filmmakers, sound designers, writers and editors will help you develop the skills to speak and write confidently about the creative and cultural contexts of your work.

By choosing to study for a degree in Film at Falmouth you'll:

• Benefit from being taught by our friendly and experienced staff of academics, film-makers, critics and editors.
• Develop a broad understanding of the artistic, social and historical importance of the medium.
• Learn key analytical skills through a complex study of film history, screenwriting, design and production.
• Take on key practical elements, from pre-production, lighting, sound and digital video to the intricacies of post-production in our industry-standard editing suites.
• Undertake an exciting learning experience enriched by lectures, seminars, workshops, visiting speakers and professional placements.
• Be based at the Tremough Campus, which features a Media Centre packed with industry-standard facilities.

Links

• Rushes film magazine: www.rushesmagazine.com
• Warp Films: www.warp.net/films
• Student films: www.vimeo.com/filmatfalmouth 

How is the course taught?

This full-time course is composed of six units (or a combined equivalent) per academic year, with a choice of options throughout. Your progress is evaluated through continuous assessment rather than formal examinations.

Project work is supported by lectures, seminars, workshops, professional experience, work placements at leading companies, tutorials and regular visiting speakers from the industry. Visiting speakers have included writer/director Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, Cherry Tree Lane), producer Mary Burke (Bunny & The Bull, Submarine), writer Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare at Goats), Matt Bochenski (Editor, Little White Lies), and film critic Charles Gant (Heat, Sight & Sound).

The course participates in international exchanges, with students having recently attended placements in Australia and Canada, and engaged with the Erasmus exchange programme in Europe.

Assessment

• Coursework and project work
• Final year dissertation

Facilities

Our high-specification Media Centre is at your disposal. Facilities include:

• Well-stocked equipment store with a range of Panasonic and JVC cameras
• Access through the Photography Centre to HD Canon 5D Mk II DSLR cameras
• Digital production suites equipped with software including Final Draft (screenwriting), Movie Magic (production management) and edit software, including Final Cut Pro, AVID and Adobe CS suite
• Recording studio and suites equipped with Pro Tools audio editing
• 106-seat cinema
• 21,000-title TV and film library

Course achievements

• Fully funded (AHRC) postgraduate study at institutions including Manchester Metropolitan University, Goldsmiths, Royal Holloway, University College Falmouth, University of Leeds, University of Amsterdam, University of Glasgow
• Festival Winners: Assistance (Wheatley, 2009), Beached (Hammond, 2010), Finding Johnny Depp (Munton & Weedon, 2010), Rebeca Tiernan, Joey Beard
• Rushes student editorial team have contributed to a range of respected national and international titles, including Empire, Little White Lies, Clash, Total Film, ArtRocker and Shook
• Student dissertation won the 2010 Frank Capra Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Film Criticism
• Student placements have taken place at Cannes International Film Festival, the International Screenwriters' Festival, Working Title, Rankin/Dazed and Confused, Encounters Film Festival, Warners, BBC, Channel Four and Empire
• Published articles by students and alumni in academic journals including Film International and Film Matters
• Lecturer Rachel Tillotson invited to take part in the Talent Project Market at the Berlin Film Festival. Her latest short film I'll Tell You was selected for both the London and Encounters Film Festivals in 2011
• The Astronaut: Cultural Mythology and Idealised Masculinity, a monograph by lecturer Dario Llinares, published by Cambridge Scholar Press in 2011
• Lecturer Sarah Arnold contributed a chapter on The Ring and Ringu to Bound by Love: Familial Bonding in Film and Television, in 2011
• Lecturer Kingsley Marshall contributed chapters to Presidents in The Movies and Remembering Watergate, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2011
• Lecturer Camilla Peters delivered a paper on little known experimental filmmaker, 'Margaret Tait: A Woman is Speaking' at the 'Doing Women's Film History' Conference, University of Sunderland in April 2011. The paper is being revised for publication. 

Work placements

Film at Falmouth has a close relationship with Warp Films, and has placed more than 20 students in internships at the company's London offices since 2010. Warp Films is a leading UK production company responsible for many acclaimed British films, including Shane Meadows' This is England, Chris Morris' Four Lions and Richard Ayoade's Submarine.

Third year BA(Hons) Film student, Jamie Isbell, spent three weeks with the company and provided this insight into his experience.

"My placement was predominantly working as part of the production/development team. This involved reading scripts (a short by Jake Chapman, and Paul Andrew Williams' new feature), assisting on the initial stages of new productions (an adaptation of Sum, and Peter Strickland's new feature) which could include anything from starting up a file sharing system for producers to access or contributing to the production's visual development, such as gathering research on visuals and audio. The most outstanding thing about Warp is how normal it is. The team of producers, Mary Burke, Robin Gutch (Hunger) and others are all huge successes in their own right, but working with them never seemed exclusive. They were an open and relaxed team, which allowed me to gain some really great experience. Warp are growing really quickly; Four Lions has been their most successful opening feature to date, and they have some fascinating titles on their slate."

Our relationship with Warp Films was established with the FilmatFalmouth lecture series, which has featured visits from producer Mary Burke and director James Caddick.

Graduates Joey Beard and Paul Thomason worked as runners at the 2008 International Screenwriters' Festival, and students have worked at Warner Bros film magazines including Little White Lies, Empire and Total Film.

Media release: Falmouth film course secures enviable internships with Warp Films

Press release: Taken by the International Screenwriters' Festival

Guest lectures

Recent guest lectures have included:

• Mary Burke: Producer at pioneering British production company Warp Films, who worked as a script consultant on Shane Meadows' This is England, before producing Chris Cunningham's short Rubber Jonny and Paul King's Bunny and The Bull, which was awarded a British Independent Film Award.
• Paul Andrew Williams: The writer/director responsible for London to Brighton, The Cottage and, due this year, Cherry Tree Lane - described by The Guardian as "the hottest director in Britain".
• Jon Ronson: The writer of The Men Who Stare at Goats appeared as part of the Cornwall Film Festival, and described the adaptation of his work into a multi-million dollar film starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Ewan McGregor.
• Phelim O'Neil: Guardian film critic who also co-directed the "Making of" feature for Duncan Jones' sci-fi film Moon.
• Neil Waddington: Founder of leading production company fortyfoursixteen (whose clients include Universal, Loreal, JP Morgan and Comic Relief)
• Molly Dineen: BAFTA award-winning documentary film maker, whose latest film The Lie of the Land was screened at Falmouth as part of the launch of Falmouth Skillset Academy. You can watch a video of her lecture online here:

Guest Lecture series: Molly Dineen

More information and interviews with many of these lecturers can be found at film.falmouth.ac.uk

Professorial lecture series

Falmouth's Professorial lecture series aims to produce an engaging and challenging public programme that stimulates the intellectual curiosity of our staff, students and alumni, our research collaborators, our industry partners, our local communities and other supporters. Recent lectures relevant to students in the School of Media include Andrew Chitty and Emily Bell.

Andrew Chitty

Seven myths that drive the digital economy

Andrew has been a pioneer in the converging worlds of TV and digital media since the mid 90s when as Editor of BBC2's The Net he was responsible for the BBC's first website and virtual world. Since 1998 he's built Illumina Digital into the UK's leading cross platform production company winning a raft of awards including 4 BAFTAS, 8 RTS Awards, The UN award for e-learning and even a Golden Ladle for the world's best cookery site. In 2008 Illumina joined All3Media, the UK's largest independent production group.

Andrew has been active in policy and industry groups, co-authoring OFCOM's paper New Options for Public Service in the Digital Age and has advised Lord Stephen Carter as a member of the ministerial steering board for the Digital Britain Report. He is a council member of PACT, trustee of TRC Media in Glasgow and a past board member of Skillset. Andrew is currently Chair of the National Skills Council for Digital Media.

Emily Bell

Back To the News Future: Journalism 10 Years from Now

Director of Digital Content for Guardian News and Media, Emily set up www.mediaguardian.co.uk in 2001. www.guardian.co.uk has won multiple awards, including the prestigious Webby for Best Newspaper on the web in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Oxford graduate, Bell is one of the rising stars coming through from a younger, more web-focused generation of senior media figures.

Videos of Andrew and Emily's lectures can be viewed online here

Download the transcript of Andrew Chitty's lecture (175.81 KB)

Answers and advice about the course

For further information about BA(Hons) Film at University College Falmouth, please email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 255764.

Our student mentors are now on Facebook. To chat to a mentor about the course, living in Cornwall, or what to expect at Falmouth, check out the Film group. You need to join the group before you can post. Our student mentors have already done the first year of the course... so ask them anything you like!

Film Facebook group

If you're not Facebook you can still speak to a student mentor. Email your name and the course you're starting to: studentmentorenquiries@falmouth.ac.uk and we will be in touch with you.

Career opportunities

Our graduates are employed across a range of film and media-related industries, with opportunities including screenwriting, directing, cinematography and film production, and in television with the BBC, archiving, research, film criticism and journalism.

Former students have undertaken AHRC funded postgraduate studies in film, culture management, psychology, film production and professional writing, and work in a range of other fields, including advertising, accountancy, distribution and teaching.

Roles include Assistant VFX Editor (Double Negative), Development Assistant (Warp Films), Producer (Silver Leaf Films), Account Manager (Lovefilm), Digital Archive Editor (Deluxe Soho). 

Entry requirements

A minimum of 220 UCAS points, equivalent Level 3 qualifications or relevant experience. Applicants may be invited to interview and asked to present written work so we can assess your abilities, skills and potential to succeed at this level of study.

Please see our How to Apply page for more information.

For further information about BA(Hons) Film at University College Falmouth, please email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 255764.

Interview and selection process

Typically interviews include an individual interview and a group talk. Applicants can submit an electronic portfolio through a website link or by setting up an account at: www.vimeo.com. Films must not exceed five minutes.

Location: Tremough Campus

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