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Film Making BA(Hons)

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

It’s not too late to apply for September.
It’s not too late to apply for September.

Start date

16 September 2024

Duration

3 years full-time
4 years inc. placement year

Entry requirements

A Level - BBC-BCC

BTEC - DMM-MMM

See full entry requirements

About the course

Reasons to study

1. You’ll develop your skills and tell compelling stories – on location and in our purpose-built Stewart Film Studio
2. Yorkshire’s screen industries are going from strength to strength – you can put yourself at the heart of them via work experience and industry contacts.  
3. We’ll help steer your development as a thinker, maker, and budding specialist in a film school powered by more choice and freedom than is typical on such degree programmes. 

As a student on our Film Making BA(Hons) degree, you’ll work in our state-of-the-art Stewart Film Studio where you’ll have highly flexible access to filmmaking equipment and facilities.

Our philosophy of open-door accessibility extends not just to the films you make for assessment, but to any other projects that you might plan in consultation with our staff. We want you to be creative and inventive from the off, making work early – to an ever-higher standard.

We’ll help steer your development as a thinker, maker, and budding specialist in a film school powered by a rare degree of undergraduate student choice and freedom. Join us on our BA Film Making course to shape your creative and professional future in the moving image.

Why study Film Making BA(Hons)

There are many benefits of being a student on this film degree course. These include:

  • Yorkshire Film and Television School allocates you an ample budget to make a film as part of a team in your final year. In other words – and in contrast to film school undergraduates elsewhere – our students do not need to self-fund their penultimate projects.
  • Flexible and continual hands-on access to our industry-standard studios and postproduction hubs.
  • You'll have ample opportunity to try a full range of moving image specialisms before you discover your greatest strengths.
  • Work experience is a way of life on this course. Beyond our optional placement year, we continually collaborate with students to help manage their undergraduate workflow around the often-unpredictable nature of external opportunities.
  • We are an open-minded film school, embracing all forms and genres. Our aim is to help you make the best possible film – one which you feel inspired to create.

Following this course, you could go on to pursue a career in movie making, screenwriting, production, television and more.

Course detail

Core Modules:

Filmmaker's Launchpad

Filmmaker's Launchpad offers you an intensive introduction to key above and below-the-line skills and craft within moving image pre-production, production, and post-production across form and genre. You will work in our film studio and on location, completing projects on a cycle of rapid turnaround that enables you to gain experience in multiple disciplines and sub-disciplines. The module reflects on the interplay between practice, technology, and textual form.

Creating Screen Fiction

This module takes a collaborative approach to help you hone your abilities as filmmakers and storytellers. Building on skills already emerging in both the Film Making and Screenwriting degrees, students work together on the development, preproduction, production and postproduction of a fiction film. This aims to professionalise your creative and collaborative approaches to your work, refining your narrative discipline as screen storytellers and providing a dynamic, preparation-rich environment in which you can improve your grasp of possible moving image specialisms for further exploration later in the degree.

Analysing Content

Analysing Content introduces you to the analysis of fiction and non-fiction visual media, from Hollywood films and television series to news and advertising. You will learn how to conduct more complex analysis of the meaning conveyed through media texts as well as their connection to cultural ideology.

Film and Media Industries

The content we share and find is shaped through the specific organisational structures of the film and media industries. This module provides you with an introduction to the key theories, concepts and methods needed to understand those structures, their impact on the professionals and organisations working within them, and the ways in which they shape media landscapes. The module places particular emphasis on political economic approaches and production studies, but attention will also be given to theories of creativity, branding, and industrial conceptions of their audiences.

Entry requirements

BBC-BCCat A Level .

112-104 UCAS tariff points from a combination of Level 3 qualifications.

Merit at T Level.

DMM-MMM in BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma.

  • Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits at Merit or above.
  • 112-104 UCAS tariff points from International Baccalaureate qualifications.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

For further information please see the University's minimum entry requirements.

Placements


Our Film Making degree includes two exciting placement opportunities. Students are encouraged to undertake a full professional training year in Year 3. We support our students in finding suitable placement opportunities in the film making industries and beyond. During the placement years you are supported by an academic tutor and will build professional experience invaluable for your final year of study and graduate career alike. All students not undertaking a full placement year study our final year compulsory placement module that gives you the chance to put your skills into practice in a short placement. This could be a block of a few weeks or one day a week over several months.

Previous placement providers have included the BBC and independent TV companies, a variety of radio stations and newspapers and magazines, along with leading public relations companies and social media agencies.

A placement is a great opportunity to explore your chosen industry, to understand the sector, network and make valuable contacts, whilst developing your skills, knowledge and experience. A placement is a chance to get involved, to put theory into practice and to work alongside professionals.

Photo of Steph Bower, Placements officer for SAH

Stephanie Bower, Placements Officer

Your Career


Film and television are some of the biggest and fastest growing in the UK. This degree will provide you with a combination of creative, technical and analytical skills for a variety of careers and roles in a rapidly developing technological economy.

*Percentage of our undergraduate students from this subject area go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20, UK domiciled, other activities excluded).

90% Graduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Our technical services team have many years of higher education and industry support experience and provide practical “hands on and online support ” expertise to students in television and film production such as demonstrating camera techniques, sound, lighting and editing in post-production. We also guide students in the use of film, broadcast, and IT software applications as well as access to support guidance information.

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

The subject area of Media, Journalism, Film and Drama at the University of Huddersfield is home to one of Europe's leading centres for the study of participatory culture, fans and popular media. The Centre for Participatory Culture brings together preeminent researchers in the study of popular culture with specialism such as screen industries and branding, media sport in the digital age, music festivals and music tourism, science fiction fandom, Regional Reality TV Drama, identity and globalisation, and the rise of fandom and anti-fandom in politics. The centre also explores the rise of digital media technologies and platforms, including social media and their impact on media industries and media representations, including on forms of journalism. We also assess the role of these technologies in changes to political participation and democracy.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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