BA (Hons) Visual Effects

UCA’s Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and more.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

Find out more about the Integrated Foundation Year

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Foundation Year, based at UCA Farnham to bring students from around the world to one hub of creativity.

This year of preparatory study is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and the English speaking and writing skills you’ll need to succeed.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

Find out more about the Integrated International Foundation Year

Launch
In your first week of study, you’ll be exploring VFX methods and practices, based around 12 principles of design and the 12 elements of art. 

Concepts and Fundamentals of Visual Effects
The fundamental principles of visual effects and the different types of VFX (such as computer-generated imagery (CGI), motion capture, compositing, and more) is covered in this unit, giving you a basic understanding of the techniques, concepts and processes used in the industry. You’ll also cover drawing, storyboarding, animation and roles and responsibilities. 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity
This unit aims to develop an awareness and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion and promote progressive values and attitudes in creative practice.  

History of Visual Effects and Current Trends
This unit will focus on the history of VFX which dates to the early days of film when filmmakers used techniques such as matte painting and miniatures to create illusions on screen. You’ll conduct research on the history of visual effects and current trends in the visual effects industry.

Opportunity
In your first week of the second term, you’ll explore the technical and creative theories regarding lenses, focal length, chromatic aberration, film grain, camera operation, lighting and composition, with the aim of establishing a solid understanding of these building blocks of narrative filmmaking. 

Environment Building and Immersive Storytelling
In this unit, you’ll work in teams to create a detailed and visually stunning environment for a short film or video narrative. It should be include elements such as terrain, buildings, foliage, and lighting, and you’ll be required to use 3D modelling and texturing software such as Maya, Houdini or SideFX to create the environment and compositing software such as Nuke or After Effects for the final render.

Studio Best Practice
Working in small groups under the guidance of your tutor, you’ll realise the client's vision, creating assets and elements for the final piece of work. The live brief may come from any business or good cause who are likely to be based in Farnham, London or the southeast of England. The deliverables for the brief must be VFX based. 

Professional Studio practice. (Collaborative brief)
You’ll explore the best practice that visual effects studios should follow to ensure projects are completed efficiently and effectively. There will be a clearly defined project brief provided with goals and objectives set. It will be your responsibility to establish a plan for achieving them. Establishing clear lines of communication between team members and making sure that everyone is on the same page. You will use project management tools to track tasks, deadlines, and progress. 

PLE – Digital Outcome
For your PLE unit, you’ll use digital resources for independent study that enhances your skills and present challenges. You could visit the VFC Festival, attend exhibitions, undertake online learning through LinkedIn or other platforms, and use your skills to create personal promotional materials.

ATOM Activities
ATOM activities are tiny pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across the university. Collectively they form a small fraction of your curriculum that is determined through your own personal choice and interest. 

Launch
For your launch week for year two, you’ll be introduced to pre-visualisation and layout. You’ll focus on how pre-visualisation is applied in animation, games, film, and photography. T

Camera, Lights, Action (cinematic sequencing)
In this unit you’ll look at the technical and creative aspects of creating visually compelling cinematic sequences, learning the art of visual storytelling through the use of camera angles, lighting techniques, and shot sequencing to convey emotions, moods, and narratives.

The Conscious Practitioner
Following on from your Equality Diversity and Inclusivity module in year one, this follow-up covers specific concepts within your chosen practice, and also across a range of global perspectives. 

Opportunity
As you begin the second term, you’ll be challenged to enhance your career prospects, discussing various subjects including interview prep, research on specific companies, roles, CV prep and showreel prep. You could create breakdowns and turntables to industry standard, or make a website to showcase work, among many activities.

Motion Capture & Virtual Production
You’ll learn about the different types of motion capture systems and their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the key stages in the virtual production pipeline. Through practical exercises and projects, you will develop skills in motion capture and virtual production, and learn how to use these tools to create complex and realistic VFX sequences.

VFX Festivals and Conventions
This unit is designed to introduce you to effective forms of presentation and how they can greatly benefit your portfolio. You’ll fully explore different forms of presentation to apply to your work in order to create a portfolio that fits your aesthetic style and interests and develop your presentation skills along the way so you can sell yourself and your skills with confidence.

PLE – Digital Outcome
For your PLE unit, you’ll use digital resources for independent study that enhances your skills and present challenges. You could visit the VFC Festival, attend exhibitions, undertake online learning through LinkedIn or other platforms, and use your skills to create personal promotional materials.

ATOM Activities
ATOM activities are tiny pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across the university. Collectively they form a small fraction of your curriculum that is determined through your own personal choice and interest.

Elective units
You'll also undertake two elective units across the year - choose from:

• Applied Skills for a Sustainable Media Industry - UCA is a founder member of the albert Education Partnership from BAFTA, which brings together Film and TV course providers from across the country and empowers their students to consider and help alleviate the screen industry’s impact on the climate crisis. Upon successful completion of this unit, you will achieve certification as an ‘albert Grad’, signalling your achievement of highly employable skills for a sustainable industry.
• Audio World Building - Sound design can have an enormous impact on any moving image project. This unit will encourage you to explore the way sound can be used to underpin action, describe the unseen, establish an environment, set a tone, depict a mood or even to directly elicit an emotional response from an audience. 
• Cinematography - This unit is essential if you want to develop yuor skills in visual storytelling and creating compelling visuals for film and video. By taking this unit, you will learn the principles of cinematography and gain hands-on experience using industry-standard equipment to create professional quality visuals.
• Consent, Intimacy and Stage Combat - This unit focuses on the fundamental skills and principles required for performing effective, believable, and safer intimacy and unarmed (hand to hand) combat for stage and screen.
• Film Production - This unit is designed to provide learners with practical skills and knowledge in film production, with a focus on collaboration, professionalism, and self-reflection. The unit will culminate in a group film production project, where learners will have the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge.
• Immersive Production - You will explore cutting edge and future focused technology to gain a broad comprehension of the expertise and skills required if you want to delve further into immersive media production. The unit will enable you to get a strong understanding of where the production industry is heading and allow you to pitch a concept using these technologies for a television production brief.
• Interdisciplinary Collaborations in Music and Theatre - This unit encourages interdisciplinary collaboration between Music, Acting & Performance, and Design for Theatre & Screen to plan, rehearse and deliver a live performance piece to an audience of peers and the public. This project puts music performance at the centre of the collaboration. 
• Loops and Micro Format Films - You’ll discover the creativity and versatility of the simple animated (or live action) loop for use on your website as a showcase to promote your own work or engage your ‘brand’, and create three loops to upload to your websites or use in social media for self-promotion.
• Motion Capture & Green Screen - Motion capture is a technique used to capture the movements of actors or objects in digital form. Green screen is a technique used to composite two or more images or video streams together by replacing a specific colour (usually green or blue) with another image or video stream. In this unit you’ll learn about how both these things can work in the VFX industry.
• Physical Theatre Production - You’ll work together with students from a wide range of courses to make a live physical theatre production. This could be further augmented by animated material or filmed material. TV or film students may also be involved capturing or streaming the performance.
• Postproduction Editing - This elective unit is essential if you want to become proficient in the art of post-production film editing. Using industry-standard software - Avid Media Composer (Davinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro) – you’ll create a professional quality scene and have analysed and evaluated professional editing and sound design workflows.
• Prestige Television - Starting with the claim that television reaches more people than any other cultural form, this unit examines and articulates the meanings of ‘Quality’ and ‘Prestige’ as they relate to Television, and why these genres of ‘Prestige’ have become dominant.
• Screen Writing - You’ll be introduced to a range of creative writing skills and, in particular, the highly visual medium of writing for film and television. You will view and compare the work of some of the industry’s most accomplished contemporary screen writers, learn how to present and format a script and write your own story outline for a short film, series or screenplay.
• Shakespeare Festival - In this unit you will stage an abridged version of a Shakespeare play in an outdoor festival setting at sites around UCA Farnham campus. A director will help you shape the play and actors, composers and designers will work together to rehearse and run the festival events. 
• TV in the Age of Digital Disruption - This unit examines and critically interrogates the changing dynamics of television production, distribution, textual analysis and audience engagement in an age of ‘digital disruption’, particularly following the rise of streaming services.
• Verbatim - You will explore Verbatim texts and performance practices including ‘headphone’ theatre and documentary theatre practices. The unit will culminate in small group films/performances using the practical techniques studied.
• Virtual Production - Virtual production has emerged as a cutting-edge technology that revolutionizes the way film and television productions are made. You’ll gain the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to use virtual production tools and techniques to create immersive and interactive digital content.

If you opt to complete a professional practice year, this will take place in year three. You will undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop your skills and CV.

While on your Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee for that year. This fee will be determined using government funding regulations. Based on current regulations, we expect this to be a maximum of 20% of the tuition fee rate that you are charged for your second year of study. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during this year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this as you approach your Professional Practice Year.

Please note: If you are an international applicant, you will need to enrol onto the course ‘with Professional Practice Year’. It will not be possible to transfer onto the Professional Practice Year after enrolment

Launch
For your final launch week, you’ll be introduced to the rapidly growing arena of AI, and how it can improve tasks, quality and efficiency of VFX requirements for creative industries. 

Audience Engagement & Experience
You’ll show how to convey the concept of your ideas and then layout your creations onto clients supplied footage. A client will supply footage for you to use as your base material, as well as a brief of VFX requirements and treatments to be added by yourself, so accuracy is key. As you go, you’ll I document and collate the journey or iterative stages, putting together a presentation of work in chronological order. 

Immersion and Storytelling
Following on directly from the previous unit, you’ll progress from concept and layout to VFX production. You’ll take your ideas and concepts, apply and develop them into a finalised finished VFX product. 

The treatment of the hero (master) shot will need to be replicated to other surrounding shots in the sequence in a templated format to efficient continuity. This will give the impression of seamless quality across a quantity of shots or a sequence of film footage.  You will be expected to collaborate where necessary with peers across the department in the production of your work. 

Showing a case-by-case study of where efficiency could be improved. Discuss and research whether AI can lend to the craft of VFX with technical and artistic integrity. 

You will show creative breakdowns of the finished look development VFX shots. This will have layered wipes revealing across the timeline the visual progression of the supplied client footage to the final VFX composition. 

Opportunity
Your final Opportunity week aims to develop a critical awareness of VFX as both a creative endeavour and as an essential filmmaking tool, and you’ll gain knowledge of how various emerging technologies have guided the evolution of VFX across its many applications, thus giving you a wholesome awareness of the industry.

Final Major Project OR UCA Interdisciplinary Final Major Project (by agreement)
The Final Major Project is the summation of your learning during your course. It should draw upon all of the creative, technical, and theoretical knowledge that you have gained. The project can be made in any style, medium or genre, and should be accompanied by a professionally facing showreel. 

The components of this unit will be made up of three parts – the pre-production pitch, the final major project and the dissertation.

You will be expected to engage in self-directed study. You can work individually or as part of a group on this unit.

This course is designed to offer you (if eligible) the opportunity to study part of your degree aboard at a UCA partner university, while still earning credits towards your UCA degree.

For more information please visit the Study Abroad section

We’ve built an extensive network of industry connections in animation and film to give us access to high-profile visiting lecturers, and to commissions, competitions and exciting work placement opportunities. For example, our industry links in animation include:

• Aardman Animation
• Studio AKA
• Cinesite
• The Mill
• Create and Make
• Agile Films
• Blackdog Films Limited
• HSI Film
• Blink Productions
• The Film Club
• National Film and TV School
• Passion Pictures (one of the leading studios in Europe)
• Nexus
• Moth Collective
• UsTwo
• Beakus
• Fudge Animation
• Animade

Graduates of this exciting course can expect to leave to work within various job roles including:

• Visual effects artist
• VFX producer
• Principal artist
• Lead compositor
• Game art animator
• Production co-ordinator.

You may also like to consider further study at postgraduate level.

BA (Hons) course
BA (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:

• 112 UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
• Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
• Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
• 112 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
• 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level, see more information about IB entry requirements.

And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.  

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied. View more portfolio advice

BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year
BA (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:

• 32 UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
• Pass, Pass, Pass at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
• Pass at UAL Extended Diploma
• 32 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
• 24 points from the International Baccalaureate, see more information about IB entry requirements.

And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply. 

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied. View more portfolio advice

*We occasionally make offers which are lower than the standard entry criteria, to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results. We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios, as well as their grades -  in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

BA (Hons) course
BA (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year

The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

You will be required to submit a portfolio for review. Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your portfolio will be sent to you after we have reviewed your application. View more portfolio advice

BA (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year
BA (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

For these courses you need to have completed 12 years of schooling (with good grades) and show strong evidence of your ability to successfully complete the programme and progress onto your chosen degree.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

These courses don't require a portfolio. 

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please check the level of English language required:

• English language requirements