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Filmmaking MA
Farnham
Course overview
Our MA Filmmaking degree course will give you the tools to enhance your creative and technical skills as an independent filmmaker, and fully prepare you to enter the industry.
Taught within the supportive structure of our Film School at UCA Farnham, you'll collaborate with your peers on a slate of short films and engage in specialist activities as a Head of Department in film production as you bring exciting cinematic visions to life.
The course allows you to experience the rigours of filmmaking by reflecting the realities of current film practice, enhancing your understanding of the professional demands of the film industry and equipping you for a freelance career, if this is a route you wish to take.
At UCA, you'll also benefit from access to a fantastic selection of cutting-edge facilities, including digital and 16mm cameras, advanced sound recording equipment, a purpose-built film studio and high-quality post-production suites.
Our graduates have gone on to work on Oscar-winning movies and box office hits. They have also worked on major TV programmes and with leading media companies, and started their own successful companies.
A one-year course of advanced study for furthering your research skills and specialising within your discipline.
A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s, developing your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.
A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s in the UK, developing your English speaking and writing together with your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.
Course details
The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.
Get ready for your chosen postgraduate course with this preparatory year of specialist study. With a mix of online and face-to-face learning, UCA’s Integrated Pre-Masters is designed to give you insight into the study skills required to complete a Master’s, within the context of your creative subject. You’ll build skills in autonomous learning, forming your own targets and goals, honing your research skills, time management and professional practice.
For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year. On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.
You'll be introduced to the University and the technical workshops and facilities available to you. The first term includes a range of lectures and seminars and you’ll start to explore your creative practice.
Research and Critical Approaches: Filmmaking
This unit explores the different modes of research related to the creative process. It is a critical and practical study in which students will produce a theoretical essay and develop their skills in translating imagined film concepts into treatments, project proposals, screenplays and other forms of communicating film ideas.
Skills and Development: Filmmaking Practice
This unit allows you to further your knowledge and technical ability within your own filmmaking practice. Through a series of practical workshops and assignments, including on documentary filmmaking, you will be given the opportunity to cover some of the following: directing, producing, camera operating, lighting, art direction, sound recording, editing, and sound design.
During term two you will begin developing your MA project, evaluating and testing out the aims of your proposal over a sustained period of self-directed study.
Production
This unit is built around the creative, organisational and technical processes of the preproduction and production of the slate of short films. The filmmaking undertaken in this unit will build from work produced during the Research and Critical Approaches unit. Training during the Skills and Development unit combined with your own independent study will provide the expertise in production tasks.
In the third term of the course, you'll apply the knowledge gained through your research to create a final body of work.
Project Delivery and Professional Context
This unit focuses on the practices of film post production, allowing you to advance your knowledge of editing and other techniques through your own creative process. You will be challenged to reflect on the work that you have produced so far and to resolve it into a form that allows for completion and delivery according to industry standards.
Tuition fees - 2023 entry
UK students:
- Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
- MA course - £12,500
EU students:
- Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
- MA course - £12,500 (see fee discount information)
International students:
- Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
- Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
- MA course - £18,000
Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials. These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.
Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.
The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.
To support our students and alumni to progress to the next level of study, we have developed a new range of fee discounts across a range of courses.
Course specifications
Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.
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Facilities
Filmmaking facilities include purpose-built film studios with dedicated technical support from industry specialists. Sound editing and mixing suites which include software such as Avid Media Composer, Symphony Nitris and Pro Tools. Digital media suites with Macs and PCs with latest programs for film editing, and an on-campus media store with good supply of digital HD cameras as well as 16mm and super 16mm cameras and high-end sound recording equipment to hire.
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Film Studios, UCA Farnham
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Film Studios, UCA Farnham
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Film Editing suite, UCA Farnham
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Lecture Theatre, UCA Farnham
Career opportunities
This course prepares you for a career within the field of fiction film production and also equips you with a range of versatile skills that open up a broad variety of career paths.
Our graduates have gone on to work as directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, sound designers, screenwriting, production design and on VFX. Additionally students undertaking this course might include work in archives, curating or distribution.
Among the productions our graduates have gone on to work on include:
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- The Dark Crystal (Netflix)
- Gravity
- Harry Potter
- The Dark Knight
- Mission Impossible
- Skyfall
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Rush
- Total Recall
- Fast & Furious 6
You may want to undertake further study or research to specialise even more.
Explore our Gradshow
Visit our grad show site to see the incredible work created by our graduating students
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"This course has given me the resources and the knowledge to start my film career. From developing a script to shooting a professional short film, it's given me an extensive overview of all the elements of filmmaking and I've found inspiration everywhere, sharing the creative environment with people from different backgrounds and cultures. It’s been fantastic and I couldn’t be more proud to belong to the UCA family."
Entry requirements
MA course
- An honours degree or equivalent qualification in the subject or a related discipline
and/or
- Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.
Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.
MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course
A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.
Check the equivalent qualifications for your country and the English language requirements:
Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?
You may be able to enter the course through the following entry pathways:
MA course
MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course
For these courses, we’ll need to see your visual or written portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to upload your portfolio online via your Applicant Portal – further information will be provided once you have applied. If you would prefer to meet the Academic Team in person for a review of your work on campus, this can also be arranged for you.
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