Whatever your specialism, this Film and Media Production degree will help you build a portfolio that showcases your skills and creative voice. A love of story is at the forefront of all our courses and at the heart of production, and we’ll support you as you learn to find and tell imaginative and diverse stories that resonate with audiences everywhere.

Key information

Award:

BA (Hons)

Mode of Study:

Full-time

Duration:

3 years

Location:

University of Bolton

UCAS code:

P410

Start date:

To be confirmed

Course Details

The media and creative industries are flourishing and the North West is the key digital powerhouse outside of London. Traditional career routes in areas such as film and TV continue to seek new recruits, but exciting opportunities are also available with the broad range of organisations that now need moving images for their websites, social media platforms and promotional adverts. They want people who can create new and interesting content using their great story-telling skills and sound knowledge of the production process and workflow. This course aims to prepare you for a career in this exciting sector and offers transferable employability skills such as resilience, adaptability and team-working that are highly attractive to employers.

Creative, practical and industry-focused, this course gives you the chance to experience all aspects of the pre-production, filming and post production workflow in film, TV and multi-platform formats – before deciding which areas you want to specialise in.

Our lecturers and technical staff will support you as you develop a wide range of technical and creative skills. We’ll also encourage you to develop critical thinking skills, enabling you to challenge, question and explore the world around you and feed this into your creative work.

Our experienced team take pride in getting to know our students as individuals, and you can become part of our welcoming and supportive production family. Offering you the chance to share in our immense wealth of award winning industry experience, this course allows you to explore the various gateways into the vibrant media industry in North West England.

Highlights

The Guardian University Guide 2022 ranks our Film Production and Photography courses as fourth in the UK for student-to-staff ratio, so you can be assured that we offer you excellent access to individual tutor support and small group teaching.
You’ll be supported by lecturers with first-hand experience across a range of creative media and there are regular guest lectures from high-profile professionals in the industry.
You’ll have access to first-rate broadcast-quality digital equipment.
We will help you build your industry contacts and secure work placements.
We provide production budgets for student films to cover essential costs, and also bring in professional expertise to advise and support you.

Key Features

Eight dedicated video edit suites with sound processing capability.
Computer facilities for each student with dedicated media software.
Two fully-equipped studio facilities with lighting rigs, screens and equipment.
Sound recording facilities.
Professional HD film production equipment and a supply of ancillary equipment for professional production.
Guides for each individual module provide information about the programme.
By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.

Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3.
You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics.
If you have non-traditional entry qualifications and relevant experience, and/or a suitable portfolio of work that we consider a reasonable substitute for the qualifications we typically accept for this course, then we'll be happy to consider your application.
You'll be required to attend an interview and provide a portfolio of appropriate work.
If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

This programme can provide you with an in-depth knowledge of working in film, TV and multi-platform formats. It gives you the opportunity to develop a wide range of technical and creative skills and learn to challenge, question and explore what’s possible in moving image media.

A key part of the course is your chance to benefit from creative industries placements, and extracurricular opportunities to help build appealing CVs, showreels and portfolios in preparation for employment.

As a graduate, you’ll possess a range of transferable skills such as creativity, communication skills, teamwork, managing deadlines, critical analysis, and commercial and cultural awareness.

What can I do with this qualification?

Film and Media Production graduates typically enter careers in the media, cultural and creative industries. Areas of work can include television and radio, film and video, digital media, journalism, writing and publishing, PR and media practice. Some of our graduates have set up their own companies or worked collaboratively with small production companies. Others have gone on to make films that have won accolades in film festivals around the world.

After graduation, you could choose to continue your studies by pursuing an MA or PhD in a variety of fields; for example, PR and communications, digital marketing, publishing, film production and journalism.

Alternative career options

Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping stone to enter a range of other careers. For some of these roles, relevant experience or postgraduate study may be required. Possible roles include:

Arts administration
Event organisation
Teaching
Local government
Advertising and marketing
Journalism
PR consultancy
Communications
Publishing

Course fees

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2022-2023 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

For 2022-2023 entry, the maximum government approved undergraduate tuition fee for UK students is £9,250 per year. The University is able to charge this fee subject to an approved Access and Participation Plan for 2022-2023 and its current rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:

Much of the work involved in this course is based around practical media projects. You’ll be expected to create different types of content as well as write essays, presentations and pitches. Some online course activities are student-generated and controlled to resemble the practices you are likely to encounter in the media industries.

We place emphasis on group work, activity-based assignments, workshops, demonstrations, projects and guided independent study. Some of the modules will be delivered in a more conventional way through classes, lectures and presentations. You’ll be taught by tutors who have extensive industry experience, and by specialist guest lecturers.

You’ll also be expected to devote a significant amount of time to independent study, and our online resources will assist you with this. Assignments will require time outside of lessons to complete. Work-based learning is a key element of the course, and the completion of industry briefs and professional quality work are designed to ensure you are ready for employment when you graduate.

There are no examinations. All assessment is through coursework. You can expect formative assessment to help you learn and develop your knowledge and skills and summative assessment on which you’ll be graded. Your summative assessment briefs will contain tasks such as making films, writing essays and reports, writing scripts and outlines, giving presentations and pitches, carrying out practical exercises and work-placements.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

Screen Culture: Reading the Screen
From Story to Screen
Collaborative Media Project 1
Experimental Film Making
Sound and Vision: Production Skills 1
Digital Cultures
Sound and Vision: Production Skills 2
Media Theory Perspectives
Employability and Entrepreneurship
Collaborative Media Project 2
Factual Film Making
Creative Producing and Director's Vision
Pre Production Research and Planning
Professional Practice
Short-form Commission
Industry Experience
Major Project

Assessment methods

Level	Assesment method
Level one	Coursework 82%, Practical exams 18%
Level two	Coursework 83%, Practical exams 17%
Level three	Coursework 78%, Practical exams 22%

Learning activities

Level	Learning activity
Level one	Guided independent study 66%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 34%
Level two	Guided independent study 70%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 30%
Level three	Guided independent study 69%, Placement/study abroad 3%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 28%

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.