Film and TV (BA)

The chances of you becoming a great storyteller and filmmaker by just sitting in a classroom listening to lecturers talk for hours are not good. Instead, our thinking is, the quicker we get you out there, in the real world, the quicker you start to see how stories are shaped by locations and then the quicker you will become a mature filmmaker. By teaching in different locations, we offer a special learning experience, with an exciting and innovative blend of taught and practical sessions that take place at a variety of venues including cafes, churches and shops, bringing you closer to where stories are told. Our practice-based modules are taught in condensed two or four-week blocks one after another, mirroring the production process.
 
We also do not teach software or cameras in the traditional way either. Instead, workshops prepare you for the creative industry by teaching you within job roles and on location. You will learn what it means to be a producer, a director of photography or a first assistant camera through to directing short drama pieces.  All this is supported by teaching staff and technical demonstrators.

To learn how to communicate stories well, you need to understand and experience life. You need to experience the world with all its beauty, quirks, and complexities head-on. This means a mix of philosophy, psychology, communications, and maybe even a little quantum mechanics. To help with that, we offer an exciting and intensive blend of cross-discipline teaching and intense practice sessions. You will be challenged to take your learning from the classroom to out there in the real world - this is where the teaching really begins. 

We are also one of the few UK Film Schools that offer our students the opportunity to run a film festival. The Copper Coast International Film Festival is a Swansea College of Art UWTSD student-run film festival that attracts interest from around the world, giving an insight into the wider film market and an understanding of what it takes to make an award-winning film. We are now in our fifth year and still going strong. 2022 will see an extra special festival, the best of the best: a retrospective of the first five years.

So here at UWTSD Swansea College of Art, you will be offered a student-focussed learning environment offered nowhere else. You will learn storytelling in all its forms over a coffee in a café, or a script reading in a graveyard, church, moor, beach… Location teaching and location learning are special. Our philosophy is simple — if you never leave the classroom, you will always remain a student and although we have never met, we know that you are not going to university to graduate as a student filmmaker, but as a professionally minded filmmaker, ready to conquer the world.

Year One – Level 4 (Cert HE, Dip HE & BA)

• Applied Storytelling Practice 1 (20 credits; compulsory)
• Contemporary Challenges: Making a Difference (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Investigating Spaces (20 credits; compulsory)
• Learning in the Digital Era (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Textual Practices 1 (10 credits; compulsory)
• The Storyteller (10 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Perceiving (10 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Thinking (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Two – Level 5 (Dip HE & BA)

• Applied Storytelling Practice 2 (20 credits; compulsory)
• Changemakers: Building your Personal Brand for Sustainable Employment (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Changemakers: Creativity and Value Creation (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Designing the Story (10 credits; compulsory)
• Learn to Love Solitude (20 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Context (10 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Practice (10 credits; compulsory)
• Textual Practices 2 (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Three – Level 6 (BA)

• Graduate Project (40 credits; compulsory)
• Graduate Project Pitch (20 credits; compulsory)
• Independent Project (40 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• The Film Festival (20 credits; compulsory).

All assessment is based on 100% practical coursework.

Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding in the form of practical project work. All practical work is project and portfolio based.

This Framework aims to develop your professional skills and competence alongside your academic subject knowledge. You’ll study up to 40 credits per level throughout your programme from the Graduate Attributes Framework.

The Graduate Attribute modules are designed to enable you to develop, and evidence, a range of career-focused skills related to your subject area. These skills include digital competency, research and project management, as well as such personal competencies as communication, creativity, self-reflection, resilience and problem-solving. 

• Find out more about the Graduate Attributes Framework

• Rebecca Ellis – Programme Manager
• Chris Buxton
• Kylie Boon
• Robert Jones

We welcome applications from individuals from a wide range of backgrounds from English, photography, design to psychology to science to media.

To assess student suitability for their chosen course we arrange interviews for all applicants at which your skills, achievements, and life experience will be considered.

Qualifications are important, however, our offers are not solely based on academic results. If you don’t have the required UCAS points then please contact the courses admissions tutor or email artanddesign@uwtsd.ac.uk as we can consider offers to applicants based on individual merit, exceptional work, and/or practical experience.

Our standard offer for a degree course is 120 UCAS tariff points. We expect applicants to have a grade C or above in English Language (or Welsh) at GCSE level, together with passes in another four subjects. Plus we accept a range of Level 3 qualifications including:

• Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, plus one GCE A-Level in a relevant academic subject
• Three GCE A-Levels or equivalent
• UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Art and Design.
• UAL L3 Applied General Diploma and Extended Diploma in Art and Design.
• UAL L3 Diploma and Extended Diploma in Creative Practice: Art, Design and Communication.
• UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production and Technology
• BTEC Extended Diploma in a relevant subject
• International Baccalaureate score of 32
• Other relevant qualifications can be considered on an individual basis

Interview information 

The most important thing that we will expect to see at your interview is a strong passion and enthusiasm for storytelling in Film & TV. There is no need for a portfolio. If you have one, then great, but we treat the interview as the main test of your suitability for the course and its demands. You will be given a small film to watch beforehand and from that we will structure our interview. The structure of the interview is designed to allow time for you to ask questions about the course to ensure it is the right course for you and that you are the right student for us.  

See our Interview Guide for more information. 

Our alumni have found production roles across the film & TV industry, with recent graduates working on projects such as Mission Impossible (4,5 and 6), The Grand Tour, His Dark Materials, Paddington 2, Brissic, Guardians of the Galaxy, Outlaw King, Bancroft, Doctor Who and many, many more.

Other graduates have landed jobs with established industry heavyweights, including BBC, Sky, Amazon, MPC and Milk VFX. Many past students have also found success as freelancers or creating their own production companies.

Our students have access to a diverse range of equipment and resources, which in most cases are sufficient to complete their programme of study. We provide the basic software and cameras necessary for students to develop their practical work within our extensive workshop sessions and on location.

You will need to buy a 1TB hard drive and suitable clothes for outside learning.

• Art & Design Foundation
• Set Design and Production (BA)
• Moving Image (MA)

You may be eligible for funding to help support your study.  To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other available funding opportunities, please visit our Scholarships and Bursaries section.

Study Abroad 

Students can also take up the opportunity to study for a semester in Europe, the USA, Canada or Malaysia. These are exciting opportunities for you to expand your worldview through experiences with new cultures and people.

In addition to our University Accommodation at Llys Glas, Swansea also benefits from a number of private student halls, all within a short walk, including:

• The Oldway Centre
• Coppergate
• St Davids

Map View

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions related to the University or to this course in particular.