Filmmaking BA (Hons)

Your introduction to digital film production equipment and techniques, with a special focus on the basics of sound, camera, and editing through practical demonstration and experimentation. You will gain both practical experience and an opportunity to explore the tools which will underpin work in successive modules running throughout the course. Alongside this, you will focus on the application of film language and grammar through technology in the creation of three short film projects in a range of genres.

This module focuses on storytelling and building filmmaking skills and knowledge using a variety of creative forms and technologies. Storytelling is a fundamental building block within the creative industries, critical to content-making for big and small screens. In this module, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of content development and learn how ideas are generated, refined and pitched in professional contexts.

You will progressively hone your storytelling skills and will work intensely and intensively in two key areas of film production. First, an individual documentary project with themes selected using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals drawn up by the United Nations reflecting local and global challenges of our time, and second a short drama group project.

Explore a range of theoretical and critical approaches to engaging with film and film cultures. Through this module, you will develop an awareness of different approaches to filmmaking and how social, cultural and political landscapes affect the filmmaker. You will do this by viewing and discussing a range of films, directors and practitioners and examining a breadth of theoretical approaches to writing about and engaging with film.

Experimental Film is designed for you to experiment with the film medium and to broaden your knowledge of avant-garde cinema. You will be introduced to alternative filmmaking approaches through a historical discussion of various movements and styles of experimentation. This module puts emphasis on filmmaking as a process, involving a dialogue between experimentation, taking risks, and critical reflection, which will be facilitated with lectures and practical workshops.

Through active participation with team-based problem solving, you will work together in mixed teams on a project where you will use your creative ideas to generate solutions to the challenge or brief. Your project will allow you to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as you choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation or community. This collaborative learning experience will expose you to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop your creative thinking.

Stretch your creative boundaries and self-determine your approach and output from your film production practice. You will develop confidence in self-managing your own learning and creative decision-making. This project can be an individual or small group project.

You will have the chance to develop and produce a film project by selecting from a range of briefs, encompassing fiction, documentary, or experimental genres. Through the creation of your negotiated film production, you will undertake comprehensive research and enquiry into your chosen filmmaking field, using your findings to inform your creative, technical, and practical decision-making.

This module requires you to innovate and engage in cutting-edge filmmaking practice, extending your professional skillset and portfolio in preparation for the final year of your studies. This self-initiated film production project challenges you to further advance the knowledge, skills and experience gained during Film Production 1 and produce student festival standard work.

You will collaborate with peers, developing a supportive community of practice where you will challenge each other's ideas and provide a critical sounding board for the development of innovative creative practice. To enable your complex and ambitious projects to move from inception to distribution you will professionally engage in crewing roles for each other, applying near industry-standard skills.

Explore the creative potential of storyboarding in this optional module. Learn how to plan visual narratives for film, TV, and media using filmic language, script breakdown, and pre-production techniques. Taught in mixed-course groups, the module supports collaboration and personalisation. You'll develop storyboards from concept to final visuals, gaining practical skills and industry insight.

Using a given theme, this optional module will broaden your technical and theoretical practice in the subject of motion design. You will produce a piece of short form motion design. Encompassing the use of key fundamentals such as pace, flow, narrative and audio. Whilst responding to the needs of the audience through purpose, context and environment. Studied in mixed-course groups, this module encourages personalisation and cross-course collaboration while helping you build you motion portfolio and skillset.

Explore how photography can respond to the world around you in this optional module. Through workshops and seminars, you'll experiment with analogue and digital techniques, develop visual responses to contemporary issues, and produce original photographic work. This module offers the chance to personalise your course and collaborate with students from across the School of Art & Design.

This optional module will introduce you to the tools and techniques of digital painting for integration into cinematic imagery. Explore authentic scenic representation through a solid understanding of atmospheric perspective. Matte painting can be applied to a range of creative activities such as digital illustration, XR, production design, animation, photographic touch-up, live action image enhancement (VFX), and other screen-based image enhancements.

This module offers the opportunity to work on a live commercial brief from an established record label, developing and producing a music video for multimedia platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. You'll pitch your own concept, then collaborate in cross-course teams to produce the selected idea. The module builds creative, technical, and professional skills in areas including research, direction, filming, editing, ethical practice, and industry-focused teamwork.

In Sound Art & Design we explore sound as an artistic medium with various applications in the creative industries. Drawing from a wide range of sound practitioners and critical analyses, this module offers a platform for sound research and experimentation, allowing you to create innovative, research-informed listening experiences. Through a set of practical tasks, you will develop a personal portfolio of sound artefacts and research, enhancing your creative practice.

This Year 2 optional module introduces fantasy prop design for industries like film, TV, theatre, and games. You'll learn 3D CAD and traditional making techniques to create imaginative, functional props. The module covers concept development, digital modelling, prototyping, and final production, culminating in a tangible artefact and a portfolio developing both creative and technical skills for industry application.

This module provides a detailed exploration of Virtual Production, a cutting-edge filmmaking technique that integrates live-action footage with digital environments in real-time. Students will explore a range of advanced technologies such as CGI, augmented reality, motion capture, and LED walls in order to shoot content using immersive and realistic virtual sets. The module will introduce students to the workflow of Virtual Production, from pre-visualisation and real-time engine integration to in-camera visual effects and performance capture.

We have an option for all of our students to undertake a placement year and allow you to decide whether this is right for you once you have completed years 1 and 2 of your course. This time spent working in industry provides our students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation. If you are successful in securing a placement you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration.

The additional placement year incurs a fee. For international students considering the transfer to the 4-yr SW route it's important to seek advice from the International Student Support team and the Home Office regarding any potential visa implications and costs. For UK students, advice should also be sought regarding SLC eligibility, if applicable.

* If you choose to take the sandwich route option, you will need to apply for this course by using the full-time UCAS code.

If you're studying on our sandwich route you can also opt to study abroad for a full academic year, or for a semester, during Year Three. This is an optional and additional period of study that complements your degree at NTU as an alternative to taking a work placement.

This is an exciting opportunity to experience a different national culture, teaching and learning styles and subjects in an international environment. The destination university must be a year abroad / exchange partner of NTU or member of a formally recognised scheme such as the International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP).

Our NTU Global and student mobility team will support you in finding the right opportunity from one of the many international partners available around the world.

Successful completion of a period of international study will earn you a standalone award an International Study Certificate (minimum six weeks) or the International Study Diploma (minimum 36 weeks).

In this module, you will work collaboratively in small groups. In your production groups, you will initiate, develop, and plan a concept for your Graduate Film, focusing on creative, technical, and logistical considerations. The module emphasises professional collaboration, communication, and project management, preparing you for the complexities of your Graduate Film production.

This module provides you with the opportunity to undertake a sustained investigation into a specific area of filmmaking that builds on your previous knowledge, experience and skills acquired during levels 4 and 5. This is your opportunity to critically explore a specific issue or area of personal interest within your chosen field, allowing you to investigate individual lines of enquiry connected to your career goals.

You will achieve this by undertaking a self-initiated research project with a creative output, which is supported by tutor supervision.

Build on the creative work from your degree up to this point and the strategic planning completed in previous modules. You are expected to enhance your career prospects by producing creative artefacts that align your skills with their commercial and professional objectives. Industry speakers drawn from key creative sectors will offer their perspectives, helping you to make informed decisions about current employment routes.

Building on the planning and development undertaken for the Graduate Film: Planning module, this module focuses on the practical realisation of your Graduate Film. Working in the same production groups, you will take the research, planning and development of your short film into production, applying advanced creative and technical skills to deliver a short film that is a culmination of your three years of study.