BA (Hons) Film Production & Cinematography

• Screen Studies 1: During this unit you'll be encouraged to understand and reflect upon the changing field of ideas, concepts and contexts that have shaped the development of contemporary film and television.
• Professional Development Plan: Research a particular area of industry practice, with a view to developing your own individual career path.
• Film Craft Principles: This unit introduces you to key technical, craft and creative skills relating to film production and cinematography, and safe and professional working practices.
• Production Principles: Develop your understanding of key production and creative skills required for the safe and effective management of a film production.
• Creative Storytelling: Explore narrative forms in both drama and documentary film making.
• Collaborative Project: In a group you'll create a production of a narrative film through which you'll develop an understanding of a wide range of technical and production skills.

• Screen Studies 2: Building on the knowledge and skills from year 1, you'll become more independent in your studies and will have the opportunity to pursue your own research interests using appropriate methodologies, which may become the foundation of your final year project. 
• Production Portfolio: Working across a number of production projects in a variety of roles, you'll further develop the creative, technical, craft and production skills introduced in the first year. You'll also critically reflect upon your work and select and present your strongest projects in a portfolio.
• Film Specialisms: You will agree a series of tasks and exercises with tutors to develop your skill, knowledge and understanding in a chosen area. This could include directing, producing, cinematography, editing, production management, script writing, sound recording, sound design and other approved areas.
• Investigating Industry: Using appropriate primary and secondary research methods you'll conduct in depth research into a particular organisation or individual within the contemporary film industry and critically examine their position within a continually changing media landscape. 
• Negotiated Project: During this unit you'll have the opportunity to complete a production project of your own choosing bringing together production and cinematography skills, film theory and critical reflection. 

A minimum four-week placement or optional 30-week placement, designed to develop your abilities and understanding of the workplace. It also provides a platform for successful entry into the workplace following graduation.

• Concept Development: Development of a film project and accompanying marketing and distribution strategies. This experience will initially grow through a work placement you will undertake.
• Graduate Project: Production of a film including the implementation of marketing and distribution strategies. You will need to demonstrate knowledge of industry-standard production techniques and cinematography skills, you will also need to recruit and manage a team of people to produce a minor film project.
• Professional Contexts: This unit provides you with the opportunity to improve your employability through an industry work placement and the development of a real world marketing, distribution and exhibition strategy, which may be related to your Graduate Project.
• Research Project: You'll produce a significant piece of written academic work on a topic of your choice, and develop and demonstrate high level skills in research, critical thinking, analysis and academic debate. The dissertation must have a 10,000-word equivalence but the exact content and style will be agreed with your supervisor and will depend on the subject and approach taken.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Placements provide a great opportunity to make your first career steps and enhance your employability while you’re completing your studies. You’ll get the opportunity to:

• Put the theory learnt throughout the course into professional practice
• Enhance your study and help you decide on subject options (where appropriate)
• Learn a wide range of skills such as time management, problem solving and team work (all of these are important to succeed in any career)
• Make contacts, as it is not uncommon for our students to be offered permanent positions to return to after graduating
• Gain a real insight into how the industry operates in roles that would be almost impossible to achieve for an outsider
• Many of our students, during their placement, are given responsibilities normally associated with graduate trainees.

You will begin your placement after completion of your second year of study and can choose to complete four weeks (on the three-year version of the course) or a minimum of 30-week placement (on the four-year version).

• DreamWorks Pictures
• BBC Films
• London Film Academy
• Amazon Studios
• Sid Gentle Films/ BBC America
• Gaumont
• Walt Disney Productions

AccessBU: AccessBU provides you with the opportunity to tell us about your circumstances that are not always evident in your UCAS application. This widening access initiative also considers relevant criteria such as being in care or if you live in an area with a low participation rate in Higher Education - if you are eligible, your offer could be up to 16 UCAS tariff points below the published tariff.

Apprenticeships: We recognise the transferable knowledge and skills gained through apprenticeships and welcome applications from students with a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship recognised by the Institute for Apprenticeships. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Deferred entry: We are happy to consider eligible applicants for deferred entry. If you have already submitted your application, please submit your deferral request through our website.

Direct entry: We welcome applications from students who have previously studied at degree level at other institutions and wish to transfer onto a BU course. Our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) procedure enables credit awarded from one institution to contribute to a BU award, subject to an application process. Please visit our RPL webpage for more information.

Mature applicants: We recognise that mature applicants may have a wealth of experience rather than formal qualifications, so we’ll consider your application on these merits if included in your application. You’ll need to apply to BU in the usual way through UCAS and you may be invited to an interview to discuss your suitability for the course based on the experience you tell us about in your application.

Students on this course will typically have a creative background and either qualifications or experience related to film and cinematography. Students will also be media aware and have a proven ability to work creatively, in groups and individually.

We look for creative and innovative thinkers who are familiar with current film making practice and want to apply it. We would encourage applicants who are interested in new ideas, can express themselves well in writing, work well in groups and can demonstrate a wide range of interests.

We select candidates for this course by looking at your application. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out from the crowd, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining the course. You can find some handy hints about filling in your UCAS form on our how to apply web pages.

We look at individual applications and make a tailored offer based on your potential to succeed on the course considering a range of factors, including your academic achievements, work and other experience, reference and personal statement. Typically, we make an offer at the bottom of the tariff range. 

AccessBU gives you the chance to tell us more about you and your life experiences if you haven’t had the same educational opportunities as other applicants. If you are eligible for AccessBU, your offer could be up to 16 UCAS Tariff Points below the published tariff.

Our offer-making will typically be based on your most recent qualifications, including any required subjects where applicable. We'll consider all qualifications when assessing your application, although these may not be part of our offer.

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will confirm your place.

We have recently reviewed this course to take advantage of new approaches to learning and teaching, as well as developments in industry.  As the aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, teaching, learning and assessment methods may have changed as a result of the review, you can find the relevant information for your year of entry in the appropriate programme specification.

The degree prepares you to succeed as you continue to develop in an evolving industry, and graduate roles have included:

• Camera Assistant
• Location Assistant
• Assistant Director
• Art Director
• Production Assistant

This is a degree that’ll prepare you for roles in the areas of film, television, media and creative – but the capacities in which you can take on such positions are numerous.

You could use your passion for your work in documentaries or entertainment, original drama or marketing and campaigning. There are countless contexts in which visual storytelling can make a difference.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree, you can further develop your education by studying for a postgraduate degree. Please visit our postgraduate section for further details about our range of Master’s degrees.

Kieron is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Film Production and Cinematography degree programme that is delivered at Wiltshire College and University Centre’s Salisbury campus. He first gained a Higher National Diploma in 3D Computer Animation from Swansea Metropolitan University before going onto achieve a BA (Hons) in Film and TV Production from Bournemouth University. He also has a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education from Bath Spa University.

Prior to teaching on the BA (Hons) Film Production and Cinematography degree programme, Kieron first worked as a Camera Operator and Editor before moving into television commercials production working as a Visual Researcher and Director’s Assistant on high-profile TV spots.

Kieron has taught Film at Salisbury since 2008 and helped to design and create the Film Production and Cinematography degree in 2009. In addition to teaching, Kieron writes scripts and develops scripts in collaboration with other writers. He continues to develop his own projects whilst also assisting new filmmakers to produce films locally. He recently took a number of his third year film students to crew on an independently produced short film with an upcoming award-winning Director.

Dion is a freelance cinematographer and Steadicam owner operator specialising in feature films and TV drama. He combines his professional work as a cameraman with teaching part time on the BA (Hons) Film Production and Cinematography course.

Dion has worked on many feature films, high end television dramas, commercials and music videos including the seminal Verve video Bittersweet Symphony. His most recent film and television work includes The Dark Crystal, Gentleman Jack, Spanish Princess, Line of Duty, Silent Witness, Into the Badlands, Victoria, The Crown, Humans, Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Tim entered the film industry in 1980 as the clapper-loader on The Dark Crystal and The Great Muppet Caper working under veteran cinematographer Ossie Morris. In a subsequent career spanning nearly thirty years, he worked as a Camera Assistant on numerous feature films and TV dramas progressing to Camera Operator and, finally, Second Unit Cinematographer with Film Directors including Jonathan Lynn and Paul W S Anderson.

He has worked on films featuring many of the greats of cinema including Bette Davis, Laurence Olivier, Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery and Directors including Michael Winterbottom, James Ivory and Steven Spielberg. He has also worked on hundreds of commercials, documentaries, corporate and music videos.

Tim’s continuing strong links with the industry enable him to provide students access and trips to prime contacts and companies within the feature film community as well as the opportunity to use professional 35mm camera equipment. His main interest is the continuing use of celluloid acquisition, helping and encouraging students who are interested in a career in the camera department to develop the relevant knowledge and skills to work on film-based productions.

He continues to make films directing his own shorts and producing extra-curricular student films that have screened at festivals and won a prestigious Royal Television Society award. He is a member of The Guild of British Camera Technicians.