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Year one
By the end of your first year, we want you to be a filmmaker. You’ll learn the art of storytelling with moving images for both fiction and non-fiction genres, and finish with approximately 20 minutes of footage for your portfolio.
Script to Screen
You’ll learn the art of screenplay, from concept development to critical analysis and learning about the creative pipeline for moving image production. You’ll write your own original screenplay, and with assistance from your fellow students, produce a short film (extract or trailer).Directions
Building on the experience of the first unit, you will learn about role of the director and then assume this role as you produce of a longer, more detailed short film. Working from a pre-existing source material, you will need to consider every creative aspect of the production and plan effectively, working to a tight schedule.Documentary
You will explore the documentary genre from a practical production point of view, as well as the theoretical concerns and issues that underpin all factual programme making, and from a pre-determined brief, make a documentary film in groups. Key skills include research and interview techniques, shooting strategies, storytelling and scripting for factual programme making.Introduction to Television: Texts, Contexts & Culture
Throughout the year, you’ll also study this theoretical unit at UCA Rochester. You’ll consider how the medium of television can be understood and evaluated through the application of a range of critical and theoretical approaches. You will be introduced to a set of core topics - form and meaning (mise-en-scene, editing, sound, etc.), genre (documentary, soaps, etc.), representation (race, gender, etc.) and technology (visual FX, digital evolution, etc.), using screenings and television clips to provide the visual context for student analysis and discussion of critical and theoretical issues raised by the topic. -
Year two
The second year builds on skills from year one and introduces you to more elements of television production. During this year you may also have the opportunity to complete an industry work placement or even study abroad.
TV News Production
You’ll learn the essential skills to run an effective news and current affairs production. You will be required to research, plan and produce a short news or current affairs item for multi-platform transmission. You are required to write, visualise and strategically plan your production, taking into account the demands of broadcasters, the expectations of audiences, and the technical aspects of online and multi-platform transmission.Fiction Adaptation (optional)
You are required to research, plan and produce a short video for transmission, adapted or derived from a literary source. You will be encouraged to experiment with visual representation and advanced filmmaking, such as montage and time-lapse, as well as dramatisation and text and sound design.Professional Practice (optional)
This unit challenges you to engage with professional practice, with the aim to focus the knowledge and critical understanding of what it is to be a professional in the moving image production industry. Set within an industrial context, you have the opportunity to engage with an employer through a work placement or a commissioned moving image project. Working closely to the employers’ requirements, you will be required to employ professional research, and production skills, as well as negotiate, collaborate, communicate, and be receptive and adaptive to feedback.As Live Production
As Live Television Productions (a programme recorded in one take as if it’s live but not actually broadcast until later) is a cornerstone of commercial television output. From game shows to talk shows, current affairs to cultural spin, As Live productions demand sophisticated skills and large-scale coordination of people and resources. This unit requires the development of a detailed pitch for, and subsequent production of, an As Live Studio Production pilot. The idea(s) considered to have most potential by a commissioning panel will be given the green light to go into production. A creative team is then formed to develop the concept through to transmission.Transition
You’ll begin the process of focusing your own practice within a chosen production role and context, ready for the transition into your final year of study. Independent study, research and critical analysis will inform and underpin the project. You will be encouraged to focus on a chosen role (writer, producer, director, director of photography or editor) and a particular output (drama, documentary, current affairs, entertainment or similar). Using an existing source of material (for example a television drama series or a documentary) you will be asked to re-interpret an aspect of the work from the perspective of your chosen skillset.Television: Critical Perspectives
This unit brings the opportunity to explore television formats through in-depth critical analysis of television genre, with particular reference to broadcast journalism and drama. It also supports the development of a greater understanding and critical analysis of television genre and audiences, developing further skills in research, critique, presentation and academic writing.Study abroad (optional)
This course offers the opportunity to study abroad for one term during your second year. -
Year three
You’ll focus your individual practice culminating in a final major project, produce a detailed pre-production document and a dissertation on a course-related subject of your choice.
Dissertation
You'll undertake a period of self-directed research on a subject related to the historical, theoretical, critical concerns of your discipline or professional area, and write a detailed piece on that subject. It may be related to a television genre, your chosen specialism or something else.Pre-Production
You’ll produce a detailed preparational piece for a production, either for something you are going to make into a film in the final unit, or a hypothetical idea. This latter option is a popular choice for students who want to think of a larger-scale production. You can present this work as a package in any form you feel is appropriate.Production
This final unit brings together all the creative experience of the course, challenging students to demonstrate innovative and sophisticated engagement with a major project. Working individually or in teams, and through discussion with your tutor, you and your fellow students will adopt specialist roles that align with your own practice and career aspirations, and are required to develop and produce an innovative project. This could take the form of a complete moving image production, or a detailed development of one aspect, such as a screenplay. -
Study abroad
This course offers the opportunity to study abroad for one term of your second year. To find out more about studying abroad as part of your course please see the Study Abroad section:
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Fees and additional course costs
Tuition fees
The course fees per year for 2021 entry are:- UK students - £9,250
- International and EU students - £16,950 (standard fee)
- International and EU students - £16,270 (full early payment fee)
Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees please see the additional course costs for 2021 entry.Further information
Find out more about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to:These fees 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.
Television Production students are immersed in the professional world from the moment they walk through the doors of our course. Situated within one of leading television and media studios in the UK, our course offers you the chance to learn and work alongside some top film and television professionals on a daily basis.
Assisted by our dedicated work-placement coordinator, you'll be offered numerous hands-on work experience opportunities on the professional productions made at the studios and with external companies, which in the past have included:
- .. With Jools Holland (BBC)
- Take Me Out (ITV)
- Catchphrase (ITV)
- Sport Relief (BBC)
- Strictly Come Dancing (BBC)
- Frank Skinner's Opinionated (ITV)
- Draw It! (Channel 4)
- Let's Play (BBC)
- Blind Date
- Big Brother (Channel 5)
- The Door (ITV).
The course is taught by a number of film and television professionals with extensive industry experience, covering all genres and formats. It includes screenwriters, directors, producers, editors and camera persons, covering work for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery, Film4, Channel 5 and numerous independents.