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Post Production & Visual Effects with Integrated Foundation Year

Entry requirements


We welcome A Levels in a wide range of subjects, especially in those relevant to the course for which you apply.

We may consider a standalone AS in a relevant subject, if it is taken along with other A Levels and if an A Level has not been taken in the same subject. However, you will not be disadvantaged if you do not have a standalone AS subject as we will not ordinarily use them in our offers.

60 credits (with a minimum of 45 credits achieved at level 3) in a relevant subject.

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points

T Level

P-M

P (Pass) grade must be C or above, not D or E

UCAS Tariff

80-120

A typical offer is between 80 and 120 UCAS points, primarily from Level 3 equivalent qualifications, such as A levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma, or current, relevant experience. Grade 4 (or C) or above in GCSE English Language, or equivalent, is a minimum language requirement for all applicants. Due to the creative nature of our courses, you will be considered on your own individual merit and potential to succeed on your chosen course. Please contact the Applicant Services team for advice if you are predicted UCAS points below this range, or if you have questions about the qualifications or experience you have.

a minimum of 40 UCAS tariff points, when combined with a minimum of 64 UCAS tariff points from the Supporting Qualifications

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Visual and audio effects

Develop your skills by entering the creative industries on an Integrated Foundation Year degree. If you’re interested in taking on a new subject that you’ve not had the opportunity to study in depth before, or have been out of education for a while, then our Integrated Foundation Year courses might be for you. These four-year courses include an introductory year to help you build the core skills needed for specialist degree-level study.

This is a chance for you to let your imagination run wild and explore your creativity, expand your professional skills and develop enhanced subject knowledge in the domain you want to study. We’ll help nurture your expertise in problem solving, risk-taking, designing and making as you develop your abilities through five core modules.

After your foundation year, you’ll have a deeper knowledge of your subject, a clear understanding of your strengths, a developed practical and technical skill set and the confidence to excel in your chosen degree subject when you join other students for the rest of your course.

Create cinematic greatness as a post production and VFX specialist.

Britain is leading the way in high quality post-production and visual effects and with audience expectations continuously rising, the industry is crying out for fresh, expertly trained talent. That's where this Post Production & Visual Effects degree at Falmouth University comes in.

This course is designed in line with rapid developments in industry and shaped by staff with extensive experience in visual effects and post production across animation, film, TV, games and advertising. Utilising specialist facilities with equipment, workflows and software that mirror industry practice, you’ll be encouraged to experiment and collaborate with other disciplines as you develop the technical, creative and problem-solving skills needed to dive into this exciting industry.

To further bolster your career prospects, you’ll also have the opportunity to graduate with additional recognised professional certificates, such as Avid Pro Tools 210P.

You will:
Develop technical, design thinking and production skills in your chosen specialism
Learn teamwork, leadership and project management skills through a variety of learning environments
Develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills through the development of unique and innovative projects
Complete your chosen degree over a four-year period
Refine your skills in areas including picture editing, colour grading, compositing, VFX, rotoscoping, digital imaging, sound design and audio mixing.
Gain intensive, hands-on technical and craft experience of image and audio post-production equipment, workflows and software.
Gain recognised industry software certifications as an optional part of the course, giving you the edge over your peers.
Have the opportunity to participate in live client briefs as well as short and feature films through our Sound/Image Cinema Lab.
Benefit from our industry links with the likes of Adobe, Avid, Blackmagic Design and Arri, as well as numerous UK-based and international post houses and VFX studios including Framestore, ILM and Envy amongst many others.

You will also engage in our weekly InTo Industry programme of guest speakers and alumni. You’ll learn directly from leading practitioners and connect with our extensive global alumni, helping you to build your network from day one. Recent guests have included Nikki Atkinson (previs/postvis, The Matrix Resurrections, postvis, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Mark Connell (Production Designer, Radiohead: Follow Me Around and The Chemical Brothers: We’ve Got To Try) and Graham Wild (Dubbing Mixer, Our Planet, Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II).

This course is accredited by CILECT, Albert, AVID, and ARRI

Modules

You'll develop a strong skills base and a working knowledge of industry practice by responding to an exciting and diverse range of post production and visual effects challenges. With access to professional-standard facilities and software including Avid Media Composer, Pro Tools, Houdini, Maya and Nuke, the chance to collaborate with multi-skilled teams and opportunities to learn from industry leaders, you'll graduate with a diverse portfolio, invaluable connections and the entrepreneurial skills to start making an impact.

Foundation Year:
In your foundation year, you'll study five core modules: three short modules in the first study block and two in the second (one short, one long). These are all designed to help you explore the foundational elements of both creative practice and your chosen specialism. You'll gain relevant technical skills, learn to experiment and take risks, develop an understanding of professional practice, have opportunities to work across disciplines and collaborate with other students on live project briefs.

After your foundation year, you'll have a deeper knowledge of your subject, a clear understanding of your strengths, a developed practical and technical skillset and the confidence to excel in your chosen degree subject when you join other students for the rest of your course.

Modules:
Explore
Technique
Apply
Industry
Launch

Year One:
In your first year, you’ll strengthen your foundational skills and develop crucial knowledge of industry practice including workflows and current technologies. This will give you the essentials to learn across all three strands: audio, video and VFX, at an equal level. You’ll work in professional-standard facilities and collaborate with your peers on post production and visual effects projects, building your portfolio and developing your technical and creative skills.

Modules:
Audio Post-Production Fundamentals
Video Post-Production Fundamentals
VFX Fundamentals
Audio Post-Production Competency
Video Post-Production Competency
VFX Competency

Year Two:
Your second year is designed to give you greater confidence in your skills and a clearer understanding of your own interests. You'll continue your development on the three core areas of audio, picture and VFX, but also be given that crucial space to refine your own specialist interests. This may be as a specialist editor, sound mixer, VFX supervisor, colourist, sound designer or compositor, among the many other roles open to you. By exploring and collaborating on challenging projects you’ll get to connect with peers from the School of Film & Television, across the wider University and beyond.

Modules
Audio Post-Production Proficiency
Motion Graphics & Colour Proficiency
VFX Proficiency
Collaboration
Intermediate Post-Production & VFX Project

Year Three:
Your final year of the degree will be dedicated to refining and mastering your skills as you prepare for a career in industry. You'll cement your learning across your chosen pathway of audio post-production, video post-production or visual effects. You'll have the opportunity to take on a collaborative or entrepreneurial project with peers from across the University, especially in animation, film, television, prosthetic effects, games or on one of the School of Film & Television's funded micro-budget films. You'll also work on an advanced post-production or visual effects project.

Modules
Pre-Production & Development
Extended Research Project
Futures
Final Major Project

The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

Assessment methods

Foundation year assessments are 100% coursework based
Assessment will take place at the end of each module, and you'll get feedback and evaluation throughout the year. You'll be assessed through visual, verbal and written assignments, including your portfolio and a reflective journal. In your foundation year all assessments are pass/fail to encourage students to take risks and engage with the feedback provided.

Progressing in your specialism
Students studying on courses with an Integrated Foundation Year must successfully complete and pass all foundation modules before they can progress to the next stage of their course.

Your specialism:
The BA Post Production & Visual Effects degree employs two main coursework assessment strategies over the year:

Portfolios – these bodies of works will be comprised from weekly skills development tasks to major projects, depending on what you are studying in each module
Presentations – some of the more advanced modules in this degree course require presentations of research and development, such as the Extended Research Project module
Your final assessments occur at the end of each module, usually at the end of a study block. You'll also benefit from interim formative assessments partway through modules.

These assessments help ensure that you remain on track with your work. You'll receive feedback on all your work throughout the year. It will be delivered in tutorials and studio-based workshops. At the end of a module, you'll be given detailed written feedback on your work and the opportunity to meet with your assessor to gain further clarity.

The Uni


Course location:

Penryn Campus

Department:

The School of Film and Television

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

73%
Visual and audio effects

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Cinematics and photography

Teaching and learning

82%
Staff make the subject interesting
85%
Staff are good at explaining things
77%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
78%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

80%
Library resources
89%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
57%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

97%
UK students
3%
International students
69%
Male students
31%
Female students
79%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Cinematics and photography

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£17,597
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
59%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

59%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
8%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
8%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Cinematics and photography

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£14k

£14k

£19k

£19k

£20k

£20k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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