skip to main content

London College of Communication

an image

BA (Hons) Film Practice

College
LCC
Start date
September 2019
Course length
3 years
UCAS code
W603
Apply

Course summary

Designed to develop the creative, technical, commercial and practical skills required in digital film production, BA (Hons) Film Practice is geared towards industry.

About this course

Workshops are led by professionals in areas such as sound, lighting, directing, assistant directing, producing, editing, screenwriting, working with actors, the camera and production design. You will develop and expand your skills and potential to operate creatively and within a variety of technical roles.

You'll be thrown into a hands-on learning experience exploring the entire film production process from development to post production. This rigorous and focused programme reflects the strategies, disciplines, and realities of professional digital film production, and takes place within a nurturing and encouraging environment.

Open Days

Student work

  • Students gathered around looking a camera screen within LCC television studio.
    Behind the scenes filming. Image © George Al-Khouri
  • Students operating a camera in LCC's television studios.
    Behind the scenes filming. Image © George Al-Khouri
  • Students operating a camera in LCC's television studios.
    Behind the scenes filming. Image © George Al-Khouri
  • Still from Doll Factory, showing a young girls stretching for ballet. At the centre in the foreground are a child's legs.
    Still from 'Doll Factory' by Raphael, Shaneika, Nicholas, Alexandre and Parand.
  • Still from The Drone - a man in a suit sits at a white desk, behind him is a countryside scene. The lighting is low and blue.
    Still from 'The Drones' by Gabriel, Tommy, Omar, Raitis, Michaela and Andre
  • Still from A Rare Mutation - two women are sitting on a park bench having a conversation, in winter clothing.
    Still from 'A Rare Mutation' by Stine, Phoebe, Sergey, Nelson and Jorge
  • A student operating lights in the television studios at London College of Communication
    Image © Jonas Juskaitis
  • Students using sound, lighting and camera equipment to film a scene within London College of Communication's television studios
    Image © Jonas Juskaitis
  • Students using a combination of equipment within London College of Communication's television studios.
    Image © Jonas Juskaitis
Saber Divider by Luiza Herdy Costa

First year student Luiza Herdy Costa made the film 'Saber Divider' for Shell through MOFILM

Throw me to the Dogs, Joseph Ollman and Aaron Dunleavey

LCC graduates Joseph Ollman and Aaron Dunleavey are nominated for BFI Futures Best Director Award

Course stories

View all stories

Facilities

Red light indicating recording is taking place.
Image © Vladimir Molico

Lens-based and Audio-Visual

Find out about the range of resources, workspaces, and studios that support Lens-Based and Audio-Visual practices.

The Digital Space, London College of Communication.
Image © Ana Escobar

The Digital Space

The Digital Space is an open-plan, creative hub with computers set up with specialist software.

A close-up of a monitor in the TV studio.
Image © Vladimir Molico

Film and Television

Find out about the resources on offer to Film and Television students.

View all facilities at LCC

Course details

BA (Hons) Film Practice has been developed for students with a passion for independent cinema – both documentary and fiction, who want a hands-on, industry-oriented programme, with a practical emphasis in digital production.

What can you expect?

The backdrop to this course is the College's state-of-the-art media facilities that boast a multi-camera studio and Final Cut Pro editing suites. Students also benefit from LCC's excellent location which has easy access to the British Film Institute, Tate Modern and The Cinema Museum. The College is also home to the Stanley Kubrick Archive from where films are screened for seminars and guest lectures.

You'll be thrown into a hands-on learning experience in which you'll explore the entire film production process from development to post production. This rigorous and focused curriculum reflects the strategies, disciplines and realities of contemporary professional digital film production and takes place in a nurturing and encouraging environment.

You'll also benefit from seminars with agents, development executives and exhibitors, who have been generous in offering to students invaluable opportunities to build professional networks and to receive career advice. In addition, you’ll develop key transferable skills such as entrepreneurship, project management and teamwork to support you in forging a successful career path.

Over the 3 years of your study, there will be collaborations with other students on 6 films; during which you'll experience all the roles that are critical to the production process.

In order to complete these projects you'll make full use of a large amount of professional digital recording equipment and post-production facilities. In particular, you'll be pushed to produce work that has a life beyond its academic assessment. And, you’ll be guided in making submissions to international film festivals and competitions in order to secure work experience at UK film festivals and to start building your professional CV.

Showcasing your work

All students are advised to set up a profile on portfolio.arts.ac.uk, UAL’s portfolio platform, which can be done at any point during your time at LCC and will last for up to 12 months after graduation.

This platform is often used to source student work for promotional use on the website, social media and for print and can be a great way of getting your work seen.

Course units

In common with all courses at the University of the Arts London, this course is credit rated. The course is 3 years, levels 4-6. Each year requires you to achieve 120 credit points. To be awarded the BA (Hons) Film Practice qualification, you need to accumulate a total of 360 credits.

Year 1

Units summary:

  • Introduction to Film Practice (20 credits)
  • Contextual Studies 1: Modernism (20 credits)
  • Sound Design (20 credits)
  • Contextual Studies 2: the Global Village (20 credits)
  • Digital Production (40 credits)

Year 2

Units summary:

  • Development (20 credits)
  • Collaborative Project (20 credits)
  • Work-Based Learning (20 credits)
  • Contextual Studies 3: Creative Intent and Genre (40 credits)
  • Story (20 credits)

Year 3

Units summary:

  • Major Project (80 credits)
  • Dissertation (40 credits)

Teaching and learning methods

  • Lectures/large group learning
  • Workshop & seminar learning
  • Academic tutorials
  • Self-directed learning
  • Outside speakers and visits
  • Assessed assignments

Assessment methods

BA (Hons) Film Practice places a high emphasis on collaborative skills and practical assessment is designed to promote teamwork. We therefore employ a range of assessment activities and criteria to ensure that you have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate the broad range of skills and knowledge necessary to progress in the workplace.

To that end, staff will consider creative endeavour, technical achievement and collaborative qualities / professionalism (production skills) when marking your practical work. We employ both weighted and holistic approaches to assessment where appropriate (see below). Your theoretical work is assessed individually throughout, but practical work will be balanced between group output and your individual contribution.

First year

In the first year all practice is assessed in a formative 'crit' environment, whereby production teams present their films to staff and peers in the intimate screening facility in MLG06. The work generates debate and students receive immediate verbal feedback from staff and peers. Self-assessment and peer assessment forms further inform staff of individual strengths and weaknesses, but all work receives a group mark. The only exception to this is when an individual has significantly failed to contribute. Exceptional contributions will be recognised by both staff and students, but these achievements will be reflected in the overall mark awarded to the whole team.

Second year

In the second year your practical work will be marked through a combination of both group work and individual contribution, in recognition of your developing understanding of those individual technical, creative and production skills that lie at the heart of the collaborative process and those specific specialisms that you have undertaken.

Third year

In the third and final year, all work is necessarily marked individually, but general professionalism and those collaborative production skills that you have been developing, will still be measured (production skills).

Changes to courses

Information provided by the University is accurate at the time of first publication. Courses, however, remain subject to change. Changes may be necessary to improve the quality of educational services, in order to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body, in order to bring course content in line with best practice activities across the Higher Education sector, in response to student feedback, and/or due to a lack of student demand for certain units or options.

Events may arise outside of the reasonable control of the University which lead to changes to courses. Such events may include industrial action, civil disorder, severe weather, and changes in applicable laws and/or safety requirements.

If you have accepted a place on a course, we shall notify you of any changes as soon as reasonably practicable.

Webpage updates

We will update this webpage from time to time with new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions, use this register your interest form.

Staff

Klaus Fried

Klaus Fried

Joint Course Leader, BA (Hons) Film Practice

Polly Nash

Polly Nash

Joint Course Leader, BA (Hons) Film Practice

Tim Harrison

Tim Harrison

Associate Lecturer

Peter Matthews

Peter Matthews

Lecturer, BA (Hons) Film Practice

How to apply

Opportunities for all

We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.

We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.

Entry requirements

Home/EU/International

The course team welcomes applicants from a broad range of backgrounds from all over the world. The course attracts students who apply direct from A-level (or equivalent) or from Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, or other art or design courses, as well as mature students who may have previously worked in industry.

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

80 UCAS tariff points gained at GCE Advanced (A) Level or equivalent. (A-level subjects studied may include: English; History; Media; Business; Art and Design, or other subjects within Social Sciences). Ideally your A-levels will be achieved at grade C or above.

Or

One subject at A-level achieved at grade C or above PLUS Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3/4).

Alternatively, you will be considered if you have achieved a minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points from one of the following qualifications:

  • BTEC Extended Diploma
  • UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design
  • Access to HE Diploma
  • International Baccalaureate Diploma
  • Equivalent EU or Non-EU qualifications

Additionally, you will have achieved passes at grade C/grade 4 or above in at least three GCSE subjects.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • A combination of these factors.

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English Language Requirements (International/EU)

IELTS level 6.0 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Please check our main English language requirements page for more information.

All classes are conducted in English. If English is not your first language you will be asked to provide evidence of your English language ability when you enrol.

Selection criteria

The portfolio/body of work, along with the details on your UCAS application (including the academic reference and your personal statement) will be assessed against the following criteria:

  • Evidence of an informed interest in and appreciation of the subject area
  • An understanding of the need for a critical and analytical approach (through research and practice) to this area of study
  • Evidence of research and development of ideas through practice to achieve specific outcomes
  • Quality of ideas and thought processes in the approach to and production of your finished work

How we assess your application

Your application form is reviewed when you apply to the University. If you have achieved or expect to achieve the standard entry requirements we will invite you to submit a full portfolio/body of work. We make our offers based on the strength of the whole application, and therefore don’t routinely invite applicants to interview. To find out more, view our Undergraduate Application Process page.

Personal statement advice

This is an important part of your application and should demonstrate to the team that you are interested in film practice, and that you have thought carefully about why you want to study on this course. 

You can demonstrate this through your previous work experience or study, personal experience and your ambitions for personal development as a student at LCC. 

You should ensure it is written clearly, and free of any spelling mistakes. It is your chance to impress the team by demonstrating your appreciation of what the course can offer you and how you feel it will help you in the future. 

State what you personally would bring to the course, and explain what motivates you to learn, explore and experiment.

Portfolio advice

Your portfolio/body of work is the most important part of your application, and you must clearly evidence development work as well as work from completed projects.

Important Note: You are strongly advised not to delay the upload by trying to create new work; your main aim should be to demonstrate the creativity within your current portfolio.

1. We want to see a maximum of 3 minutes worth of film/sound work.

This could be work you have produced on your current courses however we also encourage work produced outside of education. We would prefer not to see show-reels, but rather full scenes, or coherent sections of your films. You could also include a short piece of work that gives us a sense of who you are and your film making identity. You can submit excerpts from any number of fiction, experimental and documentary film work, but it should not exceed 3 minutes in total and should all be compiled within one file. (Further, detailed upload instructions will be shown in the upload system.)

We encourage applications from all specialisms within filmmaking and it is very important that you clearly describe your specific role(s) on the work you are submitting. This will in no way determine your roles on the course, should you receive an offer, but this information is essential if we are to properly assess your experience to date.

If submitting a film extract, please add the URL to the full version of the film (if possible) at the bottom of your contextual statement (see below).

2. Your practical work should be accompanied by a contextual statement.

Your contextual statement should be brief, no more than 500 words, but could be less. It is your opportunity to tell us what you are proud of regarding the work you undertook on the films you have submitted and to really give us a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. This statement is also an opportunity to describe what qualities you think constitute a good collaborator and why you think BA Film Practice is the right course for you.

We are looking for students who have a keen interest in cinema, be it mainstream or independent, from anywhere in the world - any era.  We want to know what your favourite films are and why.  We want to know that your understanding and love of film extends beyond what you have studied at school.

We are looking for people who enjoy working in a team. You don’t have to have already decided what you want to do within the film making process, but if you have a particular interest, such as sound design, production design, production etc., please let us know what it is about this particular specialism that excites you.

Your contextual statement is an opportunity to demonstrate all of the above.

3. You can also submit a further 9 still images/sound files.

This can include primary and secondary research, ideas development and experimentation with a different range of materials, techniques and media. We are also interested in evidence of the planning around film making, such as story boards, floor plans, technical drawings, concept art, schedules etc.

Due to the high volume of applications we are unlikely to read scripts, and essays.

Making your application

You must apply for this course though Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), where you'll need the following information:

  • University code: U65
  • Course code: W603

London College of Communication courses are listed under University of the Arts London.

Application deadline

We recommend you apply by 15th January for equal consideration.  However this course will consider applications after that date, subject to places being available.

Making a deferred application (for entry in 2020/21)

Home/EU applicants are permitted to make a deferred application. International applicants are not permitted to make a deferred application.

Entry to Year 2 or Year 3

If you have successfully completed year 1 of a degree course at another institution and wish to continue your studies at LCC, you can identify the point of entry as year 2 on your application, and consideration will be given by the course admissions tutor.

LCC will consider applications for entry at Year 3 in exceptional cases only.

Referral to alternative UAL courses

The University operates a cross-referral system, where applicants can be considered for and offered a place on an alternative course, if the admissions tutor feels they are more suited to that course. If you wish to opt out of the cross-referral process you can do so at the application form stage.

Erasmus

For further information on Erasmus and UAL exchange schemes, please visit the Erasmus and Non-Erasmus Exchanges section on the UAL website.

International applicants can apply through either of the following routes:

If you are applying through UCAS you will need the following information:

  • University code: U65
  • Course code: W603

London College of Communication courses are listed under University of the Arts London.

Making a deferred application (for entry in 2020/21)

Home/EU applicants are permitted to make a deferred application. International applicants are not permitted to make a deferred application.

Entry to Year 2 or Year 3

If you have successfully completed year 1 of a degree course at another institution and wish to continue your studies at LCC, you can identify the point of entry as year 2 on your application, and consideration will be given by the course admissions tutor.

LCC will consider applications for entry at Year 3 in exceptional cases only.

Referral to alternative UAL courses

The University operates a cross-referral system, where applicants can be considered for and offered a place on an alternative course, if the admissions tutor feels they are more suited to that course. If you wish to opt out of the cross-referral process you can do so at the application form stage.

Study Abroad applicants

International undergraduate students can apply to join BA (Hons) Film Practice for a period of up to three terms as a Study Abroad student.

Visit the Study Abroad page for details of how to apply.


After you apply

Communicating with you

After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents through the portal. You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

International applicants may be invited to interview in person at LCC, or via Skype if overseas or unable to attend. Details of this interview will be sent via the UAL Portal.

Immigration history check

International applicants, whether applying online via UCAS or through a UAL representative or by direct application, you will need to complete an immigration history check to establish whether you are eligible to study at UAL. If you do not complete the check, we will not be able to proceed with your application.

What happens next?

We will advise you of your application outcome through UCAS Track. If you are an International applicant and have applied directly or through an agent, we will notify you through the UAL Portal.

We invite all offer holders to come to LCC, from January onwards, to attend one of our Offer Holder events. Offer holders will have the chance to meet the team, find out more about the course, and see our diverse and vibrant student community in action.

Successful applicants will be guided through the rest of our admissions stages and towards enrolment on the course.

Deferring your place

If you are offered a place for 2019/20 but wish to defer to 2020/21, information on how to do this and who to contact can be found in your offer letter.

International applicants will have to pay a deposit in order to defer. In all cases, deferred places will be held for one year.

Fees & Funding

Home / EU fee

£9,250 (2019/20).

Tuition fees for undergraduate degree courses have been set at £9,250 per year for full-time study. This applies from the 2019/20 academic year, subject to changes in the law.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students, in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Please visit our Undergraduate tuition fees page for more information.

International fee

£19,930 (2019/20).

Additional costs

In addition to tuition fees you are very likely to incur additional costs such as travel expenses and the cost of materials. Please read the information on our additional costs page.

Accommodation

Find out about the accommodation options available and how much they will cost.

Scholarships and awards

There are a number of scholarships and awards available to students on this course. Use our search tool to find out more information.

Scholarship search

Or view all

Careers and alumni

Career paths

Students graduating from the Film Practice course will be prepared to enter a variety of roles within the film and wider related media industries including within the following areas:

  • Production
  • Camera and lighting
  • Sound
  • Post-production (editing)
  • Art Department
  • Distribution and exhibition
  • Screenwriting / development
  • Graduates may also progress onto postgraduate courses, such as MA Film, MA Screenwriting and MA Documentary Film at LCC.

Industry links

BA (Hons) Film Practice is well-connected to industry and students on the course often gain high-profile work-based placements. Previous students have gained placements with organisations including:

  • De Lane Lea (Warner Bros)
  • Art House Hire
  • Film Fix – Southwark Film Office
  • Technicolor
  • Imaginarium Studios
  • Spectacle Productions
  • Newman Hire
  • Vice TV
  • Lionsgate
  • Caviar Content
  • Food Network
  • Shanghai Media Group

Alumni achievements include:

Alumni

Ella Ribak

Ella Ribak

André Sapori

André Sapori

Charlotte Beaird

Charlotte Beaird

Chema Gomez

Chema Gomez

View college guides

Contact

  • Telephone: +44 (0)20 7514 6500

Address

  • Elephant & Castle
  • London
  • SE1 6SB

Follow us