Film with Integrated Foundation Year

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.

A Film degree for future filmmakers. On this industry-accredited Film degree, you'll learn to tell immersive stories through film. You'll hone your visual craft through hands-on experience, all in a specialist facility that mirrors real-world film production.

You'll explore the history and cultural contexts of film, alongside being given the creative freedom to make your own films; collaborating with other talented producers, writers, cinematographers and actors from across the University.

BA Film at Falmouth supports you to identify ideas, technologies and processes that challenge the norms of conventional filmmaking. This Film degree gives you the opportunity to explore a range of projects, including short- and long-form cinema, documentaries and more experimental indie filmmaking. You're encouraged from the start to try your hand at camera, post-production editing, grade, sound design, and screenwriting, before specialising in your chosen craft, and carving your own niche

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.
Have the opportunity to work in-house through our production centre, the Sound/Image Cinema Lab. Previous productions include Film4’s Enys Men (Mark Jenkin, 2023), Long Way Back (Simon Harvey, 2022) and Wilderness (Justin Doherty, 2021)
Learn from award-winning staff and industry experts. Recent visiting professionals include Tom Morgan (Head of Client Services at ENVY Post), Ben Coren (Development Executive at Film4), and Johnie Burn (sound design for Nope, Zone of Interest)
Build knowledge and skills through technical workshops and masterclasses led by film practitioners that mirror real industry’s practices
Study on a Film course accredited by ScreenSkills, in a facility that’s part of CILECT and the ENVY Academy
This Film degree is industry recognised by ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK's screen-based industries, and carries the ScreenSkills Select quality mark which indicates courses best suited to prepare students for a career in the screen industries.

Working in multi-disciplinary teams, you’ll create work in a productive and collaborative environment that will ready you to be a dynamic professional in the workplace.

You'll understand how collaborating with others and honing your research skills can help broaden your own thinking and knowledge to give impact, relevance and reach to your creative work.

Our film school boasts ScreenSkills and CILECT accreditations, which are awarded to courses delivering the very best creative thinking, industry-relevant training, exceptional staff, facilities and partnerships.

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:
The first year of your degree will focus on developing your film knowledge through lectures, seminars and screenings, as well as nurturing your talent in all areas of short film development and production. You’ll further your understanding of industrial and creative contexts by examining current filmmaking trends in form, style, theme and narrative. You’ll have the opportunity to network with experienced professionals through our series of panel discussions and masterclasses, helping to enhance your industry skills and employability profile. You’ll also have the chance to visit an international film festival.

Modules:
Production Cultures 1
Production Cultures 2
Cultural Contexts
Industrial Contexts

Year two:
You'll build on your interests and passions by embarking on specialist pathways of your choice, deploying the skills you learn in a self-initiated project – typically within screenwriting, experimental, documentary or narrative filmmaking. Each week is designed to focus your learning and cinematic knowledge in an environment that recognises and embraces the medium’s changing nature. We also offer the opportunity to engage in placements through a number of external partnerships and opportunities. .

Modules:
Skills Development
Creative Delivery
Genre
Cinema of Experience

Year three:
In filmmaking practice, you’ll immerse yourself in a year-long project of creative cinematic endeavor, where you will develop an ambitious and innovative piece of work that sits alongside your research. You’ll also produce a festival strategy or equivalent as well as build your professional profile to help launch your career after graduation. Alongside this, you’ll continue to explore the wider social, political, industrial and artistic contexts of film culture and cinema, choosing from a dedicated module examining the voices of The Other, and a dissertation in a cinematic subject area related to your interests. Each module results in a long-form piece of scholarly writing which will position you ideally for postgraduate studies.

Modules:
Pitch Deck
The Other (optional)
Dissertation
Final Major Project
Futures

As part of our process of continuous improvement, we routinely review course content to ensure that all our students benefit from a high-quality and rewarding academic experience. As such, there may be some changes made to your course which are not immediately reflected in the content displayed on our website. Any students affected will be informed of any changes made directly.

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
100% of your assessment will be coursework.

Assessment methods
Continuous assessment with no formal examinations
Visual, verbal and written assignments
‘Campfires’ (timetabled group drop-in sessions) and bookable one-to-one tutorials
Optional dissertation in your final year