[rorehh]

I live outside of Europe and I'm not familiar with most of the Universities in the UK, especially not the ones which focus on the arts.

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me which universities are great for Film Production (I graduate in 2013 if that helps)
Strictly Film Production, a few other threads include TV production as well, which I'm not really interested in.
So far I have looked at Kingston, UCA Farnham and AUCB and they all seem pretty solid, although I'm not sure how they stand amongst people at a film course.

[Nomburger]

I've heard Ravensbourne College (in London) is good for Film.

[rorehh]

(Original post by Nomburger)
I've heard Ravensbourne College (in London) is good for Film.

Thanks, but my sister applied there and says that its not in a very good location

[To6ko]

(Original post by rorehh)
Thanks, but my sister applied there and says that its not in a very good location

When? They have a new building in a different place.

[rorehh]

(Original post by To6ko)
When? They have a new building in a different place.

She applied for the course starting this year
If you're talking about a building other than the one next to the O2 and Blackwall tunnel then I may be wrong.

[Jedders]

I just completed my 1st year on the BA Hons Film Production course at UCA Farnham. If you have any specific questions just ask.

By the way, Ravensbourne campus(next ot the 02) is pretty amazing. It's so cool being in central london aswell and just a few stops from Piccadilly. Expect it to be quite expensive to live there though.

[rorehh]

(Original post by Jedders)
I just completed my 1st year on the BA Hons Film Production course at UCA Farnham. If you have any specific questions just ask.

By the way, Ravensbourne campus(next ot the 02) is pretty amazing. It's so cool being in central london aswell and just a few stops from Piccadilly. Expect it to be quite expensive to live there though.

What is UCA like? I'm really interested in applying there as when I'm in the UK I'm up in Walton-on-thames/Shepperton. Is the course intense? Just general questions trying to get a hold of the different universities.

[Jedders]

(Original post by rorehh)
What is UCA like? I'm really interested in applying there as when I'm in the UK I'm up in Walton-on-thames/Shepperton. Is the course intense? Just general questions trying to get a hold of the different universities.

I live quite near Shepperton too, I'd definitely look to stay in accomodation if you end up going to UCA. It takes me just under 2 hours to get to farnham on the train. Real pain in the ass and it ends up being basically the same price as living there. You won't be saving money at all by travelling. You'll probably get rejected for halls though unless you apply really early. You can get private accomodation though.

On the course itself
The course is brilliant and has a great reputation. The teachers are all very experienced and active in the industry. Sure some of them can be a quite boring at times but they know what their talking about. The studio technitian worked as DOP for Steven spielberg and Stanley Kubrick in films like Empire of the sun and Full metal jacket.

The course is mainly practical, you have 2 big film projects and 1 small project in the first year. You get to make a film with 16mm film and edit on steenbecks. Most universities won't have access to that sort of equipment and a 16mm film is a great thing to have on your showreel. You also to do 3 essays to do in the first year. 1st one being 1000 words, 2nd 1500, 3rd 2500. Even though you only do 3 essays they are VERY hard work. It's much harder than any essay you've done in college, you'll have to read a lot of books for research. No more copy and pasting :P In the 2nd year you get to specialise in one area of filmmaking.

The work load can be quite intense but as long as you work hard and manage your time well it's more than managable. Honestly the work load isn't as bad as I was expecting Uni to be. 2nd year will probably be more intense though.

On the Uni itself and location
The uni itself is really small. The people are very nice(although not very friendly IMO..they tend to find their own cliques and stick with them) and there are A LOT of hipsters but at least there are no chavs AT ALL. I mean literally NONE in the whole town. The town of Farnham is B.O.R.I.N.G. It's a small quiet little town with not much to do apart from go to the pub. But guildford is quite near if you want to visit somewhere more lively. If you wanna go clubbing then the Student Union is literally your only choice(apart from pubs). I'm not into clubbing so I can't comment on how good it is (I went once, hated it) however most people in uni seem to love the SU.

It's a really quality course and you'll learn a lot, definitely one of the top film courses in the UK. I'm not a fan of Farnham that's just me.

[rorehh]

(Original post by Jedders)
I live quite near Shepperton too, I'd definitely look to stay in accomodation if you end up going to UCA. It takes me just under 2 hours to get to farnham on the train. Real pain in the ass and it ends up being basically the same price as living there. You won't be saving money at all by travelling. You'll probably get rejected for halls though unless you apply really early. You can get private accomodation though.

On the course itself
The course is brilliant and has a great reputation. The teachers are all very experienced and active in the industry. Sure some of them can be a quite boring at times but they know what their talking about. The studio technitian worked as DOP for Steven spielberg and Stanley Kubrick in films like Empire of the sun and Full metal jacket.

The course is mainly practical, you have 2 big film projects and 1 small project in the first year. You get to make a film with 16mm film and edit on steenbecks. Most universities won't have access to that sort of equipment and a 16mm film is a great thing to have on your showreel. You also to do 3 essays to do in the first year. 1st one being 1000 words, 2nd 1500, 3rd 2500. Even though you only do 3 essays they are VERY hard work. It's much harder than any essay you've done in college, you'll have to read a lot of books for research. No more copy and pasting :P In the 2nd year you get to specialise in one area of filmmaking.

The work load can be quite intense but as long as you work hard and manage your time well it's more than managable. Honestly the work load isn't as bad as I was expecting Uni to be. 2nd year will probably be more intense though.

On the Uni itself and location
The uni itself is really small. The people are very nice(although not very friendly IMO..they tend to find their own cliques and stick with them) and there are A LOT of hipsters but at least there are no chavs AT ALL. I mean literally NONE in the whole town. The town of Farnham is B.O.R.I.N.G. It's a small quiet little town with not much to do apart from go to the pub. But guildford is quite near if you want to visit somewhere more lively. If you wanna go clubbing then the Student Union is literally your only choice(apart from pubs). I'm not into clubbing so I can't comment on how good it is (I went once, hated it) however most people in uni seem to love the SU.

It's a really quality course and you'll learn a lot, definitely one of the top film courses in the UK. I'm not a fan of Farnham that's just me.

Thanks for that! Didn't expect you to write so much. A representative from UCA is coming to Hong Kong later on so I shall ask her for more. What do you think of AUCB and Kingston for film?

[Jedders]

AUCB is amazing probably the best ba film production course in the uk. If you get an offer I'd take it. Kingston Uni course I didn't get a good impression of. The interviewer was very rude and up his own ass, it also focuses mostly on documentary. For such a competetive course(only 30 spaces) it doesn't have the reputation to back up its competetiveness. I never hear people mention Kingston university when they talk about great film courses.

[rorehh]

(Original post by Jedders)
AUCB is amazing probably the best ba film production course in the uk. If you get an offer I'd take it. Kingston Uni course I didn't get a good impression of. The interviewer was very rude and up his own ass, it also focuses mostly on documentary. For such a competetive course(only 30 spaces) it doesn't have the reputation to back up its competetiveness. I never hear people mention Kingston university when they talk about great film courses.

thanks, you've helped a lot!

[Iloilo]

Hey Guys, currently studying Film Production at AUCB, definitely a good place to practice the industry, we learn to shoot on Film and the discipline behind shooting on Film rather than digital with our major projects being shot on 16mm whilst short exercise being done digitally. Very Practical based, for all specialisms and you meet a lot of great people with which to graduate and carry on with your career. Each coursemate is a potential tick on your networking list!

Academic wise, it's a little interesting, all the modules are coursework based besides the essay you get each year. Grading system is weird and some of the tutors that mark them lack parity in terms of keeping to assessment guidelines. There are times where that one student who worked his butt off for 2months on his module gets a mediocre mark compared to a student who rushes his 2 weeks before the deadline which gets annoying. The course structure is very tense at times with the time needed for production often clashing with lecture times that they expect you to attend. Then there are lulls in the storm where no productions and lectures are happening, and you're wondering what they could schedule in for such times