Official TV/Film Production applicants thread 2021

Hi, I’d love to get to know any film students who will be starting uni next year. I’ve got a couple of offers myself and thought it might be nice to get to know eachother! I’m Midnight, I’m studying English lit, dance, drama and classical civilizations and my hobbies are Greek, Latin and poetry.

Hi There,

I'm also in Y13. I'm not planning on doing film studies, but we could end up at the same uni. Where abouts have u applied?

Applied for film at Ulster, Uni of York, Uni of the Arts London, Edinburgh Napier, and Arts Uni Bournemouth on the 3rd December. Got offers from Ulster and York, and a portfolio request from the other three (submitted portfolios to UAL and AUB, 17th Dec and 2nd Jan respectively). No news from either UAL or AUB yet. AUB is my top choice so the wait is pretty agonising lol, but hopefully there'll be good news.

Currently also finishing off my A-levels in Moving Image Arts, Performing Arts, and History, predicted A*A*A. Hope everyone's doing well and gets good news.

I wouldn’t go to AUB in a million billion years especially not with those grades. It’s so overrated. I’m a current film production student btw

I see, where do you go, and where would you recommend? It's my top choice largely because of the contact hours, the crowdfunding projects, collaborations with other courses, and a really high recommendation from a friend who goes there, but I'm totally open to somewhere else, even if I need to use Extra or Clearing.

How do you know about those things? You’ve definitely done your research which is good!

This is copied and pasted from another thread but it basically answers your question so I can’t be bothered to type something new.

I’m on the film course at AUB and I wouldn’t go. In fact I wouldn’t go to a film production course in general.

Some reasons:

- Film course is incredibly over subscribed. There’s 120 people on the course and little opportunity to meet and connect with them.

- Campus is too small. You can’t fit everyone in the cafeteria.

- Library is too small. There’s about 100 computers and 3,000 students at AUB. It doesn’t work well.

- Course doesn’t allow you to make your own films. You make other people’s films during the ideas development process and it’s always the loudest who dominate meaning that your ideas get left out.

- SU is lacklustre and often inactive with little in the way of clubs and societies. You can join BUs but they’re clubs are too expensive and also not very active. This is a feature of most of the ‘good’ film production courses because they’re so small and specialist, there’s no clubs/societies which is annoying.

- Most people who do undergrad film courses aren’t successful in the UK. Maybe in America where the undergrad film degrees are better, but I genuinely can’t think of an established UK filmmaker who did an undergraduate film course in the UK.

Christopher Nolan actually did English at UCL! Something to think about.

Also going to copy and paste this thread as it’s the most comprehensive guide to a film production degree I have ever read:-
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5210328&p=93114246#post93114246

I've read just about every single document on AUB's website lol. I remember some spec document saying 87% contact hours for every year in the course (although I can't find it anymore so I don't know how accurate it is), which was far better than anywhere else I could find, so it shot AUB up my rankings pretty fast.



I'll keep all these in mind, thank you! Certainly the stuff about dominant voices being the ones who ideas get made is worth keeping mind, I imagine that can be quite frustrating. I'm hoping offer holder days might give me a bit more insight on the other places I've applied, so I'll keep my options open. Thanks again!

I’d still go for a more traditional university/a more traditional course just because you’ll have a better time and be happier as a result. You’ll also make more friends as you’ll be at a bigger university meaning you’ll meet more people.

Not to mention that you’ll have more options if film/tv production doesn’t work out. If you don’t end up going into film/tv you’ve essentially got nothing left as no ones going to hire a film production graduate to do anything other than make films as you’ve got no transferable skills.

Also consider apprenticeships. They’re actually a really good way to get into the industry, especially since no one really cares whether or not you have a degree, let alone where it’s from.

It all comes down to your portfolio in film. It doesn’t matter if you went to AUB or London Met. It won’t matter if your portfolio is rubbish.

Also the equipment that you use in industry standard. This is fine aside from the fact that what you’ll learn becomes outdated within a few years as technology inevitably improves. Ten years ago you would have been using Mini DV tape, in the next ten years you’ll be using VR and AR technology. This means that a large portion of what you’ll learn (especially in cinematography/editing) will become outdated.
Not to mention that you’ll be taught how to operate on a film set. This is fine if you do, but in most cases you won’t and will go make films for companies that need a film person. You won’t be using industry standard software such as Avid, you might be using Final Cut or Premiere Pro, in which case you become illegible for these jobs. Also the course (most likely) won’t teach you any animation/motion graphics which film employers like to see.

If you joined a filmmaking society or did a free/low cost film course (assuming you haven’t already) you’ll probably make better films than on a film Production course (especially in first and second year).

I’d say I’m enjoying the course (that’s mainly because I’m actually doing something with my life now after a long period of soul searching and figuring out what to do) but I certainly wouldn’t say it was worth it by any stretch of the imagination.

Tbh, speaking personally, I wouldn't enjoy a more traditional degree - the arts is just about the only thing I enjoy and I'd find it soul-sucking to spend the money and gain the debt for a more academic/STEM subject that I don't enjoy. I'll keep in mind the stuff about a more traditional university though, I have an offer from York which would fit that bill and looks like a pretty nice place to go, although the course is less practical than I'd like.

Thanks again for the advice, it's much appreciated and I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Hello,

I'm an international student and planning to study film production this September. I'm not really fussed about location. I'm doing as much research as I possibly can but since I don't have the opportunity to visit the schools in person, I was wondering whether anyone could provide some advice on the schools that I've applied for.

1. University of Gloucestershire (received offer)
2. Met Film School (received offer)
3. University of South Wales
4. Bournemouth University


Thanks in advance!

Something to bare in mind is that although you might not enjoy getting a more traditional/STEM degree you definitely won’t enjoy getting a film production degree, finishing the degree, getting into all that debt, spending all that money and having to deal with all of the inevitable stresses that getting a degree entails only for you to end up back where you started.

What I mean by this is that most people who do film production courses end up moving back in with their parents and do menial/low skilled jobs until they get a job in film, assuming they ever do of course. Our tutors have told us this as well. If this happens (which it realistically will) I can wholeheartedly assure you that you will be incredibly depressed and be in a worse place than when you started your degree. You’ll sit there in your parents house, gazing at LinkedIn and Facebook at all your friends who did apprenticeships and traditional degrees who have got proper jobs that pay masses and you’ll think ‘how could I be such a colossal idiot to assume that doing a film production degree was a good idea.’

I would go to York if you do a film production degree at all. The non academic side of York will be really good allowing you to make lots of films in the film societies alongside your degree, you’ll meet more people, have more fun and you have a degree from a traditional university if filmmaking doesn’t work out.

Also seriously consider apprenticeships as I genuinely believe they offer a better route into the industry than a degree these days.

Definitely MET if you can afford it. The others aren’t worth bothering with if you have the opportunity to go to MET.

@Thisismyunitsr Thanks for the advice about Met. Why do you recommend Met? I know it looks good on paper but I was hoping for some insight on the campus and facilities of each school, the quality of the teaching and also whether and why Met is worth paying the extra $$$.

@ocuin I wanted to give my two cents about choosing a traditional degree over a film degree. I studied law for my first degree and practised law for a few years. Yes, I had a stable income (the pay wasn't as high as you would think - it takes years and many, many, many extra hours of free labour for you to be promoted and rolling in money). I started hating it pretty quickly and found myself crying almost everyday - that was how miserable I was. I tried making up for the misery by doing things I love in my very little spare time, but that quickly became a problem for my employers because they expected everyone to work 24/7 and not have any other interests.

I also disagree with @Thisismyunitsr that you would struggle to find a job in a different industry because you wouldn't have transferable skills. Whatever you end up studying, you will always have transferable skills. I have friends who are filmmakers but also have "day jobs" that aren't too demanding so they have time to work on their own films. One works in advertising and the other is a lecturer.

So if you want to do a traditional degree for the money - don't. If you think you can do the things you love in your spare time to make up for a career you hate - think again. I'm not saying every traditional employer is awful, however, they do tend to be inflexible and don't understand and accommodate people who have other interests and aspirations. If you're actually interested in a traditional degree and career, then great, go for it! If film is definitely what you want to do, then as long as you know what you're getting yourself into, you should do it. If you can get an apprenticeship, definitely do that over film school. For me, that's not an option, apprenticeships are extremely rare where I live. I know the risks but I want to study filmmaking because I want to learn all about filmmaking and the industry and also meet other aspiring filmmakers. I had a traditional career and I would rather do a menial job than go back to that career!!

Hello,

I'm an international student and planning to study film production this September. I'm not really fussed about location. I'm doing as much research as I possibly can but since I don't have the opportunity to visit the schools in person, I was wondering whether anyone could provide some advice on the schools that I've applied for.

1. University of Gloucestershire (received offer)
2. Met Film School (received offer)
3. University of South Wales
4. Bournemouth University


Thanks in advance!