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Close up of a screen projector

Digital Film BA(Hons)

  • Intro
  • Course
    content
  • Careers
  • Entry
    criteria
  • Fees
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Intro

Our Digital Film degree inspires the next generation of talent with a thorough grounding in filmmaking practice and industry knowledge, supported by theoretical analysis and critical thinking.

We teach the fundamentals of production and screenwriting but are also nurture curiosity, self-awareness, confidence and open-mindedness so that you'll create work that is unique, relevant and insightful.

We embrace the challenges and opportunities that new audio-visual forms, digital platforms and technologies create. You will work with and learn from leading media practitioners, filmmakers, producers, distributors and festival programmers, along with academics whose research is at the cutting edge of conceptual film analysis.

You have the opportunity to become an Avid Media Composer Certified User and to undertake a work placement. As a course, we work with Brighton's commercial media sector and with CineCity: Brighton Film Festival who are based on our campus. We arrange study trips, regularly welcome well-known guests, and host an annual Digital Film Festival to promote student work.

Key facts

Location Brighton: City campus

UCAS code P313 

Full-time 3 years 

Our next open day for this course will take place in the summer. Register your interest now and we will let you know when you can book your place.

Register your interest

Apply now with UCAS for 2019 entry

Course content

Why study with us? 

  • This innovative degree is theoretically rigorous while encompassing the latest production techniques and trends, giving you the most relevant skill set to enter the industry at graduate level.

  • We have a flexible approach to options and assessments so that the 50% practice, 50% theory structure allows you to shape the course towards your own interests.

  • You will be encouraged to develop your own research and professional practice interests across the interrelated strands of theory, practice and industry when examining the evolution and influence of the digital film narrative.

  • The course is delivered through a diverse mix of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and masterclass sessions and is assessed through both practical and written coursework.

  • The work placement gives you access to industry experience with local and national partners from film and media. 

  • There are chances to screen your work to a wider audience and enter awards.

  • We continually add to our impressive list of technical hardware – see Facilities tab.

  • We increasingly integrate formalised teaching with wider events, commercial partners and development opportunities, providing students with networks and experience that enhance formal teaching and learning.

  • In the final year, students produce both a major practice project and a dissertation so they leave us with knowledge, experience and a production portfolio that can apply to a broad range of employment possibilities.

Please enable targeting cookies in order to view this video content on our website, or you can watch the video on YouTube.

Charlie Knight, Digital Film BA(Hons) explains why he chose Digital Film at Brighton and his experience of the course, including the paid commercial film work he’s been doing alongside his studies for organisations such as eBay and Google.

Year 1 

In year 1, the course will deal with classic and contemporary debates from film theory and examine a range of genres. 

Modules

  • Filmmaking Fundamentals
  • Key Issues in Screen Studies
  • Screen Industries
  • Production and Practice Management
  • Conceptualising Digital Film
  • Creative Approaches to Screenwriting

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

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Imagine That? by Connor Gaffney, won the Best Screenplay award at the University of Brighton Digital Film Festival 2017 and was shortlisted to screen as part of the Brighton Big Screen programme in 2017.

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The Photographer by Richie Summers, won the Best Cinematography award at the University of Brighton Digital Film Festival 2017 and was shortlisted to screen as part of the  Brighton Big Screen programme in 2017.

Year 2 

In year 2, you will expand your use and knowledge of digital production and post-production techniques and consider the essential features of the film festival experience. You will be able to choose from option modules to tailor the course to your interests.

Modules

  • Writing the Short Film
  • Digital Screen Arts
  • Making the Short Film
  • Contemporary Film Theory and Analysis

Options*

  • Industry Practice and Work Placement
  • Indentities and the Screen
  • Videogame Cultures
  • TV Genres
  • Cooking, Dining and the Screen: Food and popular media culture
  • Teens on Screen 
  • Editing
  • Writing the Feature Film
  • Screen Authorship
  • Memory, History and Trauma Onscreen
  • British TV Drama
  • Philosophy on Screen
  • Popular Criticism for Film and TV

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

 

Moving image production room

Year 3 

In year 3, you will benefit from a work placement and will work on a major project and the final year dissertation. 

Modules

  • Project Development and Professional Practice
  • Research Development
  • Major Project
  • Dissertation

media lab in Hastings

Staff profile 

Dr Dario Llinares, course leader

Dr Dario Llinares is Principal Lecturer in contemporary screen media. He gained his PhD from the University of Leeds in 2009 with a dissertation on the representations of the astronaut in contempororay Western culture. He has also published research on masculinity in British prison films, the cinema as time machine, austerity as cultural discourse, and the history and economics of the movies. His current research focuses on the philosophy of cinema experience in the digital age.

He is also the co-founder and co-host of the popular and well-respected Cinematologists podcast. The Cinematologists has become required listening for cinephiles in the UK and internationally and has become the basis of a new strand of research into audio media use in academia. In this context Dario has recently co-edited the first major interdisciplinary work on the medium entitled Podcasting: New Aural Cultures and Digital Media.

Other staff teaching on the course include Dr Holly Chard.  

DarioLlinares

Dr Dario Llinares is a cultural critic who produces and co-hosts the popular Cinematologists podcast.

Student views 

Roisin McHugh 

"We do such a variety of things within the course from history of film theory, to film making and script writing. I love how we do all these things but still have time to go into depth with everything. I also love the opportunities we get on our course like the Digital Film Society and working at the Cine-Excess film festival in Brighton. I really enjoyed the film theory module last year and this year the film practice module is my favourite."

Roisin McHugh

 

Facilities

Digital Film help and support

Students develop their practical skills by using industry-standard equipment under the guidance of our teaching staff of film industry professionals. 

You will be able to take advantage of digital film facilities including Avid/Adobe editing suites with Pro Tools, surround sound audio editing capabilities and an extensive range of digital cameras, from GoPros to the latest 4k-ready cinema-grade cameras.

We continually add to our impressive list of technical hardware (cameras, lighting, sound) that is available for practice workshops, assessment and your own projects. Our MAC labs have industry standard software for visual/sound editing and screenwriting.

We have a range of refurbished teaching spaces at our Edward Street building with seminar rooms with 4K interactive screens, and an new high spec screening room.

The Box of Broadcasts is the iplayer for education – find out more about Box of Broadcasts.

Professional-standard cameras and green screen

Watts_Studio_Facilities_(8_of_12)-as-Smart-Object-1

Our latest news

Spring Forward festival celebrates women in digital culture

Spring Forward festival celebrates women in digital culture

Check out the events taking place as part of this month-long event sponsored by the University of Brighton.

100 days until the Graduate Show 2019!

100 days until the Graduate Show 2019!

The countdown begins to the University of Brighton  Graduate Show 2019 which will see the City and Moulsecoomb campuses are transformed into the biggest artspace in the South East.

Moving Image and Photography 2nd year exhibition: CINESTHESIA

Moving Image and Photography 2nd year exhibition: CINESTHESIA

Cinesthesia will be open to the public over the month of January 2019.

Showcase your creativity at the Grand Parade gallery

Showcase your creativity at the Grand Parade gallery

Staff and students have an opportunity to showcase projects, ideas and discussion as part of an experimental programme in spring 2019.

Read more from our blog

Careers

All modules are directly or indirectly geared to fostering and enhancing employability. The filmmaking practice modules are designed to draw upon recognised industry structures in terms of the management of pre-production, shooting and post-production.

The Screen Industries module examines the contemporary processes of film marketing and distribution in both a low budget and mainstream production context.

We work with students to place them in a work placement which reflects their interests and needs, enabling them to develop their professionalism as individuals. On this module we also help students create a digital showreel and CV, vital in the contemporary media age.

Our theory modules are all developed to be relevant to the understanding of film in the age of digital culture, while giving students vital research and writing skills, transferrable to any work arena.

 

Hastings media

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BBC–CCC (112–96 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DMM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
28 points.

Access to HE Diploma
pass with 60 credits overall. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 24 credits at merit or above.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language and maths.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. 

English language requirements
IELTS 6.0 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International requirements

International requirements by country
 
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For degree preparation courses.

Fees

Fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 14,460 GBP

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location

Location

About Brighton

The University of Brighton is at the heart of our city’s reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. Brighton is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year. Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements, live briefs and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

We provide support and venues for key events in the city’s arts calendar including the Brighton Festival, the Festival Fringe, the Great Escape, the Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton Photo Biennial and the CineCity Brighton Film Festival. Other annual highlights include Pride, the Brighton Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate Show transforms our campus into the largest exhibition space in the South East as we celebrate the outstanding talent and creativity of our students.

As a student you’ll get lots of opportunities to experience these events at first hand and to develop your skills through the volunteering and other opportunities they offer.

You'll find living in Brighton enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

Brighton North Laine
Brighton Beach sunset

Campus where this course is taught

City campus

Located in central Brighton, this campus is home to 3D design and craft, fine art, graphic design and illustration, digital music, digital media design, fashion and textiles, history of art and design, humanities, media, photography and film.

The facilities for making and designing, the theatre, galleries, workshops, studios, archives and the independent arts organisations based on site provide a unique and inspiring environment where creativity thrives.

St Peter’s House library and Phoenix halls of residence are close to the exhibition and learning facilities in the Grand Parade main building where you will also find the student centre with careers, counselling, student advice service and disability and dyslexia support. Edward Street provides extensive teaching and gallery space for media, photography and film.

Also on site are Photoworks, Screen Archive South East and University of Brighton Design Archives. Leading visual arts agency Photoworks runs the Brighton Photo Biennial and a national programme which frequently features the work of our graduates, staff and students. Screen Archive South East holds a wealth of material capturing life, work and creativity from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Our Design Archives received the Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education in recognition of our contribution to design history scholarship and the quality of primary materials about British design held in the archive.

The Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, the iconic pier and beach are a very short walk away. The independent shops and businesses of the North Laine and Kemptown, and Brighton main line station, with frequent express services to London, are 10 minutes walk.

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Grand Parade exhibition space

Accommodation

Brighton: City campus

All eligible 2019-entry students are guaranteed an offer of university-managed accommodation.

Halls of residence
We have halls of residence across Brighton in the city centre, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • You'll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
  • City campus is linked to Phoenix halls.
    • Phoenix halls are all self-catered. The halls are a short walk from City campus in the centre of Brighton. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there's a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
    • Find out more about Phoenix Halls.

Unihomes and unilets
Unihomes and unilets are student houses that we let to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option can work particularly well when you're balancing learning with placements and other commitments. We have unihomes and unilet properties at locations across the city.

Find out more about our accommodation and confirm your eligibility.

Private renting
There's plenty of support if you opt for private rented accommodation. This is an option which offers choice and flexibility – enabling you to choose where you live and who with. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. This lists accommodation offered by landlords who have signed up to our code of standards. Every summer we provide online events and resources, as well as other advice services, for students looking for a place to live and people to share with.

Phoenix Brewery Halls Accommodation

Accommodation for City campus is in the nearby Phoenix Halls

Student kitchen in Phoenix Halls

Student kitchen in Phoenix Halls

Relaxing in nearby Pavilion Gardens

Relaxing in nearby Pavilion Gardens

Maps

house Accommodation
campus University building

City campus map

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Our next open day for this course will take place in the summer. Register your interest now and we will let you know when you can book your place.

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Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

Statistics

These charts give an indication of how much time you will spend on different activities at each level of the course, and an indication of the balance of assessment by coursework, and written and practical exams. For courses with option modules, actual proportions will depend on the modules you choose.

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked above). You can find out also about the range of support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Overall workload

Assessments

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats enable you to compare information when choosing a UK university course. All UK universities publish Unistats data on their website.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the approved description of each course. They are updated following course changes, and give a detailed breakdown of the content and structure of the course.

Programme specification

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