About Set Design for Screen and Stage with Foundation Year, BA (Hons) - at Buckinghamshire New University

Do you want to bring theatre, film and television sets to life through creativity and design? This set design degree will provide you with an environment where you can experiment, innovate and create your ideas.  

Boost your understanding of design, aesthetics, form and function, develop your technical skills and broaden your knowledge, so upon graduation you’ll have a portfolio that demonstrates that you can turn scripts into three-dimensional environments for stage and screen.

Why study BA (Hons) Set Design for Stage and Screen at BNU?

Facilities

Our industry standard facilities are here to help you produce your most creative ideas. We will build your confidence in using the latest software, such as Vectorworks, SketchUp, Auto CAD, Adobe Suite and Rhino. You’ll also benefit from creating sets within a studio environment, complete with workshop facilities for wood, metal and plastic, plus lessons in scenic painting techniques to make your set or props look convincing. 

Our other specialist resources including;

CNC and laser cutter technology

• highly equipped engineering & making workshops
• 3D design studios
• computer suites with free access to a wide variety of industry standard CAD software
• 3D printing technology

At every step you’ll be supported by a dedicated team of technicians who will provide you with advice, technical assistance and support to realise your assignment briefs and final project. The University also has a teaching base at the iconic Pinewood Studios, which means there could be opportunities to engage with the community there.

Taught by the industry

The BA (Hons) Set Design for Stage and Screen course is led by a dedicated and experienced course team. Benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. You’ll get direct access to guest lecturers, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from project briefs, masterclasses, and networking opportunities.

As part of the Art, Design and Performance School at BNU, you’ll benefit from a practiced-based course, supported by contextual studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively across the School with other courses, ensuring during your studies you are building a varied network, like you would in the real world. Recent collaborations have seen the course working with Costume Design, Hair and Make-up and Acting students. 

Location

With London on our doorstep, you’ll be able to experience visits to outside bodies related to the course, such as prop stores, sets and set stores, material suppliers and manufacturing professionals and museums. It also means you may have the opportunity to visit working studios, such as Pinewood Studio. 

Career-focused

Do you want a career which could take you all over the world? Working in film, theatre or live performance, you could take on several roles across the globe, from production designer to model maker, art director to production design co-ordinator, stylist or illustrator. You could also end up touring with big theatre companies.

During your time on the course you’ll lend your hand to a range of techniques and periods. Your modules and briefs allow you to develop the skills that employers are looking for, whilst ensuring you have a varied and desirable portfolio. 

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in your first year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

With a history of delivery expert craft, art and design education for more than 130 years, Buckinghamshire New University is the perfect place to start your creative career to become a set designer. 

What will I study? 

This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme. 

During you time studying on this set design degree, we aim to develop you into creative, reflective and skilled professionals in the production design practices of theatre, film and television. We do this by providing you with an environment where you can explore your ideas and push the boundaries with set design.

The course material that you will be provided with is rooted in contemporary practice, benchmarked by ongoing input from industry, and contextualised by a historical and theoretical overview. You will learn to respond innovatively to design briefs, to produce high quality outcomes, through rigorous research, analysis, experimentation and development of skills.

We’ll teach you about aesthetics and form, technical skills such as workshop and production techniques and CAD and technical drawing, giving you a well-rounded understanding of design methods. Provided with a broad range of core skills required for the creative industry, you will hone and develop your specialist interests, graduating with a portfolio tailored to suit your chosen profession.

The course also emphasises the importance of cultivating unique, personal entrepreneurial skills to prepare you to work within the professional environment. By being equipped with the right tools to effectively communicate with other departments and professions and produce outcomes that are aimed at international markets you are widening your career prospects.

At the same time, the set design degree embeds critical and analytical skills through contextual studies, providing you with a broader awareness of theoretical debates within media and cultural studies and related industries.

Students will also experience visits to prop stores, sets and set stores, material suppliers and manufacturing professionals, museums, among others, to better prepare themselves for the research activities proposed in the programme. 

Upon graduation you should be able to solve issues, for film, stage and television, using a range of materials and set design techniques, that bring detailed and creative stories to life.

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Entry requirements for this course

Contact Buckinghamshire New University to find course entry requirements.

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