Level 3 Acting Week 3: Business Homework - Career Path Of Set Designer

Career Path Of Set Designer

What Courses Are Available?

UAL (University of Arts London)

BA Set Design for Screen at Wimbledon College of Arts provides students with the technical and creative preparation needed for a career in production design for film and television.

The study level for this course is Ungraduate and will require you to be committed for full time throughout the period of the course which is 3 years.  For students living in the UK, the course will cost £9,000 per year, and the International cost will be £15,180 per year.

RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)

The postgraduate two year set and costume design course covers the extensive process of design for performance. First year studio based design projects are aimed at developing specialist skills.

The study level for this course is Post-Graduate and will require you to be committed for full time throughout the period of the course which is 2 years. For students living in the UK, the course will roughly be £5,700.

RADA can, in exceptional circumstances, offer places to students who already hold a higher education qualification and are classified as 'ELQs' (equivalent or lower qualifications). We believe that such graduates are an important part of the student body.

Fees for ELQ students are the same as the UK/EU fees, however, these students are not eligible for loans or grants.

The international cost to apply to this course is £16,600.

Content: What Students Can Expect:

UAL (University of Arts London)

• Projects that encourage students to take responsibility for all design and technical aspects of designing for screen.
• To gain design experience for television and film production through studio-based projects, tutored by visiting professional practitioners.
• To use their imaginative and technical potential to the full, designing their own programme of study tailored to their ambitions in their final year.
• An on-going contextual studies programme that builds our students’ knowledge and helps develop their critical understanding of the changing culture of film, television and the arts.

RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)

• Dramaturgy
• Script analysis and period research
• Director/designer collaboration
• Creative interpretation
• Visual language as a resource for designing
• Venue architecture: facility and constraints
• 2-D and 3-D problem solving
• Figurative costume drawing
• Scale model making
• Technical and perspective drawing
• Observational drawing
• Design presentations

Supplementary Classes Include:

• First Aid (students receive a First Aid Certificate)
• History of theatre
• Specialist career development

What Skills Will You Be Developing On Throughout The Course?

On the course, you will be guided through a broad range of skills and technical areas, including:

UAL (University of Arts London)

• Computer-aided design
• Conceptual visualisation
• Lens angles, aspect ratios and lens projections
• Lighting
• Location surveying
• Metalwork
• Model making
• Script breakdown
• Storyboarding
• Stop motion animation
• Technical drafting
• Video camera work
• Woodwork

RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)

First year students will gain skills in technical theatre, stagecraft, construction, scenic art, prop making, wardrobe, fabric treatment, wigs, hair and make-up, lighting and health and safety.

In the second year of training students design an opera or musical studio project, and then embark on designing for RADA’s public productions. Roles include Design Assistant and Set and Costume Designer. At the end of the second year students take part in the Design and Costume graduate exhibition. This is a public display of projects and design work presented through sketchbooks, storyboarding, prop drawings, costume renderings, and final presentational models.

The course leads to the award of a postgraduate diploma in Theatre Design.

Structure of the Course:

Year One

• Unit 1: Introduction to study in Higher Education
• Unit 2: Introduction to practice - Defining the subject
• Unit 3: Critical and contextual studies
• Unit 4: Establishing practice

Year Two

• Unit 5: Understanding collaborative practice
• Unit 6: Experimentation and exploring practice
• Unit 7: Research in practice
• Unit 8: Contextualising practice

Year Three

• Unit 9: Theorising practice and practising theory
• Unit 10: Towards independent practice

Work Experience and Opportunities:

Students have the chance to take up work placements on professional film and TV productions in and around the city, as well as gain hands on experience through student film collaborations with directing, writing and cinematography students from other University of the Arts London colleges, the London Film Academy and Goldsmiths College.

Students can also study abroad in their second year as part of the College’s Erasmus scheme.

Lecturers on the Course

UAL (University of Arts London)

Eli Bo – Course Leader

Eli Bo is a trained architect and has previously taught at the National Film and Television School as well as the Royal College of Art. She's also a current Professor in Experience and Event Design at Westerdals School of Communication in Oslo.

Kerry Bradley – Senior Lecturer

Kerry Bradley is a freelance Theatre Designer, Production Buyer and Set Dresser with over 18 year’s experience in the television and film industry.

She has taught at Wimbledon College of Arts for seven years, as well as teaching Production Design at Goldsmiths and Theatre Design at Royal Holloway University of London, St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham and Lewisham College.

Career Opportunities:

BA Set Design for Screen course gives students the skills for immediate employability in technical drawing, model-making, visualisation and storyboarding.

Graduates have worked in the art departments of the Harry Potter films at Warner Bros, as well as TV shows Primeval and Midsummer Murders.

Entry Requirements

UAL (University of Arts London)

They select students based on the quality of their applications, looking primarily at their portfolio of work and personal statements.

Applicants will have, or are expected to achieve, either:

• A Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
• 1 GCE A Level
• 3 GCSEs grade C or above

Or

• BTEC Extended Diploma or NVQ Level 3
• 3 GCSEs grade C or above

Or

• University of the Arts London level 3 Pre-University Diploma and Extended Diploma in Art and Design
• 4 GCSEs grade C or above
• In exceptional circumstances applicants may be considered if they present a portfolio of equivalent standard to a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design and have achieved, or expect to achieve:
• 2 GCE A Levels
• 3 GCSEs grade C or above

They also accept applications from students with:

• An International Baccalaureate or equivalent national school leaving or university entrance qualifications
• IELTS level 6.0 or above if English isn’t their first language, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking

Portfolio Advice:

Your portfolio should show the following:

• An interest in, and awareness of set design
• An ability to observe and record - particularly using life drawing
• A range of ideas, shown through a selection of set design projects
• Spatial ability

RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)

Candidates must have complete fluency in the English language

The minimum age for admission is 18

If you have no prior qualifications and little previous experience, they strongly recommend you look at the two year foundation degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management, the first year of which will fill your technical theatre experience gap and the second year will allow you to specialise in your chosen subject.

Portfolio Advice:

Applicants will be asked to bring a portfolio, displaying personal interest in art and design, along with any previous work related to performance, to the interview.

The portfolio should include original work and demonstrate interest in some of the following: drawing, life drawing, still life, landscape and the use of colour in painting. It may include sculpture or installation, printmaking or fabric design, the study of craft disciplines where experience in 3-D modelling is evident. Portfolios should include sketch books showing process work, representing the ability to problem solve.