School of Art, Design and Architecture

BA (Hons) Creative Media with Foundation

Are you passionate about video or photography? Do you wish to explore the worlds of sound and animation? Our BA (Hons) Creative Media course gives you the power to create your own unique pathway – focus on one area or work across media. We prepare you for the ever-changing media and arts industries by empowering you with the skills and confidence to find your own creative voice and push boundaries. Embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future by learning with us today.

This course provides opportunities for students from non-standard entry points to develop the skills and knowledge needed to successfully complete an undergraduate degree. You will become part a vibrant creative community through an engaging learning environment with a focus on active exploration and discovery across a wide range of methods and media. Upon successful completion of your first year, you’ll join the undergraduate BA (Hons) Creative Media course.

Key features

Your foundation year will:

  • Welcome you to an engaging, experiential learning environment with a focus on active exploration, experimentation and discovery across a wide range of material, methods and media.
  • Help develop your practical, technical and creative skills through studio and workshop based projects.
  • Provide training in key learning skills for further undergraduate study and build an awareness of practise, context and theory.
  • Introduce you to the accessible community of experienced academics, practitioners and technical staff that will support you on your studies.
  • Give you access to a wide range of enviable specialist workshops, laboratories and facilities across the campus and become part of our vibrant student community through the various opportunities available within the School of Art, Design and Architecture.
  • Enable you to explore and develop your personal interests and strengths as a creative practitioner.

This course is an integrated part of the BA (Hons) Creative Media degree at the University of Plymouth. Successful completion of your foundation year (Year 0) will not lead to a separate award or qualification in its own right but provides progression onto Year 1 of the creative media degree.

When you join the BA (Hons) Creative Media with Foundation, you will:

  • Freedom to experiment – you can choose to focus on one medium, develop several or integrate across the range to find your own creative voice. You’ll have the opportunity to develop projects to suit your own creative and career ambitions.
  • Open doors to your future career by showcasing your work to the public in exhibitions, and developing a portfolio of work. You can enhance your professional profile further by engaging with our live briefs.
  • Advance your technical skills using our outstanding equipment and facilities including a fully equipped cinema, moving image studio with green screen, photographic and sound studios, computer labs, animation rostrums and much more.
  • Learn from award-winning tutors from industry, arts practice and academic research.
  • Tailor your degree to match your interests and career goals with an option to specialise in television in your final year.
  • Benefit from strong links with the industry such as the BBC, ITV and Royal Television Society along with regional arts and community groups, giving you the opportunity to develop and realise creative collaborations beyond the University.
  • This course is assessed by coursework only – there are no exams.
  • 88 per cent of students agreed staff were good at explaining things and 80 per cent of students were in work/study six months after finishing.

Entry requirements

UCAS tariff

32 - 48

Don’t have 32–48 UCAS tariff points? We will consider ‘non-standard’ applications on a case-by-case basis.

A levels: For Level 3 entry the Tariff points entry level will normally be 32–48 points from A level or equivalent. Non-standard applicants will normally be interviewed.

BTEC National Diploma/QCF Extended

Irish Leaving Certificate: Irish Highers, H5 in five subjects equivalent to 32–48 points.

International Baccalaureate: 24 overall

Proficiency in English: Students for whom English is an additional language will need to demonstrate ability in spoken and written English equivalent to an IELTS score of 6.0 and/or successfully complete the university’s special test before entering the foundation year.

We are looking for applicants with good potential including with non-standard qualifications and background, so will consider every application on a case by case basis. Alternatively, if you have any questions or concerns about meeting the entry requirements listed above we would encourage you to contact the Admissions Team on 01752 585858 or email ug-admissions@plymouth.ac.uk, where a member of the team can offer you further advice.

Fees, costs and funding

EU applicants should refer to our dedicated Brexit webpage for details of the implications of the UK’s plans to leave the European Union.

New Student 2019 2020
Home/EU N/A £9,250
International N/A £13,800
Part time (Home/EU) N/A £770
Full time fees shown are per annum. Part time fees shown are per 10 credits. Please note that fees are reviewed on an annual basis. Fees and the conditions that apply to them shown in the prospectus are correct at the time of going to print. Fees shown on the web are the most up to date but are still subject to change in exceptional circumstances.

Additional costs

This course is delivered by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and more details of any additional costs associated with the faculty's courses are listed on the following page: Faculty of Arts and Humanities additional costs.

How to apply

All applications for undergraduate courses are made through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). 

UCAS will ask for the information contained in the box at the top of this course page including the UCAS course code and the institution code. 

To apply for this course and for more information about submitting an application including application deadline dates, please visit the UCAS website.

Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office via our how to apply webpage or email international-admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

Creative media news

Creative media offers you the opportunity to study a range of media practices, including: video, photography, sound, animation and digital media.  

Studying with us will give you the freedom to experiment.  You can choose to focus on one medium, develop several or integrate across the range to find your own creative voice. 

You’ll have the opportunity to develop projects to suit your own creative and career ambitions. You can open doors to your future career by showcasing your work to the public and developing a portfolio of work. You can enhance your professional profile further by engaging with our live briefs. 

Advance your technical skills using our outstanding equipment and facilities including a fully equipped cinema, moving image studio with green screen, photographic and sound studios, computer labs, animation rostrums and much more. 

Learn from award-winning tutors from industry, arts practice and academic research. Benefit from strong links with the industry such as the BBC, ITV and Royal Television Society along with regional arts and community groups, giving you the opportunity to develop and realise creative collaborations beyond the University.

Experience real life projects beyond the classroom

Our strong industry links with organisations such as the BBC, ITV and Royal Television Society, as well as regional arts and community groups, give you the opportunity to work on real life creative collaborations

Student exhibition gallery

We ensure our students understand the career opportunities that are open to them, support development of their professional profiles and make sure all have the best portfolio they are capable of.
Take a look at our latest exhibition


Creative media international

We love Plymouth, but we also love to explore. On the course, there are always opportunities to broaden your experience of creative media in different environments and cultures.

International trip

Each year creative media takes its second year students on an international trip as part of their studies. These trips are often set to coincide with important festivals, such as Transmediale in Berlin, and act as a valuable primary research opportunity.  Students celebrate their research and experiences in a pop up exhibition when they return. 

International exchange

Creative media is part of both Erasmus and ISEP international exchange programmes with five bespoke exchange agreements across Europe, and two in the USA.

Achieve your creative goals with our excellent facilities and resources

Specialist facilities include:

  • Green screen, broadcast and still image studios
  • Animation suites
  • A huge range of cameras and other equipment
  • Apple macs with full adobe creative suite
  • Colour & black and white darkrooms
  • Sound studios
  • Digital printing suite
  • Fully equipped cinema with 18/35mm reel projection and 1920HD digital projectors.
You are able to work flexibly as our resources are open from 8:00am to 10:00pm, seven days a week and staffed by full-time technicians.

Black and white darkroom in Scott Building

<p>Animation suite</p>
Animation suite
<p>Film &amp; Television Production studio - infinity curve<br></p>
Infinity curve green screen
Photography Studio on third floor in Scott building
Photography studio
Jill Craigie Cinema
Jill Craigie Cinema

BA (Hons) Media Arts graduate Chris McLaughlin, producer of the Undateables, at the 2014 BAFTA ceremony after the show was nominated for an award.

Our graduates

I really loved my time on Media Arts and it genuinely helped prepare me for a lot of things when it came to work.
Discover more about our graduates

What do our graduates do?

Our graduates work in television, radio, advertising and production houses; they are directors, producers, camera crew and sound designers. They set up their own successful businesses in a range of areas including photography, moving image and digital design. 

They become fashion photographers, wedding photographers, book illustrators, web designers and curators. A number choose to become educators or independent artists, others embrace post-graduate study and become academics. Our graduates have worked for the BBC, Disney and Radio One. Their work can be seen in the National Portrait Gallery and on the cover of Vogue magazine. 

As a graduate you will have the skills required to take up a range of media and arts roles. By the time you graduate you will have experience of working in a number of professional contexts and high level technical skills in one or more of the areas we offer.  

Most importantly you will have the confidence to express yourself creatively and to respond to the ever changing opportunities offered by a career in the art and media sectors.  

Download our graduate brochure to get a flavour of what our students do next.

Graduate profile - Danny Cooke

The media arts course supports all factors of media, while allowing you to focus on your particular area of interest.

BA (Hons) Media Arts graduate Danny Cooke has shot and edited documentaries, including the award winning ‘Ray: A Life Underwater’.

Read more about Danny’s award-winning work

Hear from media arts graduates from the class of 2019

Mark Pearson

"This work is from the Gaza Strip after Operation Cast Lead in 2009. I was taking photographs during that time so I drew upon these images to create an installation."

Art, Design and Architecture Graduate Show

Tony Hill's new short film, Why Can’t We Get Along

BA (Hons) Creative Media Associate Lecturer and legendary rig master, Tony Hill’s Rigs are the focus of a new short film, Why Can’t We Get Along, made for fashion house Rag & Bone. The film, premiered in New York in February 2018. It was directed by Benjamin Millepied, Aaron Duffy and Bob Partington, working with celebrated cinematographer Darius Khondji. The sound track is a new song by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.

To find out more about Tony Hill and his work, visit his website http://www.tonyhillfilms.com. 

A behind the scenes video of the production, 'Why Can’t We Get Along – Rig Film'.

Rag & Bone Films say:

Legendary camera rig master, Tony Hill, has been making innovative camera rigs since the 1970’s. A total of five camera rigs were used to create this rag and bone film–three of Tony’s originals and two custom designed in partnership with Tony by Aaron Duffy, Bob Partington and Gamma Fabrication. All rigs held multiple cameras and iconic cinematographer, Darius Khondji, brought the film to life through incredible composition and dramatic lighting. The rig film gives insight on how this rag and bone film, 'Why Can’t We Get Along', was made.


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