Curious about studying Set Design for Screen and Stage - BA (Hons)at Bucks New University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
High Wycombe Campus
Full Time
Sep 2027
3 Year
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 Auto CAD, Rhino, Photoshop and InDesign. You’ll also benefit from creating sets within a studio environment, complete with prop stores and workshop facilities for wood, metal and plastic. Our other specialist resources including;CNC and laser cutter technologyhighly equipped engineering & modelmaking workshops3D design studioscomputer suiteselectronics/ control and plastic fabrication labs3D 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.
Taught by the industryThe 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 lectures, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from project briefs, masterclasses, and networking opportunities. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively with other courses such as Costume Design, Hair and Make-up and Acting students.
Career-focusedDuring 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.
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.You'll 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.
This module introduces you to key cultural developments, practices and movements related to design history, and visual and popular culture, as well as the influence of new technologies, new products, tools and materials relevant to the history and evolution of the film and media industries.
This module will introduce you to the creative potential of a range of materials including metal, wood and plastics. Understanding of these materials will be achieved through hand- on experience and demonstrations of associated core processes. Overarching design and make briefs will underpin the projects.
This module is designed to introduce you to the working methodologies which production departments employ when visualising a script. Projects will enable you to work on a range of briefs from within film, TV and theatre design. You’ll develop skills in interpreting scripts, generating storyboards, prop making, location scouting and surveying, stage and location management, and sourcing and using props.
This module will develop your practical, analytical and creative skills in visual recording, analysis, design development and presentation of your work. You’ll work on freehand drawing and draughting, and its relationship to conventions used to record visual research, as a tool for design development, to communicate technical information and to present design proposals in a professional manner.
The module is designed to extend and embed your understanding of digital design, drawing and rendering, and its relationship to conventions used to record visual research, as a tool for design development, to communicate and present design proposals in a professional manner. It will provide opportunities for the use of CAD and CAM software, and to produce 3D printed models, props and prototypes.
On this module you’ll be presented with key global debates which impact our lives and could influence your creative practice and positions as creatives in ever-changing professional industries. Through research and critical reflection, you’ll explore these issues which may be related to sustainability, politics and other ecological or socio- economic factors, and respond to them creatively using your chosen discipline-specific practice.
This module aims to support the employability of you as a as designer and maker, by encouraging you to consider and evaluate your production design practice within a professional context. You’ll be expected to engage in self-directed projects, including collaborative projects, competitions and work-based learning opportunities.
In this module, you’ll develop their skills in collaboration and design realisation by applying, through a group project, the processes and principals involved with designing for stage or screen. These will include script analysis, visual language and research for design.
In this module you’ll develop your construction and design realisation skills, through a group project, in collaboration, working both as a design team and with workshop technicians to realise a single set design for film, based on an amalgamation of their individual design concepts produced in Part 1.
This module will focus on visualising and storytelling through digital and analogue means. A range of stage/production crafts will be explored such as set, props, costume, lighting, sound, and video projection to provide learners with a holistic approach to design.
The Research Strategies module is designed to introduce you to preparing and planning for your practice-based report in Year 3. Through a series of thematic lectures and seminars, the module provides a framework for you to understand and explore cultural knowledge, concepts in fashion, textiles, costume design and the broader field of art and design and popular culture.
Extending your critical thinking and application of skills, this module develops their research practice from the contextual foundation established in previous modules. You are provided with an opportunity to sustain the creative dialogue between your research and subject-based practice, enabling you to establish your professional and creative identity through a self-directed brief/proposal.
This module will enhance your understanding and appreciation of the roles, relationships, and responsibilities that can play a major part in progressing and sustaining your professional practice. Extending your work in relation to career aspirations, you’ll develop visual, verbal and written presentation skills to support communication within a range of business, financial and professional frameworks.
Through workshops, seminars, and one-to-one supervision tutorials, this module provides you with the support required for writing your contextual report on practice. This self-directed theoretical/critical and evaluative piece of written work consists of a detailed account of the critical references surrounding your final major project, evidencing the in-depth research conducted.
This module builds on the knowledge and skills to support professional practice in the visual arts, design and the creative industries you’ll need. You’ll develop in-depth knowledge of your chosen field of practice and begin to develop self-promotional material and your understanding of key aspects relevant to business, such as branding, marketing and freelancing.
The purpose of this module is to make learners aware of the constant technological advances within the set design industries, and the resources available to the designer/producer of productions for screen and stage, and of how to use these resources effectively and creatively.
4.4Bucks New University (BNU) is a student-focused university based in High Wycombe, with over 130 years of educational his...
