Digital Art & Design
A Level

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Awarding Body: WJEC

Course Description

This course is for students interested in the technicalities and creative possibilities of film and moving image. You will use industry-standard software alongside your own imagination and ingenuity in projects to create films from scratch.

Grade 4 or above in GCSE Art and Design subject preferred if taken at GCSE. No previous experience of this subject required.

As an international student you must:

  • Demonstrate a suitable level of academic English, normally at CEFR level B1. For Student Visa applications Portsmouth College recommends a minimum IELTS score of 5.5 overall (with no component lower than 5) to best succeed in your studies.
  • Demonstrate that you are competent to study at Level 3 in your chosen subjects during your application, including certificates of your qualifications and subject specific requirements such as evidence of an art portfolio for entry on to one of our Art courses.
  • Successfully complete a Skype interview with the College to discuss and assess your subject choices.

You will be able to develop fundamental skills and understanding of storyboarding, camera techniques, composition, editing, cropping and pacing, as well as the quality of lighting used in location work. Students will gain skills in the use of sound and its interaction with moving images and text. In addition, you will be using appropriate industry-standard computer software, which includes Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects, on high-specification computers.

During the two years of this course, students will develop technical skills in the use of computers and Adobe creative software. Also students will learn to be technically able to use a manual digital SLR, using their own camera. They will learn how to create short films, from pre-production to final outcome. Students will be able to understand how early cinema impacted on film making today. The course will aid students to achieve interesting and exciting outcomes, which is encouraged throughout film-making briefs.

60% personal investigation, 40% externally-set practical exam

The students’ coursework is internally assessed and externally moderated.

Students are encouraged to enter regional and national competitions for young film makers, where their highly original and creative work has enjoyed considerable award-winning success. Other opportunities that will get the students ready for the world of work have included filming and editing for ‘Shaping Portsmouth’ events.

A diverse A Level, which makes a fantastic combination subject with any other creative course. Students who undertake this course generally progress onto a degree programme in either film production or animation. Students who have taken this subject have progressed onto careers in animation, photography, motion graphics and film making.

This is a practical course with major deadlines for coursework set for the end of January, for both first and second years of study. In addition, first-year mock practical exams and second-year actual practical exams generally run between the last week of April through to the third week of May, with exam papers being issued for these at the start of February.