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Costume Production

Arts University Plymouth

UCAS Code: PW34 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

104-120

Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 104 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio and discussing your creative experiences as we are in seeing your grades.

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About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Other options

6 years | Part-time | 2024

4 years | Sandwich | 2024

Subjects

Theatre studies

Theatrical wardrobe design

**Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience.**

In May 2022 we were awarded the **Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards**, coming top in a list of well-respected specialist UK universities, based on unbiased and honest reviews from students across the UK, in a category that highlights the quality of our provision as a specialist creative university.

**BA (Hons) Costume Production offers a fresh approach to the study of design, realisation and construction for costume. Working from classic and contemporary texts, music and storytelling, students will become skilled at producing bespoke costumes for a range of performance genres, whether for stage, screen or live action events.**

This is made possible through dedicated Workshop Labs that provide extensive resources, alongside support and guidance from expert technicians, where you can experiment with computer-aided design (CAD) right through to laser cutting, moulding, casting and digital fabric printing.

On this course you will work on live projects with professional designers and performers, providing essential experience of industry practices; this may take the form of heritage, stage and film work. Opportunities to enter national and international competitions enable you to place your skills in a wider social and cultural context. Collaboration is a continual theme throughout this course, and during your studies with us, you will work alongside other creatives from BA (Hons) Film Arts, BA (Hons) Commercial Photography, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and BA (Hons) Animation & Games.

Your learning will be delivered by a dedicated team of creative professionals who have worked for theatre and TV companies that include Netflix and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and on West End productions. You will also gain insight into industry from visiting professionals such as Paul Farnsworth (Lend Me a Tenor), Cathy Tate (Into the Woods) and Susannah Buxton (Downton Abbey).

In TV and film, our students have contributed to the BBC’s Diamond Jubilee Parade, Netflix’s Bridgerton and the BBC’s EastEnders. They have also worked behind the scenes of smash hit touring productions of Strictly Come Dancing, Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty and The Bank Robbery That Went Wrong.

Our course encompasses cultural, social and political contexts for costume, enabling students to create costumes for public exhibitions and commissions from heritage societies such as the National Trust and The Box, Plymouth.

Students from this course have been awarded work and internship opportunities at prestigious institutions, including Glyndebourne Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Scottish Opera. Our horizons are global, and opportunities for studying abroad at one of our international partner institutions are also available.

Modules

You’ll learn how to cut and make costumes to industry standard. You’ll develop design and illustration skills to communicate your ideas, and achieve a practical understanding of the rigour involved in making costumes for a range of performance types. You’ll also have the opportunity to work on incoming commissions.
You’ll work collaboratively alongside students in film and other creative productions, and have access to professional new workshop facilities, including digital printing, textile technology and 3D making.
Students have been finalists in various prestigious competitions such as the World of Wearable Art International Design Competition and The Costume Society’s Patterns of Fashion Award.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,500
per year
International
£16,500
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Arts University Plymouth

Department:

Arts, Design and Media

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

92%
Theatre studies
92%
Theatrical wardrobe design

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Drama

Teaching and learning

100%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
92%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
100%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

77%
Library resources
85%
IT resources
92%
Course specific equipment and facilities
38%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

100%
UK students
0%
International students
5%
Male students
95%
Female students
68%
2:1 or above
17%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
A

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Drama

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£16k

£16k

£16k

£16k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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