Music and Sound Design for Film, Television, and Interactive Media
Royal Holloway, University of London
UCAS Code: W350 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Where an applicant is taking the EPQ alongside A-levels, the EPQ will be taken into consideration and result in lower A-level grades being required. Socio-economic factors which may have impacted an applicant’s education will be taken into consideration and alternative offers may be made to these applicants. Required: Grade A in Music A-Level or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory. Applicants without A-level grade A in Music or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory may be eligible for the Intensive Theory entry. This requires Music GCSE grade A/7 or equivalent, plus performance at Grade 7 level. In term 1 you will be required to take Fundamentals of Music Theory, an intensive music literacy course. If you are studying two A-level subjects, you may still be eligible for entry to the Music BMus (single honours), if you are able to provide evidence of your ongoing commitment to music. For this pathway, the standard offer is A, B (with an A in music).
Access to HE Diploma
Pass with at least 30 level 3 credits at Distinction, and the remaining level 3 credits at Merit, plus evidence of A-Level standard Music proficiency grade A equivalentor pass Grade 7 in Music Theory. The Access to Higher Education Diploma is only acceptable if the applicant has had a considerable break from education.
Applicants with the Cambridge Pre-U are strongly encouraged to apply to Royal Holloway. Offers will be made on the basis of equivalent A-Level grades as can be found on the Royal Holloway website.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
We require at least five GCSEs at grade A*-C or 9 - 4 including English and Mathematics.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
5,5,5 at Higher Level including 6 in Music at Higher Level or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory with a minimum of 32 points overall
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H3,H3,H3,H3 at Higher Level, including H2 in Music at Higher Level, or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory
Pearson BTEC Diploma (QCF)
BTEC must be in a relevant subject plus A- Level music grade B or one A level grade B and Grade 7 Music Theory at Pass
Pearson BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF)
BTEC must be in a relevant subject, plus evidence of A-Level standard Music proficiency, Grade A equivalent or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
BTEC must be in a relevant subject plus A- Level music grade B or one A level grade A and Grade 7 Music Theory at Pass
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Plus A-Level grades BB including Music
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
BTEC must be in a relevant subject plus Grade 7 Music Theory at Pass.
Scottish Advanced Higher
A in Music or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory
Scottish Higher
A in Music or or pass Grade 7 in Music Theory
Requirements are as for A-levels where one non-subject-specified A-level can be replaced by the same grade in the Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
BA Music and Sound Design for Film, Television, and Interactive Media at Royal Holloway is a flexible, all-round music degree with a special focus on music and sound for film, TV, games and other media.
Studying across both our music and media arts departments, you’ll deepen your core skills in both areas, whilst gaining expertise in music and sound design. You’ll collaborate and work with the next generation of filmmakers and media creatives, designing soundtracks for new projects just as you would in professional practice. Whilst being taught by our expert scholars, composers and sound designers, you’ll have access to our excellent facilities including our professional-grade composition studios.
You will join a music department that is among the very best in the country, ranked third in the UK for research quality (REF 2014) and the only music department in the country to hold a prestigious Regius Professorship. Our well connected department means you have the opportunity to make valuable music industry contacts. Our staff are connected with musical networks such Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Royal Opera House.
- Learn to compose and create soundtracks for a variety of media and contexts
- Graduate with a portfolio of work to get you started on your career
- Gain musical and academic skills to become a creative, versatile and employable practitioner
- Study music and sound to understand how it works in film, television, games, and beyond
- Learn how to collaborate and work as a composer on media projects
- From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience, and this is particularly the case as we continue to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience, and this is particularly the case as we continue to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
Modules
Please visit our website for full details:
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/undergraduate/music/music-and-sound-design-for-film-television-and-interactive-media/
Assessment methods
You will take modules from both the Music and Media Arts departments on this degree, but you’ll spend most of your time in Music, where you’ll have a personal tutor and become part of the Music department family. Teaching in the Music department is through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, or group instrumental/vocal lessons - performance modules that include individual instrumental or vocal lessons are not available on this course.
In the first year, you will learn the foundations of composing and understanding music. You’ll gain a broad overview of music to draw from in your creative work. This year doesn’t count towards your final degree result, so you can relax and explore all sorts of new topics.
In the second year, you will develop your skills for composing and designing sound for picture even more, while still having room in your timetable for other subjects from the Music and Media Arts departments.
In the final year, amongst other topics, you will undertake a large collaborative project. You will collaborate as a composer/sound designer on a project with students from the Media Arts department, working with the production team. This is a simulation of real-world professional practice, building your network and giving you experience and preparation for your future careers.
There are a wide variety of assessments and forms of delivery on this degree. Composition modules are assessed by coursework portfolios, but you’ll also perform, write essays, give presentations, and so on, depending on the options you take. Some courses are lecture-based, while others primarily use tutorials, one-to-one sessions, or seminars. On this degree, you’ll spend your time composing, playing music, writing, reading, watching/studying examples and experimenting with new approaches to music and sound on screen.
You’ll join a vibrant School of Performing and Digital Arts. We have a huge number of concerts and events, giving you opportunities to perform, compose and listen to music of any style, both as part of the degree and beyond.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Please visit our website for further information.
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere/undergraduate/feesandfunding/bursariesandscholarships/home.aspx
The Uni
Royal Holloway, University of London
Music
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.
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.
Music
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section 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.
Music
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Music
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£17k
£20k
£26k
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.
Explore these similar courses...
Nearby UniversityHigher entry requirementsLower entry requirementsSame UniversityThis is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
