Program Overview

Costume Design for Film & Television BA(Hons)

Course Overview

Costume designers play a powerful role in the storytelling process, working from script to screen to create a character’s signature style. This course will equip you with in-demand expertise in garment design, acquisition, alteration, and creation, as well as the knowledge and flair to achieve your vision.

Key Details

• Location: Penryn Campus
• Course duration: 3 years / 4 years
• Attendance: Full-time / Professional Placement
• UCAS code: W451 / FY14 / PY21

Course Structure

Year One

• Making: Learn foundation skills in cutting and sewing as well as skills specific to the live fitting of garments on the body.
• Seeing: Develop enhanced observational skills and learn how to record, reference, and communicate detailed information on the clothes worn by real people and the costumes worn by fictional characters.
• Histories: Learn how social and fashion histories impact today’s costume designs by examining real garments and fabrics from the Textiles & Dress Collection.
• Communicating: Develop your traditional drawing and painting skills of clothes and clothed models through abstraction and deconstruction techniques, to present costume designs effectively.
• Belonging: Work in groups of mixed disciplines to explore ideas of identity in relation to costume choices, in an accepting and inclusive environment.
• Emerging: Collaborate with students from Film, Television, or Digital Games specialisms to create moodboards, wardrobes, and costume design options.

Year Two

• Wearing: Learn about costume buying, hiring, and commissioning, and explore processes such as costume breakdown and the importance of detail when developing character 'realness'.
• Classifying: Evaluate the work of established costume designers, exploring their role in the production design on screen.
• Appearing: Collaborate on a live project with industry partners or other Falmouth University schools to bring fully-fledged costumes to life.
• Performing: Explore how fantastical costume is made to perform on screen and how it has contributed to the spectacular in film and TV.
• Theories: Delve deeper into the historical, social, cultural, and global contexts, introducing theoretical perspectives to develop your own and others’ creative practice in an academic framework.
• Branding: Consider the role and impact of visual content and context in styled images of celebrities, influencers, and performers.

Year Three

• Investigations: Complete a dissertation or equivalent, focused on your individual interests.
• Daring: Collaborate with outside agencies or with teams from a variety of Falmouth University schools to develop character profiles and a range of costume options.
• Working: Gain an understanding of a variety of working arrangements, including freelance practice, and develop relevant financial management skills.
• Being: Showcase the skills acquired throughout the course in a live, challenge-based environment, contributing to the completion of a real screen output.
• Showing: Develop the skills necessary to present your work in a format that shows it to its best advantage, whether analogue or digital.

Integrated Foundation Year (Optional)

• Explore: Work collaboratively with others to explore themes of the future, taking risks, experimenting through play, and being supported to break through barriers.
• Technique: Take subject-specific workshops and develop essential technical and practical skills in your area of study.
• Apply: Work with your peer group to think beyond discipline by addressing a societal or global issue.
• Industry: Enhance your creative and practical skills in your subject specialism by responding to typical industry briefs, underpinned by focused research and experiments.
• Launch: Develop your unique identity in your specialism through the production of a self-initiated body of work.

Assessment

• 100% of your assessment will be coursework.
• Assessment methods include artefacts, portfolios, projects, reports, and dissertation.
• Formative feedback will be ongoing through regular tutorials with academic staff and visiting professionals, and summative feedback will take place following the end of the designated study block assessment periods.

Facilities

• Open plan contemporary studios
• Industrial sewing machines and specialist construction equipment
• Dye lab and breakdown facilities
• Access to digital suites with Adobe CS, Gerber pattern plotting, and CLO3D software
• Wardrobe store with a selection of costumes from contemporary history
• Access to archive collections of historical and contemporary garments
• Collaborative opportunities within the School of Film and Television

Staff

• Dr. Julie Ripley, Course Leader, BA(Hons) Costume Design for Film & TV
• Dr. Kate Strasdin, Senior Lecturer
• John Boddy, Head of Fashion Design
• Giulia Chini, Lecturer, Costume Design for Film & Television BA(Hons)
• Jessie Metcalf, Lecturer, Costume Design for Film & Television BA(Hons)

Careers

• Costume designer for film and TV, commercials, or music videos
• Stylist or styling assistant for celebrity, commercial, or internet content
• Costume supervisor for visual media
• Costume stand-by, working on set to look after hero talent
• Costume buyer for film and TV

Fees, Costs & Funding

• Tuition fees for students starting the course in September 2025:
  • Full-time UK: £9,535 per year
  • Full-time EU/international: £17,950 per year
  • Full-time UK and EU/international: £1,905 per professional placement year
  • Full-time UK: £9,535 per Integrated Foundation Year
  • Full-time EU/international: £17,950 per Integrated Foundation Year
• Typical course costs:
  • Material costs: approximately £50 per year
  • Laptop/desktop computer
  • Adobe Creative Suite (for Integrated Foundation Year pathway)

Funding

• For information about funding available, please visit our student funding pages.