We want to strengthen your music skills in musicianship, music writing and producing music.
This means you’re able to build on your existing music skills while developing a working knowledge of songwriting and music production. You also receive one-to-one tuition in a chosen instrument (or voice). The course shares many modules and activities with our foundation year for BA (Hons) Music (Songwriting & Performance), so you learn alongside a wide group of musicians, which benefits you for ensemble work.
We want to produce versatile and creative technicians, stage managers and designers capable of working across the whole performing arts sector.
In your first year, you get a thorough grounding in a range of production skills in lighting, sound, stage management and design and construction. From the second year onwards you can specialise in areas that include Stage Management, Lighting, AV, Sound or Set and Prop Construction or continue building a broad skill set. Your training is highly practical. You initially learn the ropes in our performance spaces and in addition to working on our acting shows, you can work on dance performances, music gigs and outside events.
This course was previously titled BA/MArts Creative Technologies & Performance. Through this course, we want to facilitate innovative storytellers, filmmakers, creatives and technicians, who use new audio visual technologies to deliver exceptional content for film, tv, theatre, concert, and online audiences.
There are three pathways on this course:
- Film and TV Production
- Story, Script and Development
- Emerging Technology and Digital Performance
In your first year, you study all of the pathways and then from your second year you specialise (selecting a major and a minor from the pathways) to build the right set of multiple skills and knowledge to achieve a sustainable career. You can collaborate with other students (performers and those who make performance possible) to produce a portfolio of quality outputs, whether that’s films, animations, live or recorded performances or scripts. Your studies are underpinned by essential professional skills such as project management, financial planning and team work. You can either undertake this programme as a three-year BA or as a four-year integrated Masters.
The BA (Hons) Digital Design & Production offers specialist training in the rapidly expanding field of projection and video-based art forms, such as animation and motion-graphics, lighting and design.
This programme is aimed at anyone interested in pursuing their passion for video design and production through to a career in the creative industries and live events sector.
The programme adapts to the developments in industry and technology, using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities in line with the latest industry developments.
The teaching is practical and project-based, and you will work on a range of projects with professional designers, programmers and animators, such as gallery installations, architectural mapping displays, collaborative theatre projects, projection work for Guildhall productions and VJing at festivals and club nights.
This programme will engage the creative and technical skills of designers, technicians, operators and programmers in the creation and delivery of video in live performance contexts, and aims to:
● Provide the opportunity for students to develop their own artistic vision and creative workflow
● Develop appropriate technical skills in relation to video as part of a live performance
● Provide students with experiences and opportunities that provide insight into the working practices of modern, high-profile partners
● Develop students’ confidence, independence and self-reliance necessary for a career in a rapidly evolving digital industry
You will also be taught a range of technical skills, including:
● Software such as Adobe creative cloud, D3, Resolume, Notch, Mapping Matter, Cinema 4D, Touch Designer, Q Lab
● Technical management eg. equipment (projectors, media servers, rigging, cabling, IT etc.)
Stand out from the rest with our exceptional and rewarding BA (Hons) Top-Up degree.
During this one-year technical arts course, you’ll undertake a production role, which you will have selected, in your chosen specialism on one of our productions or short films.
With our support, you’ll undertake a significant work placement project where you’ll develop further professional practice and make vital connections within the industry.
The third requirement is a dissertation module, where, with our help, you will choose, define, research and complete a project of your own. You can either produce a 12,000-14,000 word dissertation, or a 6,000-7,000 word dissertation alongside a practical project and a 1,000 word report.
Industry-supported training for successful careers in theatre, film, television, and live events
This comprehensive vocational training will qualify you to be the best in the industry: capable, creative and highly sought-after by employers.
In this industry-leading two-year course you’ll develop the skills, knowledge and experience you need to have a successful and long-lasting career in theatre, film, television and beyond.
Exploring the capabilities of LAMDA’s three professional theatre spaces and our range of workshop and studio facilities, you’ll work side-by-side with experienced industry professionals to create and run LAMDA’s productions.
The nature of this vocational course means that you will be preparing every day for a professional career within the entertainment and events industry. We focus on developing your practical skills alongside principles.
During your first term you’ll begin to put the skills you’ve learnt into practice by staging a small production. From this point on you will continue to receive classes but will also start to get involved in LAMDA’s productions – either workshops or performances.
You’ll also undertake a professional work placement to gain experience in an area of your choice.
In addition, you will have opportunities to network with current industry practitioners, to ensure you’re prepared both for full-time employment and for freelancing.
This course is aimed at both costume-making and costume supervising.
Costume-making
We teach costume-making from first principles, from basic sewing skills, pattern-cutting and grading, through to the finished product. The basic sewing skills are organised in five levels:
- Hand sewing, seams, hems, fastening
- Pattern matching, tucks, cording, pleats and gathering, buttonholes, eyelets, false lacing
- Openings, bias rouleaux and piping, facings and using bias
- Fastenings (zips and fly opening)
- Pockets
Although some time is given to completing all levels, you will be expected to work on them outside teaching hours.
All these skills, as well as other maintenance and alterations, are practised throughout the course by working on all the RADA public productions as assistants. This improves work speed and gives experience in working with different fabrics and vintage costumes from our store, as well as working with professional designers and directors.
The forms of pattern-cutting we teach are flat (block), cutting on the stand, and draping – although investigation into further forms is also encouraged, such as going straight to fabric, sizing up from a grid, and taking a pattern from an existing garment. You will also learn pattern manipulation and grading throughout the course.
Some garments are taken through to completion as class projects, including corsetry, ruffs, period shirt tailoring and millinery. Others form personal projects in the second year, which are supervised, although you will be expected to work semi-independently in preparation for professional work.
Costume supervising
Costume supervising is taught in the classroom with script analysis, budget skills and communication and management skills. It is also practised, firstly with the second year BA (Hons) Acting students as part of a short Shakespeare project, which is toured around schools in the London area. You will then have the opportunity to supervise two or three RADA professional performances, or a film project.
We also provide experience of other elements of a wardrobe department. There are introductory classes in hair and make-up, wig knotting, history of costume and costume props, fabric treatments and props skills.
This course is vocational and practice-based, using our state-of-the-art workshops, studios and theatres, and making use of the extensive opportunities to work on our many public productions and showcases.
Choosing from one or two areas of technical theatre or stage management, you will build on your skills and experience from your foundation degree to gain specialist knowledge and replicate working at high-level industry standards. Alongside our experienced teaching faculty, you will be introduced to practitioners from across the industry who provide additional insights into the variety of careers open to you and the skills and experience your future employers will be looking for.
You will graduate from the course ready to take on a range of roles across theatre, film, television, radio and live events.
You will also benefit from a professional development programme, as well as the RADA Buddy mentoring scheme, which supports your transition from student to professional with graduate ‘buddies’ providing professional advice, feedback and networking opportunities.
Students who successfully complete the FdA in Technical Theatre and Stage Management with a Merit or above at RADA will now automatically be considered for the BA (Hons) progression year. We also welcome applicants with a foundation degree or equivalent from elsewhere to apply for this course.
Places are available in a number of subject areas:
- Costume supervision
- Lighting (design and/or production lighting)
- Production management
- Sound (design and/or production sound)
- Property making
- Scenic art
- Scenic construction
- Stage management
- Technical management
- Video (design and/or production video)
Combinations of subjects may also be considered, for example:
- Property making and stage management
- Technical and production management
- Scenic construction and technical management
- Scenic art and property making
Reasons to study Creative Lighting Control
• Learn lighting and video programming and design, show control and interactive technologies, networked systems and stage electrics, projection systems and digital visual content deployment, 3D visualisation, computer-aided design and technical management.
• Benefit from our extensive network of industry experts who will work with you on projects as you learn specialist skills.
• Build your professional knowledge through industry placements.
• Gain an insight into techniques used across live music, theatre, television, film, live and corporate events and architectural installations.
• Deliver your own live projects inside and outside the College.
• Study a unique course with an outstanding track record of graduate success in the live events industries.
• Share classes and projects with students from other programmes to learn about the events industries, arts and performance, and how to use experimentation, enquiry and creative research in your work, and prepare to build a successful career.
Career opportunities
Our graduates go into the industry equipped to deliver creative solutions to technical problems. They go on to be lighting and video programmers, designers, creative technologists and technical managers, working in theatre, live music, live events, film, television, corporate and architecture settings.
You may also be interested in:
Lighting Design, BA (Hons)
Lighting Design For Architecture, BA (Hons)
“Having that degree behind me opens so many doors that I wouldn’t have had before.” Sam Lisher, Creative Lighting Control, 2017 Graduate
Location: Sidcup
The BA Production Technology and Management programme is a very practical course that will see you take on industry-standard roles from the very start. With a timetable that is also reflective of industry practice, you will build the stamina and resilience to withstand a challenging yet rewarding career.
Production consists of both the BA Production Technology and Management and the BA Production Arts and Design programmes. Production students will work very closely with each other in the classroom and on RCS productions.
This is the only conservatoire-based technical theatre degree in Scotland. Through the programme we aim to produce production technicians, stage managers and lighting designers who can turn their hands to any related role, making them employable in a range of contexts, whilst also being specialists in career pathways, i.e. stage management, stage technology, sound design, sound engineering, lighting technology and lighting design.
We’ll help you to create your own pathway through the programme, focusing on your areas of interest. You will learn to work creatively, as an individual artist, as part of a production team and in collaboration with other students of all disciplines.
RCS is a major public performance venue with world-class facilities. The combination of professional venues, extensive workshops, construction spaces, design studios, and the latest stage and workshop technologies provide a fantastic learning environment.
We work closely with industry to ensure our curriculum is current, competitive, and of the highest professional standard, so you will gain all of the skills and knowledge needed for your future career. We have very close relationships with key Scottish national companies, such as Scottish Opera, the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet as well as companies across Scotland, such as the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Blue Parrot Production and Events in Edinburgh and Warehouse Sound in Glasgow.
Further afield we have well-established relationships with national and international organisations such as the Association of British Theatre Technician (ABTT), the Association of Stage Pyrotechnicians (ASP) the Production Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT), Cirque du Soleil, TAIT, Just FX and the National Theatre in London.
Our graduates will aspire to become the creative leaders and innovators of the future and will be encouraged to push accepted boundaries and create new standards of practice in the industry at large.
