COURSE OVERVIEW
Launch your model/prop making career with our specialist course.
This unique and exciting one year full-time practical MA course aims to equip you with the skills and experience necessary to enhance your career in the field of professional model and prop making for the feature film, TV, and animation Industries.
Content Tabs
The NFTS has recently made some exciting changes to this course. Our A Fresh Take page tells you all you need to know!
This is the only UK-based model making course located in a dedicated film studio environment. It has been designed to replicate Industry practices in model and prop making.
On the course, you’ll be studying in a fully-equipped workshop/studio environment. You will create work individually and collaboratively, and spend time working with students from other specialisms, such as Directing Animation, Visual Effects, Production Design, and Cinematography to make several films and practical projects throughout the year.
Our tutors are well connected in the industry and have strong relationships with leading animation, prop making, and live action companies. In previous years, our students have gained work experience at companies such as Mackinnon and Saunders, Aardman, BGI Supplies, Arch Model Studios, and Warner Brothers. Although placements are not guaranteed, we are confident that these relationships will continue into the future.
Course graduates are now successfully building their careers on feature film, animation, theatre, and TV commercial projects.
COURSE FACILITIES
You will have access to a dedicated workshop which includes everything necessary to introduce you to the world of model and prop making. Examples of machine tools include: table saw, wall saw, bandsaw, chop saw, sanders, pillar drill, laser cutter, hand tools, 3D printing technology, lathes, and resin room for moulding and casting. You will also have access to two student bases where you will have a dedicated work area.
This is a highly creative course, comprising of challenging modules, workshops, and tutorials. During the course, you will work individually, but also spend valuable time collaborating with your fellow students creating professional models, sets, props and puppets.
A selection of possible modules include: introductions to pattern and mould making, miniature set building to scale, stop frame animated puppet, and 1:1 prop making. The course also offers curriculum opportunities for interaction with other courses at the NFTS.
You will also receive ongoing professional advice on creating your portfolio and CV as well as meeting industry supervisors who often make visits to the department.
You will also work in teams to create puppets and props on some of our short animations. Many of these go on to win awards at festivals worldwide, such as Do Not Feed the Pigeons which won the 2022 BAFTA for Best Short Animation, giving you credits on high-quality films you can use as an invaluable calling card in the Industry.
There is no typical candidate for this course. Your background will almost certainly be in the Arts, and you may well be a recent graduate or Industry professional looking to further specialise.
You will most likely have some pre-industry experience of model making or training in your chosen field and have a basic understanding and experience of workshop equipment and machinery. You will also have a mixture of creative, technical, communicative, and problem solving skills necessary to work within a highly productive team.
While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
International students Visa and English language requirements
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- Please provide links to your online portfolio, website or showreel and supply detailed notations of your contribution to the images. State whether the work is collaborative or created by you entirely.
- If you are selected for an interview, you will be expected to show examples of your work in the form of a photographic stills portfolio, as well as digital format on a laptop or tablet and bring to interview some examples of models or puppet making.
Applications will close at midnight on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.
Funding Available
The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.
A FRESH TAKE!
We are excited to announce this MA course is part of an innovative slate of new qualifications from 2025/2026.
Student Showcase
Watch the result of this year's miniature replica set build module on The National Film and Television School (NFTS) Model Making Diploma.
A huge collaborative project where they are tasked with recreating a miniature replica of an iconic set from a ground-breaking culturally significant film, brought to life by our Visual Effects MA students!
This year, they've chosen the film Alien.
Get behind the scenes on this year's miniature Alien replica set build module on The National Film and Television School (NFTS) Model Making Diploma.
A huge collaborative project where they are tasked with recreating a miniature replica of an iconic set from a ground-breaking culturally significant film, brought to life by our Visual Effects MA students!
Read more on this exciting project on the Befores & Afters website
Watch the result of this year's miniature replica set build module on The National Film and Television School (NFTS) Model Making Diploma.
A huge collaborative project where they are tasked with recreating a miniature replica of an iconic set from a ground-breaking culturally significant film, brought to life by our Visual Effects MA students!
Get behind the scenes on this year's miniature replica set build module!
Read more about this brilliant project vie befores & afters: beforesandafters.com/2023/03/23/these-students-made-an-insane-replica-miniature-cia-vault-from-mission-impossible/
2001: A Space Odyssey - An Out of This World Replica Set Build!
Each year, Model Making students are tasked with recreating a miniature replica of an iconic set from a ground-breaking culturally significant film. It is the first big collaborative piece of work for the students
In 2022, the students crafted a 1:6 scale replica of a set from 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, alongside collaborating with the NFTS Visual Effects MA students!
Read more about the project on the befores & afters website.
NFTS Model Makers Bring Roald Dahl’s Writing Hut To Life
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel, Fantastic Mr Fox, students of the NFTS Model Making Diploma brought to life an exciting, detailed, and faithfully reconstructed display model featuring Roald Dahl’s writing hut.
It cleverly incorporates elements from Wes Anderson’s lauded stop-motion Fantastic Mr Fox and imagines Mr Fox ‘burgling’ the hut by burrowing up through a tunnel to retrieve his tail!
Behind the Scenes on 2021 NFTS Graduation Animations with the Model Making Department
Get an insight into what our Model Makers contribute to our animation graduation films, as we follow 10 students throughout the production process. This film includes a section behind the scenes on the 2022 Best Short Animation BAFTA winning film, Do Not Feed The Pigeons. The animation was directed by Antonin Niclass, with the puppets designed and made by the Model Making Diploma students.
Model Making Diploma - Meet The Puppets Part 1
Each year the NFTS Model Making students create their own brilliantly original stop frame animation puppets as one of their modules on the one year full-time Model Making Diploma.
Model Making Diploma - Meet The Puppets Part 2
Each year the NFTS Model Making students create their own brilliantly original stop frame animation puppets as one of their modules on the one year full-time Model Making Diploma.
Behind The Scenes with NFTS VFX - Reality Heist
Visual Effects MA students at The National Film & Television School have been experimenting with ground-breaking technology to bring Reality Heist to life, an original five-minute film that uses cutting-edge Virtual Production techniques. The Model Making team worked from drawings by a Production Design MA student to create a practical, functioning 1:1 size tracker prop for this experimental film.
Behind The Scenes with NFTS VFX - Reality Heist
Visual Effects MA students at The National Film & Television School have been experimenting with ground-breaking technology to bring Reality Heist to life, an original five-minute film that uses cutting-edge Virtual Production techniques. The Model Making team worked from drawings by a Production Design MA student to create a practical, functioning 1:1 size tracker prop for this experimental film.
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
A selection of photographs of our students and their work
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Model Makers Lisa Ott, Sophie Monks and Gemma Byrne
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
Barbie
Assistant Miniature Modellers Callum Higgins and Beth Slater
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
Chicken Run 2
Model Maker Emily Brook
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent graduates include...
Danielle Duncan-Rosembert
Model Maker at One6th Animation Studio and Co-Founder of the Black Association For Arts (BAFA)
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
The Sparks Brothers
Model and Puppet Makers Gemma Byrne, Jake Teale and Becky Weston
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
The Bambers: Murder at The Farm
Model Maker Oliver Arnell Argles
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
The House
Model Makers Lisa Ott, Sophie Minks and Gemma Byrne
Graduate Success
Recent course graduates are now working in the puppet, prop and model departments at leading animation powerhouses including Aardman Features, Mackinnon and Saunders, Factory Create and Arch Film Studio.
Other alumni are currently working on live action feature films in prop making and set decorating departments, on projects including: Wicked, Dune 2, Wonka, Masters of the Air and Spitting Image.
Recent credits include...
Salvation Has No Name
Model Makers Jake Teale, Gemma Byrne, Becky Weston and Lara Hosking
Social Media and News Highlights
NFTS unveil the key set piece featured in the iconic finale episode of The Crown - created by our very own students!
Head of Model Making John Lee with regular visiting course tutors Joe Holman and Josie Corben at the NFTS Show 2024.
Student using the wood turning lathe making parts for an exciting 1:1 prop build!
NFTS graduate Callum Higgins came in to give advice to our students - since leaving he has worked on productions including Barbie, Wonka and Star Wars.
Paul Davies delivers masterclass, and shares his incredible painting skills with our current students.
Students pay homage to Mission Impossible with miniature replica masterpiece!
Paloma Baeza, BAFTA-winning NFTS graduate, animation writer and director of story 3 of Netflix “The House”, visited the Modelmaking department recently to take a look around and meet the current modelmakers.
Anika (NFTS student) supervising Head of Model Making John Lee, and Joe Holman (from course partners Mackinnon and Saunders) in the art of painting floorboards for one of our 6 short animations in production!
Student putting final touches to her stop frame puppet - character design inspired by Aardman!
Stop Frame armature adjustments and silver soldering.
