Production Design

Master of Fine Art

MFA - 2 Years Full-time

Main Campus In person

Applications are now closed for 2026

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Production Design

COURSE OVERVIEW

Play a vital role in designing and building worlds for the screen.

This course develops your individual creativity and teaches you the technical expertise essential for a career in film and television. You will develop your skills and gain experience on live action films, animation, television, games and commercials, using traditional and digital design techniques.

Luke Hull profile picture

"It’s been one of the most important steps towards doing what I wanted to do, and essentially what I am doing now; working as a production designer on challenging, ambitious and exciting projects. Without the course, I would not have got to what I’m doing now, as fast as I have."

Luke Hull
NFTS graduate

Content Tabs

You’ll learn in a fully equipped design studio, where you’ll be designing for live action shoots, using traditional and digital design techniques. Uniquely in the UK, you’ll benefit from studying alongside students of other filmmaking disciplines, engaging in a series of productions where working methods replicate professional practice.

You’ll also get far more time learning directly from professional tutors, in real production facilities and on real projects, than you would get in the vast majority of film schools or universities.

COURSE FACILITIES

Our design studios offer you a designated workstation equipped with a drawing board, computer, model making table and storage. Computers are loaded with the latest design software. There are two plotters and two 3D printers in the department. To assist you on productions, the School also has its own well stocked Prop Store and maintains close relationships with a wide range of external prop houses to help facilitate the diverse nature of student productions. We also have a selection of drapes and green screens available for productions.

We are excited to announce this MFA course is part of an innovative slate of new qualifications from 2025/2026. Our A Fresh Take page tells you all you need to know!

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.

Upcoming Events

Tutors

Student Showcase

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Dive (trailer)

2023 graduate fiction film

Director/Writer - Will Peppercorn

Producer - Martina Buendia Silva

Production Designer - Darya Naumchenko

An environmental thriller set onboard an offshore oil rig out in the North Sea.

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From The Top (trailer)

2023 graduate animation

Director/Animator - Rich Farris

Producer - Martina Buendia Silva

Production Designer - Nivitha Muralikrishna

Things haven’t gone quite the way Robin expected them to, so she decides the time has come to get rid of her drum kit. But giving up her passion might not be as simple as she anticipates.

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The Tree Of Many Faces (trailer)

2023 graduate fiction film

Director - Johannes Magnus Aule

Producer - Bartosz Stanislawek

Production Designer - Olivia Clarke

Anna's broken heart leads her to make a deal with an ancient tree and its mischievous inhabitant. Her wish has dire consequences for everyone involved.

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Curiosa (trailer)

2022 graduate animation

Director - Tessa Moult-Milewska

Producer - Sychelle-Kristina Yanda

Production Designer - Sehar Kidwai

Curiosa tells the story of Mary who visits her boyfriend's flat for the first time, just to discover it’s been stripped bare of all personal belongings. After being denied an explanation, she climbs into his head.

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Requiem (trailer)

2021 graduate fiction film

Director - Emma J. Gilbertson

Producer - Michelle Brøndum

Production Designer - Freddie Burrows

Requiem is set in 1605, against the backdrop of the witch trials. It follows Evelyn as she engages in a game of cat and mouse against her father, Minister Gilbert, in order to be with Mary, the woman she loves.

Student Work

Production Design set picture
Still from the set of a 17th century schetl built on Stage 1 for a fiction graduation film.
Designed by Dan Miskimmon.
Concept art for film Sticky Stuff
Concept art for first year film Sticky Stuff.
Created by Matthieu Levy.
Set build for Date With Death film
Still from set of café for Date with Death – First Year Film built on Stage 1.
Designed by Melissa Davis.
Set build for Bongo's Big Adventure
Set build for Graduation TV show Bongo's Big Adventure on Stage 2.
Designed by Matthieu Levy.
Model of fantasy project
Model of fantasy project The Book of Dead Days
Created by Dan Miskimmon.
Technical drawing of production The Norka
Technical drawing for fanstasy project The Norka
Created by Matthieu Levy

Graduate Success

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

13 Graduate credits include: Will Coubrough & Will Houghton-Connell (Art Directors), Owen Robertson (Assistant Art Director), Eva Kuntz (Concept Artist), Fiona Guest (Draughtsperson), Christianna Kouloumpi (Props Petty Cash Buyer), Stuart Wilson (Sound Mixer), James Brennan-Craddock (VFX Supervisor), Sara Buxton (Digital Intermediate Additional Colourist), Eloise Tomlinson (Digital Compositor)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Gladiator II

15 Graduate credits include: Ana Martinez Fernandez, Sara Taddei, Damian Galan Alvarez, Emanuela Piu (Assistant Art Directors); Kim Frederiksen (Senior Concept Artist; Jessica Sinclair (Concept Artist); Thomas Goodwin (Senior Draughtsman); Dan Snape (Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM); John Seru (Lead Digital Artist: ILM); Lawrence Dowell-Phillips (Crowd Second Assistant Director);  Maggy Horiuchi (Assistant Accountant).

Gladiator II

Napoleon

Graduate credits include: Martin Phipps (Composer); Kim Frederiksen (Senior Concept Artist); Jessica Sinclair (Concept Artist); Romain Hemeray & Steven X Haber (Assistant Art Directors); Emanuela Piu (Draughtsperson); Violette de Laet (Art Department Assistant); Victor Tomi (VFX Supervisor: One of Us); Mark Frendo (Camera Trainee: Malta/Second Assistant Camera: Malta, dailies); Alexander Langner (2nd Assistant Sound Dailies); Amy Gibson (Visual Effects Coordinator).
 

Napoleon

Wednesday Season 2

Graduate credits include: Jessica Sinclair & Jonathan McGonnell (Concept Artists); Ann Kutzer (Concept Artist/Draughtsperson); Lola Fleming (Art Department Trainee); Ana Duarte (Assistant to Casting Director)

Wednesday Season 2

Wicked

22 Graduate credits include: Tessa Flanagan, Alice La Trobe, Jason Houssein (Draughtspeople); Richard Henley (Set Dec Draftsperson); Alastair Fleming (Construction Sculptor); Beth Slater (Art Department Model Maker, Prop Modeller);  Simon Hayes (Production Sound Mixer); Ashley Sinani (First Assistant Sound: second unit); Jake Hickey (Second Assistant Sound: second unit); Emily Compton and Harry King (Third Assistant Sound); Charlotte Serena Cooper (Assistant Script Supervisor: Dailies); ...

Wicked

28 Years Later

Graduate credits include: Ewa Galak (Art Director); Aurora Melpignano & Melissa Davis (Art Department Assistants); Barry Coxhead (First Assistant Sound); Balint Csaki (Boom Operator: Dailies); Bryony Chaplin (Unit Production Manager); Dillan Nicholls (DFX Supervisor); Etienne Newton (Crowd Third Assistant Director); Lucy Hatherley (Script Supervisor).

28 Years Later

F1: The Movie

12 graduate credits include: Milly White (Assistant Art Director), Huw Arthur (Standby Art Director), Luke Stronach (Art Department Assistant), Jo Vale (Sound First Assistant), Sara Romanelli (Script Supervisor: Second Unit), Tian Boyce (Production Coordinator: Abu Dhabi/Hungary), Laura Briggs (Base 3rd Assistant Director), Robin Yoojin Rhee (Compositor: Framestore), Doychin Margoevski (Colorist Dailies : Company 3).
 

F1: The Movie

The Thursday Murder Club

Graduate credits include: Lorelin Howie (Assistant Script Supervisor: Main Unit), Chris Hopper (Production Coordinator: 2nd Unit), Danny Hambrook (Production Sound Mixer), Michael Sinden (1st Assistant Sound), Freddie Burrows (Assistant Art Director), Rob Rankin (Compositor).

 






 
 

The Thursday Murder Club

Alien: Romulus

Graduate credits include: Jane Harwood (Art Director), Lizzie Osborne (Set Designer), Zsofia Szemeredy (Sustainability Consultant)

Alien: Romulus

Poor Things

Graduate credits include: Ildiko Kemeny and Kasia Malipan (Co-Producers); Antonio Niculae (Concept Artist); Steven X Haber (Set Designer); Dean Koonjul (DFX Supervisor); Dillan Nicholls (Head of 2D: Union VFX); Manuel Perez (Digital Compositor); Zsofia Szemeredy (Sustainability Consultant); Alice Whittemore (Development & Production Executive Film4)

Poor Things

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Graduate credits include: Dario Marianelli (Composer); Matt Sharp and Tom Weaving (Art Directors); Luke Stronach (Art Assistant); Alice Rostant (Set Decorator Assistant); Alex Bryce (Key 1st Assistant Sound); Nicholas A Ager (1st Assistant Sound: 2nd Unit Dailies); Natasha Caralie Payne (Location Marshal); Doychin Margoevski (Dailies Colourist: Company 3).

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

Graduate credits include: Suzie Lavelle (Director of Photography), Elo Soode (concept artist), Jelle Rebry (Assistant Art Director), Erin Millican - Second Assistant Sound, Louise Burton (ADR Editor), Olivia Jeffery (Post-Production Coordinator), Sean Frost (Cast), Sven Taits (Re-Recording Mixer), Tora Young (Assistant to Ms Zellweger).
 

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Graduate credits include: Carlos Ciudad (Visual Effects Producer); Jake Ferris (Lead Layout Artist: ILM); Mark Graham (VFX Artist); James Miller (Environment Supervisor: ILM); Gary Jopling (Art Director); Sophie Aitken (Casting Associate); Anna Bennett Squire (Assistant Production Coordinator: Thailand Unit); Sara Buxton (3D Trim Colourist); Hannah Cole (Assistant Location Manager); Alessio David Ciattini (Data Manager: Array Unit); Mark Frendo (2nd Assistant Camera: Underwater Unit, Malta) Jurassic World: Rebirth