This MA will enhance your narrative skills as an editor of fiction for film and television.
This Masters is a pathway of MA Filmmaking, so that in addition to your specialised training you will collaborate with students across all specialisms on a variety of film projects.
Experienced tutors and guests provide expert guidance designed to enhance the flow of your individual research, experimentation and artistic achievement.
You will complete your degree by working in your specialist role on a major production in the final term.
The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including a film studio equipped with Arri lighting and Green Screen facilities. Edit suites are equipped with Avid Media Composer and tuition is offered, giving the opportunity to gain Avid Certified User accreditation (Media Composer 101 and 110). Edit suites, screening rooms and sound studios are linked via Avid’s industry standard ISIS storage area network.
You will work to professional standards using high-end digital formats. You will also learn sophisticated postproduction workflow techniques, gaining a wealth of experience in off-line editing and an understanding of how this fits in with on-line editing, visual effects and picture grading.
In addition to your specialist area, you can attend classes in related disciplines. This framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by providing you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.
Tutors on the MA Filmaking course have a wealth of experience in the film and television industry. We maintain close links with the industry – the editing department has, for the last few years, had a strong relationship with the Guild of British Film and Television Editors who have provided mentors for our students.
For two terms you will spend a full day a week in specialised contact with your specific programme convenor, plus a further day in Screen Lab working with colleagues across the programme in a Talent Campus-style project-led learning structure with:
You will also have a variety of research projects to undertake, as well as other module options.
The third term will be taken up with your final substantive project, and in writing up a process paper on your work and research over the year.
Screen Lab
You will also advance your collaborative skills by working in teams with fiction and documentary producers and directors, cinematography and sound students, on a variety of projects and at least three scheduled films across the year.
You will leave the programme with a diverse portfolio of moving-image work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and short fiction films.
Screen School options
As well as your Editing specialism, you will undertake three short courses to enhance your other skills and critical approaches.
If you are passionate about fashioning an exciting career for yourself as an editor in an environment that promotes innovative filmmaking, this course is for you.
On completing the programme, you will be equipped to enter the global job market, armed with an enhanced understanding of your practical, intellectual and creative capacities as a film editor.
Possibly the most important skill we furnish you with is the rigorous discipline of working collaboratively under pressure as part of a creative team on challenging projects not only in film and television, but also in online, web, multi-media, animation, games and other hybrid forms.
In addition to your practical filmmaking skills, we enable you to develop a variety of transferable intellectual, organisational and communication skills to equip you for a broad range of employment opportunities across the arts and media landscape (film, television, online, the creative arts, advertising and related hybrid forms).
Our graduates
Our alumni are active in the film, media and cultural industries around the world as fiction and documentary editors.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
A theoretical grounding in topics such as narrative and storytelling underpins technical training in the latest software and hardware, which will give you the tools to turn your ideas into reality. You will also be encouraged to develop critical perspectives on the changing media industry and to challenge current practice, developing the analytical skills required to reflect, learn and grow as a successful editor.
This course builds towards a final production project. This showreel will be your calling card for the industry; it will allow you to explore and develop ideas beyond industry expectations, and produce evidence of your editorial approach, style and storytelling. As an alternative, you can choose a research-based option to present at a final exhibition of work. Working in your own postgraduate base room, you will have your own cutting-edge technology at your fingertips.
You are required to have your own Apple laptop with Avid Media Composer 6.5 or above. The Faculty of Media & Communication provides further technical tools to aid your development, including extensive network support and two Avid Media Composer Finishing Suites, where you will build your realworld skills through role-play scenarios of industry practice. We’re also proud to announce our Learning Partnership with AVID, a collaboration that will ensure graduates of this course carry even greater relevance and credibility when it comes to finding employment.
You may have an undergraduate qualification in a related subject or may be able to show your suitability for this programme of study through associated work-experience or evidence of and outputs from other related activities.
Do you want to develop a broad range of skills that will be directly applicable within the film and television industries?
Are you looking to kick-start your career in media production or scholarly research?
The MA in Film and Television: Research and Production places employability at the heart of the programme. Utilising a combination of theoretical approaches, critical engagement, creative practice and hands-on technical training, this MA gives you the chance to work within a dynamic and innovative department. It combines rigorous academic training in research skills and methodology with technical and vocational training in designing, researching and editing audio-visual content. It also includes a work placement of up to 12 weeks in the media industry.
Excellent communication skills, with high standards of both written and spoken English, are essential for this MA.
Please note: There are specific application deadlines for this programme. Please see 'How to apply' in course details for more information.
This interdisciplinary masters programme is designed to help you take the specialist academic knowledge from your first degree and apply it in practical ways to kick-start your career in media production or scholarly research.
Combining academic and professional training, the programme provides hands-on skills with a core understanding about how the industry works, promoting both critical and creative thought.
You will study four core modules (full descriptions available below):
The MA also includes a Placement and Training module, allowing you to gain work experience in the media industry.
This programme also offers the opportunity to gain an industry-recognised qualification in Health and Safety for productions, in addition to your MA, which is a great enhancement to your CV. This is part of the Production Safety Passport Scheme approved by Creative Skillset (the skills body for the creative industries in the UK).
Assessment
Your modules are assessed through a combination of practical and written assignments. You will complete the programme with either a 20-25 minute documentary film or a 15,000-word dissertation.
Training in editing and filming is delivered as part of the MA and we have an on-site technician to give you as much guidance as you need.
All of the equipment is provided on the course and following training you will be able to borrow cameras for filming throughout the year. Students are encouraged to work together extensively in their modules, especially practical work, mimicking the collaboration that students will find as standard in the creative industries. To this end, students are also encouraged to undertake as many filmmaking opportunities as possible throughout the year, including taking advantage of the many extra-curricular filmmaking opportunities offered via the department.
Course delivery
Full-time
Full-time students will take three modules in the autumn semester: Research Skills in Film and Television, Documentary Filmmaking, and Development and Production Processes (DPP). This is alongside practical training, lectures from industry professionals and employability workshops.
Guided Editing or Guided Reading will then be completed ahead of a June deadline, alongside the placement module. Placement arrangements will be bespoke for each student, with the written component of the module due in July.
The dissertation will be due in late August, at the end of the year’s study.
Part-time
In their first year, part-time students work alongside full-time students for two modules in the autumn semester, Research Skills and Documentary Filmmaking. Part-time students will also attend practical training workshops, meaning they are fully equipped to participate in audio-visual production. They will then complete Guided Editing or Guided Reading in their first year, submitting in the summer.
In their second year, part-time students take Development and Production Processes in the autumn and work towards completion of their dissertation the following summer. It is possible for part-time students to undertake DPP in the autumn term of their first year, if they so wish.
The placement module is flexible across the two years, but the 4,000-word assignment will also be due in the summer of the second year.
The dissertation will be due in August, at the end of the second year of study.
Placements
The Placement Coordinator will work with all students on a 1:1 basis to identify suitable opportunities based on each individual’s interests and availability.
Support with academic writing
As a postgraduate student in the College of Arts and Law, you have access to the Academic Writing Advisory Service (AWAS) which aims to help your transition from undergraduate to taught Masters level, or back into academia after time away. The service offers guidance on writing assignments and dissertations for your MA/MSc programme with individual support from an academic writing advisor via tutorials, email and the provision of online materials.
International students can access support for English Language development and skills through the Birmingham International Academy (BIA).
This MA will develop your skills and creative vision in documentary production. It enhances your understanding of the historical context and contemporary modes of documentary production against a backdrop of the wider issues in media production.
This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, will encourage your understanding of the politics, aesthetics and ethics of documentary production, and the nature and diversity of documentary practice in contemporary society.
The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including a range of digital cameras, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing suites, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction suites.
You will be able to make your own documentaries, learning and refining research, interviewing, self-shooting and editing techniques – but also have the unique opportunity to be part of a programme that includes specialised producers, cinematographers, editors, sound recordists and sound designers, so that you can develop the scope and range of your filmmaking by collaborating with them.
You work on at least two films during the year, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition you can attend classes in related disciplines such as Cinematography and Editing and may collaborate with students across other specialisations on film projects. This framework is designed to provide you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.
The MA encourages you to develop
They've also launched their own film festivals, worked on critically acclaimed films and documentaries, and have had their work screened at the London International Documentary Festival, National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival and Open City, the London Documentary Festival.
How you will learn
You will be taught the skills to be able to self-shoot and edit, but will also have the chance to work with specialised camera-people, editors and producers. You complete several short films and exercises, then make your own 15-25 minute documentary, during which you will fully explore research methods, visual and thematic storytelling, experimental and multi-platform formats and much more.
For two terms you will spend a full day a week in specialised contact with your specific programme convenor, plus a further day in Screen Lab working with colleagues across the programme in a Talent Campus-style project-led learning structure with:
You will also have a variety of research projects to undertake, as well as other module options.
Screen Lab
You will also advance your collaborative skills by working in teams with both fiction and documentary producers and cinematography, sound and edit students, on a variety of projects and at least three scheduled films across the year.
You will leave the programme with a diverse portfolio of work that may span a variety of formats – essay or diary film, web and multi-platform content, activist or campaign film, longer form feature-documentary
Screen School options
As well as your Screen Documentary specialism, you will undertake three short courses to enhance your other skills and critical approaches.
If you are passionate about fashioning an exciting career for yourself as a filmmaker in an environment that promotes innovative filmmaking, this course is for you.
Our alumni are active in the film, media and cultural industries around the world, working and winning awards as documentary producers and directors.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
If you want to be a filmmaker this is the place to learn, gain experience and make films you will be proud to have on your show reel.
As a student on one of the six pathways you'll develop your specialist skill. In addition, you'll also have a range of short optional modules in other production areas of your choosing to give you the kind of flexibility that the industry now expects. The options include script and project development, web drama, online content, and social activist filmmaking, alongside more traditional media such as camera and editing skills.
Our filmmaking facilities and scheduling are geared around fiction production, as this is a major opportunity that the learning on the programme provides. The ethos of the course is “form follows function.” Your study and practice throughout the year will equip you with the most appropriate means of telling your story in order to connect with an audience.
Filmmaking is a team activity. Every student is required to work closely with others as part of a creative team to produce their final project. All the programmes also have good contacts and connections with students in the other specialist areas your productions might require, such as music composition, hair and makeup, set design, scriptwriting and of course acting talent.
Filmmaking is very demanding; it requires a lot of commitment, imagination and teamwork. You will be fully stretched on these programmes.
This MA has six pathways you can follow:
The programmes also retain close links with MA Scriptwriting.
The filmmaking programmes are located within a large and very lively Media and Communications Department that is also home for a range of practice MA programmes in radio, journalism and scriptwriting for example.
There is also a range of theory MAs and strong research tradition, with the Department coming top in the entire country on research intensity. This makes for a very stimulating and creative environment.
Where is cinema going? Where is TV heading? How and where are people going to watch moving images? What do new audiences want these to look and sound like? What new platforms are on the horizon? How are the traditional craft skills relevant to the digital age?
These are the kinds of questions we’re interested in. And we don’t explore them alone. Our annual Olive Till Memorial debate features world-renowned industry speakers including directors Danny Boyle, Gurinder Chadha and Paul Greengrass, and producers Tessa Ross and Tim Bevan, so you get the best kind of insight while you’re here.
We offer advanced skills training to film school standards. You will work within a building with studio and rehearsal spaces, screening rooms and up-to-date camera, lighting and sound equipment, plus sound and edit suites. And we now have the Curzon Goldsmiths as our on-site cinema so you can showcase your work to the public.
We encourage you to meet filmmakers, work with others, and exchange ideas. The programme includes regular Master classes where students from all the programmes and others come together to learn about current industry trends, new opportunities and ideas with leading figures of the UK film and television industries. But filmmaking is not only about these industries, it also offers a wealth of transferable skills for students interested in all media platforms, including web drama, video games, art gallery installations of all types, interactive mixed media and live performance and music videos.
All programmes include:
You will also have a variety of research projects to undertake, as well as other module options. The third term will be taken up with your final substantive project, and in writing up a process paper on your work and research over the year.
There is also a choice of short modules, such as:
In addition students are encouraged to “audit,” (that is, attend but not be assessed on) any other lecture course in the Department – in so far as their timetable allows.
For full module information, refer to the individual pathways.
From Steve McQueen to Sam Taylor-Wood, Goldsmiths graduates go on to shift the public perception of what makes film matter. And our MA filmmaking graduates are creating award-winning work including Best Cinematography at the NAHEMI Encounters International Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Exposures Film Festival.
The best advice we can give you is to make the most of your time with us. For a whole year you have access to the best in the field: highly qualified, industry-active and award-winning staff and guest speakers.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
Have you been writing creatively for a while and feel the need for some professional support? Do you wish to be read by like-minded people? Do you sense that you can write but struggle with the mechanics of form and structure? Do you harbour a desire to see how far your writing can get you? Do you dream of being a published author?
For 13 years, our MA Creative Writing has been enabling students to achieve some, if not all, of these goals. In 2016 alone, 11 of our graduates published novels with major publishing houses.
The course is taught through small, dynamic seminars and one-to-one tuition. We offer modules in fiction writing and options in playwriting, poetry, screenwriting and creative non-fiction, and practical courses on publishing, producing and editing creative work.
To find out more, read our programme handbook (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/current-students/postgraduate/).
You will taught by successful, published authors and practitioners, including:
- Julia Bell
- David Eldridge
- Richard Hamblyn
- Russell Celyn Jones
- Toby Litt
- Luke Williams
- Benjamin Wood
- Jonathan Kemp.
Visit the website http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2016/postgraduate/programmes/TMACWRIT_C/
Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.
Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/ref-results/), which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.
Read about Birkbeck research that enriches our experience and understanding of our shared history, culture and art (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/research).
- Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
- Aims to develop the craft of fiction at a professional level and includes practical courses on publishing, producing and editing creative work.
- In addition to working with the established writers who teach the degree, you will have contact with industry professionals, such as publishers and literary agents, who offer a series of platform discussions in the summer term.
- In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.
- Our Department of English and Humanities (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english) is a lively centre of world-class research and teaching.
- We offer a range of world-class research resources (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/study-here/world-class-research-resources).
- Our annual creative writing magazine, The Mechanics' Institute Review, is edited by Birkbeck MA Creative Writing students and features writing from the course as a showcase for the degree, with wide distribution beyond Birkbeck to literary agents, publishers, etc.
- Read an account of how our students created the most recent issue of The Mechanics' Institute Review (http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/george/2014/10/07/editing-the-mechanics-institute-review-11/).
- MIROnline is an interactive website, edited by PhD students and volunteers, with all the latest news and writing from this programme and beyond.
- Find out more about our range of world-class research resources (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-research).
- Watch videos of our postgraduate students discussing their experience of studying at Birkbeck (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/get-ahead-stay-ahead/student-experience-videos).
- Teaching
Teaching is seminar-based. Each session is generally 2 hours, and there are further regular one-to-one tutorials throughout the year.
- Assessment
4 short creative pieces with critical essays (50%). A dissertation (15,000 words) in one of the following genres: a novella, novel or collection of short stories, with a preface of 3000 words (50%).
Birkbeck Creative Writing graduates include:
Sally Hinchcliffe
Niki Aguirre
Heidi James
Matthew Loukes
Iphgenia Baal
Nii Parkes
Emma Henderson
Liz Fremantle
Anna Hope
Karin Salvalaggio
Olya Knezevic
Phoebe Blatton
Melissa De Villiers
Nik Korpon
Louise Lee
Tray Butler
Helen Pike
David Savill
Laura Allsop
Sarah Alexander
Nadim Safdar
A. J. Grainger
Julia Gray
Nicole Burstein
Jules Grant
Amy Bird
Stefanie Seddon
Fiona Melrose.
Graduates go in to careers in editing, teaching, and writing professionally. Possible professions include creative writer, magazine or newspaper journalist, or editorial assistant. This degree can also be useful in becoming an academic librarian, English as a second language (ESOL) teacher, or information officer.
Find out more about these professions (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_with_your_subject.htm).
Find out more about the destinations of graduates in this subject (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/careers-and-employability/department-of-english-and-humanities).
We offer a comprehensive Careers and Employability Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.
Find out how to apply here - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/postgraduate/apply
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