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.
The MA Filmmaking (Directing Fiction) is the premier place to develop your skills as a director, working on a range of projects from personal ‘essay’ films to large-scale shoots with professional actors and feature crew.
This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, will enable you to gain a full understanding of how to collaborate on all stages of filmmaking, from scripting and pre-production through shoot, post-production and marketing/exhibition of your work. It will build your skills and confidence in expressing your unique vision and conveying it to your team.
The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri lighting and Greenscreen, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction and Foley suites.
We have extensive production facilities and informal rehearsal and meeting spaces where you can discuss and collaborate with scriptwriters, actors, producers and your shoot team.
We also have established relations with casting directors, agents, production designers and other professionals who will both advise you and provide their skills to enhance your productions.
You work on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition to your specialist area, you attend classes in related disciplines such as Film Directing and Editing and collaborate with students across specialisations on film projects. 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.
Experienced tutors enhance the flow of your individual research, experimentation and artistic achievement. The guests have all provided expert guidance at Goldsmiths.
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 and 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 moving-image work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and feature-scale short fiction films.
Screen School options
As well as your Cinematography 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 cinematographer 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 cinematographer.
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.
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
Recent alumni are active in the film, media and cultural industries around the world as:
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
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.
The MA Filmmaking (Producing) will provide you with a thorough training in all aspects of producing – from the conception of an initial idea through to development, financing, production and release.
This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, provides excellent training for a successful career as a producer. As part of the programme you'll have the opportunity to specialise in either development, where you will work with writers and directors to develop new ideas, or line producing, where you will focus more on how to run a production and a crew, and how to also take a production manager or assistant director role.
The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri lighting and Greenscreen, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction and Foley suites.
Our studio spaces, and extensive production facilities and informal rehearsal and meeting spaces create an environment where you can discuss and collaborate with scriptwriters, actors, directors, other producers and your shoot team. We also have established relations with casting directors, agents, production designers and other professionals who will both advise you and provide their skills to enhance your productions.
You work on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition to your specialist area, you attend classes in related disciplines such as Film Directing and Editing and collaborate with students across specialisations on film projects. 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.
You will have specialist teaching on the larger role of the producer:
Your studies will be guided by experienced tutors and guests from major industry players including Channel Four, British Film Institute, FilmFour, BBC Films, Film London, Shooting People, Future Shorts and a host of production and distribution companies.
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 a filmmaker in an environment that promotes innovative filmmaking, this course is for you.
On completing the programme, you will have the confidence, skills and hands-on experience to work in the film, television and online industries in the production field, navigating your way through production management and assistant directing roles.
In addition, you will find yourself in a media world that relies heavily on self-starting projects, you will be able to drive innovative new ideas into both established and new formats, strategise funding and marketing, and bring new and exciting opportunities to your creative team.
Possibly the most important skill we will provide you with is the rigorous discipline of working collaboratively under pressure as part of a creative team.
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 producing alumni have gone on to win awards at major international film festivals (including a nomination for Best Short Film Oscar) and are active in the film, media and cultural industries around the world as fiction and documentary producers and production managers.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
This MA will consolidate your skills in narrative moving-image making to the level of Director of Photography. You will develop your visual storytelling ability during workshops and subsequent application in the context of live filmmaking projects.
This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri lighting and Greenscreen, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction and Foley suites.
We work with a range of digital formats from high-end cinema cameras like the Red Epic to smaller, flexible units like the Black Magic. You will additionally benefit from the discipline of working on Super-16mm film.
You work on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition to your specialist area, you attend classes in related disciplines such as Film Directing and Editing and collaborate with students across specialisations on film projects. 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.
Experienced tutors such as the highly-regarded Witold Stock (Close My Eyes, Murphy’s Law, Best) and industry guests provide expert guidance designed to enhance the flow of your individual research, experimentation and artistic achievement.
At the same time, you advance your collaborative skills by working in teams on a variety of scheduled films across the year. You leave the course with a diverse portfolio of moving-image work that spans fiction, and documentary as well as hybrid and experimental genres.
You will learn sophisticated lighting and gripping techniques, and you perform all camera department roles from Director of Photography to Camera Operator, Focus-puller, Gaffer, Camera Assistant, Spark and Grip.
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 and 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 moving-image work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and feature-scale short fiction films.
Screen School options
As well as your Cinematography 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 cinematographer 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 cinematographer.
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.
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
Recent alumni are active in the film, media and cultural industries around the world as:
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
Something happens when you add sound to an image. And filmmaking depends upon the strength of this relationship. Ultimately it’s what makes a film work – it’s what moves your audience.
MA in Filmmaking (Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design), is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including a film studio for sound shooting, Pro Tools suites, Audio Postproduction facilities with Foley recording studios, Avid Media Composer, screening rooms and an Avid ISIS SAN network linking all teaching spaces. The new Curzon cinema provides the department with digital projection along with its weekly programme of first-run films.
You'll learn the fundamental technical skills necessary to begin a career in screen sound, both as a location sound recordist and post-production sound designer. But equally importantly, you will gain an understanding of how a film’s narrative relies on the precise partnership between image and sound.
Within this MA programme you'll expand your existing knowledge of sound. Through recording and design you'll investigate what it means to listen with awareness and to translate that experience to your audience. And you'll study how sound is created, how you can manipulate its form, whether it’s natural, synthesised, digitised or analogue, and how to work with sound as a storytelling medium.
The Sound curriculum focuses on the structure of the soundtrack, deconstructing it from its beginnings in pre-production to the final mix, experimenting with the ways in which different components (dialogue, atmospheres, sound effects, music) allow an audience to engage with a film’s story. Through iterative exercises, group reviews and regular feedback, you gain the awareness and ability to construct soundtracks that interpret stories through sound.
As a sound specialist you work on one film each term, ending with a major production. You learn about related fields such as directing, editing, producing and documentary, and work with students across specialisms within Goldsmiths Screen School. As well as developing your awareness of the discipline and learning software such as Pro Tools, the Options modules provide the opportunity to learn the concepts and debates informing the wider filmmaking industry. This means you have the chance to explore your craft with other filmmakers and get used to the unique dynamics of the industry
You'll also benefit from guest lecturers who bring their professional expertise into our classrooms. Last year, specialist classes featured Oscar-winning sound recordist Ray Beckett (The Hurt Locker), film/TV sound editor Adele Fletcher (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and composer Stuart Earl (The Secret Agent, Lilting).
In addition, MA Filmmaking students collaborate with composers and players from Goldsmiths’ Department of Music who offer a wide range of musical styles from classical to electronic to popular.
Pro Tools tuition is offered to all Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design pathway students giving you the opportunity to achieve Pro Tools Certified User accreditation.
This MA doesn’t just deal with technique and technology and it’s not about objective theory. We explore the space in between. Not only do we want you to acquire the skills and understanding to follow a career in professional filmmaking but also we prepare you to use your new-found expertise in the wider world of media and the arts.
You work in depth on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. You will also lead and take part in a number of other sound-based and music-based projects in Screen Lab. This collaborative framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by providing you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in sound recording and design.
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, edit, cinematography and music 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 performed work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and feature-scale short fiction films.
Screen School options
As well as your Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design specialism, you will undertake three short courses to enhance your other skills and critical approaches.
The programme is a gateway to any career that involves sound, particularly those that concentrate on narrative storytelling. Our graduates go on to work in a range of fields from film, theatre, radio, and web design, to advertising, documentary, and animation.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
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.
The MSc in Filmmaking and Media Arts is designed to deliver a portfolio of skills required in contemporary screen-based production contexts. If you are a filmmaker, freelance media producer, or an independent media artist seeking to develop advanced skills and learn key industry practices for building your career, the MSc in Filmmaking and Media Arts has been specifically designed for you. Through practical workshops, industry master classes, and history and theory courses you will have the opportunity to learn from industry professionals, media artists, and world leading academics in film, television and digital media theory.
The programme will offer a combination of formal lectures, practitioner led workshops, seminar discussions, screenings and one-on-one tutorials.
The practical elements of the course will feature high levels of support and direction in relation to pre-production materials, including developing pitches and storyboards as well as hands on support in relation to delivery of the individual film/media art projects.
Industry workshops are designed to give you the skills and knowledge needed in contemporary screen-based media contexts, while history and theory courses are offered to link industry practice with cutting edge theory in the field.
The programme has 4 components:
The programme will equip you with the ability to develop a career as a media producer, with a particular focus on low-budget productions for film and television. You will have the opportunity to explore and develop freelance industry practices and a portfolio of skills enabling you to work as an independent practitioner in today’s creative industries.
It is an innovative programme that teaches artistic, technical and professional skills and is designed to support graduates that are interested in working for large media companies or who may wish to pursue their own independent filmmaking and/or media arts practice. The programme also offers the research preparation necessary to successfully pursue a practice-based PhD.
You will learn things such as how to make films or media art pieces on low-budgets, how to take an idea from pitch to production, how to manage and sustain workflows, the processes involved in applying for arts funding, how to enhance your public profile and the processes involved in administering a start-up company.
Immerse yourself in hands-on filmmaking and real production budgets on this practical course. Creativity and collaboration will be at the heart of your learning, which will take place in the University's Northern Film School, giving you access to industry-standard equipment and facilities.
Informed by professional film production techniques and processes, this course will give you the opportunity to gain specialist knowledge in key areas, including producing, directing, cinematography and editing. Throughout this learning process, you will have the support of a teaching team with current and extensive industry experience.
The course is driven by filmmaking itself, but you will also focus on theory - we want you to think, research, discuss and watch films. Drawing on established ideas and techniques used in independent filmmaking, you will be encouraged to base your productions on inspiring stories and innovative concepts.
Research Excellence Framework 2014
Research Excellence Framework 2014: 38% of our research was judged to be world leading or internationally excellent in the Communication, Culture and Media Studies, Library and Information Management unit.
As film financing, production and distribution move away from old models our course prepares you for an industry that expects you to be self reliant and self-employed.
You will be taught by practising filmmakers with experience across documentary and fiction, from cinematography to editing, some of whom can boast BAFTA and Oscar nominations. As a consequence of relationships between staff and the industry, you will have the opportunity to learn from visiting filmmakers during guest lectures and workshops. The Northern Film School is also a member of The International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT), an organisation of only the best film schools worldwide.
The School was the first in the UK to receive JAMES accreditation, in recognition of the professional expertise of our staff, our industry-standard facilities and the opportunities we provide for our students to crew on professional shoots. JAMES represents creative and technical organisations across the media industries sector such as the Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS), the Music Producers Guild (MPG), UK Screen and UK Drama. On this JAMES approved course, you will be studying the latest in industry practice and gain access to professional contacts and work experience opportunities. JAMES described us as 'a benchmark against which all other film courses need to be measured'.
At the Electric Press in Leeds city centre where the School is based, you will have access to an impressive range of facilities. These include both 16mm and digital production equipment, two production studios, edit suites, screening facilities, a props store and film and script archive.
Your course will give you a competitive edge in a challenging industry. Guest lectures from visiting professionals will enhance your career networks alongside the creative abilities and technical skills you will develop under the guidance of an experienced teaching team. The opportunity to promote your graduation film on the international film festival circuit and the chance to attend film festivals should also serve to strengthen your professional networks.
Filmmaking provides a supportive, creative environment for you to explore your ideas and stories through film practices. The rich, immersive, and inspiring environment of the Manchester School of Art enables you to undertake far reaching, challenging, and experimental approaches. The course focusses practical, critical and creative development around filmmaking through further investigation of individual visual language and film style.
Although the progression of ‘ideas’ will be central to the activity, there will also be a strong emphasis on film craft and the professionalism of your work. Manchester School of Art has a well established culture in filmmaking, ensuring a lively environment and experience together with a breadth of expertise and outstanding resources to draw upon.
Filmmaking is part of the Department of Media at Manchester School of Art which has an established community of interdisciplinary staff, and research students with expertise in fields that include Animation, Filmmaking, Photography, Media Theory and Multimedia Digital practices.
The Department promotes a blending of arts practices responsive to current cultural and digital industries demands; inspiring students to engage with real world scenarios through creative and imaginative responses.
It has developed a framework that fosters interesting and diverse approaches to engage with external partners within the city, the region, nationally and internationally. Recent partners include HOME, BBC (Media City), CITV, Manchester City and Regional Art Galleries, Open Eye Photography Gallery, Red Eye Photography Network, International Anthony Burgess Foundation and international partnerships in China, India, Brazil, Russia and Europe.
Core to all of the teaching and research in the Media department is the continuing exploration of new modes of expression through digital technologies and support students in developing a robust and individual creative practice that has relevance to a diverse range of cultural industries.
With its academic base on the Ayr Campus, our course is also delivered from Film City Glasgow, the bespoke industry hub for twenty independent production companies and post-production facility houses. Film City Glasgow also boasts Scotland’s only Dolby sound mixing studio.
Our MA Filmmaking course will provide a stimulating, supportive and professional environment in which you can freely yet rigorously develop your unique individual voice. Throughout your course you will be mentored by leading film practitioners from around the world. This support includes our very own multi award-winning tutors, Professor Nick Higgins and Sam Firth.
Our distinctive course also boasts an international guest faculty programme, who complement our core tutors, support staff, and technical facilities, to ensure that from the moment they walk through the door, our students no longer feel as though they are “students”, but are already operating at the highest professional level, as creative collaborators in a context that replicates the conditions of the industry in which they intend to work. Previous guest tutors have included Oscar and BAFTA winners.
Students completing the MA will graduate with three short films (including both documentary and fiction) to add to their portfolio, having been through a process that provides space for both creative experimentation and professional rigour.
Our MA Filmmaking course allows you exclusive access to strands within the context of film festivals. It provides you with privileged access to industry visitors, and takes advantage of their presence in the country to run special industry events with our partners.
There will also be opportunities for you to learn from the professionals who work in Film City, and to make use of their facilities (which no university in the UK can rival).
Placement opportunities are also likely to emerge through the Scottish Film Talent Network.
Topics of study on our MA Filmmaking course will include:
Upon completing the MA you will graduate with three short films, including both documentary and fiction.
Topics
Your study and assessment will involve the topics below:
ADVANCED FILM DOCUMENTARY PRACTICE:
You will make a documentary film under the direction of the core course team, exploring the boundaries of documentary film practice, and its intersection with:
FILM AS AN INDUSTRY:
You will gain a professional insight into the contemporary film industry. You will study every aspect of the planning and logistics of complex low-budget film shoots, from concept to new distribution models and marketing, placing these key activities within their economic and artistic context.
ADVANCED FICTION FILM PRACTICE:
You will make a short fiction film under the direction of an invited filmmaker, who will launch the module with an intensive one-week workshop, and remain available over the rest of the trimester to follow your progress and mentor your project.
DEVELOPMENT LAB:
You will undertake an industry-standard development process, in which you prepare your final Masters film project under the supervision of leading professionals active in the practice of the short film form.
MASTER'S PROJECT:
You will undertake a major creative project – either fiction or documentary or immersive film – under the guidance of the course team.
Our MA Filmmaking degree will support your development of working professionally in the independent and world cinema sectors of the film industry either in:
Realise your ambitions and take the lead in the creation and development of a film project that will showcase your individuality and talent.
The first three semesters will follow the MA Filmmaking course to give you a thorough grounding in collaborative filmmaking. Mentored over the following two semesters, you will make an extended piece that will develop your own style as you become a confident and experienced filmmaker.
Working on your own project or taking a head of department role alongside a fellow MFA student, your expertise will be tested in a dedicated specialism such as directing, producing, cinematography, animation or editing.
Whether your ambitions lie in fiction, documentary, animation or experimental films, this course will allow you to develop your idea into a professional piece of work. We will give you the independence and freedom to realise your project, complemented by the support of our expert tutors.
We will give you the independence to make the film you want to make. Our expert team will provide tutorial encouragement, supervision and advice, and you will have access to industry-standard equipment and resources at our Northern Film School.
From cinematographers to producers and editors to animators, our teaching team is made up of highly respected film and television professionals, many of whom are still active in their fields. We will aim to match you with a tutor who specialises in your area of interest so that we can provide you with bespoke advice and guidance.
As the first film school in the UK to receive JAMES accreditation in recognition of the expertise of our staff, the professional level of our facilities and the opportunities we provide for our students, the Northern Film School is one of the best schools in the UK to explore and develop your ideas as a filmmaker.
The MFA (Master of Fine Arts) is a highly respected qualification in the US and is growing in significance in the UK. More importantly, you will graduate with a fully realised film project that will extend your portfolio and demonstrate who you are as a filmmaker. Your experiences on the course will prepare you for the collaborative nature of the filmmaking industry.
Create your own story at the University of Hertfordshire’s School of Creative Arts!
