MA in Creative Digital Film Production
Luton, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 16,900
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
This course gives you the specialist knowledge and skills you need to work and succeed in the fast-evolving field of digital film production. You explore areas such as cross-media approaches to storytelling; scriptwriting; production planning and development; digital film production; editing and post-production techniques; and film history and theory. All students work with an external client on a real project for industry. The Creative Enterprises unit prepares you for the world of work by helping you prepare your portfolio and CV; introducing you to industry professionals and looking at opportunities for working freelance and within larger production houses.
Student experience
- Within the 'cinematics' subject category, 96% of our students were satisfied with the learning opportunities their course offered, including teaching skills for the future (NSS, 2024).
- Develop your understanding of both fiction and non-fiction film-making, through an advanced study of film theory which you apply in practice, building your creativity and personal style.
- Take up regular, exciting opportunities to meet visiting, industry-active professionals. Recent speakers include documentary film-maker, Ken Kirby; Jess Symons, MD at Ivy House Productions; Lorraine Heaton, Production Management, BBC Studios; and Keanu Rattray, Digital Content Manager at FIFA.
- Gain radio broadcast experience via our award-winning, Ofcom-licensed local community radio service, Radio LaB, which is run by students for students and the local community.
- You have the opportunity to work on Beds TV, our in-house TV station, and use our facilities to produce content for the station.
- Take advantage of field trips to studios, film festivals and work-related destinations including MKFM; Luton Town FC; MK Dons FC; BBC Broadcasting House; BT Sport; Pinewood Studios; Sky; Molinare post-production company; and the Student Radio Awards.
- Our graduates have gone on to work for the BBC and ITV as well as on or in top TV shows, films and stage productions such as James Bond: No Time to Die; Mission: Impossible; Married at First Sight; Strictly Come Dancing; Gogglebox; The Apprentice; Dr Who; The Graham Norton Show; Game of Thrones; and My Fair Lady.
Industry links
We have established relationships with a wide range of leading organisations and companies across film and broadcasting.
We have active partnerships with:
- Coolr Social Media Agency who are involved in the delivery of relevant course units as well as offering students workplace opportunities and live projects.
- Merge XR Virtual Studios who deliver expert industry lectures and workshops using the latest virtual production techniques; student work placements; use of facilities including Unreal Engine and a virtual production studio; and potential graduate employment.
- We also work with Pinewood Studios, the BBC, ITV, the Royal Television Society, MKFM, Octopus TV, Monkey Kingdom, Zig Zag Productions, the Berlin Shorts Festival and Luton Town FC.
Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
| Learn from a dynamic, experienced team of filmmakers, academic experts and published scholars. | Develop your industry network and employment opportunities through meeting leading filmmakers, film editors and industry executives. | The course provides you with opportunities to gain work experience in industry as well as with community projects. Through the course, you will be able to build your portfolio, develop networking skills and get industry-ready. |
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Postgraduate Scholarships
You can find all of our Postgraduate scholarships listed below.
- Postgraduate Global Subject-Specific Merit Scholarship
- Postgraduate Global Merit Scholarship
- Vice Chancellor's Scholarship for Postgraduate Students
- Chevening Scholarships
- Alumni Scholarship
Prompt Payment Discount
A discount of £500 is available for prompt payment of each year’s fees in full, before or at the point of registration, for both undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.
Postgraduate research students who pay their full tuition fee before or at registration will receive a £1,000 discount on that year’s fees.
The tuition fee pre-payment of 65% will be calculated on the full, published tuition fees and will not take into account any scholarships, bursaries or awards. These will be applied to the remaining balance of your fees.
Sport Scholarships
Our sports scholarships are designed to develop and support talented students at the University of Bedfordshire.
Our sports scholarships on offer provide financial and performance support services that utilise the University’s outstanding facilities.
Please contact us for more information.
What will you study?
Studying our Creative Digital Film Production MA course gives you hands-on experience of filmmaking to a professional standard, with the specialist knowledge and skills you need to work and succeed in the fast-evolving field of digital film production. You will explore areas such as cross-media approaches to storytelling, production planning and development, digital film production, editing and post-production techniques and film history and theory. Building on experience, filmmakers will further develop their understanding of both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking through an advanced study of film theory, coupled with a practical application designed to build and develop creativity and personal style. At the heart of this course is your employability. Through our Creative Enterprises unit, you will have the opportunity to work on a live brief as well as explore employment opportunities within the film and television industry.
Building on the foundations of your study, Film Analysis will enable you to adopt an informed and sophisticated approach to film theory. You will critically analyse various cinema forms and institutions ranging from contemporary to historical cinema and enhance your awareness of the specificity of meaning within films. To develop your skills in film production, you will engage with a range of workshops and practical exercises in our Fiction Film Production unit. You will practice the standard rules of film production, from sequencing shots to the continuity system, and learn to realise your ideas on the screen while working as part of a production team with performers. Overall, you will have the opportunity to make creative and technical decisions in fiction filmmaking.
You will also get the opportunity to produce a short factual film in our Truth and Telling unit that will expose you to the creative issues and decisions at the heart of storytelling through documentaries or other experimental forms. On a deeper level, you will consider different modes of production and how filmmakers make meaning in their work based on cultural influences or technology. Finally, you will have the opportunity to complete a Digital Film Project where you can produce your own work of film in a documentary, fiction or hybrid style that is accompanied by a critical contextual study. Alternatively, you will complete a 12,000-word dissertation on a topic of your choice related to film practice or studies.
How will you be assessed?
Assessments take a variety of forms including written work (programme pitches research plans contextual essays) oral presentations (programme pitches) and practical work (studio or location video content). For some units you will work individually while on other more practice-focused units, you will work as a group to produce work for assessment though it is important to note that all students will be graded individually.
The assessments are designed to enable you to become more effective multi-skilled practitioners using your producing and technical skills to create innovative and industry-standard programming. They are also designed to help develop and test your ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team in a variety of production phases from development to post-production. On all units, there will be an opportunity for formative feedback on assessments-in-progress before the assessment deadline and you are encouraged to integrate formative and summative feedback into your work in order to develop as television practitioners and academic researchers.
This course is ideal for you if you are seeking a job in film-related fields such as production programming marketing and film administration. It provides an understanding of filmmaking in relation to commercial and cultural industries both global and in the UK.
Students graduating from this degree have entered the film industry as editors filmmakers and production crew as well as setting up their own production companies. Graduates will also be qualified to apply for MPhil and PhD research degrees.