MA Film Practice

In this introductory module, we’ll help you evaluate your experiences and knowledge to further inform your creative development. You’ll position your practice, establish or reinforce a critically informed grounding in filmmaking, and start a reflective journal practice to support your studies.

During this module, you’ll develop new working methods and specialist techniques to enhance your practice. You’ll consider the contextual factors that shape your filmmaking, and get to experiment with different creative approaches to strengthen your practical abilities.

This module will help you gain the expertise necessary to analyse film as an art form. We’ll explore different styles and forms of moving imagery, the history of creative techniques, contemporary developments in film theory, philosophical perspectives, and more.

Together, we’ll look at the challenges and possibilities of performance and cooperation in filmmaking. This module will encourage you to think about how your practice involves and relates to other people in order to expand your understanding of diverse creative techniques and produce culturally relevant work.

Co-lab is an interdisciplinary module that focuses on discovering collaborative ways of working and exploring new areas or creative approaches outside of your comfort zone. You’ll learn how to engage with ideas and processes that are unfamiliar to you and consider how your work is impacted by the contribution of others.

This module will help you understand how to apply research and specialist practical techniques to inform and support the construction of narrative in your filmmaking. We’ll investigate key concepts within film studies to help you consider structure, form and meaning in your work.

Your studies here will broaden your understanding of film’s cultural and political role in relation to the wider creative industries. You’ll look at how films are made in commercial and artistic environments: production, distribution, marketing processes, and much more.

In this module, we’ll focus on important issues around representation and ethics in filmmaking. You’ll be challenged to critically consider who you choose to work with at each stage of your film practice, how your present them, and the perspective from which your work is created.

The Thesis Film Proposal module will guide your through the development process of your final project, giving you an opportunity to create and present your ideas and plans. Throughout the module, we’ll support you in researching, conceptualising, refining, and planning your project.

As the final part of the course, this module revolves around the creation of your individual, research-informed project – typically a fiction, documentary, experimental film or similar audio-visual artwork. You’ll also document the practical processes and produce a critical reflection.

AUB Film Practice Careers Video – Transcript 

[upbeat music plays throughout]

MA Film Practice Careers 

Careers and opportunities for graduates 

The MA Film Practice programme will help you to think outside the box, explore new ideas, techniques and directions in your creative work.

You’ll be able to analyse and appreciate the work of others, and hold a deeper understanding of the disciplines involved in filmmaking. The skills you learn on the course will enable you to pursue a number of roles, including…

Independent Filmmaker 

You could turn your talents to creating independent films. As part of this, you could take on tasks from budgeting, scripting and casting, to production, post-production, and managing distribution and exhibition.

Documentary Filmmaker 

Documentary film jobs can cross both independent and commercial sectors. In this field you could explore a range of areas including ethnographic, wildlife, unscripted/reality, and interview based projects.

Producer or production coordinator 

A producer in film will oversee all production elements from conception to completion. You'll work closely with directors and other production staff to ensure the success of a finished film.

Freelance film industry roles 

The skills you'll learn on your course make you well-suited to freelancing in the film industry. Roles could include assistant director, cinematographer, editor, or sound designer.

Film researcher 

Also called a media researcher, this position involves conducting research for film or TV projects. Typical tasks include collecting and verifying both factual and picture information to ensure its accuracy.

Cinema or festival programmer 

Programmers curate content for film festivals or theatres typically based off audience research, and considering the vision of the organisation. You may work with artists, organisations, and communities, to help shape projects.

Lecturer and other academic roles 

MA Film Practice graduates would be well suited for pursuing a career in teaching or film-based academia. Passionate filmmakers can choose this route to support the next generation of creators.

We’re a creative community 

Arts University Bournemouth Online is committed to helping students everywhere turn their talent into careers. As one of the top ranked specialist art and design universities in the UK, you can trust that you’ll have us by your side as you head into this exciting new chapter.

Want to learn more? 

We're here to help. If you have any questions about our online, part-time MA in Film Practice, get in touch with a course adviser.

• +44 1202 122 883
• info@studyonline.aub.ac.uk

Video transcript - Course overview video

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Alex Nevill: The course is aimed at students who have some background in film, it could be that they've made films as part of a different degree, like media, photography or fine art.

We understand an encompassing definition of film practice, ranging from the different techniques and creative approaches during production through to the different sites and forms of exhibition that moving image can take.

Given the online and remote nature of the course, it's most suitable for students that are interested in making non-fiction films like documentaries, artist film, or independent fiction work. So things that are done in a very individual manner and with a kind of light footprint during production. But that said, students come to the course with a range of backgrounds.

It could be that they're interested in directing and making their own work, or they might be interested in other kind of craft roles within film, such as editing, sound design, being a cinematographer. Whatever their interests, students that are looking to progress through a series of creative projects and learn through collaboration and experimentation are very encouraged to apply.

This MA Film Practice degree draws on the art school context of Arts University Bournemouth to challenge mainstream ways of making and thinking about film. We're interested in pushing people's creative voice, developing new ways of working and trying out new techniques that might have been undiscovered for each student before they joined the degree.

So throughout the course, students are encouraged to apply their creative thinking through imagery and sound to make a series of practice research projects with quite tightly controlled creative parameters. Students will explore every discipline of film to have a fundamental grounding in the beginning of the course, and they'll go through a series of carousel modules which tackle specific issues or themes within the world of filmmaking.

This leads to a final thesis project where students develop their own idea for a final major project and then realize that through a series of individual tutoring and bespoke support.

In terms of skills, throughout the course, students develop creative and technical skills through practical activities that are assigned in every single module on the degree.

Films are only ultimately as good as the ideas that go into them. So students also develop a range of research and analytical skills, which help them to develop their voice and understand the language of filmmaking in greater detail.

Communication and collaboration are inherent skills in filmmaking as well, so students learn to present their work through pitching and how to package projects that will hopefully support them when they're in the industry and looking for funding or collaborators.

Finally, students will develop a strong portfolio of work throughout the course, which they can use to showcase their expertise and the skills they developed when they finish.