MA in Filmmaking
Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 10,900 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses
** home full-time: £10,900 | international full-time: £17,700
Introduction
Why choose this course?
This course examines the principles of short-form film-making, the potential of visual storytelling and the importance of sound, lighting and screenplay.
You will produce a portfolio to show your technical ability in cinematography, sound recording, editing, writing and direction across several short films. You will develop skills such as critical thinking, character and narrative development, and post-production.
The course focuses on the collaborative nature of film-making and the sharing of non-mainstream stories. It is inspired by productions that have challenged conformity.
Reasons to choose Kingston University
- At Kingston you can experience a variety of production roles, finding your specialism through practice.
- You will use high-definition 4K digital cinema cameras, DSLRs and Macs running Adobe Premiere and Creative Cloud. There are 8mm and 16mm cameras for exploring analogue film.*
- Our alumni include award-winning filmmakers, whose films have been shown at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, London Short Film Festival and London Design Biennale.
*Students may be required to cover additional costs, such as stock and processing costs.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
What you will study
At the heart of the course is an emphasis on developing visual storytelling and vivid characters through script development.
You will be able to use high-definition 4K digital cinema cameras, DSLRs and Macs running Adobe Premier and Creative Cloud to apply classical and independent principles with contemporary technology. The course focuses on the collaborative nature of the filmmaking process and sharing stories from communities outside the mainstream.
You'll be expected to complete 180 credits across five modules, including a filmmaking dissertation.
Modules
You will study the basic principles of filmmaking, develop an understanding of the nature and potential of visual storytelling, and discover the importance of sound, lighting and screenplay. You will also gain a sound knowledge of theories and ideas that can help in the interpretation of your own work and that of other filmmakers. You will produce a portfolio of moving-image projects to illustrate your technical ability in cinematography, sound recording, editing and writing/direction.
Core modules
- Film Making 1
- Film Making 2
- Film Making 3 (Dissertation)
- Film Writing
- Sound and Vision
Please note
Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
After you graduate
This filmmaking MA will equip you for lifelong filmmaking and learning. It prepares you with techniques to sustain a filmmaking practice beyond university for:
- employment within the film industry or as an independent filmmaker
- further study.
The core skills will enable you to produce films in an independent, pragmatic and accountable manner. This will enhance your employability and begin the process of making you a genuinely independent filmmaker in command of your own material.
MA filmmaking graduates have gone on to work in the film industry in roles such as:
- film festival programmer;
- assistant editor, production design (Poldark, Prometheus & Doctor Strange);
- key grip (BBC films and Netflix's The Crown);
- sound recordist on independent features;
- director (web series Mandem on the Wall and TV series Law Cats);
- editor, producer, script reader and script editor.
Most recently, one of our graduates, Pablo Romero-Fresco, has published a book on Accessible Filmmaking, about filmmaking and translation for the deaf, blind and in terms of language. He mentions the course in the acknowledgements. The Routledge publication has strong reviews from Ken Loach and Mike Dibb (director, Ways of Seeing). Pablo made his graduation film in Kiberia, Kenya about a girls' football school with classmates from the course.
Maiam Majid's 2019 graduation film A Night with Noor Jehan went on to win the LGBTQ category of the Leeds International Film Festival.
Graduates have also established themselves as independent filmmakers, exhibiting their films at the East End Film Festival, Tate Britain and have had projects commissioned by the Home Office, Tate, E4 and Film London.
They've also progressed on to do PhDs in filmmaking in the department with projects including:
- The Endz Game: The impact of the London 2012 Olympics on the communities of the host boroughs
- The Black Market: An application of the Sound System model to Independent Filmmaking
- Floating Home: A Journey of Taiwanese Identity in the UK.
We have an international cohort of alumni, with graduates coming from America, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and Venezuela.