Established and Innovative Practices
Postgraduate
MA
Film Production
Salford School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
Attendance
Full-time
Course
One year
Next enrolment
September 2024
In a nutshell
Times are changing in film production. The film industry needs artists who can adapt to changing production environments; practitioners who have the ability to invent new paradigms in storytelling. If your interest in film production extends beyond the standard, and into a cutting edge, practice-based approach by way of emerging workflows and frontier technology, then this is the course for you. You may have just finished a media production degree, have an abiding interest in telling stories and screenwriting, or already be working in the film industry but want to experiment with your practice or academic experience.
This course is all about asking questions, challenging your practice, looking to the future and exploring the filmmaker you want to be.
Studying at Salford’s campus in MediaCity places you in the heart of the UK’s thriving media industry. Here, you will employ a rigorous process of artistic self-analysis and reflection, while developing as a versatile and nimble filmmaker - through a discipline that views perceived limitations as opportunities for creative expansion. You will develop skills in all aspects of film production and collaboration, working on practical projects and learning from industry professionals.
You will be encouraged to engage with radical new ideas of how filmmaking processes can be led by technology, the artist, in-house teams or by economic forces that reflect the future of film production – leaving the past behind.
If you want to hear from our staff, students and industry guests, you can listen to our Film Production Podcast on Spotify, PodVine, and other platforms.
You will:
- Be taught by specialist staff and industry professionals
- Study at our MediaCity campus - one of the UK's leading media hubs
- Use state-of-the-art, industry-standard kit
International
students accepted
We are an ARRI Certified Film School
All about the course
This course delivers comprehensive training linked to traditional production skills, such as directing, screenwriting and cinematography, but it also brings these skills together with the latest industry developments. In this way, it incorporates the latest technological trends and responds to current industrial opportunities while preparing you for as yet unimaginable horizons – nurturing a creative attitude defined by professional confidence and productive playfulness.
You will become grounded in Practice as Research (PaR) as an approach to rethinking practical and academic work. By challenging your existing knowledge and experience, this programme will equip you with the skills necessary to become independent thinkers, original filmmakers and creative leaders.
MA Film Production is made up of three core 60-credit modules, taught over a 12-month period, delivered via lectures, practical studio sessions, and workshops provided by teaching staff in Film Production, other relevant programmes at MediaCity and beyond. Formal curricular teaching will be enhanced by industry-led masterclasses and seminars.
The University of Salford is tremendously proud to have been the premier partner for the Asian Media Awards over the last ten years and is determined to play its part in inspiring the next generation of Asian talent to consider and pursue a career in the creative industries.
Core modules
This module is about interrogating established conventions and examining the future use of technology and the emerging landscape of film production. The aim is to enable you to understand and develop rigorous practices of communication and storytelling. You will identify problems and opportunities within your own work allowing you to explore where your creative potential lies.
The module will be structured around storytelling, established and innovative practice challenges. You will produce a range of short pieces (films, scripts and video essays) and develop methods to address your chosen challenge, thereby consolidating your understanding of existing creative technical tools and practices.
Collaboration and Co-creation
This module challenges previous learning by exploring new and unfamiliar filmmaking processes. The module draws on three collaborative processes of filmmaking that offer alternatives to industrial practices. By learning, adapting, and experimenting with these processes, the module enables students to expand their repertoire of filmmaking techniques and collaborative strategies. Processes students explore may include devised filmmaking, community-based filmmaking, and artists’ film and video, but these are flexible, and other areas may also be chosen in discussion with students during the first trimester. Students make three short films throughout the trimester, reflecting the use of these alternative processes.
Ultimately, the aim of the module is to discover how alternative methods of collaboration and co-creation can offer the filmmaker the freedom to take risks and the ability to find new, productive directions for their creative practice.
Major Project - Practical Project and Portfolio
In this module, you will draw on your learning experiences to establish a research question, which is investigated via a practical project. Your practice-research major project is a substantial piece of work including a practical piece such as a short film, a feature film script, a series pilot, gallery installation or other appropriate alternative project devised by you in consultation with lecturers. You will produce a portfolio containing evidence of the development of your idea and make a presentation of your practice-research findings to your peers. You can run the project solo or take on a role in a collaborative project.
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
SALFORD SCHOOL OF ARTS, MEDIA AND CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY
All our Film, TV and Media courses are delivered by the Salford School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology.
Our focus is to ensure that you have the skills you need to pursue your dreams, and we encourage our students, past and present, to collaborate with each other and achieve great things.
Each year - through the Create Student Awards – our School rewards the incredible achievements and successes of our final year and postgraduate students.
Whatever you choose to study with us, you’ll be mentored and supported by experts. And once you graduate, it won’t end there. You’ll join a thriving alumni network across Greater Manchester and beyond, meaning you’ll be supported professionally and personally whenever you need it.
MediaCity Facilities
Our MediaCity facilities are industry-standard, so much so that they are used by our industry partners themselves.
When you study with us on this Film Production course, you’ll learn from our experienced tutors and demonstrators, who’ll teach you how to use our facilities. These include:
TV studios - our TV studios have been used by the BBC for a variety of broadcasts, such as the Olympics and Christmas music concerts, and they’re equipped with the same audio-visual systems used by ITV and Sky too.
The studios have green screen facilities as well as basic props so you can design and build sets for a range of projects.
Green screen facilities - these allow you to create effects such as those you see on weather reports and incorporates a camera system and 3D graphics software.
Audio production - we’ve got all the hardware and software you need to make sure you’ll know just how to create, edit, mix and master audio for film and television. Our main studios feature Avid S6 consoles – a similar set up to those at our MediaCityUK neighbours, such as Dock10 and ITV.
MakerSpace - bring your designs to life using 3D scanners and printers, power tools and a range of art and craft materials.
Stop-frame studio – we have animation booths equipped with industry standard lighting, grip, software and cameras and learn just what it takes to make your ideas and storyboards a reality.
Computer Suites and Editing Studios – our computer suites are equipped with the latest industry-standard software. You’ll learn from our experienced demonstrators, who’ll teach you the skills needed to turn your concepts into a reality.
Equipment stores - cameras, lighting kits and mics – they’re all essential to media production. But don’t worry, you won’t need to spend thousands of pounds to get the set-up you need – we have a fully equipped equipment store available for you to use and take out industry-standard kit.
Our staff
The people teaching on your course will have extensive experience of making films by scripting, filming, producing, directing, editing and/or performing.
Beth McCann – Beth lectures in screenwriting and is a script consultant for writers and a wide range of organisations. Outside of the University of Salford, Beth runs a hub for new and emerging writing talent.
Dr. Pavel Prokopic – Pavel lecturers in Film Production and has interests in film practice and philosophy. He specialises as a director and cinematographer and has comprehensive skills and understanding related to all key aspects of the creative process, especially from the perspective of an experimental filmmaker and self-shooting director. He has written and directed several dramas and experimental projects and worked as a director/producer on a research project (The Living Room of the Future) with BBC R&D. He has also taken part in various artistic residencies and collaborations,
Tom Kirby – Tom’s work has been a blend of both research and practice. He has worked in the industry as a documentary director with films screened at a range of international festivals. He has also worked as a camera assistant and operator on a range of projects from BBC documentaries, to independent feature films.
Dr Billy Glew - Billy currently works in the areas of digital film, sound and music as a filmmaker and musician. He has worked as musician, sound recordist and audio mixer, in live / production and studio settings, on a variety of projects over the last 30+ years. Billy recently completed production sound recording for the independent feature film Goodwin Island (Erik Knudsen, 2024), and is currently in the post-production sound design phase of the film. Billy's PhD was practice-research based and focused on dream sequences in film. The films made as part of his PhD research were selected for several independent international film festivals. Billy’s current research focuses on film dream sequences, sound in film, and micro-budget film production. Outside of the university, Billy runs a sound / film / rehearsal studio based in West Yorkshire.
Alex Lichtenfels - Alex Lichtenfels is a filmmaker and scholar, with over twenty years’ experience of independent filmmaking. His research interests focus on devised filmmaking practices, asking how models drawn from theatrical and performance traditions can enable filmmakers to develop new practices and forms. The goal of his practice is to create an explicitly ethical space, where filmmakers and audiences share in the creation of ‘events’, moments of creative practice that challenge established ways of understanding the world, and create new ones. In 2020, he coedited a special issue of the journal Performance Matters, titled ‘Copresence with the Camera’. His current research project centres around a collaborative devised adaptation of Euripides’s The Bacchae.
What about after uni?
Upon graduating you will become agile, highly adaptable, fast-thinking decision-makers and team players, ready to explore a variety of career paths within the film industry both as an independent filmmaker or in-house practitioner.
The MA will provide subject specific knowledge and, through a practice as research approach, you may choose to develop your academic skills through PhD study and beyond.
Graduates showing strong academic and research skills can pursue a further academic research path through our doctoral (PhD) programmes on a full-time or part-time basis subject to a satisfactory proposal.
Career Links
This new programme has been developed with industry in response to the increasing local, national and international demand for graduates with an eye on the future of film industry trends. It builds upon the established success and reputation of existing courses in Film and Media Production as well as the strong regional industry partnerships that have been developed over many years.
The course will be of benefit to those seeking employment with local and national companies, others who want to set up their own independent production companies and benefit from visiting specialist lecturers and professionals.
It is widely recognised that young professionals, newly entering the industry, are rarely given the opportunity or time to pursue specialist research with a practical approach. Industry leaders acknowledges a gap in the industry for such training and experience and believe this course will benefit the ‘trade’ in the long run.
The companies connected to this course include BBC Research & Development; online streaming platform paus.tv; Bolton Film Festival; individual independent film makers with an interest in the future of film.
What you need to know
The film industry needs artists who can adapt to changing production environments; practitioners who have the ability to invent new paradigms in storytelling.
If your interest in film production extends beyond the standard, into a modern practice-based approach and into emerging workflow and frontier technology, then this is the course for you.
You may have just finished a media production degree, have an abiding interest in telling stories and scriptwriting, or already be working in the film industry but want to gain more experimental experience.
To apply for this Master's in Film Production course, you’ll need to prepare two documents:
1 - A Personal Statement.
We’ll want to understand:
- What motivates you and what current experiences do you have in terms of film and media creation; whether that’s scriptwriting, filming cameras, and editing for example?
- How have you been involved and what did you do?
- Are you a creative thinker and how do you develop ideas?
- Do you have any knowledge of the film production industry or film sector; are there any projects that inspire you?
- Why do you want to work in the film and TV sector?
- Why this degree at the University of Salford is the right choice for your future goals.
2 – A Portfolio of Work
This portfolio can be films, photography work, scripts, podcasts, etc. In the portfolio, do please clearly label what roles you undertook on the project so the tutors can know what to look for.
Then what happens?
Following the receipt of all these materials you will be invited to an interview with some of the tutors of the course, to discuss your work, your ambitions, and your project proposal. Also, it is a chance to meet the tutors and ask any questions you might have.
Once you’ve made your application to study with us, we’ll contact you and let you know the next steps.
Standard entry requirements
Standard entry requirements
A 2:2 (with a portfolio) honours degree or above
International students
International applicants will be required to show a proficiency in English. An IELTS score of 6.5 (with no element below 5.5) is proof of this.
We accept qualifications from all around the world. Find your country to see a full list of entry requirements.
We also accept a range of other English language qualifications. If you do not have the English language requirements, you could take our Pre-Sessional English course.
Alternative entry requirements
Alternative entry requirements
We welcome applications from students who may not have formal/traditional entry criteria but who have relevant experience or the ability to pursue the course successfully.
The Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) process could help you to make your work and life experience count. The APL process can be used for entry onto courses or to give you exemptions from parts of your course.
Two forms of APL may be used for entry: the Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) or the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL).
How much?
| Type of study | Year | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time home | 2024/25 | £9,990.00per year |
| Full-time international | 2024/25 | £20,340.00per year |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
Scholarships for International Students
If you are a high-achieving international student, you may be eligible for one of our scholarships. Explore our international scholarships.