MA Documentary by Practice
This is an exciting and dynamic time for Documentary Practice. In recent years there has been a renaissance in documentary, seeing huge developments in both technology and form. Documentary stories are now being told via telecommunications, in cinemas, on TV, and online.
Royal Holloway provides contemporary tuition in the technological, ethical and intellectual developments in this recent boom in both broadcast and cross platform Documentary.
You will be taught by award winning documentary filmmakers and high profile TV and Cross Platform commissioners. Course Tutors, Marc Isaacs|, Helen Littleboy| and Victoria Mapplebeck|, a re all active Directors and Producers with excellent industry contacts. Students will develop skills via collaboration with these tutors on work in progress, a unique learning opportunity that will provide genuine vocational experience.
Recent and forthcoming guest lectures include BBC Director Adam Curtis|, award winning director Daisy Asquith|, Clare Paterson|, commissioning Executive for BBC Documentaries, and Aysha Rafaele|, Commissioning Editor of Documentaries at Channel 4.
During these guest lectures, students have a direct link to industry professionals, gaining from their substantial experience and expertise. Guest commissioners provide students with knowledge of and links to current commissioning strategies. Several of our invited commissioners have subsequently worked with our students on developing their projects.
The Media Arts Centre offers our students exclusive 24-7 access to six purpose built editing rooms equipped with Final Cut Studio 3 on Mac Pro editing systems. Our Location Store provides an equipment loan and advisory support service with a lending stock that includes twenty Sony HVR-V1E cameras, twenty Sennheiser radio microphone kits and a selection of professional quality sound recording and lighting equipment.
With access to the latest digital recording and editing equipment, and covering areas from authorship to authenticity, the Masters in Documentary Practice will offer an in-depth programme of creative production, taking the student from conception through commissioning to research, composition and exhibition.We also provide excellent tuition in self-shooting documentary filmmaking techniques
Our Masters in Documentary Practice is one of the few practical postgraduate courses that engage with a new culture of Documentary. On graduating, our students will be skilled in creative and professional documentary practice. We have one of the highest employability rates amongst UK Universities. Our graduates have become award-winning filmmakers, BBC journalists and one of our alumni Charlotte Cook was appointed Strand Co -Coordinator of BBC’s Documentary Strand Storyville|. Charlotte has more recently been appointed the Director of Programming at HotDocs - Canadian International Documentary Film Festival| .
Our graduate students have won and been nominated for many awards including, The Human Rights Award, The World Cinema Student Awards, The Koestler Trust Platinum Award, The Jerwood First Cuts Documentary Award and The One World Broadcasting Trust Award. Our students have won an award from the One World Broadcasting Trust every year for the past three years.
Past One World winners include Michael Watts|. Our recent graduate Jeong- One Park has just been awarded the 2011 One World Student Media Award| for her film Kung Fu Grandmas .
Jeong One has also been given the opportunity to work with award winning filmmaker Olly Lambert| who was her industry mentor.
Our graduates have also had their films screened at prestigious UK and international film festivals including The Rushes Soho Short Film Festival| and The Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Festival. One of our graduates Syed Atef Amjad Ali | had his Royal Holloway dissertation film The Red Mosque previewed at The Amsterdam International Documentary Festival. IDFA is a respected and highly competitive festival. The Red Mosque was made with production funds Syed received from The Jan Virijman Fund| and also from the One World-Broadcasting Award.
Our alumni have also had their films selected for various online film sites including the prestigious BBC Film Network. Graduate Suzanne Cohen |Royal Holloway film,’Out of Time’ was premiered on The BBC Film Network website. The Film Network is the BBC’s interactive showcase for ‘new British filmmakers, screening three new short films in broadband quality every week, adding to a growing catalogue of great shorts’.The site also has an industry panel, comprising of a growing number of established professionals including: distributors, festival programmers, regional commissioners, funders and established filmmakers.