You will consider the practices and processes of professional filmmakers and use these to inform the production of your own short film. Through pre-production, production and post-production, you will develop a range of entrepreneurial skills that will support your future career aspirations. Your completed short film will be supported by relevant industry paperwork and pitch materials that highlight the preparation, organisation and research required to align your filmmaking practice to industry expectations. You will learn key aspects of scriptwriting, pitching, budgeting and developing film branding. Positioning your film in context, you will consider the distribution strategy and create marketing materials for your film.

Assessment 1: Professional Filmmaking Practice Portfolio
A film production with supportive production paperwork, pitch materials.

LOs (Learning Outcomes): 1-4 70%.

Assessment 2: Professional Discussion
Professional discussion to reflect production project, production role(s), skills development, and actions to maintain and improve your work.

LOs (Learning Outcomes): 1-4 30%.

The learning strategies used within the module include experiential learning, where you will learn through the process of idea generation, pre-production, production and post-production. There is opportunity for learning to be personalised, as students are encouraged to draw from their influences and create work aligned to their future career aspirations whilst producing the film. The films can span any genre. You can create non-fiction, fiction, music videos, experimental or client films.

Workshops will explore scriptwriting, pre-production practices, production and post-production techniques, pitching and film branding.

Guest Speakers will provide context to the current climate of the film industry, give advice on portfolio building and an insight into filmmaking business skills.

Technical Instruction introduces camera, audio and editing techniques, providing hands on experience with professional camera equipment and Adobe software.

Workshops will provide problem solving exercises and opportunities to experiment with practical filmmaking skills.

Production Supervisor (Lecturer) will oversee your project and experiments. This means you will be required to meet negotiated project milestones, which may be hyper personal depending on your project goals. You will receive regular formative feedback on your film and production file.

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles of practical filmmaking and production processes.
Knowledge and Understanding.

2. Apply professional filmmaking practice techniques to the production of a short film.
Application.

3. Create contingency plans in preparation for issues that may arise during production.
Problem Solving.

4. Reflect on filmmaking processes to communicate effectively using appropriate vocabulary to critically reflect on industry expectations.
Communication.

Film studio, green screen and motion capture studio.
Post-production suite - Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop.
Professional camera, lighting, audio and grip equipment.
E-library facilities, computer access and printing.
Microsoft Teams digital learning environment.
LinkedIn Learning online learning resource.

Grade, A. (2020) The Freelance Bible: Everything You Need to Go Solo in Any Industry. Penguin.

Moore, S.M. (2018) The biz: The basic business, legal and financial aspects of the film Industry in a digital world. 5th ed. (expanded and updated). Los Angeles: Silman-James Press.

Rea, P.W. (2015) Producing and directing the short film and video. 5th ed. Edited by D.K. Irving. New York: Routledge.

Hoser, T. (2018) Introduction to cinematography: learning through practice. Routledge: London.

Evening, M. (2013). Adobe Photoshop CC for photographers: a professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC. New York: Focal Press.

Perkins, C. (2012). The after effects illusionist: all the effects in one complete guide. 2nd ed. Oxford: Focal Press.

You will develop your theoretical, practical and technical understanding of filmmaking practice to engage in the development, pre-production, production and post-production aspects of fiction filmmaking. You will develop a range of entrepreneurial skills that will support your future career aspirations and consider the practices and processes of professional practitioners use these to inform the production of your own short film. You will learn key aspects of scriptwriting, pitching, budgeting and developing film branding. Positioning your film in context, you will consider the distribution strategy and create marketing materials for your film.