University degrees: Postgraduate
Course length: 1 year full-time
The MA Filmmaking (Directing Fiction) is the premier place to develop your skills as a director, working on a range of projects from personal ‘essay’ films to large-scale shoots with professional actors and feature crew.
This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, will enable you to gain a full understanding of how to collaborate on all stages of filmmaking, from scripting and pre-production through shoot, post-production and marketing/exhibition of your work. It will build your skills and confidence in expressing your unique vision and conveying it to your team.
The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri lighting and Greenscreen, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction and Foley suites.
We have extensive production facilities and informal rehearsal and meeting spaces where you can discuss and collaborate with scriptwriters, actors, producers and your shoot team.
We also have established relations with casting directors, agents, production designers and other professionals who will both advise you and provide their skills to enhance your productions.
You work on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition to your specialist area, you attend classes in related disciplines such as Film Directing and Editing and collaborate with students across specialisations on film projects. This framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by providing you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.
“The course gave the opportunity to delve into practical movie directing projects together with talented mentors and international peers on a daily basis.”
“Each film we created together progressed technically, aesthetically and thematically, and our screen storytelling abilities matured.”
Experienced tutors enhance the flow of your individual research, experimentation and artistic achievement. The guests have all provided expert guidance at Goldsmiths.
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies.
For two terms you will spend a full day a week in specialised contact with your specific programme convenor. These sessions include:
You will also take three option modules, taught through practical workshops and hands-on experiences, as well as critical discussion and essay writing.
The third term will be taken up with your final substantive project and you will take part in a series of progress and feedback meetings.
You will also advance your collaborative skills by working in teams with fiction and documentary producers and directors and sound and edit students, on a variety of projects and at least three scheduled films across the year.
You will leave the programme with a diverse portfolio of moving-image work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and feature-scale short fiction films.
You will take the following modules:
| Module title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Directing Fiction: Specialist Skills | 30 credits | |
| Contemporary Screen Narratives in Practice and Theory | 15 credits |
You will also complete a Final Project (90 credits), assessed by a portfolio of work and a viva that reflects your practice.
As well as your Directing specialism, you will choose three 15-credit modules to enhance your other skills and critical approaches. Options include:
| Module title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Social Activist Film | 15 credits | |
| Adaptation and Script Editing | 30 credits | |
| Archaeology of the Moving Image | 15 credits | |
| Camera Fundamentals | 15 credits | |
| Experimental Media | 30 credits or 15 credits | |
| Filmmakers Make Theory | 15 credits | |
| Film Producing Fundamentals | 15 credits | |
| Representing Reality | 15 credits | |
| Sound Design Fundamentals | 15 credits | |
| The Ascent of the Image | 15 credits | |
| Visual Storytelling | 30 credits | |
| Doctor Holby: Writing for Existing Continuing TV Drama Series | 15 credits | |
| Media Law and Ethics | 15 credits | |
| Practical Law for Film-makers | 15 credits |
Download the programme specification. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.