Documentary Practice MA

About the Course

This modern and innovative course draws on a dense network of organisations and individuals working in documentary today. The MA provides you with the space to creatively, practically and critically engage with the documentary from a variety of traditions, and is structured to provide you with training and professional expertise in dominant/mainstream documentary production techniques, procedures and alternative traditions.

This year, students will be loaned an iPad pre-loaded with learning resources, as part of a research project which is being undertaken with the MA Documentary programme as its main focus. Also, besides the availability of various cameras (Sony Z7, GoPro, Canon DSLRs, etc) and other related equipment (various tripods, lighting kits, dolly systems, etc), students are given a 500GB portable hard disk to use throughout the year for their projects.

Student Profiles: Alba Gonzalez Cano, Hopewell Chin'ono, Eleanor Church, Jamel Dallali, Santiago Posada, Susie Valerio

Latest News: School of Arts launches iPad version of MA Documentary Practice handbook.

Aims

The dual focus of this course, allied with its non-prescriptive approach, makes it a unique place to develop your knowledge about the documentary. While the course is primarily oriented towards practice (approximately 70% practical, 30% theoretical) we believe that effective practice in whatever documentary traditions you choose to draw on and work with requires critical engagement, reflection and historical knowledge, if you are to fulfil your own potential, as well that of the documentary genre.

Enquiries

Donna White
School of Arts
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH
Email pg-arts-admissions@brunel.ac.uk
Tel +44 (0)1895 267214

Programme Convenor: Dr Michael Wayne
Email michael.wayne@brunel.ac.uk

Related Courses

Special Features

"Somehow I’ve built a successful career as a film editor, but I’ve done it largely in the thick of things. I sometimes wish I’d known much earlier what I know now. Filmmaking isn’t only, or even mainly, about practical skills, it’s about the way you think. A film evolves through a complex series of intellectual and aesthetic processes, and it exists within a broader cultural and historical context. This is where Brunel’s MA course comes in. It’s certainly no pushover; but whatever it demands of the student, it repays in full. Teaching there, I often think 'Wow, this is just what I needed'."

Steve Stevenson, editor.

The Film and Television subject team has substantial experience in teaching critically informed video practice, and has research interests and expertise in documentary, audio-visual journalism, video activism and the cultural theory/practice interface.
The practical side of the MA is taught by a range of working professional documentary filmmakers, specially selected to give you a diverse learning exerience of the documentary tradition. Email: michael.wayne@brunel.ac.uk for an up to date list of professionals currently working for us.
Our teaching and learning strategies are informed by our commitment to independent learning, the exercise of initiative, personal responsibility, problem solving in varied and sometimes unpredictable circumstances, and encouraging critical reflection on practice.
The course will be taught through seminars, lectures, workshops, self-directed exercises and projects, student presentations and tutorials.
The teaching team fosters a learning environment that encourages independent thought and discussion and above all, a non-prescriptive approach to what constitutes documentary practices. In this way you will be encouraged to gain confidence in, and test out, your own ideas.
You will be issued with an iPad running an interactive programme handbook specifically designed for your programme of studies. The iPad will be loaned to you for the duration of the course. The interactive iPad Handbook contains over 90 pages of detailed, fully-searchable information about the programme and individual modules and is packed with videos, photo galleries, class slides, reading lists and other interactive resources.

School of Arts

The School of Arts has specialists in drama, dance, English and music and its work prioritises the contemporary and the innovative. Its approaches are both theoretical and practice-based learning and research. Interdisciplinarity is a distinguishing feature of much of the postgraduate student research programmes. It is a strategic imperative for the School that its research work engages with issues of contemporary relevance for all those with a stake in innovation in the performing arts.

All facilities are close at hand - performance and rehearsal rooms, recording studios, media and arts facilities, libraries, computer labs, the Students' Union, sports facilities, and of course, lecture rooms and smaller classrooms. Everything is designed for your convenience.

Course Content

The course is approximately 70% practice, 30% theory.

The course focuses on both mainstream and alternative documentary traditions. It has both a UK and international focus. The practical components of the Course are taught by working documentary filmmakers. You will also work with our new digital cameras and be trained on Final Cut Pro (our editing suites also have Avid). The theoretical components of the course are taught by full time academic staff who are research active in the field of documentary and journalism.

The course encourages you to develop your own interests and skills and is not prescriptive about the kinds of documentary you can make. As a London based university we have access to a dense network of filmmakers and developing links with organisations such as the One World Broadcasting Trust, Doc House and the Documentary Filmmakers Group (DFG). We believe that the future for many independent documentary filmmakers will no longer be limited to the old model of getting commissions from broadcast television. The shift to user-generated content and web-based dissemination of work will be increasingly reflected in our curriculum.

Module Content (all core)

Theory and History of Documentary Practices

This introduces students to the key theorists and practitioners of documentary, explores its different institutional contexts in film and television, and offers comparative analysis of the development of documentary in the UK and, by way of contrast, Latin America.

Documentary Practices 1

This is a double unit running over two terms. Students will learn the practical methods for mainstream documentary production procedures such as writing the proposal, researching the idea, interviewing techniques and shooting strategies.

Editing Practices

This is specifically devoted to instructing students on the University's Avid digital editing suites and developing competence in different editing strategies.

Alternative Practices

This module mixes theory and practical elements. It explores documentary traditions that in some way lie outside and/or challenge the more mainstream documentary or television documentary practices. Much contemporary documentary provides perspectives on current events and issues marginalised by mainstream news and current affairs provision. We also look at the interface between documentary and more avant-garde, experimental practices. You will also be taught web design and construction. The Internet has become a crucial means for independent documentary filmmakers to publicise their work, disseminate it and build support networks.

Documentary Practices 2

Continues the practical exploration of mainstream documentary procedures and practices, including such topics as the creative use of sounds, writing documentary commentary, production management planning, and questions of funding and distribution.

Short Video Project

This offers the opportunity to produce a short video in preparation for the longer video project in the third term.

Final Project

In the third term you take the final video project which involves bringing your practical, historical and theoretical knowledge to bear on a substantive documentary on a subject and in a style (or styles) of your own choosing. You will have tutorial guidance but will need to demonstrate considerable independence of thought, creativity and initiative.

Recent examples of documentaries by students taking this course include:

US military bases on Greek islands
The potential impact of the Olympics on the East End
Life in Beirut
The Armenian genocide
The Vietnamese Boat People
Loss of a twin sibling.
Indigenous struggles in Chiapas, Mexico.
A women’s only village in Kenya

Festival Screenings, Awards, and Exhibitions:

Pain in My Heart by Hopewell Chin’ono won Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship award for outstanding documentary, 2008
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250068.html
The Unprotected Museum, Ioannis Malovakis - 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
The Perfect Man, Maria Akesson, Lesbian, Gay - Transgender film festivals worldwide (Toronto, Montreal, Melbourne and London)
Mesopotamian Marshes, Stijn Verhoeff - Exhibition in Photography Museum in Amsterdam
Purnima Raghunath's film City of Widows won the Satyajit Ray Foundation Best Short Film Award in April 2008. Her short film for the MA Gap The Mind won the City of London Festival’s City in Motion Student Short Film Competition Award.
Blind Ballerinas, Tatiane Feres, best short film at the 2010 5^th International Disability Film Festival (Russia).
My Kosher Shifts Iris Zaki's final documentary film for the course won the 2011 My Streets top prize at the Open City Documentary Film Festival, worth £2000.

Contact Hours

Normal timetabled contact hours for this programme are as follows:

Full-time - 3 days per week
Part-time - 1 day per week in year 1 and 1.5 -2 days per week until March in year 2

Both options will also need to include any additional meetings arranged with your tutor.

Assessment

Individual film projects, presentations, essays.

Careers

Recent Graduates’ achievements and employment:

ZDF German Television, history and society documentary department
Documentary producer, Danceproject, PureRisk Entertainment
Production team, Pramface Mansion (Broadcast BBC March 2008)
Development department, Windfall Films (developing documentary and factual ideas for TV series and singles for UK and US broadcasters)
Location Assistant, documentary production company in Athens, Greece
Freelance Cameraperson
Freelance Non-Linear Video Editor

Student Profiles

Fees for 2013/14 entry

UK/EU students: £5,800 full-time; £2,900 part-time

International students: £13,500 full-time; £6,750 part-time

Read about funding opportunities available to postgraduate students

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements

A good honours degree in a relevant area such as film; television; media; or communications. Applicants with degrees in other disciplines will be considered if they can demonstrate sufficient academic experience in areas relevant to the subject. Applicants with relevant practical experience and/or professional qualifications will also be considered.

English Language Requirements

IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
TOEFL Paper test: 580 (TWE 4.5)
TOEFL Internet test: 92 (R20, L20, S20, W20)
Pearson: 59 (51 in all subscores)
BrunELT 65% (min 60% in all areas)

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.

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