BA (Hons) BA (Hons) Practical Filmmaking (Two-Year)
BA Practical Filmmaking (Two-Year) prepares the next generation of screen creatives. It builds creative and technical skills essential to succeed in today’s film, TV, and new media industries. Our professional tutors and high-calibre guest speakers teach the fundamentals of storytelling, production, technical, and screen business skills.
Gain experience across filmmaking and screen disciplines such as screenwriting, producing, directing, camera and lighting, and editing.
Why choose this course?
- Practitioner Tutors: MetFilm School Programme Leadership and Tutors are comprised of industry practitioners and educators with award-winning experience across the industry*.
- Industry-facing: Routes to employment in the creative screen industries with first-hand practical guidance from working industry professionals. Gain industry recognition through ScreenSkills and ‘industry passports’.
- Portfolio: Develop a range of work that includes fiction, documentary, episodic, and commercial productions across film, TV, and streaming.
This course is industry recognised by ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen-based industries and carries the ScreenSkills Select quality mark which indicates courses best suited to prepare students for a career in the screen industries.
Course aims
- Develop a full range of creative, editorial, and technical skills applicable to all major aspects of screen production.
- Initiate, develop, and think innovatively in the realisation of creative work using a full range of digital media.
- Communicate and deliver creative ideas, both working alone and collaboratively as part of a team.
- Apply knowledge, skills, and understanding of all aspects of storytelling and production in the creation of completed artefacts with an assured handling of tools and techniques consistently and ethically delivered using best practice to a standard commensurate with professional work.
- Make active and informed use of the theoretical frameworks and contemporary cultural, political, and ethical perspectives relevant to your discipline.
- Engage critically with contemporary industry practice in all its manifestations, recognising how considerations of business and exploitation impact on production, and how different disciplines and roles relate to one another.
- Consider all aspects of diversity, equality and inclusivity in your development as a practitioner and through analysing global cinema and cultural context.
Course Specification
Mode of attendance: Full-time
Length of course: 2 years
Awarding institution: BIMM University (UK)
Campus delivery: MetFilm School Berlin
Language of study: English
Minimum Requirements
All applicants must successfully complete an entrance interview with BIMM University Berlin (details provided on application).
- UCAS Tariff: 64 points
- A-Level: CC
- Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma: MPP
Applicants may also provide an equivalent Level 3 qualification such as a Baccalaureate or International Baccalaureate.
MetFilm School Berlin applicants need to apply directly through our website.
Students receive the Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud License for the duration of their course. For more information, please check Equipment in the Study with Us section for your chosen course.
Progression
After completing the course, you can progress into work within the film and TV industry as well as other creative industries such as digital media, marketing and distribution.
Course Fees
As part of Europe’s most successful group of music, film and performing arts colleges at BIMM University Berlin, the Screen and Film Faculty is uniquely positioned to offer outstanding value and quality.
We’re dedicated to giving our students the best film education possible – which means accessing our globally successful first-rate lecturers in premium locations at the heart of Germany’s film scene.
Such cutting-edge facilities can be expensive, but we make sure all BIMM University Berlin courses are great value for money – representing a practical and affordable investment for your future career in the film industry.
Year 1
The script is the blueprint or plan from which the production flows. In this module, you will learn how story ideas are converted to scripts, and both ‘how’ and ‘why’ to use an industry format for your screenplay.
You will learn the fundamentals of storytelling for screen, including plot, characters, conflict and resolution, and how to develop these into a coherent and compelling narrative. At the end of the module, you will have developed a short film script from an original idea into a format ready to take to pre production.
This module introduces you to the craft skills and filmmaking techniques in cinematography, sound, and post production. You will discover how mood and tone contribute to story, and learn practical techniques in framing, composition, and lighting that can convey meaning.
You will explore editing techniques and styles that blend image and sound to create powerful sequences. At the end of this module, you will have learnt the fundamentals of camera, lighting, sound, and post production, completing a number of practical exercises which form the foundation of your further practical and technical craft skills development.
Effective management and organisation is vital to successful film production. In this module, you will learn the fundamentals of producing and successfully delivering a short film. All film students need to understand how production decisions impact all areas of the process, and how all departments contribute, as a team, to the production workflow.
Effective collaboration is key to a successful film career in any department, and so all students are introduced to the fundamentals of managing a production, to understand how the entire production chain affects their role.
In addition, students will complete MetFilm School and industry-recognised accreditation to work unsupervised with equipment, as part of the greenlighting process.
This module works to demystify the role of a screen director. Examining how a director takes a screenplay and transforms it, with the collaboration of a creative team of collaborators, into a finished film, the module introduces the steps and techniques involved.
You will learn how to approach a script as a director, gathering and communicating your creative ideas, and preparing and working with actors and crew to see them come to life on screen. At the end of this module, you will have the tools and techniques to apply to directing, or transfer to other roles in film.
Building on your creative, production, and practical skills so far, you will bring these together in collaborative teams to create a short film. This module emphasises storytelling, craft skills, collaboration, and organisation, setting you up to develop these skills further as you progress on your filmmaking journey.
At the end of this module, you will have the opportunity to work on a number of short films, which will be one of the major achievements of your first year.
This module explores films and filmmakers from globally and their visual storytelling techniques that provide cultural context and ideologies to an audience. You will discover films from different parts of the world and discuss the similarities and differences the productions adopt in creating national identity.
Throughout the module, you will analyse how equality, diversity, and inclusivity can be represented through film, and how this has been achieved historically and in current approaches. At the end of this module, you will have been challenged to view film in a new light, and to develop your opinions in a safe and constructive environment.
Year 2
This module examines factual storytelling and the importance of realism and facts that run through documentary productions. In a small team, you will develop and produce a short documentary film, learning how to find and develop stories, work with contributors, and structure a creative documentary narrative based on reality.
You will practice and apply visual techniques in camera, lights, sound, and editing in observational situations, and learn subject research and interview techniques from an editorial, technical, and ethical point of view.
Documentary challenges you to tell meaningful stories in creative, compelling ways, and to consider your impact on society through your role as a filmmaker.
In this module, you will develop an idea for an episodic drama. You will learn about structuring narrative and character arcs into an episodic series, working with storytelling techniques for local and global audiences.
The creative process is grounded in contemporary contexts in business, technologies, and audiences for streaming and digital platform. You will understand the parameters of industry practices such as the ‘writers room’, working with showrunners, and developing a series ‘bible’.
In this module, you will apply your skills to the broader context of commercial projects, with a view to meeting client or customer expectations, and delivering to a brief.
The audience reach and brand values of businesses mean that commercially funded projects can offer great production and financial benefits to filmmakers, but creative conditions, brand guidelines, and regulatory codes must be understood and adhered to.
To success commercially, you will need to meet client requirements while staying within time and budget constraints, and producing work with creative flair that sets you apart from the competition. In this module, you will work on a commercial brief to complete a project for your portfolio.
Specialisms include Directing, Cinematography, Producing, Screenwriting, and Post Production.
Through your elective, you will have the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge and skills in one of the above specialisms. Through your research and practice in this module, you will deepen your approach to your work, allowing you to reflect on your strengths, and to improve on your weaknesses.
Regardless of your chosen specialism, you will build transferable and collaborative skills, as well as deepening your understanding of your role and responsibilities as a Head of Department (HOD), alongside other HODs in film production. At the end of the module, you will have examples of work to include in your portfolio.
This module expands on film theory and analysis through watching and analysing a range of films from particular angles. You will hear and express opinions based on research and reasoned analysis, drawing on a wide range of cultural and critical perspectives.
By doing so, you will find yourself able to approach your own practice as a filmmaker with confidence in your motivations, and an awareness of the factors affecting the audience.
Year 3
In this module, you will make a 15-20 minute genre-based short film, in which you will take on a key role that allows you to demonstrate your work at an advanced level in terms of narrative, technical, and management skills.
You will research the genre of production concerned, and fulfill your role based on appropriate preparation and execution for your department, working as part of a collaborative team.
In this module, you will develop and prepare for your final graduation project. You will propose and develop a concept into a fully-fleshed out treatment, ready to pitch for production or further development, depending on the nature of the project.
You will be assigned a mentor to guide and advise you through this process, including the creative, logistical, and ethical aspects of your proposal. At the end of the module, you will have a project for your portfolio.
This module revolves around exploring your identity as a film professional, giving you a platform to understand where you see yourself in the screen industry once you graduate.
You will examine, test, and create a digital online presence that reflects your best work, describes your passion, and provides you with your own voice, allowing you to reflect on the educational journey that you have taken.
The final module of your degree, this module is heavily based on self-directed learning and mentor support as you deliver your graduation project in a key creative or HOD role.
Any questions?
For any questions regarding our short courses or if you’d like more information on how to apply to MetFilm School, please contact their Admissions Team at +44 20 82809119 or info@metfilmschool.co.uk.
