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Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
Learn from a dynamic, experienced team of filmmakers, academic experts and published scholars.
Develop your industry network and employment opportunities through meeting leading filmmakers, film editors and industry executives.
The course provides you with opportunities to gain work experience in industry as well as with community projects. Through the course, you will be able to build your portfolio, develop networking skills and get industry ready.
About the course
This course gives you the specialist knowledge and skills you need to work and succeed in the fast-evolving field of digital film production. You explore areas such as cross-media approaches to storytelling; scriptwriting; production planning and development; digital film production; editing and post-production techniques; and film history and theory. All students work with an external client on a real project for industry. The Creative Enterprises unit prepares you for the world of work by helping you prepare your portfolio and CV; introducing you to industry professionals; and looking at opportunities for working freelance and within larger production houses.
For further course information, contact Kelli Watson at kelli.watson@beds.ac.uk
Facilities and specialist equipment
- High-spec television broadcast studios and radio facilities
- Netflix-standard cameras to produce broadcast-quality film and television
- Industry-standard film production and post-production equipment
- Location recording equipment
- 3D green-screen room
- Digital video-editing suites
- Adobe Creative Cloud software
You also have access to our Postgraduate and CPD Centre featuring:
- 4,254m2 of space over five storeys
- state-of-the-art IT and AV equipment
- informal learning spaces
- quiet study areas
- 24/7 access to our library services with 244,564 e-books and 68,547 e-journals
Industry links
We have established relationships with a wide range of leading organisations and companies across film and broadcasting.
We have active partnerships with:
Coolr Social Media Agency who are involved in the delivery of relevant course units as well as offering students workplace opportunities and live projects.
Merge XR Virtual Studios who deliver expert industry lectures and workshops using the latest virtual production techniques; student work placements; use of facilities including Unreal Engine and a virtual production studio; and potential graduate employment.
We also work with Pinewood Studios, the BBC, ITV, the Royal Television Society, MKFM, Octopus TV, Monkey Kingdom, Zig Zag Productions, the Berlin Shorts Festival and Luton Town FC.
Student experience
Within the 'cinematics' subject category, 96% of our students were satisfied with the learning opportunities their course offered, including teaching skills for the future (NSS, 2024).
Develop your understanding of both fiction and non-fiction film-making, through an advanced study of film theory which you apply in practice, building your creativity and personal style.
Take up regular, exciting opportunities to meet visiting, industry-active professionals. Recent speakers include documentary film-maker, Ken Kirby; Mick Payne, Match of the Day producer; Tom Wall, TV producer/director for Channel 4, Channel 5 and Netflix; Julian Dismore, series producer for the BBC; Hayley Morray, assistant producer at ITV; Stuart Pinfold, BBC sound supervisor.
Gain work experience through our active partnerships with Coolr Social Media Agency and Merge XR Virtual Studios as well as a coveted annual placement scheme with the BBC's The One Show.
Gain radio broadcast experience via our award-winning, Ofcom-licensed local community radio service, Radio LaB, which is run by students for students and the local community.
You have the opportunity to work on Beds TV, our in-house TV station, and use our facilities to produce content for the station.
Take advantage of field trips to studios, film festivals and other work-related destinations including MKFM; Luton Town FC; BBC Studios White City and Broadcasting House; BT Sport; Sky; BAFTA networking events; Berlin Shorts Festival; and TechCon.
Our graduates have gone on to work for the BBC and ITV as well as on or in top TV shows, films and stage productions such as James Bond: No Time to Die; Mission: Impossible; Married at First Sight; Strictly Come Dancing; Gogglebox; The Apprentice; Dr Who; 24-hour news stations and BT Sport.
Our Netflix Approved Cameras will allow you to produce broadcast quality Film and Television as part of the course. The Sony Fx3 Cinema line camera has a full frame sensor and is in an amazingly compact design and enhanced mobility for easy solo hand-held shooting. The Sony Fx6 Cinema line camera delivers compactness and performance, with a full-frame image sensor and a library of pre-set looks allows stunning cinematic expression to be achieved easily.
Course Leader - Kelli Watson
Kelli Watson has been teaching film production for over 19 years.
Her pedagogical approach includes developing alternative methods of teaching to support people who have struggled in mainstream educational settings.
She is also an independent and practicing filmmaker working with small and independent record companies to produce music videos and promotional material for up-and-coming musical artists.
What will you study?
Studying our Creative Digital Film Production MA course gives you hands-on experience of filmmaking to a professional standard, with the specialist knowledge and skills you need to work and succeed in the fast-evolving field of digital film production. You will explore areas such as cross-media approaches to storytelling, production planning and development, digital film production, editing and post-production techniques and film history and theory. Building on experience, filmmakers will further develop their understanding of both fiction and non-fiction film making through an advanced study of film theory, coupled with a practical application designed to build and develop creativity and personal style. At the heart of this course is your employability. Through our Creative Enterprises unit, you will have the opportunity to work on a live brief as well as explore employment opportunities within the film and television industry.
Building on the foundations of your study, Film Analysis will enable you to adopt an informed and sophisticated approach to film theory. You will critically analyse various cinema forms and institutions ranging from contemporary to historical cinema and enhance your awareness of the specificity of meaning within films. To develop your skills in film production, you will engage with a range of workshops and practical exercises in our Fiction Film Production unit. You will practice the standard rules of film production, from sequencing shots to the continuity system, and learn to realise your ideas on the screen while working as part of a production team with performers. Overall, you will have the opportunity to make creative and technical decisions in fiction filmmaking.
You will also get the opportunity to produce a short factual film in our Truth and Telling unit that will expose you to the creative issues and decisions at the heart of storytelling through documentaries or other experimental forms. On a deeper level, you will consider different modes of production and how filmmakers make meaning in their work based on cultural influences or technology. Finally, you will have the opportunity to complete a Digital Film Project where you can produce your own work of film in a documentary, fiction or hybrid style that is accompanied by a critical contextual study. Alternatively, you will complete a 12,000-word dissertation on a topic of your choice related to film practice or studies.
How will you be assessed?
Assessments take a variety of forms including written work (programme pitches research plans contextual essays) oral presentations (programme pitches) and practical work (studio or location video content). For some units you will work individually while on other more practice-focused units you will work as a group to produce work for assessment though it is important to note that all students will be graded individually.
The assessments are designed to enable you to become more effective multi-skilled practitioners using your producing and technical skills to create innovative and industry standard programming. They are also designed to help develop and test your ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team in a variety of production phases from development to post-production. On all units there will be opportunity for formative feedback on assessments-in-progress before the assessment deadline and you are encouraged to integrate formative and summative feedback into your work in order to develop as television practitioners and academic researchers.
Careers
This course is ideal for you if you are seeking a job in film-related fields such as production programming, marketing and film administration. It provides an understanding of filmmaking in relation to commercial and cultural industries both global and in the UK.
Students graduating from this degree have entered the film industry as editors, filmmakers and production crew as well as setting up their own production companies. Graduates will also be qualified to apply for MPhil and PhD research degrees.
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £16,900
If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk
