filmmaking
degree courses at Swansea Metropolitan University
BA (Hons) Video / BA (Hons) Documentary Video BA (Hons) Video Arts / BA (Hons) Video 4 yr programme
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Welcome Our Video programmes at Swansea Metropolitan University are structured in an innovative and flexible way that provides you the opportunity to explore this contemporary media within many aspects of filmmaking. Our aim is to produce graduates that take initiative. Whether you choose a commercial or independent route, you will be encouraged to develop your own personal creative direction. Located in the heart of the city centre, our new purpose built Art, Design & Media Centre provides you with a stimulating environment. Our state-ofthe-art facilities allow sustained engagement for the duration of your degree. Throughout your course you will gain the confidence to express your ideas through film. You are continuously encouraged to explore and learn the entire processes from production, editing, camera work to sound recording. You will have the opportunity to gain inspiration beyond the boundaries of the studio through potential visits to overseas and key UK locations. Our teaching methods are designed to be informative and interaction is encouraged on all levels of communication with our highly professional and specialised staff. Past students at Swansea Metropolitan University have great international success. It is our passion and duty to fully prepare our top quality graduates with the realisation that you too can develop the skills you will need to follow in their footsteps and be successful within your chosen career path within this exciting contemporary industry.
PAGE 2 IMAGE : Director Justin Kerrigan and DoP Ed Wild PHOTO: Paul Chedlow
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Contents Choosing Your Programme.......................................7 BA (Hons) Video........................................................9 BA (Hons) Documentary Video..................................9 BA (Hons) Video Arts..............................................11 BA (Hons) Video 4 Year Programme.......................11 Resources..........................................................12-15 Facilities...................................................................13 Avid..........................................................................13 Professional & Industry Links...................................15 Library......................................................................15 Developing Your Skills.............................................17 Career Opportunities...............................................17 Graduate Success..............................................18-19 Student Comments..................................................21 What We Expect From You.....................................23 Staff Profiles.......................................................24-27 Manolo Lozano........................................................24 James Morgan.........................................................25 Chris Buxton............................................................25 Andrew Hamley.......................................................26 Ruth Robinson.........................................................26 Chris Holtom............................................................27 Steve Sullivan..........................................................27 Why Choose Swansea Met?...................................28 Life In Swansea.......................................................28 Student Life In Swansea..........................................28 Student Support At Swansea Met...........................28 Get In Touch............................................................30 IMAGE : Robert Carlyle in Parallax Productions’ forthcoming feature film, ‘I Know You Know’ PHOTO: Paul Chedlow
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Choosing your programme We focus on creative inspiration, which will allow you to fully develop your individual voice and style. Each programme is designed so that you may develop in your particular area of interest. To support the major study modules, all students undertake core modules such as visual studies, historical and contextual studies and professional practice. A substantial list of elective choices enhances your programme of study, offering flexibility and a wider range of opportunities. Elected workshops include photography, digital photography, print making, painting and drawing, image and text, electronic illustration, web page design and many more.
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Choosing your programme
BA (Hons) Video
BA (Hons) Documentary Video
Through the continual production of short film projects throughout the degree course, you will have the chance to develop a personal voice in digital filmmaking. The course will give you training and guidance in industry practice and the technical skills of current video production from camerawork and sound recording, to editing and post-production. You will also develop your writing and directing skills and have the chance of placements on professional productions. (Selected students have had work experience on films directed by Ken Russell and Justin Kerrigan). The course is 80% practical, complimented by 20% theoretical study. We are an Avid academic partner with an Avid certified instructor which enables you to gain certification.
From the intimately confessional to the grandly narrative and anywhere in between, on the BA (Hons) Documentary Video you will be able to discover your own personal approach to fact-based digital filmmaking as you make a succession of projects throughout the degree course. You will learn the technical knowledge required by today’s multi-skilled practitioners, as well as gaining an appreciation of the implications of the documentary form. You will also have the chance of placements on professional productions. (Selected students have had work experience on films directed by Ken Russell and Justin Kerrigan). The course is 80% practical, complimented by 20% theoretical study. We are an Avid academic partner with an Avid certified instructor which enables you to gain certification.
UCAS Course Codes: . ........................ W610 (route A) .............................................................. E610 (route B) UCAS Course Title: . ....................... BA/Video (route A) ..........................................................BA/Vidb (route B)
UCAS Course Codes: . .........................W600 (route A) ............................................................... E600 (route B) UCAS Course Title: . ............................BA/DV (route A) ...........................................................BA/DVb (route B)
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Choosing your programme
BA (Hons) Video BA (Hons) Video Arts 4 Year Programme With an emphasis on exploring experimental and innovative digital video work relevant to contemporary arts practice, you will have the freedom to discover your own personal creative direction. Set within one of the longest established art schools in the United Kingdom, the BA (Hons) Video Arts equips you with the technical skills to develop your ideas from concepts through to exhibition. The course is 80% practical, complimented by 20% theoretical study. We are an Avid academic partner with an Avid certified instructor which enables you to gain certification.
For students who wish to gain a greater understanding of lens-based media progressing to a three year degree, we run a Level Zero, which provides you with an introduction to the medium. Students successfully completing this level will automatically proceed to Year One. Entry qualifications are the same in academic points, but you will not require a portfolio at interview.
UCAS Course Codes: . ..........................W611 (route A) ................................................................E611 (route B) UCAS Course Title: . ............................. BA/VA (route A) ............................................................BA/VAb (route B)
UCAS Course Codes: ...................... W601 (route A) .............................................................E601 (route B) UCAS Course Title: . ......................BA/Vid4 (route A) ......................................................BA/Vidb4 (route B)
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Resources Facilities The school has excellent facilities and equipment for digital film and television production and post-production. A fully equipped TV studio with production control room and green screen capabilities, gives students the opportunity to shoot single and multi-camera set-ups of anything from news and documentary interviews to drama, video art and special effects shots. For location production, a range of DV, HDV, DVC-PRO HD and XD-CAM camera kits are available along with lighting kits and sound recording equipment. Track & dolly and steadicam systems can also be used on student productions. Avid For post-production, the University is an Avid Mentor and has multiple Media Composer suites totalling 24 seats. In addition, many computers are equipped with Final Cut Studio, After Effects, Photoshop, DVD Studio Pro, Shake and Combustion. A state of the art post-production suite, running Avid Symphony and Avid DS Nitris is within the faculty facilities. These editing systems deal with uncompressed high definition footage in real time. The school also has large plasma screen TVs and digital projectors for screenings. Avid is an industry standard editing system used by professionals within the film and television industry worldwide.
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Professional and Industry links
Library
The school has good links with the media and associated creative industries, with established contacts in film and television. Visiting professionals, such as the esteemed director Ken Russell, have worked with students and professional crews on new works created at Swansea Metropolitan University, providing an invaluable insight into the creative process. Work experience opportunities have recently given selected students the chance to work alongside professional crews on feature films and television productions. Several students had placements in different departments of the crew of Justin Kerrigan’s feature film, I Know You Know, filmed in South Wales. Student John Fisher assisted the film’s editor through production and later was given the chance to go to London and Germany to continue his work experience on the film.
Our library at the Dynevor centre has excellent facilities and provides an essential learning environment for our students. Spread over two floors, our library provides a popular working space for students to study. Our first level houses over 35,000 books and back issues of Art & Design periodicals as well as a comprehensive reference section. Our second level houses a large range of Apple Macs and PCs and has both colour and mono printing & photocopying facilities. Also found on this level is a broad selection of current journals and facilities to watch our large selection of DVDs and videos. Both floors provide quiet space to study. In addition to the physical resources housed in the library, a wide range of electronic resources are also available, via the Art & Design subject area link found on the homepage of the library website. From here, useful databases and websites, electronic journals & electronic books can be accessed both on and off campus.
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Developing Your Skills Career opportunities The faculty has established a good reputation for preparing graduates to enter the media industry. A graduate from this programme will be ideally suited for employment as an independent documentary filmmaker, editor, camera operator, and sound recordist, in the film and television industries. Graduates may also have the option of continuing their study on a postgraduate programme. We are academic partners to Avid Technology. The department is the second in the country with an in house ACI (Avid Certified Instructor) and we are therefore able to provide qualifying students with Avid editing accreditation.
PAGE 16 IMAGE : Renowned director Ken Russell making his latest film, Boudicca Bites Back, in Swansea Metropolitan University’s studio, with staff and students as part of the crew. PHOTO: Faye Chamberlain PAGE 17 IMAGE : Behind the scenes of Ken Russell’s new film, Boudicca Bites Back. PHOTO: Faye Chamberlain
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Graduate Success Name: Danny Bishop Job Role: Steadicam and Cameraman Graduated: Swansea Metropolitan University (Swansea Institute) 2001 Why did you choose Swansea Metropolitan (Swansea Institute) 2001
is my biggest programme to date. I have also done the Camera crane and steadicam on a number of British feature films. Did the course help you get where you are, if so how?
I chose Swansea, because of its location to the Sea and surrounding areas as I was from the country and it was nice to get out of a major city like London that I had been living in. Also I liked the feel of Swansea and that it was a smaller intimate place than a larger scale University.
The course kick started my love of being behind the camera and helped me focus on the one thing that I love, which I feel is essential to have when you leave University and that’s a focus and desire. I always wanted to be a cameraman and after doing shorts at University this confirmed my desire and I went on to realize my dream.
What was University life like for you?
What are your plans for the future?
The course was great, I liked the freedom of movement we had and the fact we could make our own choices as long as we handed things in on time. It was exciting to do something creative with lecturers who encouraged that. Swansea itself was fantastic as we spent many hours surfing and having fun at the surrounding beaches and mountain ranges….
My plans are to work harder and get on bigger and better projects and to carry on traveling the world filming the people and places in it… www.danny-bishop.com
What have been your achievements since you graduated? I got a 1st for my degree and since then have gone onto become a cameraman. I have won an award at the New York Documentary film festival for a documentary I shot and edited on British Prisons. And since then I have gone onto shoot worldwide in a variety of locations, from the Arctic to the Jungle to the Sahara and the USA and South America. I have filmed all three Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkies and have also filmed Bring Back Dallas with Justin Lee Collins and Bring Back Star Wars, which
IMAGE: Former SMU student Danny Bishop on location PHOTO: Rhidian Jones
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Student Comments “The college is fantastic, the teaching staff are like a great bunch of friends that I have been waiting to meet all my life. Within my course I was able to make dreams come true.” Martin Williams “I found the Video course to be an excellent vehicle to gain professional video and filmmaking skills through lecturers teaching us invaluable knowledge and guidance from their professional backgrounds. I now feel confident to apply for jobs in the video, TV and film industry and I actually have key skills I can offer a prospective employer.” Jamie Sampson “Studying at Swansea Met is a real experience, by being so close to the city centre it’s hard to miss out on the buzz of so much going on. The Video course has so much to offer, I was astonished to see the quality and range of all the equipment, it’s great as I find you really learn how to do things professionally. A real benefit of the course is how personal it is, the course tutors are always there to help individuals with their own unique work.” Chloe Mourant “The BA (Hons) Video course offers a fantastic environment for budding filmmakers & editors alike. I have found the facilities superb; the course has shown me how to take my creative ideas from sketches to fruition in a professional way. The staff is hugely supportive and the camaraderie on the course has helped channel my creative energies. Definitely a must for anyone considering a career in visual media.” Oanis Rawbone
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What We Expect From You From you we expect energy, curiosity and commitment and the beginnings of a passion for your medium. Your application form, portfolio and/or showreel and interview, will need to show your creativity, your thought processes and working methodology, your visual awareness and your personal vocabulary, as well as your commitment and enthusiasm. Ideally your portfolio and/or showreel should be visually exciting and original, show the ingenuity of your ideas, and be well organised.
Staff Profiles
Manolo Lozano Programme Director for the three BA (Hons) Video courses at Swansea Metropolitan University, Manolo Lozano, is an experienced filmmaker and one of the few ACI’s (Avid Certified Instructor) in the UK. Manolo is an expert on Avid editing systems, from the entry level ‘Avid Xpress Pro’ to the most powerful hardware/software based ‘Avid DS Nitris’ and ‘Avid Symphony’. Manolo has wide experience and knowledge within the production and post-production sectors and specialises in project consultancy and the making of documentaries on location around the world, including Finland, Holland, Spain and Africa.
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James Morgan
Chris Buxton
James Morgan has worked in video production and time-based arts for over two decades. He is best known for his cult video ‘Rough Cut’, exhibited in New York, Stockholm, London, Rome and Brazil, and still in distribution with The Lux Centre, London. His commercial collaborations include working with leading figures in fashion such as Vivien Westwood. He has collaborated with filmmaker Tony Hill on a number of projects, most notably ‘Waterworks’, Arts Council of England and Channel Four, and more recently on an underwater commercial for Dutch mobile phone company ‘Ben’. He is a long-time collaborator with artist Karen Ingham, having produced her film ‘Salvation Guaranteed’, BFI and Channel Four, which was in competition at the Sundance, Berlin, London, Edinburgh, and Chicago film festivals. His most recent collaborations with Ingham are as editor for the video installation ‘Vanitas: Seed-Head’, shown in Amsterdam, London, and Prague, and as editor for ‘Fragile Mass’ produced as part of the exhibition ‘Reasoned Uncertainties’.
Chris Buxton is an award-winning filmmaker from Cardiff. Chris has wide experience in short filmmaking over many years; as producer on Minim (DM Davies Award 1999); as lighting cameraman on Last Child Of The Sixties (DM Davies Award 2004); and as writer & director of Three Big Words (BAFTA Cymru Best Short Film Winner 2002). Chris worked for several years as a magazine journalist and editor before becoming a filmmaker. He has attended the respected ARISTA Story Editor workshop, and had a feature script selected for the prestigious Moonstone International Screenwriting Lab. Chris is currently developing several feature film projects
Andrew Hamley
Ruth Robinson
Andrew Hamley has worked as a freelance producer since 2002, and is the Technician/Demonstrator for our video courses, providing instruction, advice and support to all students. He has worked with a wide variety of clients from ITV Wales to United Nations, creating a broad range of short films, music promos, documentaries, art installations and corporate advertising videos. His personal work seeks to explore many areas, from aspects of human emotions, to social and political issues.
An artist and senior lecturer in professional studies for the Video programmes, Ruth Robinson is a Wales-based photographer. Over the last decade, Ruth has designed, managed and implemented face to face, an innovative project that involves the subjects themselves participating in the action of photography and interpreting their image with comments, empowering those who take part. Ruth’s work on this project has taken her to Uganda, Bucharest, Bulgaria and Belarus. More recently, she has taken the face to face project to Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, where she worked with the tsunami survivors.
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Chris Holtom
Steve Sullivan
Chris Holtom is a video artist whose work is inspired by sites and localities of ostensible neutrality. He has exhibited in several international exhibitions, which include ISEA 2004: Helsinki, Finland and The 11th International Media Arts Biennale in Wroclaw, Poland. He have also received an Artists Development Grant from The Arts Council, England and has shown work in other exhibitions and events across Europe, Australasia and the USA. In addition to his art practice, Chris is also ACSR qualified and has provided specialist support to a range of short and feature length films including ‘I Know You Know’ by Justin Kerrigan.
Steve Sullivan is an internationally recognised award winning filmmaker, working as a writer/director, producer and editor. His work has shown at over 150 international film festivals, winning awards such as a BAFTA for Best Short Film. Steve has most recently produced Academy Award nominee Ken Russell’s latest film, ‘Boudica Bites Back’; an historical fantasy fusing CGI and music. Steve’s first feature film, entitled ‘Ours’, is currently in post-production.
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Why Choose Swansea Met? Founded over 150 years ago, The Faculty of Art & Design has an international reputation and is recognised as a major centre for the study of Art, Design and Media. It has been awarded an overall ‘excellent’ grading by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. The Faculty of Art & Design is housed in a new multimillion pound purpose-built complex and is situated in the heart of the city centre. We respect and celebrate our traditions. This is why we have retained traditional equipment and processes in the areas of printmaking, ceramics and photography, but we are also forward looking and our new complex is bristling with new technology. The possibilities are enormous. Why Choose Swansea? Swansea is an ideal location in which to live and study. Swansea has a population of over 230,000 and is currently witnessing unprecedented levels of investment with many visionary schemes underway. Swansea is known as a vibrant city that takes pride in its rich heritage and thriving community, one where art, culture and music are positively nurtured. Swansea has real people, real personality and is possibly one of the most exciting cities in the UK to be in right now. Within a region of 15 miles, not only does Swansea offer a sophisticated city life with its bars, clubs, restaurants, high street stores and boutiques but also offers the quiet serene atmosphere along its vibrant waterfront and in any direction an idyllic countryside. Swansea is a friendly city with excellent travel amenities, directly linked to the M4 motorway
and London Paddington via rail. You are never too far away from home. Student Life at Swansea Met Student life at Swansea is exceptional. Swansea has many bars, clubs and pubs for an outrageous nightlife. With major clubs like Escape, Jumpin Jaks and Oceana all offering a different night out and pubs and bars such as Revolution offering the latest bands, Swansea’s diversity spoils you for choice. The SU offers many organised events including nights out, sport, societies, entertainment and volunteering as well as representation and welfare. Swansea has an abundance of inspiration, such as the Gower Peninsular, the first part of Britain to be awarded the title of ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. With clean sands and coves surrounded by steep cliffs and woodland, the whole area is ideal for swimming, sailing, water skiing and surfing, to mention just a few water sports on offer there. Student Services Swansea Metropolitan University offers a wide range of student services that provide help, support, activities and facilities to all our students. From accommodation to student activities to learning resources and counselling, our services are of a high standard and are regularly reviewed and upgraded to provide our students with a good experience.
Get In Touch If you have further specific questions about the Video Programmes or would like to arrange to visit the department, please contact: Manolo Lozano Programme Director Faculty of Art and Design Swansea Metropolitan University Dynevor Centre for Art, Design & Media De La Beche Street, Swansea SA1 3EU Email: manolo.lozano@smu.ac.uk Telephone: 01792 481 285 All applications for full-time study must be made through UCAS. Part-time applicants are required to complete an internal application form available from the registry. The Registry Swansea Metropolitan University Mount Pleasant Swansea SA1 6ED Email: enquiries@smu.ac.uk Telephone: 01792 481 000
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Please visit our website for more information www.smu.ac.uk or contact telephone: 01792 481 285 email: artanddesign@smu.ac.uk for further general enquiries. Designed by Ben Johnson www.receptivemedia.co.uk A special thank you to all those who participated in the making of this brochure.
BA (Hons) Video BA (Hons) Documentary Video BA (Hons) Video Arts BA (Hons) Video 4 yr programme