PROSPECTUS 2015
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For me, being at the London Film School in the sixties was a very special experience, and the infectious spirit of freedom and creativity continues today. Collaboration and individuality have always been encouraged, and the school continues to stay abreast of new technology, whilst exciting new connections are being made. Our constructive hands-on approach is there to be developed, nurtured and celebrated. Ambitious filmmakers everywhere: come and take part!
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Mike Leigh, LFS Chairman and 1963 graduate Director Another Year, Happy Go Lucky, Vera Drake
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Knowing how a process works liberates the imagination. Progress in filmmaking is inconceivable to me without a formal education in cinema – for me it was two years at LFS.
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Michael Mann, Director Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, 1967 graduate
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LFS has a great record of delivering exactly what the Film Industry needs – talent. If I were going to film school, I’d go there.
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Danny Boyle, Director Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours
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LFS has a fantastic track record in preparing its graduates for the challenges and opportunities they will face.
Kate Kinninmont MBE, Chief Executive, Women in Film and TV
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LFS is a true original – a place full of invention and passion and love of film.
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Sam Mendes, Director Skyfall, American Beauty, Revolutionary Road
LFS is a crucial part of the marketplace and the cultural sector doing invaluable work.
Tessa Ross, Chief Executive, The National Theatre and former Controller Film and Drama, Channel 4
The LFS is an extraordinary place full of its own powerful culture. Apart from the exceptional craft standards achieved, the school is able to attract students from all over the world who genuinely have something to say in their work – plus those rare things, a distinctive and original voice, and the maturity to express ideas they know they can communicate on film. And it supports them uncompromisingly. Colin Vaines, Producer Coriolanus
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
CONTENTS PROSPECTUS 2015
THE SCHOOL 1 3 4 5
A Tradition of Innovation LFS in Twelve Words Studying in London Facilities
PROGRAMMES 7 13 17 19
MA Filmmaking MA Screenwriting MA International Film Business Professional Development
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LFS Graduates Admissions
Prospectus design by Mike Leedham, 2D Design LFS ‘Somersault’ logo design by Chris Allies (after Marey) Front cover ON THE EDGE, directed by Sohail Kamali
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
A TRADITION OF INNOVATION Since 1956 LFS has been a working studio, accustomed to delivering in excess of 170 films and 15 feature screenplays a year. Around this work and its associated teaching we maintain an insistence on creative freedom, a drive toward innovation and a commitment to craft excellence.
LFS has been selected by Creative Skillset, the UK government agency for audio-visual training, as one of three ‘Film Academies’. This recognises the school as an industry-level graduate school in Britain offering professional film training, and the only one in that scheme with an allThe beauty of a good film school is that We’re not called a ‘film and television’ department Filmmaking programme. it invites you to make mistakes, but never school because we believe that the craft skills The support has made it possible for LFS dampens your enthusiasm. At LFS I and modes of expression encompassed by to offer two-year bursaries for some UK made plenty, and ignited a passion. ‘film’ provide the base from which to take on qualifying students, and to develop our Duncan Jones (Source Code, Moon), 2001 the special creative demands of other media teaching and our links to the film graduate from television and advertising to online industry, supporting graduates as they platforms. Rather than second-guess the make their first steps in building a audio-visual business and its evolving markets, network in the UK and abroad. we want to instil the creative flexibility to contribute in every area. LFS offers courses for students with certain aims: reaching genuinely There’s a fine balance between technical training, the ‘boot camp’ in professional standards; learning to collaborate creatively – from fellow which students gain key skills through making films, or writing students as much as from lecturers – and to think about cinema exercises, and the area of creative development, the ‘hothouse’ in practically; getting the habit of interrogating their assumptions which they try and make them extraordinary. The starting-points at LFS rigorously and then taking their instincts seriously. The students we are to learn through the work, and to remain sceptical about whether want are resilient, collaborative, imaginative people who learn filmmaking’s creative challenges can be taught in conventional ways. through doing (and sometimes failing), people who will have the We aim to provide a fertile environment for hard work, exploration courage and energy to develop their ideas to the limit. and creative dialogue. In this prospectus you’ll find course work referred to as ‘the exercises’. Turning them into ‘films’ and ‘scripts’ is The MA Filmmaking is staffed by people who believe that preour challenge to you. specialization (deciding before you study film to be a director, or a cinematographer, or a sound recordist – now very common in film schools) can deprive talented students of a full education in the craft of filmmaking. We encourage them to explore and develop their special strengths while they’re here. We also believe that understanding the structures of industrial filmmaking will allow graduates the freedom to
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MOON, directed by Duncan Jones
innovate, find employment and help invent the cinema and television of the future. Many graduates are directors, and the majority of students come to the school expecting that they will direct. We also graduate leading cinematographers, editors, producers, sound recordists and production designers. What is important is that they will have other skills. We frequently use the term “filmmaker”, meaning a person for whom a proper command of this collaborative craft is of vital importance. In the MA Screenwriting at LFS, we want students to see writing in the context of real filmmaking, rather than as an abstract end in itself.
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
LFS IN TWELVE WORDS GLOBAL The world’s international graduate film conservatoire. Seventy percent of students are from outside the UK, from more than sixty countries. A diverse range of cultures and film traditions makes for a creative hothouse. This global network, once built, lasts a professional lifetime. INCLUSIVE On the MA Filmmaking, all film exercises, including stock and equipment, plus a substantial budget for the graduation film are incorporated into your fees. Most schools quote only tuition costs, with filmmaking budgets a vague extra. VALUE LFS is a not-for-profit educational trust committed to spending its money only on your education. UK qualifying students can apply for Creative Skillset bursaries. A unique constitution – you become a voting member of the Association.
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Graduation film SUNDAY MORNING. Dir. Brian O’Toole
VISIBLE Our library gets your work around the world. In 2014 LFS films had around 200 festival entries, across 150 events, winning 30 prizes, including the Cannes Palme d'Or for Best Short Film (the first time a UK film school has won this coveted prize). Five LFS graduates have been taken on the Cannes Residence programme since 2007. In 2014, over 25 known features by recent graduates in global distribution.
I worked on 24 short films here at LFS. At any other film school, in two years, I don’t think you could achieve that.
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Jeroen Bogaert (MA Filmmaking 2012). Graduation Film EARLY BIRDS played Palm Springs, LFF and San Sebastian.
PRACTICAL There are a minimum of ten exercise films and a graduation work in the MA Filmmaking programme, shot on film and digital. At least one film is prepared, shot, delivered and screened in every 12 weeks of your work. There’s the opportunity to offer scripts for production and to work on scripts in pre-production for MA Screenwriters. COMPREHENSIVE The MA Filmmaking includes two years of training in Directing, Lighting, Operating, Editing, Sound, Production Design, Screenwriting and Production. Choose your specialisation at the end of the course, and for writer-directors, earn a living by crewing whilst developing projects. ATTENTIVE 140 students, 22 full time faculty, scores of visiting lecturers – more student-lecturer ‘face time’ than any other graduate film school. PROVEN Thousands of high profile alumni Duncan Jones, Ann Hui, Marius Holst, Bill Douglas, Ali Mostafa, Shimako Sato, Leticia Tonos, Brad THE SCHOOL
Anderson, Iain Smith, Boaz Davidson, Tak Fujimoto, Erik Wilson, Roger Pratt, Ueli Steiger, Jo Willems, Mark Goldblatt, Robert Leighton Nicolas Gaster and Danny Huston.
CONNECTED LFS is two minutes walk from Soho, centre of the European entertainment industry. A rare opportunity to study in central London. Key figures of the UK and European industries pass through very often. The school provides mentors and career development support after graduation.
RECOGNISED One of three recognised UK graduate schools in the UK Creative Skillset Film Academy Network accredited as a centre of excellence. MA degrees recognised throughout the world, and validated by the London Metropolitan University and University of Exeter. Graduates also become ALFS, or Associates of the London Film School. PROFESSIONAL Students are taught by working UK filmmakers. Exercise films are made on built sets, shot on professional level film and digital cameras, recorded on Nagra V, edited on Avid Composer and given a professional dub in Soho. INNOVATIVE A school that works with the film industry, understands the market and employability – and also takes your ambitions and your originality very seriously. We want you to reinvent film form rather than copy what already exists. 3
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
STUDYING IN LONDON In any given week through the year there are probably more films showing for London’s seven million inhabitants than in any other capital city. The school is situated in the centre, in Covent Garden, within walking distance of West End cinemas and theatres, the Royal Opera House, the National Gallery, the British Museum, the British Film Institute Library, the BFI Southbank, the Tate Modern and, even closer, Wardour Street in Soho, nerve centre of the British Film Industry. Central London offers LFS students access to many informal film and media groups, events and opportunities, and the school often hosts events in collaboration with like-minded film organisations. LFS Students are admitted free to many of the film programmes at the BFI Southbank. All LFS students are members of International Students House (ISH) and can take advantage of the facilities and events they offer. Facilities include a Fitness Centre, Welfare and Advice Service, Internet Café, Bars and Restaurant. Sixth Term students participate in a mentoring scheme with ‘honorary executive producers’ drawn from the London independent film community, and there are many other occasions earlier in the course to benefit from the richness of the local film culture. Of course London also offers the thousands of locations, people and stories that feature in screenplays and documentary treatments for the school’s film exercises.
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THE SCHOOL
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
FACILITIES The London Film School building was previously a warehouse, and has a rough workshop atmosphere which can be exciting, but is not academic and certainly not luxurious. We offer guided tours around the school on Thursday afternoons throughout the term which includes a chance to look at some student films. Facilities at the LFS include:
VLE The LFS Uses Moodle as the Virtual Learning Environment of the LFS. Students are able to view, download and print technical manuals, syllabuses, course descriptions, forms, legal agreements, school regulations and other documents, and take part in activities set up by course tutors. Wifi Access.
STUDIOS Two studios equipped with lighting rigs are available for the film exercises, as well as a rehearsal studio, used also for drama and script workshops. CINEMAS Projection facilities for digital, 35mm and 16mm are available in two cinemas, with 110 and 35 seat capacity respectively. DESIGN STUDIO There is a fully equipped design studio with drawing boards, model making facilities, visual reference library and materials library and design computer suite. EDITING SUITES The School has non-linear editing systems running Avid Media Composer. Some systems are also equipped with Final Cut Pro. The analogue film room is equipped to handle 35mm and 16mm film formats.
LIBRARY The School Library keeps and documents LFS productions. LFS shows work at over 150 film festivals around the world each year, and supports sales of films to broadcasters and distributors. The library also holds an extensive collection of films for loan, plus a small collection of core books. Students have access to the BFI Reference Library, An LFS education is not limited to which is within ten minutes walk and also the technical skills that produce new the London Metropolitan University Library. filmmakers. It’s an education that
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Oliver Hermanus, 2009 graduate. Oliver’s graduation feature Shirley Adams won Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at the South African Film and TV Awards. His second feature Beauty was in official selection at Cannes.
SOUND SUITES There are Protools 24HD work stations for the preparation of sound tracks for Dolby digital mixes. Commentary and foley recording area. Sound-Effects Library. PRODUCTION OFFICE There is a production office with computers, fax, telephone and internet access. Wifi Access.
THE SCHOOL
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challenges you to find your voice and make it heard.
COFFEE BAR The school has a privately-run coffee bar on the ground floor. LONG ACRE BUILDING Our annexe building offers additional facilities for the MA Programmes, International programmes and Workshops.
CLUBS AND SOCIETIES The Students Union is affiliated with the NUS and LFS students are entitled to NUS Extra cards, offering a range of benefits. LFS is also affiliated to International student house/UCKISA. Our clubs and societies include the LFS Film Society and an LFS football team, which arranges matches against other film schools. LFS is a full member of CILECT, (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision), the international confederation of film schools GEECT (European Grouping of Film and Television Schools) and NAHEMI (National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image), the national association for British film schools.
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
An Introduction to the MA Filmmaking Course.
Romi Aboulafia - Camera Assistant on BLUE COLLARS AND BUTTERCUPS, Graduation Film Production Dir: Janis Pugh Producer: James Youngs On the set of a 4th term production
The LFS MA Filmmaking Course is an intense two-year programme in which the full range of filmmaking skills are taught at appropriate professional levels. Entry is in January, May or September each year. Learning is based around short films. Each term these film exercises become more technically sophisticated, more considered and more complex in their ambitions. The School specifies the skill base for each exercise, provides the equipment and trains the students up to the new levels in each of the various craft skills. Students take all the aesthetic decisions, solving problems similar to those faced by professional units, on a steeply increasing slope of difficulty. Their work is constantly assessed and criticised. Students themselves are required to reflect on and assess their own learning in Work and Research Journals. This is the centre of the LFS method. Students learn best by applying themselves to aesthetic and practical problems generated by the actual process of filmmaking. This way new skills become meaningful and integrated into an increasing repertoire. Against a background of practice, lectures and classes become vivid and full of recognisable content. This is why we push through so many productions, and why students have more opportunities to work on films than they can realistically take up. All students learn all the important filmmaking skills, and must practise them in a working unit. There is no film career which is not greatly enriched by an active practical knowledge of the other specialisations. This makes an LFS graduate stand out from colleagues with a single specialisation, at any level. On the one hand, students with a primarily technical bent find insights into their work through an understanding of the more interpretive practices, and very often find an unexpected potential and self-confidence as writers or directors. On the other hand, producers’, writers’ and directors’ range and sense of the possibilities of their art is immeasurably increased by a serious technical competence.
PROGRAMMES
Students’ creative abilities are mobilised and developed by multiple approaches: They are taught to look at film history, and a great range of contemporary and classic work, in varying critical contexts, but most importantly as the outcome of practical strategies that they can use for framing, criticising and developing their own take on screen storytelling.
MA FILMMAKING
MA FILMMAKING
They develop their own work, and then get the opportunity to test it out freely with colleagues, teachers and professional practitioners in workshops designed to connect ideas and outcomes and in which their work is criticised without applying any further restriction than their own growing judgement and consciousness of effect and context. In the film exercises students shoot their own scripts, directed in their own way. The content of all films is fully discussed and criticised, but ultimately the students have complete freedom of expression. This is an opportunity to exercise their creative abilities, for them to see their ideas brought to life, with professional actors, on film, and under production conditions appropriate to the developing skills of the crew. The film exercises are programmed by the School, and are tightly scheduled, requiring the students to learn to work under time discipline. Crews are compact, and consequently there is always need for assistants from the lower terms. Up to sixty films are made each term, which means that whenever students are not busy with their own projects, their services are in demand on many others. This creates a constant sense of excitement, a constant presence of film-making, which becomes the atmosphere and life of the School, a tremendous motivating force. Students are continually learning from each other and from the immense range of practical and aesthetic problems the different films offer. This process continues all day, often through the evening, and flows between the sets and locations, the viewing theatres, editing suites, the coffee bar and back again, all term.
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
MA FILMMAKING CURRICULUM FIRST TERM EXERCISE: Three-minute 16mm, black and white, mute films are shot on location. All students are expected to produce a script. The first term gives students a thorough grounding in the basics of filmmaking. The centre of the term is the film exercise, which provides the platform for basic teaching in camera skills, exposure control, and editing. The assumption is that students all start from a similar background and all need a full, fast introduction to professional procedures. The term is dedicated to the principle of learning how to tell a story in pictures. Scripts are subject to detailed scrutiny and discussion. Students have to practise basic production management skills: organising location permissions, securing props and costumes. They have to cast and work with professional actors. In parallel, all through the term, courses run in film history and in the close analysis of directors’ strategies, showing and discussing work from Hitchcock to Lang via, say, Spike Lee and Kiarostami.
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really…unquantifiable. Not only did we learn how to watch, shoot and discuss film intelligently, but also we learned how to work from the inside out.. The staff are absolutely committed to cultivating their students to flourish to become the best filmmakers they are capable of being. Simply the training both practically and emotionally, is second to none.
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Barney Elliot MA Filmmaking graduate 2003 Cannes Residence Du Festival participant 2007
LFS is currently collaborating with The National Gallery during this term in a project which involves 2nd term students producing films inspired by the Gallery’s collection. Students make two visits to the Gallery for an artist led workshop in front of the paintings and a slide show lecture illustrating the way directors have drawn inspiration from painting from the early days of film making. They then choose a painting from the National Gallery’s Collection to work from.
An exciting element of this collaboration is that the students may respond to any aspect of the painting, following in the tradition embraced by the many directors, cinematographers and set designers who have been influenced by artists from Rembrandt, Vermeer and Caravaggio to Turner and Renoir.
On the set of a 4th term production
On the set of a 5th term production
There are classes on photo theory, directing syntax, producing, production management, production design, camera practicals, use of light meters, and editing.
SECOND TERM EXERCISE: Each student scripts and directs their own film: 1-3 minutes long, 16mm colour shot on location, with post-synchronised sound. They edit and design sound tracks for their film. Re-recording/mixing of soundtracks is carried out in outside professional studios. The Second Term is intense and exciting. This term introduces students to lighting skills and to sound recording and digital editing. Students work in units of six , directing their own films and camera operating, lighting and fulfilling other supporting roles on the The amount of growth that I experienced films of their colleagues, so that they are as a filmmaker in two years at LFS is intimately involved in all their unit’s projects.
MA FILMMAKING
Unit 1 Language - Image, Meaning, Style
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
MA FILMMAKING CURRICULUM Unit 2 Practice - Non-Fiction and Fiction
THIRD TERM EXERCISE: A twelve to fifteen minute, HD colour documentary film. Students work in units of five, with each student taking on at least one of the major roles - Producer, Director, DoP/Operator, Sound Recordist and Editor. Rerecording/mixing of soundtracks is carried out at professional sound studios. Editing is done on Avid Composer.
FOURTH TERM EXERCISE: In the fourth term, students make a ten-minute B&W film shot in the studio and on location.
In Term Four the requirements and expectations from students are very high. Units consist of five students, each taking at least one major role. Scripts have been developed, discussed and criticised during the previous The remit of the term is wider than that of the The programme at LFS works for people term. Students choose scripts and crews. 'classical' documentary, and students are encouraged to think of the expressive from all over the world because it can be Student producers are then required to develop a set of production forms detailing functions of images of the real world and adapted to all conditions; professional all the film’s requirements, and these, their use in new forms. actors or non actors, different sized together with the scripts are presented to crews, 35mm or miniDV. What I loved production conferences with all heads of Britain has a long and rich documentary about LFS is the way we were taught to department to initiate the process. Students tradition, going back to Grierson, and kept think about films; without pretense, with design, build and dress their own sets, and alive by television. Today this tradition discipline, and centered around process there are classes and consultation sessions informs feature filmmaking as much as and finding things out for ourselves. It’s taking them through this. Studio lighting is television reportage and current affairs. an extraordinary thing to teach film without at the heart of the exercise, and for many reducing it to techniques and rules, and students this is the major excitement of the The school recruits a 'resident Documentarist' yet teach the rigour and effort that is term. By this stage, students are expected each term who will show their work, consult to manage their lighting in a highly units on their films and provide support. necessary to improve your work. professional way. There is currently an There is a wide range of classes supporting Paz Fabrega option to shoot on 35mm or a digital film the non-fiction production: lectures on (Cold Water of the Sea, Tiger Award camera, Arri Alexa. The unit attend a grade documentary history, showings of Rotterdam), 2006 graduate at a professional post-house to learn about contemporary non-fiction, classes in the B&W 'look'. Recording and laying postresearch techniques, interviewing, music in synchronised tracks are also an important part of the exercise. documentary, recording synch systems, use of synch sound on location, Rerecording/ mixing of soundtracks is carried out at professional sound synchronising rushes and editing synch material, camera practicals, studios. practical demonstrations of location lighting, a practice shoot with synch sound. Throughout the term script workshops are developing drama Over this and the next term there are an important series of directing scripts for the later terms. workshops, and working with actors is a major component of these. Classes are given in production design, art direction, set building, Resident Documentarists, Documentary lecturers and panelists include: production management, continuity, studio lighting theory/practicals, Peter Gordon, Michael Houldey, Elizabeth McIntyre, Cassie Braban, studio sound recording, camera practicals, laying multiple sound tracks, Nicola Gibson, Helena Appio and Alexandra Briscoe.. demonstration at external sound studios of ADR techniques, demonstrations and workshops on non-linear editing and grading.
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CURRICULUM
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
MA FILMMAKING CURRICULUM FIFTH TERM EXERCISE: specialists. Pre-production is monitored by the Term Tutors and relevant In the fifth term students make a drama up to fifteen minutes long, on the Heads of Department. Delivery requirements match those of the major Arri Alexa, on location and in the studio. This continues the form of the international festivals. fourth term, but at a higher level. Scripts written and developed over the previous year are chosen by the students. Crews are built around the Students can have up to three terms to complete complex projects. scripts. Scripts are broken down by producers and presented to production In addition to advising on the festival conferences with heads of the various strategy for each graduation film, the school LFS is an unusual and highly creative departments. Sets are designed; models supports the transition from student to place to start a career in film - I couldn't built and discussed. professional in a variety of ways. To begin, recommend it highly enough. The school’s Director takes graduating Alexandra McGuinness The excitement - and successes - of lighting filmmakers through pitching workshops and (MA Filmmaking 2009), are at an even higher level than the this is supported by workshops from industry Director LOTUS EATERS, previous term. The programme of directing professionals covering topics including Variety 10 Brits to Watch workshops continues. As in the fourth term, exhibition, distribution, crowd funding, the number of films scheduled is high given festival selection and the international film What I valued was the opportunity to the number of students. This means that business. In addition to this core curriculum, explore many different roles, because it students work on more than one film, and industry guests meet with graduating gives you empathy with others in the that students from the lower terms are filmmakers to discuss presentation drawn in as assistants in all departments. techniques, preparing CVs and showreels, team. It also gives you more flexibility in The integral learning process of each film is and networking. Finally, there is the your career – important in such a shared widely. Classes and workshops mentoring programme: students are invited fast-evolving industry. include directing actors, stereo sound and to select a mentor and put together a Olivier Kaempfer preparation for the sixth term graduation mentoring plan in consultation with the Term (2007 graduate), project. Tutors. This programme is currently Producer BORROWED TIME supported by Creative Skillset. THE GRADUATION FILM: Students are assigned a production LFS is committed to supporting its graduates allowance by the school to build a project. They can work individually or in developing a strategy for their entry into the expanding and fastpool their production allowances and efforts. They can shoot on any changing media industries. Through the growing network of associates format and at any length they can budget and schedule. Students are LFS maintains and develops contacts throughout the world to support this strongly encouraged to raise funds and build coproduction deals, with work. production companies and/or other graduate film schools, either here in the UK or abroad. The LFS curriculum draws on a huge range of industry figures as visiting lecturers, speakers, panelists, mentors, DOPs in residence Each project’s script, schedule and budget will be examined and and honorary producers. For an up to date list, discussed with the Term Tutors. The Development Process is supported visit the website at www.lfs.org.uk through specialist workshops in production, directing, camera & lighting, and postproduction led by LFS faculty in collaboration with industry
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MA FILMMAKING
Unit 3 Synthesis - Industry and Independents
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
The MA Screenwriting programme provides a year of critical and creative development, a network of future contacts and a space where a writer can define their interests and particular talent. This is a course that is “The screenplay is not the last stage of a literary journey. It is the first more interested in content over structure, individual development over stage of a film and the only way to become a professional screenwriter is the imposition of a universal model or set of rules. At LFS we believe that to get in contact with a group of people who make films.” the study and practice of screenwriting requires an understanding of the Jean-Claude Carriere (Belle du Jour; Danton) technical aspects of filmmaking and of different approaches to narrative as well as The LFS MA Screenwriting course is an the working methods and practice of intense one-year programme with the LFS is a vibrant, hands-on film-making professional screenwriters as members of a emphasis on developing the writer’s environment, producing 160 films a creative team. original voice through small group and year. Where better to learn about the one-to-one mentoring from industry We are looking for writers who are excited professionals. LFS aims to encourage practical craft of screenwriting? about writing for the screen, who have a writing as a continuous practice, to Mike Leigh background in writing for other mediums, stimulate reflective and critical approaches LFS Chairman and 1963 graduate directors who are seeking to write their own and to provide a specific historical (Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake, feature script and writers who wish to background to film narrative, genres, and Secrets and Lies) establish long-term mentoring relationships dramaturgy. with development professionals. The course is aimed at developing Course Philosophy screenwriting skills in the context of a filmmaking community where writing is an everyday practice and a collaborative process, involving •To encourage writing as a state of mind and everyday practice actors, directors, musicians, editors and producers. At LFS we explore the •To stimulate a reflective and critical approach to practice boundaries between writing and directing and stimulate debate through •To provide an historical background to film narrative classes in film history, cross-cultural approaches to dramaturgy and script •To place the screenplay in the context of a collaborative readings with professional actors. Regular screenings of classic and filmmaking process contemporary films in our own film theatre and visits by contemporary •To explore the boundaries between writing, directing and filmmakers complement the core practical work of developing a feature producing screenplay. •To stimulate alternative approaches to screenwriting through awareness of different dramaturgical traditions •To take on writers who wish to develop a long-term mentoring relationship with working professionals •To focus on the writers individual development above issues of structure and dramaturgy •To create a context where the writer works with others involved in the filmmaking community - directors, actors, musicians, producers. An Introduction to our MA Screenwriting Course
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Brian Dunnigan, Head of Screenwriting
Graduation film HE TOOK HIS SKIN OFF FOR ME, directed by Ben Aston (MA Filmmaking) and written by Maria Hummer (MA Screenwriting)
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MA SCREENWRITING
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PROGRAMMES
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
MA SCREENWRITING CURRICULUM The programme is non-modular. It is composed of three units to be taken sequentially. The course is full-time only and lasts one year. Some of the component classes are term specific and others run continuously across the whole programme. Unit 1: The Screenwriter’s Craft This unit provides an introductory and theoretical framework for the practical work with an emphasis on the writer’s personal development. It includes an overview of dramatic principles as applied to a distinctively cinematic approach to storytelling. It also encourages a critical evaluation of those principles in relation to the creative process and the development of original work for the screen.
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The range, quality and volume of work produced in one year makes this one of the outstanding screenwriting courses in the UK.
The main practical focus of this unit is the writing of a Short Film Screenplay and the production of a Feature Film Portfolio through small group and one-to-one feedback sessions with actors, directors and development professionals.
Kate Leys, external examiner
Workshops on storytelling and film language, characterisation, scene writing and step outlines, the development of original ideas for the screen and adapting material from another medium are based around practical writing exercises. Visiting professional screenwriters discuss their methods of working with practical examples of past and present work. Classes on film style and history, including a programme of evening screenings in the film theatre, provide a context for the written work. In addition students have the option to work on film exercises produced by students on the Filmmaking MA - while their short and feature screenplays are a valuable resource for the filmmakers. Collaboration between writers and filmmakers is continually encouraged through joint sessions, social events and the posting of projects on the screenwriters’ blog site. Students’ reflections on the relationship between theory and practice, screenwriting and filmmaking as well as establishing a partnership with a professional writing mentor, profoundly influence the outcome of their work and the preparation for their major project. This includes the writing 14
of a Work and Research Journal which tracks their personal and project development through the inclusion of visual references and self-reflective notes on course and project work.
Unit 2: The Screenwriter’s Practice Students will normally have passed Unit One before starting Unit Two. The main focus of this unit is the development of a First Draft Feature Screenplay through small group feedback and one-toone Mentoring. This unit continues to place screenwriting within the context of craft skills, film style and the filmmaking process. It also introduces the economic and industrial context for film production, distribution and exhibition and the role of the writer and the screenplay within that context. Class work and exercises including the Writers Gym and a National Gallery day - focus on visualisation and cinema specific aspects of screenwriting - while workshops with actors, directors and editors demonstrate how a knowledge of the filmmaking process is essential to the developing screenwriter. Alternative models of screenwriting are explored through case studies of screenplays, screenwriters and filmmakers. The Work and Research Journal continues to provide a transparent account of the writers’ creative development and engagement with the course while the Feature Film Screenplay remains the practical, assessable outcome of that process.
CURRICULUM
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
Course tutors: Brian Dunnigan (Head of Screenwriting), Roger Hyams, Amanda Schiff, Jonathan Hourigan, Ellis Freeman, Jon Gilbert, Sue Austen, Jane Wittekind, Jeremy Page. Visiting lecturers and mentors have included: Tony Grisoni - Writer: Brothers of the Head, In This World, Tideland. Mike Leigh - Director/Writer: Vera Drake, Secrets and Lies, Naked. At LFS I’ve been exposed to ideas and Laurence Coriat - Writer: Me Without You, influences that are many times wider Wonderland. and more catholic than the industry Richard Kwietniowski - Writer/Director: Love and Death on Long Island, Owning standard McKee orthodoxy and I’ve Mahoney. enjoyed feedback, camaraderie and Olivia Hetreed - Writer: Girl With a Pearl encouragement that will continue to Earring. inform my development for many years Ronald Harwood - Writer: The Pianist. to come. Pawel Pawlikowski - Director: My Summer of Love, Last Resort. Jimmy Ruzicka Udayan Prasad - Director: My Son the 2007 MA Screenwriting Graduate Fanatic, Gabriel and Me. Bille Eltringham - Director: Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution, This is Not a Love Song. Aishling Walsh - Writer/Director: Song for A Raggy Boy. Rebecca O'Brien - Producer: The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ae Fond Kiss. Tony Garnett - Writer/Director/Producer, World Productions. Britt Harrison - Script Consultant. Roger Smith - Script Editor: Carla's Song/ Sweet Sixteen. Dean Craig - writer: Death at the Funeral/Caffeine. Sandy Lieberson - Producer: Performance/Jaberwocky. Mia Bays - Producer: Scott Walker: 30th Century Man. Rob Kraitt - Agent: AP Watt. Mark Solomon - Editor: Chicken Run, Frankenweenie, The Tale of Desperaux. Helen Jacey - Writer/Author of The Women in the Story. Gub Neal - Producer: Cracker, The Fall. Alexandra Stone - Producer: Franklyn, Kidulthood. Dictynna Hood - Director/Writer: Wreckers.
Unit 3: Writing the Feature Film Students will normally have passed Unit Two before starting Unit Three. This unit continues the series of lectures on the history of cinema with evening screenings built around debate and contact with contemporary filmmakers. Visiting writers, producers and agents with specialist workshops on television writing and adaptation provides the industrial context. The principle focus of this unit is on the key practical work of the Masters programme the writing and development of a Feature Film project through two further drafts supported by a professional writing Mentor. The final screenplay along with an outline of project development and the Work and Research Journal complete the assessable work for the MA programme.
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SURVIVOR, WRITTEN BY GABRIEL VALLEJO (MA SCREENWRITING GRADUATE 2007), DIRECTED BY NICOLE VOLAVKA (MA FILMMAKING GRADUATE 2009)
Selected scenes from the graduate screenplays are presented at a Showcase event for industry professionals later in the year.
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MA SCREENWRITING
MA SCREENWRITING CURRICULUM
CURRICULUM
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T H E
L O N D O N
HEADING HEADING Subheading The School offers
Subheading The School offers one course only – the two year, full-time Diploma Course in the Art and technique of Film Making. There are no short courses, summer schools or part-time studies. The curriculum is not organised on a modular basis, so it is not possible to take only part of the course. There is no credit system for previous qualifications.
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
The MA International Film Business unites the London Film School, the world’s key postgraduate filmmaking school, with the University of Exeter’s Film department and Business School. The marriage brings together film production and market expertise and exceptional research and teaching on film culture and history. This MA combines high level teaching skills with a unique practitioner-driven industry access program, providing students with the key business tools and contacts needed to build a career in film.
On the set of LAST BASE, graduation film of Aslak Danbolt (MA Filmmaking 2014)
Unlike existing film-related degrees, this new MA explores the entire film business, embracing world and national cinema(s), non-Hollywood independent film production, financing, sales, distribution and marketing, alongside programming, exhibition and digital strategies for the future.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
Term 1: University of Exeter The first term is taught at the University of Exeter by leading film and business academics, where you will have access to world-class university resources and facilities (including the globally renowned Bill Douglas Cinema Museum). You will undertake a survey of Our ambition is to consistently populate international film production, distribution the sector with some of the brightest and exhibition strategies and trends, and and most informed players who grasp study business strategy, accounting and finance, intellectual property and both current market demands and entertainment economics.
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capture future value.
The ambitious team behind the MAIFB is Angus Finney, Terms 2 & 3: London Film School dedicated to training a new generation of MAIFB Course Leader You’ll study the entertainment value chain both producers and executives that will through seminars delivered by school staff bring both excellence and innovation into and industry professionals, and a further the film industry beyond Hollywood. By series of intensive full-day seminars analyzing the horizontal and vertical structures that shape the film exploring film business innovation will lead into a final project, guided industry, in tandem with changing patterns of users and digital technology, by staff and your industry mentor. This individual or group-based project this course explores both the existing international film industry while also will reflect the practical application of independent filmmaking, delivery embracing the current high levels of disruption and restructuring. or curating, based on elements studied in previous modules. Taught in London and the South-West, the MAIFB includes a networking placement program; industry mentoring supported by an advisory committee of leading UK and European film industry professionals; a research trip to the Berlin Film Festival; and an opportunity to work on an LFS graduation film as a producer.
MA INTERNATIONAL FILM BUSINESS
MA INTERNATIONAL FILM BUSINESS
In February students take a field trip to the Berlinale, one of the world's oldest and most important international film festivals. For more information visit www.lfs.org.uk or contact humanities-pgadmissions@exeter.ac.uk
The MAIFB programme is co-directed by Angus Finney of The London Film School and Professor Will Higbee at the University of Exeter. Angus is author of The International Film Business and a key authority on the sector. Together they will personally guide each student on how to maximize this intensive year that will take each candidate beyond the course and into the reality of working in the international film industry.
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
sit alongside detailed and inspirational seminar teaching, with every craft area catered for. LFS Workshops are painstakingly developed and delivered by current practitioners, based on professional experience and standards. For those about to apply to a major film school like LFS, or anyone wishing to improve their understanding of the craft before embarking on their own short film, our Summer Schools offer immersive programmes. We are continuously developing new workshops and announcing dates for existing courses. Visit www.lfs.org.uk/courses/workshops for our current schedule.
PhD FILM BY PRACTICE The University of Exeter College of Humanities is able to offer doctoral studentships to fund doctoral study in Film by Practice, as a joint degree with the London Film School. These doctoral studentships are tenable for up to three years and cover full tuition fees and a maintenance An incredible learning experience that allowance. This programme is designed for engaged every part of me. Mentally, students wishing to take their filmmaking physically and creatively, every day was practice beyond an MA and to integrate their a new challenge and a new experience. technical and practical skills into a more The detail, energy, enthusiasm and advanced cultural, aesthetic and critical context. generosity the tutors was impressive and For more information visit www.lfs.org.uk or contact humanities pgadmissions@exeter.ac.uk. humbling. Even after the official end of
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PROGRAMMES
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the course, Udayan was still teaching us more. Participant, LFS Directing Summer School with Udayan Prasad.
Drawing Board to Screen: Production Design and Technical Drawing
Directing Summer School
LFS WORKSHOPS LFS Workshops is a rapidly expanding programme of evening, weekend and short CPD (“continuing professional development”) courses. Approximately fifty courses are offered each year; intensive hands-on craft workshops
Q&A@LFS Q&A@LFS is a termly season of screenings and conversations with leading and emerging filmmakers. Recent speakers have included BARRY ACKROYD, CATHERINE BREILLAT, JOHN DE BORMAN, DANNY BOYLE, BRUNO DUMONT, MIKE FIGGIS, WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, STEPHEN FREARS, EBRAHIM GOLESTAN, PAUL GREENGRASS, LASSE HALLSTRÖM, ASIF KAPADIA, HANIF KUREISHI, YORGOS LANTHIMOS, SEAMUS MCGARVEY, ROGER MICHELL, SAMANTHA MORTON, SHIRIN NESHAT, NICOLAS ROEG, TESSA ROSS, STELLAN SKARSGÅRD, IMELDA STAUNTON and PETER SUSCHITSKY.
Introduction to Location Sound
The daily life of the LFS revolves around the intensity of the MA teaching and the making of over 150 films (and 12 to 20 feature scripts) every year. Increasingly that work is enriched by new strands aimed at students and many others: UK-based film professionals, international partners, practitioners of other forms, passionate enthusiasts for independent film.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
LFS GRADUATES
MOON, directed by Duncan Jones
The film industries of almost every country in the world are liberally sprinkled with graduates of the School, who are entitled to call themselves ALFS (Associates of the London Film School). A very short list might include: Brad Anderson Howard Atherton Terry Bedford Jules Bishop Les Blair Philipp Blaubach Don Boyd Ole Bratt Birkeland Curtis Clark Harley Cokeliss George P. Cosmatos Chris Curling Boaz Davidson Bill Douglas Julian Doyle Steve Dubin Mark Forstater Tak Fujimoto Nic Gaster Mark Goldblatt Pedro González-Rubio Eduardo Guedes Oilver Hermanus Marius Holst Anne Hui Danny Huston John Irvin Babak Jalali Ahmed A. Jamal Knut Erik Jensen Duncan Jones Olivier Kaempfer Mohamed Khan Panos H. Koutras Flora Lau Mike Leigh Robert Leighton Luis Mandoki Michael Mann Bahram Manocheri Alexandra McGuiness Anu Menon Joáo César Montieiro Horace Ove
Director / Writer / Editor / Cinematographer Director of Photography Director / Director of Photography Director Director / Writer, Producer, Editor Director of Photography Director / Writer / Producer Director of Photography Director of Photography Director / Director of Photography Director Producer Director / Writer / Producer Director / Writer Editor / Director Visual Effects Producer / Director / DoP Producer Director of Photography Editor Editor Director / Cinematographer Director Writer/Director Director Director Director / Actor Director Witer / Director Director Director / Writer Director Producer Director Director Director Director / Writer Editor Director Director / Writer / Producer Director of Photography Director Director Director Director
The Killing, Boardwalk Empire, Transsiberian, The Wire (TV), The Machinist Fatal Attraction, Bad Boys, Lolita Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jabberwacky, Slayground Borrowed Time H3, Bad Behaviour, Jump the Gun The Disappearance of Alice Creed, The Escapist, Walking on Sunshine Andrew and Jeremy Get Married, My Kingdom, Twenty-One The Arbor, Helen, The Missing The Draughtsman’s Contract, Extremities, Nicky and Gino An Angel for May, Black Moon Rising, Dream Demon Tombstone, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cobra Death Defying Acts, My Son the Fanatic, God Help The Girl The Expendables, Bad Lieutenant, Brooklyn’s Finest My Childhood, Comrades, My Way Home Brazil, Life of Brian, The Wind In The Willows The Lord of The Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, I Robot Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Signs, The Sixth Sense, The Silence of the Lambs The Invisible Woman, Moon, Venus, Enduring Love Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Terminator, X-Men, Armageddon Alamar, Toro Negro Rocinante, Bearskin, An Urban Fairytale, Facas e Anjos Shirley Adams, Beauty (Skoonheid) Cross My Heart and Hope to Die, Dragonflies, King of Devil’s Island A Simple Life, The Postman Life of My Aunt, Ordinary Heroes Magic City, Children of Men, The Constant Gardener, 21 Grams Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (TV), The Dogs of War, Hamburger Hill Frontier Blues The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl, Mad Dogs, Majdhar Cool and Crazy, Passing Darkness, Burnt By Frost Moon, Source Code Borrowed Time, Appropriate Behaviour Factory Girl, In the Heliopolis Flat, Downtown Girls Xenia, A Woman's Way, Real Life Bends, Dry Rain Another Year, Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake, Mr Turner The Bucket List, For Your Consideration, Stand By Me When a Man Loves a Woman, Message in a Bottle, Amazing Grace Public Enemies, Collateral, Heat Bleak Moments, Boxed, Johnny West Lotus Eaters London Paris New York Recollections of the Yellow House, God’s Wedding, Come and Go Pressure, Playing Away, Reggae 21
THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
LFS GRADUATES Maysoon Pachachi Kant Pan Ron Peck Migual Pereira Roger Pratt Hauke Richter Alessandro Di Robilant Franc Roddam Juliano Ribeiro Salgado Shimako Sato David Scott Menelik Shabazz Geoffrey Simpson Iain Smith Ueli Steiger Ivan Strasburg Gale Tattersall David Thompson Leticia Tonos Herschel Weingrod Arnold Wesker Jo Willems Erik Wilson Ian Wilson Ho Yim
Director Editor Director / Writer Director / Writer Director of Photography Art Director Director Director / Producer Director Director / Writer Director of Photography Director Director of Photography Producer Director of Photography Director of Photography Director of Photography Film Historian Director/Producer Writer Playwright Director of Photography Director of Photography Director of Photography Director
Return to the Land of Wonders, Living with the Past, Iranian Journey The Crying Game, Solomon and Gaenor, Kicks Empire State, Nighthawks, Fighters The Man Who Came to a Village, Che Ernesto, Veronica Cruz The Karate Kid, Dorian Gray, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Game of Thrones (IV), The Pianist, The Conspiracy Il Nodo Alla Cravatta, Ill Giudice, Raazzino, Forever Quadrophenia, K2, Auf Wiedersehen The Salt of the Earth Tales of a Vampire, k20: Legend of the Mask, Yasha Il Giudice Ragazzino, Il Nodo Alla Cravatta Burning an Illusion, The Story of Lover’s Rock Shine, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, The Sessions Cold Mountain, Alexander, Children Of Men The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla Shooting Dogs, Bloody Sunday, Endurance The Commitments, House, Ghost Ship Cristo Rey, Love Child Twins, Trading Places, Kindergarten Cop Chicken Soup with Barley The Hunger Games, Limitless, 30 Days of Night, Hard Candy Paddington, 20,000 Days on Earth, Tyrannosaur, Submarine The Crying Game, A Way of Life, Emma Wo ai chu fang, Tian guo ni zi
HONORARY ASSOCIATES Gillian Anderson Amma Asante Jim Broadbent Philip Davis Mike Figgis Ralph Fiennes Stephen Frears Philip French William Friedkin Jack Gold Cedric James Abbas Kiarostami Kate Kinninmont Christine Langan Richard Lester Richard Linklater 22
Actress Writer / Director Actor Actor Writer / Director Actor / Director Director Film Critic Director Director Focus Puller Writer / Director Chief Executive WIFTV Head of BBC Films Director Director
Ken Loach Samantha Morton Rebecca O’Brien Pawel Pawlikoski Roy Pointer Tessa Ross Rita Tushingham Lynne Ramsay Jeremy Thomas Colin Tucker
Director Actress / Director Producer Writer / Director Cinematographer Channel 4 Film and Drama Controller Actress Writer / Director Producer Producer / Script Editor
ADMISSIONS SUPPORTERS A new MA Filmmaking Course starts each term, so it is possible to enrol for entry in September, January or April/May. MA Screenwriting and MA International Film Business start in September each year. For up to date enrolment information and application forms, please visit the website www.lfs.org.uk Admissions for the MA International Film Business are handled by University of Exeter (www.exeter.ac.uk) The need to follow and understand the intensive course of lectures, and the high pressure of group work make it imperative that all students must have a satisfactory knowledge of the English language. Please check the website for guidance on evidence required. Candidates resident in the United Kingdom may be required to attend for an interview. Candidates resident abroad should make themselves available for interview in the event that they visit the United Kingdom and intend to submit, or have already submitted, an application. We also conduct interviews by telephone and skype. Minimum qualification for an application to be considered are a three year university degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant area. The average age of students is in their middle or late twenties, but the range is great and we welcome applications from older students. If you have been accepted on a full-time MA course, you can apply for a visa. The London Film School has its own Highly Trusted Status through the UKBA, therefore issuing its own CAS numbers to students. Disabled Access The School welcomes applications from disabled people, including those with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. While we cannot claim to have all the facilities and services that will meet each need for students undertaking our programmes, we will endeavour to remove barriers to access and to success in post graduate film education for disabled people
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS 2D Design Act IV Avid Apple | Covent Garden ARRI Arts Council England Barbican bbfc Berlinale Talents BFI London Film Festival British Council Buzzacott Cirro Lite Clear Cut Pictures Creative Skillset Danish Film School DeJonghe Labs dffb ENO ESCAC Essex Insurance Brokers European Commission FAVA Film4 Fisher Goodman Derrick LLP Halo Post Production Hampshire Street Studios Harbottle and Lewis Image Systems Institut Francais
Kodak Korean Cultural Centre La fĂŠmis Lee & Thompson Les Arcs European Film Festival London Metropolitan University MOME Magic of Persia Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation Nicholas Hare Architects Onsight Panalux Panavision PEC Pinewood Studios Group Pinsent Masons RADA Ronford Royal College of Music Scuola Holden SFZE Shorts International The Digital Orchard The Leverhulme Trust The National Gallery TimeOut Transilvanian International Film Festival UNATC University of Exeter Visual Impact
PATRONS: Tony Elliott, Roger Graef, Christopher Hird, John Hurt CBE, Hanif Kureishi, Charlie Parsons, Franc Roddam, Anthony Smith CBE, Iain Smith OBE, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Thomas, Alan Yentob The London Film School reserves the right to make changes in whole or in part to the curriculum at any time without formal notice.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Honorary Chairs: Danny Boyle, Jim Broadbent, Sir Michael Caine, Ken Loach, Michael Mann, Sir Paul McCartney, Sam Mendes 23
The London Film School 24 Shelton Street London WC2H 9UB U.K. Registered in England No. 1197026 Registered Charity No. 270302 Telephone: +44 (0)20 7836 9642 Fax: +44 (0)20 7497 3718 Email: info@lfs.org.uk Web: www.lfs.org.uk
lfs.org.uk The London Film School is a Creative Skillset Film Academy