MA Wildlife Filmmaking

Note for COVID Start: A start date of 27th September, but this is an online preparatory course which will get them ready for their studies and allow them to meet teachers and course mates virtually. Face to face will start on 19th Oct but they will have until 9th Nov to join. There is a blended learning approach with access to facilities and face to face seminars and group work, but large lectures will be online, but this allows them to access learning when its suites them.

On this highly popular Masters course you will learn how to develop and pitch ideas, tell great stories and make intelligent and surprising programmes to captivate and engage audiences. Our partnership with the BBC Natural History Unit (NHU) means that, alongside your studies, you will have incredible opportunities to network with professional wildlife film makers, attend talks, film festivals and other events around the city. Our MA students graduate with the skills, experience and knowledge needed for entry level jobs in all areas of production from online to broadcast. Graduates now work for the BBC, Icon Films, Discovery, Tigress and other top production companies in the UK and overseas. The course is based at Bower Ashton, part of the City Campus, in the creative heart of Bristol. Bower has exceptional resources which include a news studio, TV studio and post production areas which offer the latest technology.

On this Masters course you will learn all you need to know via technical workshops, seminars, masterclasses and through experience and opportunities making films and digital content for clients. We also help you develop skills in research, script writing, directing, producing, production management and the pitching and commissioning of ideas. One of the unique aspects of this course is that you will be matched with an industry mentor who, alongside your tutor, will guide you through the production of your final project. All students complete their Masters by writing, directing and producing a final project/film. These films are premiered each year and seen by an audience of invited film and television professionals from the BBC and independent sector.

Students have worked on BBC series, produced films for the Festival of Nature, The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge, the RSPB and the Zoological Society of London - some of the UK's top wildlife and conservation organisations. Students have been highly commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards HD film category and were nominated in the Wildscreen Panda Awards. Graduates have also secured internships and employment with the BBC and other organisations such as Discovery, Icon Films, RDF and Tigress Productions.

Students need to have an undergraduate degree and basic media production skills are preferred. Highly motivated individuals already engaged in developing a portfolio of relevant experiences and activities (eg volunteer work, conservation experience, wildlife or travel filmmaking, writing, photography, adventure activity) will also be considered.