Feature Film Development - MA
- Level: Postgraduate Taught
- Starting: September 2021
- Study mode: Full Time
- Location: City Centre
Studying with us in 2021/22
It is possible that the 2021/22 academic year may be affected by the ongoing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Any arrangements put in place by the University for the 2021/22 academic year will be in accordance with the latest government public health advice, pandemic-related/health and safety legislation, and the terms and conditions of the student contract.
MA Feature Film Development will help you to understand what is required to make sure a major film is ready to be pitched to investors. You’ll learn all about the extensive pre-production activities all big-budget movies currently go through before they are green-lit. You’ll be taken through each stage of pre-production development to navigate, understand and avoid common problems.
MA Feature Film Development is suitable for Directors, Producers, Editors, Film Makers, Screenwriters, Directors of Photography, Concept Artists, Production Designers, Art Directors, Animators, Technical Directors, Story Artists, & Pre-Visualisation Artists looking to start or further a career in feature film.
This course is part of Birmingham City University’s Film Futures suite, designed with industry to reflect the growing need for highly skilled film graduates who can fulfil roles within the international film industry. Focusing on film development, pre-production, story art and pre-visualisation, you’ll become part of a vibrant and multidisciplinary film community.
What's covered in the course?
You will create, as part of a team, a full feature film story and pre-visualisation reel, demonstrating all the film's narrative and action elements. You will learn how to workshop the essential narrative from a screenplay in order to create a believable, immersive animatic that plays out the core story in full, including all key performance and action components.
How you will learn
You will take part in story workshops, extracting key structural elements from a narrative structure and iteratively develop action and performance staging through a multi layered story process. This will help you gain an understanding of character arcs and resistances essential to immersive believability.
You will learn how to make a story and pre-visualisation reel that grabs an audience and takes them on a believable journey. You will gain experience working within a pre-production team, obtaining a unique perspective of feature film development pipelines - how it is project managed and implemented within milestone scheduling.
Practical Application
During the course your contribution to the pipeline will become your ‘portfolio of practice’ showcasing your specialism and team skills, therefore proving your professionalism.
The assignments reflect real world pre-production practices and are designed to develop the key skills that are necessary to work in the international film industries.
You’ll have access to industry standard software, utilised by major film studios.
Why Choose Us?
- A cutting edge, one of a kind course, unique to Birmingham City University.
- Opportunity to secure an MA whilst working with world leaders in film development.
- The course has been developed with industry to ensure it provides the skills and knowledge you’ll need to work in the film industry, here in the UK and overseas.
- Teaching is delivered by industry practitioners and experienced academics.
- No exams! Coursework assignments that reflect industry practice.
Similar Courses
This course is open to International students
Discover School of Games, Film and Animation
Visit our School site for more student work and extra information.
New £10,906 postgraduate loans
You may be able to take advantage of the government’s plans to make loans of up to £10,906 available for postgraduate study.
Entry Requirements
Essential Requirements
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MA Feature Film Development is open to all applicants who meet one of the following criteria:
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| Desirable | |
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A degree in art, design, graphic, visual communications, animation or related discipline is desired but not essential |
International Students
Don't meet our entry requirements? You could apply for courses at our International College.
- UK students
- International students
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2021
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 year
- £9,800 per year
- Full Time
- 18 months (including Professional Placement - see below*)
-
TBC
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2021
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 year
- £14,500 per year
- Full Time
- 18 months (including Professional Placement - see below*)
-
TBC
If you're unable to use the online form for any reason, you can complete our PDF application form and equal opportunities PDF form instead. The University reserves the right to increase fees in line with inflation based on the Retail Prices Index or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament up to a maximum of five per cent.
*Professional Placement option
The Professional Placement version of the course is optional and is offered as an alternative to the standard version of the course.
This will allow you to complete a credit bearing, 20 week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Master’s Degree. The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace.
You will be responsible for finding and securing your own placement. The University, however, will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will also benefit from support sessions delivered by Careers+ as well as advice and guidance from your School.
Placements will only be confirmed following a competitive, employer-led selection process, therefore the University will not be able to guarantee placements for students who have registered for the ‘with Professional Placement’ course. All students who do not find a suitable placement or do not pass the competitive selection process will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.
Personal statement
Students are required to submit a personal statement as part of their application for this course.
Your postgraduate personal statement is going to shine a light on your personal experience, academic success, personal skills and any other factors that will support your application for further study.
Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:
Your passion and motivations
Studying a postgraduate course usually means you want to specialise in something. So what’s driving you?
Why this course?
Show that you’ve researched the course offering. What is it about this particular course that appeals to you? Is it the lecturers? The modules? Etc.
What makes you a good postgraduate candidate?
Tutors want to know that you can handle postgraduate study, so show them how your undergraduate experiences or work life has equipped you for a more advanced level of study. Key areas to address are research and group work but this can vary depending on your chosen course.
Relevant academic or work experience
Add anything relevant that relates back to your chosen course and shows how your skills will contribute towards your learning. What extra-curricular activities have you taken part in? What awards have you won? What employment or voluntary experience do you have that has helped you develop transferable skills? How do these specifically relate to the course you are applying for?
You should also mention your future plans and how a postgraduate qualification fits in. Try to look beyond your postgraduate study – do you plan to jump straight into a specific career or follow your studies with a research degree? Lastly, use plain, professional English and, where possible, utilise the language of your chosen industry.
Get more information on writing personal statements.
Additional costs
Our courses include activities such as performance, exhibitions, field trips and production of works or artefacts which may require you to purchase specific equipment, instruments, books, materials, hire of venues and accommodation, or other items.
Based on the past experience of our students, you might find it helpful to set aside about £50 for each year of your studies for your personal stationery and study materials. All our students are provided with 100 free pages of printing each year to a maximum total value of £15.
Accommodation and living costs
The cost of accommodation and other living costs are not included within your course fees. More information on the cost of accommodation can be found in our accommodation pages.
Financial Support
We offer further information on possible postgraduate financial support. This includes the type of loans, grants and scholarships available both from the government and from Birmingham City University.
Did you know that you can apply for a postgraduate loan of up to £10,906 for some courses and options?
Modules
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits): |
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 60 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules: |
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Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.
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Course Structure
During the year, you will study five taught modules over 3 semesters, culminating in a final group module.
Teaching methods may include practical sessions, lectures and group debates, featuring input from both University staff and guest lecturers from industry, providing you with a wide range of practical knowledge and insight.
On the course, you'll be taught by established industry professionals with a wealth of expertise and enthusiasm, who are experienced at recognising and responding to the rapidly changing demands within the industry.
Classroom activities
During your studies where appropriate, there may be practice-based opportunities to engage with a regional film festival such as Cine-Excess - an annual international film festival and conference on global cult film cultures and Flatpack Film Festival, a Birmingham-wide experimental film festival celebrating cinematic and audio-visual invention as well as other global film festivals such as Cannes, AFM and Annecy.
Enhancing your employability skills
Courses within the School of Games, Film and Animation are built upon workplace simulation and industry-standard work, ensuring you behave less like a student and more as a professional, gaining the workplace experience and attributes you need. The aim is to produce confident, work-ready graduates.
At the end of your studies you’ll complete a Major Project. This project may lead you to working directly with a client depending on individual aspirations. This direct contact will give you the experience, confidence and freedom to put into action all you’ve learned on your studies. Aligned with this course-specific experience, you will also have access to a range of support staff and services from the University’s Careers Service, who can help with:
- Reviewing CVs, covering letters and application forms
- Career planning and decision making
- Preparing for interviews and assessment centres
- Developing portfolios
- Networking with employers
- Advice about self-employment and entrepreneurship
Placements
Semester Three, which is the Major Project, is a live studio activity, where all MA Feature Film development students combine into a team to create a full story and pre-visualisation reel, including a scene slice or teaser.
You will have feedback on your work from major studio partners helping you to guide your contribution towards the Major Project and ready it for a live pitch process to international studios, Producers and Distributor.
The experience achieved within this in-house placement is a demonstration of a live development and is valued by industry partners.
OpportUNIty
OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus ensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.
It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles.
Graduate Jobs
This course is designed to help its graduates focus and refine their skills and portfolio to:
- Move into full development on their own projects, with a focused understanding of the processes required to do so and ready that project for pitching.
- Apply for various roles that are regularly advertised within the international Film, Television and Animation industries for Story Artists, Pre-visualisation artists, Concept artists, Production designers, Animators, Performance animators, Character technical directors, Environment Technical directors, Lighting directors, Editors, Compositors, VFX artists, Concept artists, Production designers and Art directors.
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here.
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies.
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country.
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies.
Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC)
International students who have a serious interest in studying with us but who perhaps cannot meet the direct entry requirements, academic or English, or who have been out of education for some time, can enter Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC) and begin their degree studies.
BCUIC is part of the global Navitas Group, an internationally recognised education provider, and the partnership allows students to access the University’s facilities and services and move seamlessly through to achieving a Bachelor’s degree from Birmingham City University.
Our School of Games, Film and Animation is based in the Curzon Building, a £63 million development, located on our City Centre campus.
We help you learn a specific discipline such as digital marketing, programming or art and put that discipline into practice by offering flexible teaching space, dedicated development studios and open access work areas for group projects, as well as course-specific facilities.
Staff Introduction
Course Director Shaun Magher has over 3 decades of experience working as a Director, Creative Director and Animation Director in the Film and Animation industry.
Shaun Magher
Course Director MA Feature Film Development
Shaun Magher is a senior lecturer working with Birmingham City University’s NTI department, specialising in Story and Character development, Performance Animation and Digital Art. He teaches on Interactive Entertainment, Video Game Digital Art and Gamer Camp.
Shaun helps shape students into industry ready ‘T shaped’ artists. The horizontal strand demonstrates proficiency across various art disciplines and the vertical demonstrate a specialist expertise.
Professor Xavier Mendik
Institutional Lead for the BCU Film Futures/BFI Partnership | Director of BCU Film Futures | Director of the Cine-Excess International Film Festival
Xavier Mendik is Associate Professor in Film at Birmingham City University, from where he runs the Cine-Excess International Film Festival (www.cine-excess.co.uk). He has written extensively on cult film traditions, and some of his books (as author/editor/co-editor) include: Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress: The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema (2015), Peep Shows: Cult Film and the Cine-Erotic (2012), 100 Cult Films ([with Ernest Mathijs], 2011), The Cult Film Reader ([with Ernest Mathijs],2008), Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945 (2004), Shocking Cinema of the Seventies (2002), Underground USA: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood Canon (2002), Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (2000) and Unruly Pleasures: The Cult Film and its Critics (2000).
Beyond his theoretical work in this area, Xavier Mendik has also completed 5 funded documentaries that explore the social importance of a range of cult film traditions. Xavier Mendik is currently completing the feature length documentary That’s La Morte: Italian Cult Film and the Years of Lead, which draws on research outlined in this current paper.
Alan McQueen
Specialist Lecturer Film Business
Alan McQueen has spent the last 30 years working with the most important and influential UK film companies. He started his career in the film and home entertainment industry in 1983 with MSD Holdings. He then joined Palace Pictures, headed by Nik Powell and Steve Woolley. Palace Pictures were the most inventive, influential and important independent film company in the UK. Alan worked on such titles as 'Nikita', 'The Killer', 'Jean de Florette', 'Manon des Sources', 'Cinema Paradiso', 'The Evil Dead', 'Tatie Danielle', and many others.
Alan then set up Fox World Cinema, an adjunct of 20th Century Fox designed to sell and distribute art house and world cinema titles from a collection of independent distributors including Artificial Eye and Electric Pictures. They released such classics as 'Tokyo Story', 'Heimat', 'Delicatessen', 'Three Colours Trilogy', 'Clerks', 'Hidden' and hundreds of other titles.
Alan was also involved in forming the independent theatrical, video and DVD company Downtown Pictures, which quickly established itself in the UK theatrical market place with such titles as 'Gods and Monsters', 'Summer of Sam and Orphans'.
Alan then formed production company Mushroom Cloud Productions developing a number of projects before re-joining the home entertainment industry as Sales Director for World Cinema Ltd. They sold and distributed DVD for Tartan Video, Artificial Eye, C'Est La Vie DVD, Soda Pictures, TLA, Tyrone Productions, Pathe (World Cinema) and Yume Pictures.
Alan's love of writing has seen two novels published ('The Summervale Volunteers' and 'The Self Preservation Society'). 'The Summervale Volunteers' is being written as a TV series with BBC writers Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle on writing duties.
Alan has written and developed a number of screenplays, including 'The Mexican Spitfire', 'Them!', 'Index Finger in the Sock Drawer', 'Spirit of the Game', 'Footfingers' and 'The Brassiere Brigade'.
Alan recently produced 'Fathers of Girls', a documentary feature about Adam Ant, starring Ray Winstone and directed by Jack Bond.
Projects developed and owned or co-owned include, 'Coming Up' (to be directed in 2013 by Jessie Grace Mellor), 'The Foreigner', 'Outlaws', 'The Brassiere Brigade', and 'A Silent Bark'.
Pip Piper
Lecturer in Film and Live Project Tutor
Pip has been producing films for over 15 years from corporate to music videos to documentary and feature film.
His debut feature film 'The Insatiable Moon', which he produced with Tim Sanders (Lord of the Rings / Whale Rider) and shot in NZ in late 2009, won Best Foreign Film at Moondance in the US and Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the NZ film awards.
Pip's latest documentary film 'Last Shop Standing', released in September 2012, has received wide critical acclaim and is being distributed across the globe. Pip is CEO of the Producers Forum, a members based film organisation focused on development, networking and campaigning.
Rebecca Tullener
Course Director BA Film Business and Promotion and PG Cert Film Distribution (distance learning)
Rebecca has 15 years of experience working across the digital/interactive media landscape producing printed artefacts, websites, commercial video, e-marketing plans and managing copy-writers, artists, designers, developers and video production staff.
Rebecca has delivered on key European funded initiatives in Birmingham School of Media and the School of Games, Film and Animation, focused on content creation and supporting local enterprises to use screen-based media technology. Rebecca’s held numerous roles at the university as Content Developer, Producer, Studio Manager and Project Manager and has led 50+ web development and commercial video production projects with local businesses, including the development of a digital image bank in collaboration with partner Birmingham Central Library to improve creative practitioner access to the library’s early fine print collection.