MA Digital Documentary

1. MA Digital Documentary Portfolio Review Stage 2

2. Student Profile: who are our students? • Standard offer: 2.1 equivalent plus applicants without this level of qualification with relevant professional experience in film, TV or other media. • 2011 entry: 18 students taking programme. • A further 9 students from the joint programme, MA in Journalism and Documentary Practice share the core documentary courses from the MA Digital Documentary • Nationality: predominantly HEU (2011). Gender profile: approx 50/50 female/male. • Students are very committed to developing their creativity and production skills through external activities, including internships and placements (See the Brighton Documentary Festival with which the School as strong links.) Each year they mount a public show of their final work with staff support. • Many of our students are seeking a career in documentary/media production. Successful recent alumni have gained employment at media companies including Century Films, BBC, Vodaphone, and are working as independent producers. An increasing number wish to continue to practice-based doctoral study.

3. Programme Aims • Advanced knowledge of the documentary video practice and the ability to apply this creatively to their own work • Systematic critical understanding of the history and new developments within factual film-making • The ability to critically evaluate scholarship and professional practice in the documentary field • Deploy professional skills in production research and project management • The capacity to reflect on their own production work and situate this within the field • The ability to develop and identify markets for concepts and projects on more than one media platform

5. Learning, Assessment & Feedback • The two core courses in documentary (Autumn and Spring) are delivered through a combination of linked project development workshops, theory seminars, practical demonstrations and screenings • Students build on their initial grounding in documentary practice and theory in term 1 to produce and reflect upon an entirely self-realized 20 minute video in the summer which enables them to demonstrate their skills in all aspects of production and critical understanding. • Students learn through: researching and developing exercises and projects in documentary film-making in each term for which they receive ongoing informal feedback in class and tutorials reading and discussing key readings on aspects of documentary theory and history and on production processes writing project proposals, treatments, budgets, schedules, reports and presenting their work online and live for the degree show undertaking optional (or in the case of the student awarded a School bursary with internship attached, obligatory) internships or placements in local production companies • Feedback is provided informally through peer and tutor review in class of work in progress and through formal assessment via the following modes: Autumn Term ; Short documentary (team work) and production critique (individual) Spring Term; Project proposal; Video pilot for major project (10 minutes); Development report. (all individual) Summer: Major documentary project (20 mins); Project report (5,000) Students received detailed written feedback on formal assessments with comments from both examiners on the final project.

6. Programme Learning Outcomes matched to individual courses • Both core courses Documenting the Real( Autumn) and Research and Project Development for Documentary Practice (Spring) enable the successful student to: • Understand and evaluate key theoretical approaches to the study of documentary and realism • Understand the evolution of the factual film across its histories and contemporary manifestations • Deploy a range of appropriate critical tools from media, film and production studies to the analysis and practice of factual film and television. • Identify, utilize and evaluate a range of research sources in theoretical and practical work • To summarize arguments, discussion and bodies of information • To manage time effectively and plan ahead • To select and prioritize material • To critically evaluate their own and others' work and give constructive feedback.

7. In addition in ‘Documenting the Real’ students learn: • The ability to work effectively to work in team • Understand the evolution of the factual film across its histories and contemporary manifestations • Identify, utilize and evaluate a range of research sources in theoretical and practical work • And in ‘Research and Project Development for Documentary Practice’: • Develop and script substantial productions • The ability to budget, schedule and manage a project • The ability to communicate to specific audiences • Utilize an informed awareness of the current markets and institutions within which documentary is produced. • Make productive links across the theory and practice of different media. • The ability to utilize appropriate technology for research, presentation and promotion of practical work

8. Issues/challenges These include: • The differing levels of practical skills that students arrive with • The diversity of educational and cultural backgrounds • Student expectations about contact time • Difficulty in providing personal attention and support for projects due increased programme numbers and group sizes • Maintaining and updating facilities in a timely fashion • Lack of funding for UK students to take up places • Difficulties and delays in obtaining visas • Support for greater promotion of the programme to relevant overseas markets • Lack of budgets to support students’ films • The need to provide a coherent learning experience from a range of option choices and programme variations