Film Masterclass Day

St Mary’s is delighted to invite students in their first and second years of sixth form or college to our Film Masterclass Day. This event is designed to give learners a taste of what it’s like to study film at St Mary’s University, where they’ll get hands-on experience with shooting dialogue and cinematography techniques, develop a film character, and focus on sound creation for film.

We ask that all attendees come equipped with their mobile phones and chargers for use throughout the day!

Timetable

The timetable for the event is as follows:

• 9.30am - arrive
• 9.45am - welcome and introduction
• 10am -  session one: character development and shooting conversation between two speaking characters.
• 12pm - lunch
• 1pm - session two: jobs on an independent film set and foley sound.

Session One

This session will focus on how to create a well-rounded character for a film and how that character effects the narrative of script. The students will work together to create a character, their background, and then discuss how that character’s personality and motivations would change the narrative of the story.

The second part of this session will focus on over the shoulder shots and coverage for dialogue. Learners will team up to film the three main shots of a conversation.

Session two

This session will focus on understanding the roles and responsibilities found on an independent film set and the way they come together to help make a final product.

The second part of this session will focus on sound creation for film, specifically how to create sound that you can't pick up on set. The learners will work in small groups to create foley sound that could be placed into a film in postproduction.

Further information

Students are welcome to register independently to attend this day.

If teachers or advisers wish to book a larger cohort, we recommend that learners still register independently so that they receive relevant information prior to the event and to help with attendance marking on the day.

However, please do get in touch with Rachel at schools.colleges@stmarys.ac.uk if you have any questions or need support as we can facilitate larger bookings on your behalf if required.

About St Mary's

St Mary’s University (SMU) has been rated the gold standard for student experience in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). SMU achieved an overall rating of Silver, which lasts for four years, with student outcomes rated typically very high quality. The University was ranked 45th in the 2024 edition of the prestigious Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, which also rated the University fifth for Teaching Quality and seventh for Student Experience.