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!

If you’re a teacher and wish to bring a cohort of students to this event, please contact schools.colleges@stmarys.ac.uk.

Schedule

9.30am: Arrive

9.45am: Welcome and introduction

10am: Character development

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.

11.05am: Shooting a conversation between two speaking characters

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.

12.10pm: 5 shots, 5 seconds challenge

This session will focus on shot types, selection, and cinematography techniques like the rule of thirds, 20 degrees rule, and framing. The students will work in small groups to shoot five different shots that last five seconds each.

1.10pm: Lunch

1.50pm: Foley sound

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.