UU to offer Documentary Making Masters

The University of Ulster is to become the first university in Ireland to offer documentary making at Masters degree level.

A new Masters course is aimed at people who have or are working in the media industries or graduates with practice-inclusive media degrees. Applicants must demonstrate a portfolio of audio-visual production work.

Plans for the MA in Documentary Practice were unveiled today at the School of Media, Film and Journalism in the Coleraine campus.

“This is a first for the University of Ulster and for Ireland,” said Senior Lecturer and film-maker Cahal McLaughlin.

“Documentary-making is one of the most challenging and fulfilling sectors of the media industries.

“This Masters will provide an opportunity for people to strengthen their creative and production competence in professionally constructing and devising documentaries, from conception through writing, filming, directing, production, post-production and negotiating the finished product on to the screen. It will be particularly attractive to individuals, both from here and abroad, who want to attain professional standards.”

The course will be delivered in partnership with the screen industries through a series of professional workshops and masterclasses by visiting directors, cinematographers, editors, producers and commissioning editors. UU teaching staff combine practical documentary production expertise and deep knowledge of current practice and theory.

With an emphasis on creative practice in digital technologies, the course will have access to significant facilities at the School and at the Centre for Media Research, and to resources elsewhere in the Faculty of Arts. UU Coleraine represents one of the longest established and most highly regarded Media Studies centres for teaching and research in the UK and Ireland.

(JM/KMcA)