‘Where Next? Envisioning a Layered and Cohesive Future for Academic/Industry Media Projects

Fox, Neil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2959-2877 (2017) ‘Where Next? Envisioning a Layered and Cohesive Future for Academic/Industry Media Projects. In: Journal of Media Practice and MeCCSA Practice Network Annual Symposium: ‘Practice and/as media industry research’, June 8 2017, Bath Spa University.

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Abstract / Summary

Higher education environments increasingly emphasise the importance of students working directly with professionals and gaining ‘experience’ as part of their degrees. This often takes the form of students completing work experience and/or internships on professional projects or of academics working with professional partners to develop ‘live’ briefs for student assessment. Alongside imperatives for experiential learning, there is increasing pressure for higher education institutions to create content that exists outside the walls of academia and ‘impacts’ the nebulous general populace.

With these evolutions in mind, this multimedia presentation offers a practical case study of the Filmmaker In Residence pilot project ran by the School of Film & Television at Falmouth University. The project saw the creation of the professional feature film ‘Wilderness’ through collaboration between the school, professional filmmakers and undergraduate and postgraduate students. The aims of the project were threefold: to create a new model for experiential learning that differs from standard industry training opportunities, to provide a micro-budget film co-production opportunity for aspiring professional, independent filmmakers and to develop a project that resulted in commercially viable intellectual property.

Reflecting on the project, this presentation proposes a way higher education might facilitate students’ learning and their development of practical experience through models other than the established ‘work placement’ or ‘internship’. Furthermore it explores how universities and other HEIs can utilise the current focuses on experiential learning and content creation to facilitate the induction of students into the culture of independent, micro-budget film production that results in the creation of professional content for commercial markets. The paper draws on behind the scenes footage, interviews and emerging academic literature to reflect on the relationship between students, professional practitioners and academics in contemporary media practice and to consider how similar projects might be developed in the future. ‘Wilderness’, the professional feature film produced as part of this pilot project, had its world premiere at the 2017 Cinequest Film & VR Festival in San Jose, California, in March.

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