MA Wildlife Filmmaking
- Entry year
- 2025/26
- Course code
- D4P31
- Level
- Postgraduate
- School
- School of Arts
- Campus
- City Campus
- Duration
- One year
- Delivery
- Full-time, starts September
- Programme leader
- Peter Venn
This course is open for applications.
Page last updated 7 October 2024
Introduction
UWE Bristol’s MA Wildlife Filmmaking is ideal if you want to learn how to tell intelligent, engaging stories about natural history. This world-leading course has been co-designed with producers, directors and production managers from the BBC’s renowned Natural History Unit.
Accreditations and partnerships:
Why study this course?
Study a uniquely designed industry-led curriculum alongside a purposefully small group of peers. You’ll enjoy hands-on experience of professional film equipment, develop high-level production management skills, and gain contemporary insight into crafting natural history narratives.
In our collaborative culture, you’ll develop communication and production skills to engage diverse audiences and have access to talks and events from across the creative industries. You’ll be encouraged to develop a distinctive, personal approach to documentary, with students in the past pursuing diverse genres – from observational and behavioural to expedition and experimental films.
Why UWE Bristol?
As a creative student you’ll be perfectly placed studying in Bristol, an UNESCO City of Film, widely recognised as the global capital of natural history production. Our academic partnership with the BBC's Natural History Unit means you'll have opportunities to frequently meet with professional programme makers, giving you industry insight and knowledge.
We've established ourselves as part of the city’s thriving production community. Where possible you'll receive direct editorial input on your filmmaking from an industry-based mentor, alongside expert input from our sector-leading academics and technical staff.
Where can it take me?
You’ll graduate with a globally recognised qualification and have a broad range of career options available to you regionally, nationally and internationally.
Equipped with essential skills and specialized knowledge, our graduates are well-prepared for entry-level roles in the wildlife production industry. Most find positions with the BBC or independent production companies in Bristol, across the UK, and internationally. Some graduates also pursue independent funding to create their own future productions.
Our students have been nominated, and won, major emerging talent awards including at BAFTA, Wildscreen, Royal Television Society, Jackson Hole and the International Wildlife Film Festival. Graduation films have been included in BBC broadcasts and in commercial distribution, selling to broadcasters globally.
BAFTA Student award winner and alum, Nyal Mueenuddin's film, 'When the Floods Come', documents the stories of people affected by flooding near the River Indus in Pakistan. Nyal said, “I’m unbelievably honoured to have won a Student BAFTA for my documentary and I’d like to thank the team who worked alongside me on this project."
To see examples of work produced by our recent MA Wildlife Filmmaking graduates, visit our UWE Showcase site.
Watch: Welcome to the School of Arts at UWE Bristol
Structure
Content
The course is practical and production-based. During the one-year course, you'll complete four modules:
Creating the Story - (Semester one) You'll work on developing film narratives and some of the conventions in storytelling used by productions. Through dialogue and written work, you'll see how film ideas come together through discussion.
Mastering the Business - (Semester one) This module introduces you to the way production works, including post-production and production management. It also provides commercial context for film ideas and the current production landscape for natural history shows.
Preparing for Production - (Semester two) This module comprises all the preparatory work required to launch the production stage for your final MA module films. This requires you to complete the editorial development and production management prior to filming which commences Semester three.
Professional Production - You'll now move into your production schedule, including final planning, filming, and post-production, through to delivery and submission in September/October. You'll produce an individual film project in this semester. You'll also have production support through tutorial discussions to track project progress, which will replace your weekly seminars and workshops.
The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved we'll inform you.
Learning and Teaching
Taught by a team with industry expertise across natural history and documentary practice, you’ll learn to understand and push filmmaking boundaries through technical and theoretical input. You’ll study through a combination of practice-oriented lectures, seminars, workshops, and tutorials, and you’ll also benefit from events with industry experts.
Informal discussion with the BBC and independent production companies will push your developing practice forward. You’ll be expected to demonstrate flexibility to attend industry events and festivals alongside scheduled classes.
All School of Arts MA courses actively encourage cross-disciplinary discussion and multi-disciplinary interaction across our diverse community of postgraduate artists, filmmakers, and designers. This ensures you’ll bring different perspectives to your creative practice.
See our glossary of teaching and learning terms.
Study time
This is a full-time course, which starts in September and runs for three terms over 12 months. Learning and teaching sessions typically take place over three days per week, variable across the academic year. Outside of your contact hours, you’ll have the opportunity to access the available resources.
Assessment
You’ll be assessed through a range of methods designed to mirror professional practices in the wildlife film industries. Completing this course requires evidence that you can comply with strict health and safety and ethics processes for all production activities.
For example, all final module films and all overseas productions will need your tutor’s approval and in some instances UWE Bristol’s executive approval too. You’ll be evaluated through presentation, portfolio, practical work and written reflection with ongoing feedback from tutors.
You’ll spend your last term producing a distinctive short-form film, screened publicly to showcase your skills and ability to plan and deliver a production to industry standards. You may choose to travel overseas to film for your final project, but many well-received films have been made here in the UK.
Learn more about our assessments.
Features
Study facilities
Studying at Bower Ashton offers a base for our City Campus students, connecting teaching and learning with a range of renowned creative and cultural organisations in Bristol.
Develop your skills in our filmmaking studios and digital media laboratories, including industry-standard production studios and workshops, a location filming equipment store, and a student production hub. Access specialist post-production facilities, including digital production labs for editing and colour grading suites.
Take a personalised virtual tour of the Filmmaking, Animation and Photography facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.
Learn more about UWE Bristol's facilities and resources.
Study in Bristol
With many of our graduates already working in the BBC and in the independent sector in Bristol and beyond, we have established ourselves as part of the production community here in the city.
Our BBC Natural History Unit Partnership is unique and so is our location, bringing opportunities for engagement, collaboration and ultimately employment - the BBC highly values the talent, fresh ideas and enthusiasm of our students.
Your final project
As part of the Professional Production module, you'll create your own short-form film (approximately 12-minute duration) together with industry standard deliverables. This project will showcase your skills and abilities for planning and completing a production to industry standard.
Previous students have produced a wide range of films across documentary genres, from observational and behavioural to expedition and experimental. We encourage you to produce distinctive films with impact.
You may choose to travel overseas to film for your final project, but many well-received films have been made here in the UK.
Life
Postgraduate support
Our support includes access to fantastic facilities, study tools and career consultants, plus practical help to access everything from funding to childcare.
Bristol
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Sports, societies and activities
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Health and Wellbeing
We provide support in the way you need it.
Campus and facilities
Discover our campuses and the wealth of facilities provided for our students.
Careers
Careers / Further study
For over a decade, our MA Filmmaking graduates have been very successful in securing careers with natural history production companies in the UK and overseas. Many remain in Bristol, and alumni now include junior researchers to senior producers in all major production companies based here.
Our BBC Natural History Unit Partnership is unique and so is our location, bringing opportunities for engagement, collaboration and ultimately employment. The BBC highly values the talent, fresh ideas and enthusiasm of our students.
Our award-winning Careers Service helps you develop your employment potential through career coaching, a vacancy service for internships, placements, jobs, global opportunities, volunteering and community activity plus support for entrepreneurial activity, and access to employer events.
Learn more about our graduate destinations.
Fees
Full time course
Supplementary fee information
The additional costs listed are those that students could reasonably expect to incur during their studies and are for items not covered by the standard tuition fee. These could be materials, text books, travel, clothing, software or printing.
See our funding pages for more information.
For funding options, please see our funding and scholarships information.
Find out about the MyWorld scholarships, which are available for home postgraduate students studying a creative technology-related course (full-time or part-time).
Read about the BBC Studios Wildlife Filmmaking Scholarship.
Entry
Entry requirements
We normally require an honours degree of 2:1 or above but applicants with other qualifications or relevant professional experience are also encouraged to apply and will be considered on an individual basis.
Previous media skills may be helpful but are not essential. We're looking for highly motivated individuals who can demonstrate their ability to come up with documentary ideas and the potential to develop their technical, editorial and organisational skills.
International applicants
For country specific entry requirements please find your country on the country information pages.
Selection process
Applicants will be asked to provide the below for review:
- A programme idea for short wildlife documentary (no more than a single side of A4).
- A list of ten documentary titles you have seen, and a paragraph on each giving us your thoughts. These need not be all wildlife documentaries.
- One or more samples of something you have made. This could be film, photography, written, illustrations, or another creative form.
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an online interview. The interview will focus on ideas you have for film, what you have watched and review some of the sample work you have submitted with your application.
Deferrals
We do not accept deferrals for this course.
English Language Requirement
International and EU applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts many UK and International qualifications in place of IELTS. To find details of acceptable tests and the required grades please visit English Language requirements.
English language support
If you meet the academic requirements but require additional support to take your language skills to the required level, you may be able to attend one of our pre-sessional English courses. Students who successfully complete the pre-sessional course can progress onto their chosen degree course without retaking an IELTS or equivalent.
Read more about our pre-sessional English Programme.
How to apply
Read more about postgraduate applications.
The deadline for applications to this course is Friday 14 February 2025. You will also be required to submit your portfolio by Friday 28 February 2025.
Please note that due to high demand, this programme may close earlier than advertised as we have limited places. We are unable to allow applicants holding offers to defer their entry.
For further information
- Email: Admissions@uwe.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)117 32 83333