Postgraduate Course: Storytelling in Film (Online) (EFIE11509)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Film allows your research to reach the widest audience and maximises your impact. Equally relevant to those with an interest in health, well-being, the environment, politics or aesthetics, this course provides a potent resource for the multidisciplinary nature of studying at EFI, and empowers academic research to maximise impact in real-world situations. Taught by internationally awarded practicing film-makers and pitching experts, this course gives you the practical and contextual skills to make a dynamic pitch deck and short film taster that will reach an identified audience.
You will learn essential interview, sound, camera and editing techniques. A wide range of styles, including artist / personal / political / observational / journalist / music, are screened. Care for self and others is essential in this field of lived experience, and your understanding of the ethics of working with the public will be developed. Microfilm exercises focused on sound, image and storytelling styles allow you to discover or refine your vision as a director. |
| Course description |
This course focuses on your creative practice as you transform your research interests through a pitch-deck into a finished short documentary film taster.
You will learn observational techniques that allow you to convert what you see through the camera into editable shots. You will learn how to record sound in different locations, and the essentials of sound design and laying a music track. You will be exposed to different editing styles and supported in editing workshops. You will identify and research your ideal audience, learning about audience segmentation and dissemination platforms, before screening your film to your peers. These potent communication skills are transferable to business, NGOs, medicine and social sciences. Previous student work has achieved international film festival selection, and you will receive exhibition mentorship tailored to your specific research.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed. There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Film Taster and Pitch Deck (100%)
Students will create a 2-5 minute film taster and pitch deck. Criteria for assessment will be shared with the students at the start of the course.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Verbal formative assessment will take place after the small group team teaching and presentation of pitch-decks. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Transform their research questions into a short documentary film taster that tells an engaging story.
- Create work that conveys their appreciation of the ethical issues around their own research questions in terms of documentary practice and audience engagement.
- Use techniques of camera, sound and editing to create a narrative documentary film taster that can reach its identified audience.
- Build peer relationships and engage with professional expertise in moving image storytelling.
- Deepen the knowledge of their own creative potential as storytellers using film.
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Reading List
Essential:
Into the woods: How stories work and why we tell them
Yorke, John
London : Penguin Books; 2014 pp 203- 231
'Technologies of the self' - bridging academic theory and practice-based research through Creative Documentary enquiry
Black, Nicola,
Media practice and education, 20(2), 2019-04-03, 179 - 193
Creative documentary theory and practice
De Jong, Wilma, Knudsen, Erik, 1956
Rothwell, Jerry, author., London, Routledge, 2011 - 2012
The documentary film book
Winston, Brian, editor.; British Film Institute, issuing body., Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan on behalf of the British Film Institute, 2013
Note: 1.10: The Dance of Documentary Ethics
Recommended:
Don Fredericksen¿s chapter, p.17-55 in Hauke, C., & Alister, I. (2001). Jung & film: post Jungian takes on the moving image. Brunner-Routledge
Oxford textbook of creative arts, health, and wellbeing : international perspectives on practice, policy and research
Clift, Stephen, 1952- editor.; Camic, Paul Marc, 1955- editor., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 20153
Chapter 11: Ethical issues in arts-based health research, pp.83-92 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On completion of this course students will have developed transferable skills , based on their research process. These include :
¿ Curiosity: through their explorations within interpersonal engagement and their research questions.
¿ Problem Solving: as they move through the process of ideas becoming an actual artefact.
¿ Collaboration: the course focusses on creating community around creativity, and students will be working with each other and taught how the film-making team can support each other.
¿ Reflection: The process of filming and editing requires and facilitates reflection, which is encouraged through teaching team feedback.
¿ Communication: film-making is about active listening and effective communication to a defined audience.
¿ Inclusivity: The encounter with the other is a key element of documentary-making, and students are trained to understand the ethics of working with the public.
¿ Data and digital literacy: Capturing, editing and storing people¿s personal data requires detailed ethical training and students are then equipped to understand, interpret and question evidence derived from data and its sources.
¿ Individuality: The individual films emerging from each students research question are the result of each student engaging with their individual experiences and recognising their own vision and style as directors.
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| Keywords | Film,documentary,audience,video,communication,impact,sound,camera,edit,storytelling |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Amy Hardie
Tel: (0131 6)51 5871
Email: a.hardie@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Zoe Hogg
Tel:
Email: Zoe.Hogg@ed.ac.uk |
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