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Monday 2 September 2013

BSc (Hons) Film and TV Production

James
Hey, I’m James and I am about to enter my second year in studying Film and TV Production. I still remember the day I was accepted into Greenwich; I don’t think I will ever forget it. Greenwich was my first choice and having spent results day stressing and panicking like countless others across the country, to finally receive the a phone call saying “Congratulations, you’re in”… as cliché as it sounds no matter how many times I thanked the stranger on the other end, it seemed to hold little value against the life changing news he had just given me.

Film & TV Production is the course that I was always focused on studying, unlike the similar but more theoretical Film Studies course; it was the practical hands on aspect of Production that sold it to me. What I want to do in life is make films and the amazing thing about my course is that it allows me to do just that. You might be thinking ‘really?! You can make films on a film course? You don’t say!’ But you would be surprised by the amount of universities I visited which took focus on not making films but simply knowing about them. Within the first couple of months I had been given the knowledge of the production process and the key components which make up a crew. Theoretical knowledge of Film & TV is incredibly important but still a basic element in the vastness of the course I am on.

I have learnt a great deal in this first year, not just academically but a lot about myself as well. Self-realization is what I regard to be the greatest characteristic someone on my course can possess, the ability to step back and look at your work with an unbiased mind and say “is that good? I mean is it really good?” there are too many who are blinded by the fact it is their own creation to realise when something is bad, I can honestly say in all the work I have done throughout the first year there is perhaps only one piece I can watch and enjoy.

Before I came to Greenwich I aspired to be a producer, which has now changed to wanting to direct. When I arrived I was under the impression that everyone will want to be a producer as it is at the top the hierarchy, but I was wrong. One of the first activities we did was go around the room and have everyone in the year say what they wanted to become. The diversity in roles was remarkable, editor, sound design, graphic design etc. The point being it makes no difference who you are or what you want to do, in this first year I have been given the chance to be an editor, director, floor manager and various other things on various projects. The nature of the course both questioned and reinforced my views on job prospects.

One of the most surprising things about the first year is that your result doesn't go towards your overall degree and that you only need 40% to pass. This news can be regarded as both good and bad but then there are those who only see it as fantastic. My advice is steer clear of working with those people, no matter how much creativity they possess if they function on the idea that they can scrape into year 2 with 40% they don’t truly want to be there.
I’m going to sound boring and say work hard regardless, but there is incentive. In year 2 you will get the chance to do the course ‘Broadcast Production’, this course is only available to those with the best results and attendance and is without a doubt the one that everyone wants to get as it offers work experience at the BBC.

Greenwich is an amazing place to study and creative inspiration comes easily when walking through campus, you need only look around and see all the tourists taking pictures to know you have come to a special place. No other university in London and very few in the country can claim to have such architectural and historical beauty. I have relatively little interest in history but you would have to be pretty ignorant to not appreciate the greatness that Greenwich possesses.

This first year has passed incredibly quickly; they do say time flies when you’re having fun. I have made lifelong friends and cannot wait for the second year; everything is going to step up and production wise become a lot bigger and even better… and stressful. J

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