Study programme

The purpose of the Master’s Degree Programme in Film is to offer individual talent the opportunity to achieve further personal development in a setting that is international, challenging and investigative. Attention is devoted not only to reflection on film but on other art and media forms as well, while also investigating the extent to which technological and social developments alter the nature of the art and industry of film and moving image-making. The programme is aimed at the maker’s personal professional development and adopts both an individual and research-based perspective.

Students are admitted on the basis of their CV and portfolio, their motivation and their research or development plan. This research or development plan can take many different forms. It may comprise an experimental study into the contemporary nature of the language of film and media, or it may investigate new forms of storytelling or help you develop your own artistic voice. The plan may likewise consist of innovative research or experiments in the areas of, for example, sound design, creative production, camera work or special effects. Or it may be designed to question the boundaries of film and thus result in new forms of audio-visual expression relating, for example, to games, installations or performance. All of these research plans can be related to a specific project (in any genre or artistic discipline) that students wish to develop within the master’s programme, but should also be interesting at a more general level and have potential relevance for the professional and / or artistic world at large.

The research plan forms the basis for a learning path which, apart from the taught course parts in year 1, is of a highly individual nature and calls for a substantial degree of independence. Each student is appointed their own coach of mentor, who supervises the student’s execution of his research plan. The school provides facilities for the performance of practical assignments, exercises and experiments. Given the – reflective – basis of the programme, however, the opportunities offered do not extend as far as making a (full-length) feature film or documentary.

The first year consists of an introduction, three blocks of six weeks each with lectures, workshops and assignments, and a period in which students prepare their research plan for year 2. The introduction is aimed at getting to know each other, the course and the Film Academy but also contains practical workshops on presentation, documentation and reflection. The three blocks of lectures and workshops, ‘Perspectives’, ‘Experiences’ and ‘Exploration’, are interspersed with five weeks in which students reflect on what they’ve learned in the preceding period and relate it to their individual research proposal. Under the heading of ‘Perspectives’ different guest lecturers, from the Netherlands and abroad, will investigate aspects of their work or profession that they feel are relevant to the group of first year master students. This could range from the use of space, time and action in cinema to an analysis of the different dramaturgical models and their assumptions about spectatorship or a discussion of the relation between aesthetics and ethics. In the ‘Experiences’-block there will be several short hands-on workshops, e.g. on scriptwriting, directing actors, sound design or setting up trans media projects. The exact content or focus of these workshops depends largely on the fields of interests of the student group. The last block, ‘Exploration’, examines, both theoretically and practically, different models of research and development. The remaining three months of the first year, the student refines his research or development plan by doing some initial research, experimentation, reading and writing.

The second year is largely spent addressing the research question, which has a wider significance than the concrete (film / media / art) project the student is working on. Given the focus on research and development, ‘process’ is a key word and documentation of that process is imperative. The student is encouraged to choose either a domestic or foreign coach to supervise his or her research; the options also include internships or short term training either in the Netherlands or abroad. The programme provides a modest budget for these purposes. The link made between reflection and practical aspects implies that each research question will also yield one or more presentable products. The form of these projects may nevertheless vary greatly from one to the other – from a script or several filmed scenes to a pilot for an installation or a digital environment. This can then serve as the basis for a project to be implemented following completion of the course. Furthermore, the ‘masterwork’ also presents the process of the student’s development over the two years of the course – again in any form the student seems fitting.

Download the overall programme for 2011 (year 1 and year 2) [PDF]

Igor Kramer (group 2010-2012)
We've just finished the first period (Space, Time, Action), which consisted of sitting, watching, listening, thinking and talking. It feels like one large exiting seminar.  Read more about Igor and other students 2010-2012.

Reinier Noordzij (group 2009-2011)
The course is very demanding. You're responsible for your own progress. But if it works, if you accept the challenge, you can go an awfully long way!  Read more about Reinier and other students 2009-2011.