We are proud to report that NFTS students have once again received two out of three nominations in the BAFTA British Short Animation category of the EE British Academy Film Awards for their short films, The Alan Dimension directed & co-written by Jac Clinch and A Love Story directed by Anushka Naanayakkara (full credits below).

NFTS students have won this category for the last three years in a row and this is the second consecutive year that two of our students’ graduation films are competing for the same prize. The ceremony takes place on the 12^th February 2017 and will be shown on BBC One.

Graduates are also doing us proud in the Outstanding Debut and British Short Film categories. Short films The Party (directed by Directing Fiction graduate, Andrea Harkin; Sound Design by Sound Post Production graduate Dario Swade) and Mouth of Hell (written by Directing Fiction graduate, Bart Gavigan) are nominated in the British Short Film category and Documentary Direction graduate George Amponsah is nominated in the Outstanding Debut category for his work as Writer, Director and Producer on documentary, The Hard Stop.

Full list of Credits:

Best British Short Animation

A Love Story - Director Anushka Naanayakkara; Producer Khaled Gad; Writers Elena Ruscombe-King, Anushka Naanayakkara; Designer Solrun Ósk Jóndóttir ; DoPs Yinka Edward, Alvilde Horjen Naterstad; Editor Joseph Comar; Composer Victor Hugo Fumagalli; Sound Designer Marcin Szumilas; VFX Supervisors Ye Teng; Eloise Tomlinson; Online Editor/Colourist Vlad Barin; Lead Animators Anushka Naanayakkara, Iván Sarrion Soria; Animators Robert Millard, Adrian Piqueras Sánchez; Modelmakers Amalie Vilmar, Alicia Canovas Verdú, Joanna Brooks, Katherine Millar Craig; Art Assistants Lenka Dobranska, Alice La Trobe, Manuela Romero, Louisa Brooks, Emily Hake; VFX Artists Gillian Simpson, Zhao Xi, Li Suoran, Zhuge Bijun, Alexander Davis; Vocals Lucia Bulgheroni, Hollie Buhagiar, Marina Elderton Cinematography Advisers Leigh Alner, Ben Hecking; Production Manager Simone Tomasi; Production Coordinators Agnieszka Pawlowska, Inês Lourenço.

The Alan Dimension -  Director Jac Clinch; Producer Millie Marsh; Writer Jonathan Harbottle; DoP Miles Ridgway; Designer Declan O’Brien; Production Manager Anna Bennett-Squire;  Visual Effects Luke Hardisty & Matt Moyes; Composer Tim Morrish; Editor Xanna Ward-Dixon; Sound Editor/Rerecording Mixer Justin Dolby; Online Editor/Grade Robin Yoojin Rhee

Best British Short Film

Mouth of Hell (Anant) - Writer Bart Gavigan

The Party - Director Andrea Harkin; Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor Dario Swade

Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

The Hard Stop - Writer/Director/Producer George Amponsah (Other crew on the film: DoP Matthias Pilz; Composer Roger Goula; HD Camera Michael Adeyemi; Editors Michael Aaglund & James Devlin; Additional Editors Carmela Iandoli & Josh Levinsky) 

Best British Film

American Honey - Foley Editor Dario Swade

Denial - Supervising Art Director Christina Moore; Sound Mixer Danny Hambrook

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Director David Yates; Stand-by Art Director Huw Arthur; Sound Design Editor Robert Malone; 2nd Unit Sound Mixer Ivor Talbot; Pre-Vis/Generalist TD Zach du Toit; Digital Compositor David Sheldon

Best Animated Film

Kubo and the Two Strings - Composer Dario Marianelli

Best Production Design

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best British Film) 

Doctor Strange- Assistant Art Director Gary Jopling; Draughtspersons Isona Rigau & Alexandra Toomey; Assistant Stand-By Art Director Yasmin Al-Naib; Assistant Production Coordinator Caroline Houghton

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Generalist Lead for ILM John Seru; Visual Effects Producer Ben Lock; Art Directors Stephen Swain & Steve Lawrence; Junior Draughtsman Olivia Muggleton; Boom Operator Michael Lee Taylor; First Assistant Editor Tom Harrison-Read

Best Sound

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best British Film) 

Best Special Visual Effects

Doctor Strange (see Best Production Design)                      

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best Production Design)                  

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (see Best Production Design)                         

The Jungle Book - Visual Effects Production Manager Carlos Ciudad; Lead Compositor MPC Chris Gooch; Stereo Compositor MPC Graham Dorey; Roto/Prep Artist Andrew Scattergood; Digital Artist Helen Brownell; Digital Compositor Adam Arnot; Stereo Compositor MPC Victor Almela

If you are inspired by this impressive list of credits across all aspects of the filmmaking business, we still have some places remaining to study at the NFTS in 2017 – more information here.

(Pictured: Rebecca Morgan & Caroline Bartleet picking up the BAFTA for Best British Short Fiction for Operator in 2016)

The National Film and Television School (NFTS) announces that The Bind has been chosen as the second short film to be made under the BBC Films and NFTS Greenlight Short Project.

The Greenlight Short Project is a joint venture between BBC Films and the National Film and Television School to fund one short film a year for three years made by recent NFTS graduates.

The Bind has been conceived by NFTS Producing MA graduate, Caroline Bartleet and is inspired by a true story.

Caroline's first short film as writer/director, Operator, stars Kate Dickie and Vicky McClure. The film premiered at the London Film Festival where it was nominated for the Short Film Award. Since then it has gone on to play at numerous festivals around the world. Operator won the BAFTA for British Short Film in 2016.

Caroline said the following after hearing that her film idea had been selected: “I am so pleased that my film has been chosen for such a prestigious project; working with BBC Films is a fantastic opportunity and I can’t wait to start production.”

Acting Head of BBC Films, Joe Oppenheimer: “Caroline is an impressive and talented filmmaker and we’re thrilled to be able to support her exciting new project through our ‘Greenlight’ scheme with the NFTS.”  

National Film and Television School director, Nik Powell said: “We are extremely pleased to continue our partnership with the BBC; The Greenlight Short Project is an excellent opportunity for our graduates. The BBC has long been a big champion of new talent, especially at the NFTS, and we are hugely appreciative of this as is Caroline who has an extremely bright future ahead!”

The Bind is the second short film to be made as part of the Greenlight project following Diagnosis which was written and directed by Eva Riley and produced by Emilie Jouffroy whose NFTS graduation films, Edmond (directed by Nina Gantz) and Patriot won the Short Animation BAFTA and competed for the short film Palme D’Or in Cannes 2015 respectively.

Contact for further information:

Vicky Hewlett, Head of PR and Communications, NFTS: VHewlett@nfts.co.uk

(Pictured: Ralitza Petrova, NFTS Directing Fiction graduate winning the Golden Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival in 2016 for Godless)

London, 16^th January 2017: The National Film and Television School (NFTS) announces that the ‘NFTS Directing Workshop’ is now open for applications and will take place in the summer 2017. The scheme is aimed at increasing the number of women and people from BAME backgrounds and those with disabilities working professionally in screen directing.

There will initially be six places available on the pilot workshop with a view to extending to 12 in future. Participants will start with a two-day introductory session in March followed by intensive training in narrative filmmaking in an innovative, four-week workshop during the summer, which will result in the production of a short film. All participants are guaranteed an interview for the NFTS’ prestigious and highly competitive Directing Fiction MA.

The NFTS will cover all production costs and will facilitate inter-School networking to help crew the films across all disciplines from producing to editing and sound.

The workshop is a part of the initiatives announced at the NFTS’ annual fundraising Gala in 2016, which celebrated Great British Women and includes a mentorship programme for all female students on the NFTS’ four MA courses in directing.

Nik Powell, director of NFTS says: “It is extremely important that filmmakers represent the society that they reflect and to this end we want our student population to be as diverse as possible, particularly in screen directing. We need to hear from all voices and perspectives to ensure the viewing audience is fairly represented and to this end, I am extremely pleased to announce the NFTS Directing Workshop and the commitment to ensure our ambitions for this programme are realised.”

For more information, and to apply for the NFTS Directing Workshop, please visit https://nfts.co.uk/directing-workshop

-Ends-

Contact for further information:

Press: Vicky Hewlett, Head of PR and Communications, NFTS: VHewlett@nfts.co.uk

London, 19^th January 2017: The National Film and Television School announces that its partnership with Discovery Networks International, which aims to find the next generation of talented producers, is to continue in 2017.  

NFTS’ part-time Diploma in Factual Development and Production is delivered in partnership with Discovery and takes place at their offices in Chiswick, London. Students meet one evening a week for a year and are taught by the UK’s top factual television executives.

Discovery Networks International is to offer scholarships to four of the most talented and discerning students and the best programme idea pitched at the end of the course will be chosen for further development worth £5,000, working with a Discovery executive producer.

The Factual Development and Production Diploma enables students to develop the organisational, planning and creative skills required to advance an idea from the initial pitch, to the shoot and edit, through to transmission and beyond in both the UK and other markets around the world.

Discovery Networks International's Ed Sayer says: “We are extremely pleased to extend our partnership with the NFTS, whose reputation in developing new talent is second to none. This course is all about nurturing the next generation of great producers through imparting expert knowledge and skills from the best in the business of factual programme making. At Discovery, we are motivated by excellent programme making, which is why we offer a development fund at the end of this course to the best programme idea; it’s a brilliant way of finding the next big talent and we look forward to meeting this year’s intake!”

Nik Powell, NFTS Director says: “It’s fantastic news that Discovery is continuing its support for our Factual Development & Production Diploma. We pride ourselves on offering practical courses that help talented individuals get a step up on the career ladder and this course has an excellent track record in doing exactly that.”

The course starts at the end of January 2017 and there are still a few places remaining – for more information and to apply, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/our-courses/diploma/factual-development-and-production

ENDS

Contact for further information:

Vicky Hewlett, Head of PR and Communications, NFTS: VHewlett@nfts.co.uk

Sweet Maddie Stone, directed and co-written by Brady Hood and produced by Jake Riley-Hunte, has come top of a poll of ODEON cinema goers who attended the ‘Best Short Films of the Year’ competition on January 17th. The programme of seven NFTS students’ short films premiered at 16 ODEON cinemas across the UK to showcase the next generation of talented filmmakers. The films included Sweet Maddie Stone; Present; Ferris and the Fancy Pigeon; The Alan Dimension; A Love Story; Fishwitch and Patriot. Audiences were asked to get involved and ‘watch, judge and decide’ to pick their favourite film.

The result was incredibly close with only a handful of votes separating the seven films in the programme.

The winning filmmakers will receive five 12 month Limitless memberships, enabling them to see all the films they want, as often as they like at ODEON cinemas.

Brady Hood, director of Sweet Maddie Stone says: “This is a huge honour; I’d like to thank ODEON for running such a fantastic event and for giving this opportunity and exposure to some very special short films. It was an amazing selection and I’m truly humbled to share the big screen with them and at an ODEON cinema!!  I’d also like to thank everyone who voted for Maddie, she’s had a tough old life but she’ll be buzzing with this, as are the whole team. We make films for people and it’s a very special feeling to know that we connected so much that you even took the time to vote for us. We can’t wait to use the ODEON Limitless memberships and continue to learn from the masters of cinema at ODEON. We sincerely hope that the future NFTS graduates will get this amazing opportunity also and be premiered at ODEON next year. 

Andy Edge, Commercial Director (UK & Ireland) at ODEON says: “We are incredibly pleased with the attendance of the ‘Best Short Films of the Year’ competition and the enthusiasm of the audience who voted in their droves. It is testament to the quality of the films that the voting was so close; we would like to congratulate Brady and his team and wish all the filmmakers success for their future careers.”

Audience reaction was incredibly positive with typical responses including:

“Brilliant evening, great to see such a high standard of work coming from the film school.”

“They were all outstanding- it is very difficult to pick just one as they all had different strengths - well done to all involved.”

“Fantastic selection. Really enjoyed them.”

The competition is part of a partnership between the NFTS and ODEON, which has become the School’s first platinum cinema sponsor. ODEON is working with the school’s Board, tutors and students to support the school in a wide variety of new initiatives including an annual student scholarship.

For more information, please visit www.nfts.co.uk and to find out about ODEON’s Limitless gift membership, please visit http://www.odeon.co.uk/limitless/

About the films:

Sweet Maddie Stone (Fiction: Director/ Co-writer, Brady Hood; Producer, Jake Riley-Hunte)

15-year-old Maddie Stone rules her school yard under the protection of her family name. But after discovering her notorious father has been arrested, she has to make his bail money or lose the yard. The more Maddie fights, the more her world spirals out of control – and the closer she gets to becoming the man she’s trying to save.

Fishwitch (Animation: Director, Adrienne Dowling; Producer, Helene Sifre)

Tooega is a witch who ekes out an isolated existence on an iceberg. It’s a miserable lot, and in Tootega’s case, misery hates company! Derek is a merman – more fish than man really – who spends his days joyously rollicking around the ocean, oblivious to the fact that his dreadful singing is the very reason he remains friendless. Fishwitch is the story of what happens when these two unlikely characters come together…

Ferris & The Fancy Pigeon (Documentary: Director/ Writer, James Gardner; Producer, Helene Sifre)

When Ferris, a teenage boy with a passion for fancy pigeons, leaves school, his father finds him a job at the local factory. Ferris goes along with his father’s plan until the day the school bully he thought he’d left behind confronts him. Ferris abandons his post and the punishment his father exercises forces Ferris to finally face up to some difficult home truths.

A Love Story (Animation: Director, Anushka Naanayakkara, Producer, Khaled Gad)

Two creatures fall in love, weaving a colourful world together. But when darkness threatens to consume one of them, the other must fight to stay together, or risk being torn apart. 

Present (Fiction: Director & Co-Writer, Meg Campbell; Producer Ser En Low)

With her sister slowly succumbing to early-onset Alzheimer’s, Beth struggles to balance her responsibilities as a carer and a mother, whilst dealing with her own fear of developing the genetic disease.

The Alan Dimension (Animation: Director & Co-writer, Jac Clinch; Producer, Millie Marsh)

The divine gift of precognition has been bestowed to a human. That human…is Alan. But Alan’s gift isn’t all it’s cracked up to be - he can barely foresee what’s for breakfast. And now the only person on earth who understands Alan is packing her bags to leave – Wendy has had enough of being married to ‘mankind’s next step in cognitive evolution’. Will Alan realise in time that seeing the future has blinded him to his present?

Patriot (Fiction: Director/ Writer, Eva Riley; Producer, Michelangelo Fano)

Hannah loves her Dad and always wants to be seen next to him. But during the preparations for an anti-immigration protest at her house she is pushed out, being seen as too young. Hannah meets a teenage Romany boy and does her best to push him away but the boy won’t leave her alone, leading to consequences which turn her world upside down.

(Pictured: Fences Director & star, Denzel Washington with DoP & NFTS alumna, Charlotte Bruus Christensen)

At least 30 NFTS alumni worked on this year’s Oscar nominated films including Fences and Hacksaw Ridge, which are up for Best Picture. Charlotte Bruus Christensen is DoP on Fences and Evan Jolly is Additional Music Composer on Hacksaw Ridge.

Composing graduate, Dario Marianelli, who previously won an Oscar for Atonement, composed the music for Kubo and the Two Strings, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature. Travis Knight, director of Kubo and the Two Strings recently delivered a masterclass to NFTS students accompanied by Arianne Sutner, LAIKA Head of Production and a selection of puppets from the movie – read more here.

Both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Hail Caesar! are hot contenders for Best Production Design. Alumni working on Fantastic Beasts include Director, David Yates; Stand-by Art Director Huw Arthur; Sound Design Editor, Robert Malone; 2nd Unit Sound Mixer, Ivor Talbot; Pre-Vis/Generalist TD Zach du Toit and Digital Compositor David Sheldon. Hail Caesar! benefitted from legendary DoP, Roger Deakins who has been nominated for an Oscar no fewer than 13 times and is an NFTS alumnus; and Art Director, Cara Brower Leon.

Nominated films in the Best Visual Effects category include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Jungle Book. Rogue One credits the following alumni: Generalist Lead for ILM John Seru; Visual Effects Producer, Ben Lock; Art Directors, Stephen Swain & Steve Lawrence; Junior Draughtsman, Olivia Muggleton; Boom Operator, Michael Lee Taylor and First Assistant Editor, Tom Harrison-Read. The Jungle Book includes credits for: Visual Effects Production Manager, Carlos Ciudad; Lead Compositor MPC, Chris Gooch; Stereo Compositor MPC, Graham Dorey; Roto/Prep Artist, Andrew Scattergood; Digital Artist, Helen Brownell; Digital Compositor, Adam Arnot and Stereo Compositor MPC, Victor Almela.

NFTS Sound graduate, Adrian Rhodes is credited as Sound Editor/ Mixer on Pear Cider and Cigarettes, which is nominated for Best Animated Short.

Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Actress for Florence Foster Jenkins, which was written by NFTS alumnus, Nicholas Martin and credits Editor, Valerio Bonelli; Concept Artist, Elo Soode and Sound Assistant, Michael Lee Taylor.

Good luck to everyone involved; we’ll be on the edge of our seats!

NFTS’ first year students were treated to a masterful keynote by multiple Oscar nominee and School alumnus, Roger Deakins on their first day as part of Springboard week.

Roger is well known for his work with the Coen Brothers on films such as Fargo; O Brother, Where art thou? and No Country for Old Men. He has worked frequently with Sam Mendes on the likes of Jarhead, Revolutionary Road and Skyfall. Roger has also just finished working with Denis Villeneuve on the highly anticipated new Bladerunner movie and has previously worked with the French-Canadian director on Sicario and Prisoners. Nominated for the Academy Award for Cinematography no fewer than thirteen times, Roger has won numerous major awards including Best Cinematography BAFTAs for No Country for Old Men, The Man who wasn’t There and True Grit. Besides the ASC & BSC awards he has received, he was awarded the ASC Lifetime Achievement award in 2011 and the BSC Lifetime Achievement award in 2015. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Film.

Roger was accompanied on his visit to the NFTS by his wife and former script supervisor, James Ellis Deakins. James now works as a Digital Workflow Consultant on Roger’s films ensuring the digital work flow is meticulously adhered to. In addition to the keynote, Roger spent time separately with the Directing Fiction students and the Cinematography students, who were given a bespoke lighting masterclass where Roger showed them how to best light the current spaceship set on the NFTS mainstage. He then went for Pizza with them! According to James, Roger has huge affection for the School and wanted to invest this time to give something back. 

(Roger pictured with NFTS Cinematography MA students.)

Another way that Roger gives back can be found at his website, www.rogerdeakins.com. He is frequently on that website’s forum answering questions from the participants.

The keynote was hosted by NFTS Co-Head of Cinematography, Stuart Harris who asked Roger how he came to attend the School. “I left art college and a friend told me about the NFTS. I loved stills photography but thought documentaries could be a good option. I shot 15 films while I was here; I was constantly shooting; it was fantastic for me!”

On his career and working on features, Roger said: “I was lucky to get into features; I would’ve been happy staying with documentaries and shooting features didn’t seem like a possibility to me.”

The students were curious as to how Roger selects the films he works on: “The story is the primary reason for doing something. I want to connect to the material.”

Roger highlighted the importance of understanding the way the director works. “It’s important to judge what the director wants from you beforehand.” The Coen Brothers, for example, storyboard meticulously, which offers a perfect springboard for working out what their vision of the film is”.

Another key theme and learning point for the students was planning and preparation – Roger was keen to stress the importance of the prep period and emphasized the need of being involved in the whole process - choosing locations, set design. “Nothing is worse than turning up on the day of the shoot to find a set the design of which you weren’t involved in and having to figure out how to light and shoot it.”   

Clips from Coen Brothers film, The Man Who Wasn’t There; Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario and Sam Mendez’ Jarhead and Skyfall were used to illustrate certain techniques to the students. Roger let the clips play out and then replayed them without the sound and talked them through in detail.

Roger relayed how something as simple as putting white or silver paper under a lamp will increase the effect of the natural bounce. This was used in The Man Who Wasn’t There.

Jarhead, which Roger describes as “haunting and a really interesting psychological film about war” was “often off the cuff with no rehearsal. I had the camera on my shoulders and just shot. I loved going round people and exploring letting the audience see the world.” Roger used Jarhead to explain how as a cinematographer you need to assess the logistics and practicality of how to shoot certain scenes in advance. For example, one particular scene featuring a horse walking through the desolate landscape had to be shot on a stage whereas others were on location or on set.

The Shanghai apartment fight scene in Skyfall was discussed as it was shot on a stage and lit mainly by the practical LED advertisement screens out of the window. Because the set was composed of glass, it proved quite a challenge.

Roger then talked through how different techniques were used to create tension in Sicario, which was another film that was mostly done on the day with limited storyboarding. “So much of filmmaking is a jigsaw. It might be weeks apart from location to set but it needs to flow and feel like one piece.”

The students showed their appreciation by queueing up for photos with “the legend that is Roger Deakins” and thanking him for his “brilliant talk”. The masterclass was summed up perfectly by one student who simply tweeted after the event: “Amazing man, amazing Q&A.”

If you are inspired to apply for our Cinematography MA, why not sign up to one of our opendays? We have two coming up for Cinematography - more info here.

Actor, novelist, screenwriter, producer and director, Julian Fellowes delivered a rousing masterclass to the new first year NFTS students during Springboard week. Julian is best known for creating, writing and exec producing award-winning series Downton Abbey as well as for winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Gosford Park.

The masterclass was hosted by NFTS Head of Screenwriting, Brian Ward, and introduced by NFTS Director, Nik Powell.

Brian opened the session by asking Julian how he balanced the many ‘hats’ he wore: “It’s good to have a clear idea of direction but if there is an opportunity for a change, embrace it!”

Julian wrote a couple of “bodice ripper” novels at drama school and rep as an exercise to see if he could get published but didn’t write again until he was 40. He acted in TV series such as Duchess of Duke Street and Casualty and later in films such as Tomorrow Never Dies but wanted to find a ‘plan B’ so thought he would get into production. His first credit as scriptwriter came from a production of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1995) and he was told at the time that period drama was dead and he would be lucky to get 1 million viewers. “In the end we got over 10 million viewers and were awarded an International Emmy!”

Julian stressed the importance of getting an agent to the students. “You probably need to change agents until you get to where you want to go; remember that you’re in charge and that there’s lots of competition; it’s called show business for a reason!”

Whilst Julian has now diversified into many different areas; for example, he’s just co-written the West-End musical, School of Rock with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, he advises that at the beginning of your career “it’s important to be known for something. From that you can expand and build. You want to be one of those five names they list for a particular genre when a project comes up. It’s useful to be a go-to person for a particular kind of thing. If and when success comes, you may be trusted with another genre.”

Brian asked Julian if he can trace similarities in themes he returns to in his material: “Yes certain themes come up such as self-knowledge. The characters with good self-knowledge get into the least amount of trouble. I like to explore the fact that we’re all dealt certain cards and it’s up to us to make the most of them. I don’t like drama where the audience is told who is good or bad at the beginning. I like to keep it open for the audience to decide.”

After showing a clip of a very emotional and key scene in Separate Lies, the first film directed and written by Julian, Brian brought up structure and how new writers should deal with it. “I do believe in the three act structure. You can break the rules but you need to be conscious that you are breaking them. Gosford Park is a good example of this. During a Q&A with myself and Gosford Park Director, Robert Altman, a woman in the audience said the film doesn’t work because the murder is at the end of the wrong act; you’re breaking the three act structure! The truth is we knew we were breaking the rules but we balanced it out with scenes with a similar weight and that delivered an emotional punch thereby keeping the audience involved in the emotional fate of the characters”.

On whether there is a conflict between being a writer and a director, Julian advised: “Don’t worry when writing a scene that it may be expensive to make. Afterwards, you have to consider the importance of that particular scene versus the expense and whether the plot justifies it. You may be given a choice between one scene or another and have to come up with solutions for the other scenes but you should never begin with a compromise.”

Another great piece of advice from Julian was for writers to “find a producer who thinks in the same way you do and will fight to save the material that’s most important to you. People often ask me if I wish my lucky break had come at 30 rather than 50 and while the answer is probably yes, I think that at 50, I was empowered to fight to make sure my work was right in a way I wouldn’t have when I was younger. Robert Altman fought for me to be the only writer on Gosford Park and I was on set all the time as he wanted to make sure he reflected the British class system correctly; I owe him everything as that is the reason why I was the only writer on the Oscar stage. He was an exceptional filmmaker who really understood structure and visual narrative.”

When asked to do Downton, which is in a similar if warmer vein to Gosford Park, Julian felt he “was going back to the same pie for another slice; I was nervous. It was only when I started imagining the characters that I realised I’d accepted the job.”

Julian also often imagines certain actors when writing characters as that helps produce distinctive voices even if they don’t end up playing them in the end. “Not everyone agrees, but I think it’s important to have sympathetic characters who have opinions you disagree with. You need to accept that there are different points of view otherwise your writing can be monochrome.”

A student asked whether Julian had the whole Downton story worked out from the beginning: “We went series by series. I knew where principle stories would end up but would make up smaller plots as we went along. There was no guarantee there would be a second series of course so I had to write the last episode of the first series as if it could be the final one. By the time we got to series 3, it was very popular and I knew that, by the end, I wanted to complete the circle and finish with the triumph of Edith. I wasn’t influence by the popularity or by what the audience were thinking; it was more the individual skills of the actors that influenced the narrative via their performances.”

On what it felt like to be in the midst of a huge hit with Downton: “I certainly didn’t expect that Downton Abbey would become part of the zeitgeist; it was extraordinary and surreal. People would come up to me in tears about the characters. One woman approached me in Barnes and Noble on 5^th Avenue in New York and blurted out – just let Edith be happy! And I wondered, Jesus, what have I started? Being in the middle of the biggest television hit that the United Kingdom has ever produced was an experience and a privilege.”

Brian asked Julian what he felt were the biggest changes taking place in the industry. “Don’t listen when you hear that TV is taking over from film and vice versa. The big change is with the outlet and access. You still get the TV schedulers working hard to find the best slot but televised transmission is being treated like a release date by under 35s. This means that minority shows will have a harder time and that producers have to work out different ways to maximise revenue. But rest assured there will always be a market for filmed drama regardless of the way you consume it. You will be part of an expanding not a shrinking industry. People will always like to be told stories; people liked it when they lived in caves and they will like it when they are on the moon. You are lucky to be working in a business that won’t go out of fashion so I wish you well!”

We asked director and visiting NFTS tutor, Corin Hardy, to follow up his excellent alternative list of Christmas movies with a list for Valentines that isn’t the usual run-of-the-mill schmaltz and rom-coms.

A former Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’, Corin’s multi-award-winning horror, The Hallow, won last year’s Empire magazine’s award for ‘Best Horror Film 2016’. He is attached to direct the upcoming remake of The Crow and has just been announced as the director of The Nun, the terrifying next film in James Wan’s Conjuring franchise, for New Line.  

Corin: All these films are bursting chock full o’love, but you won’t find Pretty Woman, The Notebook, Dirty Dancing or Titanic in my list. The word ‘unconventional’ is likely to appear more times than it should (am going to thesaurus it now so as to vary my descriptions), but the thing which binds this list together is unconventionality. All these films have affected me emotionally and romantically, just not necessarily in a standard rom-com sense. So for those who are looking for something deeper, something perhaps a little darker (and in some cases, bloodier), but still brewing with unrestrained bitter-sweet passion, to watch with a long time love or a brand new sweetheart this Valentines.. Be brave. Keep it real. Go unconventional. I give you my Top 10 Alternative-Valentines movies.

King Kong (Merian C Cooper 1933)

So let’s get started. You thought King Kong was a monster movie? A horror movie? How about it’s a love story. Maybe the biggest love story of all time… The giant ape Kong is besotted from the first moment he sets eyes on stunning Fay Wray and struggles against the odds to maintain a relationship with her. It’s a familiar story for many of us. I watched Merian C Cooper’s 1933 original from the foot of my grandmothers yak haired bed aged six and the floods of emotions that consumed me by the time Kong fell from the Empire State Building overwhelmed me. Confused me. I thought it was because of all the action and suspense, but it was because, unknowingly, it was the first time that my young heart had been broken. “It was beauty that killed the beast.”

Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson 2002)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s film could be categorised as a ‘romantic comedy’ but like most on this list, it’s not your average ‘rom-com’. It stars Adam Sandler, but don’t let that put you off, as under PTA’s direction, his nuanced performance truly demonstrates the depth and capability of his acting chops beyond his cartoonish shtick, for the first (and maybe only?) time. To fondly ape Stephen King’s famous poster quote in support of The Evil Dead: Punch Drunk Love is “one of the most ferociously original” romantic comedies I’ve ever seen. Sandler’s peculiar loner Barry Egan, who suffers from regular fits of anger and depression, sets his sights on the grounded, intriguing Emily Watson after experiencing a car accident. A strange relationship begins to blossom but is threatened by a mattress salesman/sex line boss played by the incredible Philip Seymour Hoffman. It’s stunningly performed, shot and the utterly unique sound-scape-come-score by Jon Brian, reflects the ticks and rhythms of Barry’s inner emotions and stress levels throughout the film. Do check this out if you have not yet seen, it’s a Valentines’ winner. (Note, would make a great unorthodox ‘Loveable nutcase’ triple bill with Ruby Sparks and Lars & The Real Girl.)

Rust & Bone (Jaques Audiard 2012)

From award-winning French director Jacques Audiard, who made such powerful, affecting movies such as The Beat My Heart Skipped, A Prophet and last year’s Dheepan, comes Rust And Bone. Marion Cotillard and Matthias Shoenaerts star in this unconventional bare-knuckled romantic drama about an unemployed father, who whilst struggling to provide for his son, falls in love with a killer whale trainer. A series of tragic happenings pull these two opposing souls together and at times it takes a 10 ton hammer to your head and heart, whilst at others it’s disarmingly sensual, sexy raw and sensitive. Thanks to a breathtaking moment involving a killer whale, you will never hear Katie Perry’s Firework in the same way. 

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Edgar Wright 2010)

What could be more romantic than a young man battling the seven evil exes of his new girlfriend to win over her heart? Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Brian Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim has pure cult coursing through its veins, as an unconventional, slacker ‘superhero’ comedy action-packed romance, sizzling with comic book and video game imagery and chock full of awesome music. Its inspired cast stars Michael Cera as lazy-bum Scott Pilgrim and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as his potential punk rock indie sweetheart, Ramona Flowers - plus support from Wes Anderson favourite Jason Schwartzman, a post Superman Returns Brandon Routh and a pre Captain America Chris Evans as three of the seven Evil Exes. Cinematically, viscerally recreating the graphic-novel world, Edgar combines kinetic camerawork courtesy of his regular superstar DOP Bill Pope, with bold cutting and mixes in on-screen video game graphics to give it a unique, experimental indie living within a blockbuster quality. Will Scott survive the evil Exes? Win over Ramona’s heart? And ultimately gain the power of self-respect?… 

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is a romantic riot. (Please note, Wright’s much beloved Rom-Zom-Com Shaun Of The Dead should probably also be on this list as a bona fide Valentines crowd-pleaser, but Scott Pilgrim doesn’t get enough love.)

Ruby Sparks (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris 2012)

Perhaps this is the closest my list gets to edging along the bench to nervously sit beside a conventional rom-com, but Ruby Sparks is still pretty weird. Both the movie and the girl. Paul Dano plays Calvin, an anxious, struggling, once successful writer who creates a fictional pixie-dream-girl (played By Zoe Kazan who also wrote the film) called Ruby Sparks, who bizarrely materialises in his real life and they ‘fall in love’. Seemingly his perfect partner, this Frankenstein-esque story has a darker warning at its core; of trying to control the ones you love to satisfy your own desires and emotional failures, as Calvin learns that he can control Ruby by simply rewriting her. It juggles with a strange tone and bizarro logic that it just about manages to pull off, but the magic in Dano and Kazan’s performances is always very watchable and you will feel a better, more sensitive and loving partner before the credits roll. 

Lars & The Real Girl (Craig Gillespie 2007)

After Ryan Gosling got soaked through to the skin in The Notebook and before he drove and danced all over Los Angeles (in Drive& this year’s own rom-com-musical, La La Land), he had a deep and meaningful, non-sexual relationship with a sex-doll named ‘Bianca’, in Craig Gillespie’s Lars & The Real Girl. It’s an eccentric, yet touchingly poignant tale of crippling heartbreak and unorthodox romance as socially awkward Lars, who suffers from a deep rooted past family trauma becomes steadily revitalised by a local admirer, Margo (played by Emily Mortimer) after she and members of his family are encouraged by his therapist to treat ‘Bianca’ as a real person. A real girl, and attempt to unlock his paralysing condition. It’s a quiet and gentle, curious movie. Unlike the next one..

Fatal Attraction(Adrian Lynne 1987)

It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without a Michael Douglas movie right? Right?? Basic Instinct nearly made the list and Romancing The Stone might have. Disclosure wasn’t going to and War Of The Roses probably should have, but it’s Adrian Lynne’s psychological thriller Fatal Attraction that I think we all need in our bleeding, boiling hearts come Valentines, if only to remind us, not to be tempted, however attractive we may be, by a ‘wrong un’.. In this case a deliciously demented Glenn Close, who after a naughty affair with married Dan Gallagher (Douglas), becomes obsessed with him, nightmarishly so.. If you’ve ever heard the term ‘Bunny Boiler’ and not known where it derived from, it derived from Fatal Attraction. And you will see why when you watch it. This is on the list, because, assuming your Valentine is not a bunny boiling wrong’un, it will leave you convinced that cheating is not an option and like all good horror/thrillers, the tension in this film alone will ensure that you hold each other tight throughout, until the last, beneath the bathwater, gasp.  For added thriller bonus, watch with Scorsese’s Cape Fear.

Cry Baby (John Waters 1990)

Jonny Depp is Cry Baby and his ability to only shed single tears drive the girls crazy in John Water’s 1950’s musical ode to the drag racer and rebel delinquent movies of the 1950s. It’s a wonderfully weird, eccentric cult classic that sees an offbeat relationship unfold between a ‘drape’ (Depp) and a ’square’ (Amy Locane) from different parts of town and bonded by both being orphans. It’s colourful, camp and crazy and the soundtrack rocks. 

Nina Forever (The Blaine Brothers 2015)

Sexy, romantic, tragic, strange, scary. There’s blood. A dead and jealous ex-lover returns from the grave to torment her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend, every time they have sex. It’s a killer premise and it’s curiously handled with craft, emotion and abstraction by Chris and Ben Blaine in their poignant feature debut. BIFA ‘Best Newcomer’ Abi Hardingham stands out as the conflicted new girlfriend, struggling to figure out how to best deal with the dead ex played wickedly by Fiona O’Shaughnessy whilst maintaining a ‘normal’ relationship with her new boyfriend (Cian Barry). The film balances a darkly funny tone with something tragic and heart-wrenching, making it an original and affecting proposition. 

Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn 1967) / Badlands (Terrence Malick 1973) / True Romance (Tony Scott 1993) / Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone 1994) / Sightseers (Ben Wheatley 2012)

Right, so I cheated here because I wanted all of these in my top 10, and really each of these deserves a single place in this list, but I figured I’m setting my own rules, so here’s my final entry, and by the way, this lot would make for an epic Valentine’s crime-romance binge accompanied by a few bottles of wine & a hot curry… In order of their releases…

Bonnie & Clyde is Arthur Penn’s Depression Era, lovers-on-the-run crime flick starring Warren Beatty and Fay Dunnaway (+ Gene Hackman & Gene Wilder) as the real life dynamic duo Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Considered one of the first films in the ‘New Hollywood’ era, and inspired by the films of the French New Wave, it’s got a dark streak of humour running throughout, and as small time heists expand into bank jobs the violence increases before “One of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history” ensues. Fantastic.

Badlands is a magnificent and haunting American crime story recalled through the eyes of a naive 15 year old country girl (Sissy Spacek) whose rose tinted recollection of being swept off her feet by the dashing James Dean-esque Martin Sheen gradually becomes tainted by murder and mayhem when she realises that he is a psychopath. Breathtakingly directed by the cinematic master that is Terrence Malick. Badlands clearly inspired…

True Romance, Tarantino’s first sold script, directed by Tony Scott, features surely one of the strongest casts ever to grace the silver screen; Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Michael Rapaport, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L Jackson… Unreal. Slater and Arquette are a pair of naive lovers who spiral deeper and deeper into danger but their pure and simple love seems to protect them every step of the way. On its original Valentines release, I took a French girl to the cinema to see True Romance and it weaved it’s romantic, dangerous charm upon us. Killer soundtrack too. 

Natural Born Killers is the second Tarantino script here, this time directed by Oliver Stone. It’s a garish, violent, satirical, pop collage with another cast to die for; Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are the mass murderers, Mickey & Mallory Knox on the run and glorified by the mass media, with electric support from Robert Downey Jnr and Tommy Lee Jones. It has an incredible soundtrack featuring Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nine Inch Nails. Not one to hold back Oliver Stone’s film was criticised for graphic violence and was named 8th most controversial film in history in 2006.

Sightseers is the third UK entry on my list and it’s a perfect Valentine’s movie for Brits, especially if you dig a spot of outdoor pursuits, caravanning to be precise. Ben Wheatley’s third film, (Exec produced by Edgar Wright) is funny, shocking and strangely touching in equal measure. Written by and starring the brilliant Alice Lowe and Steve Oram it follows their pair of offbeat lovers Chris and Tina (and Banjo the dog), who undertake a caravanning holiday together, but their mild-mannered intention to visit the lesser known landmarks across Great Britain soon turns into a murderous and hilarious kill spree as their passion blossoms and rages after each murderous act. Please let me know if anyone attempts this Five Film Love Fest.

ROMANTIC BONUS! 

Rocky 

How can you have a list of films, without Rocky on it?? Yeah, Rocky’s a romantic movie, and if you don’t believe me here’s what Sly has to say about it. Stallone: “At the end of the day, Rocky is a love story and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian.”

So there you go, there’s my list. Treat someone to one or two of these movies on Valentine’s Day and you’re sure to hear these familiar three words whispered in your ear… “You’re so cool, you’re so cool, you’re so cool…”

Follow Corin on Twitter and Instagram @CorinHardy

(Photo courtesy of BAFTA/ Guy Levy - A Love Story team including director and co-writer Anushka Naanayakkara picking up her BAFTA!)

We are proud to report that NFTS graduation film, A Love Story, directed and co-written by Anushka Naanayakkara, won the British Short Animation BAFTA at the EE British Academy Film Awards last night making it the fourth year in a row that NFTS students have picked up this accolade.

(A still from A Love Story)

This is the second consecutive year that two of NFTS students’ graduation films competed for the same prize with A Love Story up against The Alan Dimension directed & co-written by Jac Clinch (full credits for both films below). The ceremony took place last night at the Royal Albert Hall and was shown on BBC One.

Over 70 NFTS graduates were credited in this year’s BAFTAs including films that took the award on the night. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is directed by NFTS alumnus David Yates, took the BAFTA for best Production Design; Kubo and the Two Strings whose composer is NFTS alumnus Dario Marianelli won the BAFTA for Best Animated Film and Best Special Visual Effects went to The Jungle Book which includes numerous credits for NFTS alumni including Visual Effects Production Manager Carlos Ciudad; Lead Compositor MPC Chris Gooch; Stereo Compositor MPC Graham Dorey; Roto/Prep Artist Andrew Scattergood; Digital Artist Helen Brownell; Digital Compositor Adam Arnot and Stereo Compositor MPC Victor Almela.

Full list of Credits:

Best British Film

American Honey - Foley Editor Dario Swade

Denial - Supervising Art Director Christina Moore; Sound Mixer Danny Hambrook

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Director David Yates; Stand-by Art Director Huw Arthur; Sound Design Editor Robert Malone; 2nd Unit Sound Mixer Ivor Talbot; Pre-Vis/Generalist TD Zach du Toit; Digital Compositor David Sheldon

Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

The Hard Stop - Writer/Director/Producer George Amponsah (Other crew on the film: DoP Matthias Pilz; Composer Roger Goula; HD Camera Michael Adeyemi; Editors Michael Aaglund & James Devlin; Additional Editors Carmela Iandoli & Josh Levinsky)

Best Animated Film

Kubo and the Two Strings - Composer Dario Marianelli

Best Production Design

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best British Film)               

Doctor Strange- Assistant Art Director Gary Jopling; Draughtspersons Isona Rigau & Alexandra Toomey; Assistant Stand-By Art Director Yasmin Al-Naib; Assistant Production Coordinator Caroline Houghton

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Generalist Lead for ILM John Seru; Visual Effects Producer Ben Lock; Art Directors Stephen Swain & Steve Lawrence; Junior Draughtsman Olivia Muggleton; Boom Operator Michael Lee Taylor; First Assistant Editor Tom Harrison-Read

Best Sound

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best British Film)               

Best Special Visual Effects

Doctor Strange (see Best Production Design)                     

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (see Best Production Design)                

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (see Best Production Design)                       

The Jungle Book               - Visual Effects Production Manager Carlos Ciudad; Lead Compositor MPC Chris Gooch; Stereo Compositor MPC Graham Dorey; Roto/Prep Artist Andrew Scattergood; Digital Artist Helen Brownell; Digital Compositor Adam Arnot; Stereo Compositor MPC Victor Almela

Best British Short Animation

The Alan Dimension -  Director and Co-Writer Jac Clinch; Producer Millie Marsh; Co-Writer Jonathan Harbottle; DoP Miles Ridgway; Designer Declan O’Brien; Production Manager Anna Bennett-Squire;  Visual Effects Luke Hardisty & Matt Moyes; Composer Tim Morrish; Editor Xanna Ward-Dixon; Sound Editor/Rerecording Mixer Justin Dolby; Online Editor/Grade Robin Yoojin Rhee

A Love Story - Director Anushka Naanayakkara; Producer Khaled Gad; Writers Elena Ruscombe-King, Anushka Naanayakkara; Designer Solrun Ósk Jóndóttir ; DoPs Yinka Edward, Alvilde Horjen Naterstad; Editor Joseph Comar; Composer Victor Hugo Fumagalli; Sound Designer Marcin Szumilas; VFX Supervisors Ye Teng; Eloise Tomlinson; Online Editor/Colourist Vlad Barin; Lead Animators Anushka Naanayakkara, Iván Sarrion Soria; Animators Robert Millard, Adrian Piqueras Sánchez; Modelmakers Amalie Vilmar, Alicia Canovas Verdú, Joanna Brooks, Katherine Millar Craig; Art Assistants Lenka Dobranska, Alice La Trobe, Manuela Romero, Louisa Brooks, Emily Hake; VFX Artists Gillian Simpson, Zhao Xi, Li Suoran, Zhuge Bijun, Alexander Davis; Vocals Lucia Bulgheroni, Hollie Buhagiar, Marina Elderton Cinematography Advisers Leigh Alner, Ben Hecking; Production Manager Simone Tomasi; Production Coordinators Agnieszka Pawlowska, Inês Lourenço.

Best British Short Film

Mouth of Hell (Anant) - Writer Bart Gavigan

The Party - Director Andrea Harkin; Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor Dario Swade

The NFTS also has alumni credits on Florence Foster Jenkins, which Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant are nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively: (Writer/Associate Producer Nicholas Martin; Editor Valerio Bonelli; Concept Artist Elo Soode; Sound Assistant Michael Lee Taylor)

If you are inspired by this impressive list of credits across all aspects of the filmmaking business, we have open days coming up including an open day for Directing Animation on April 21^st 2017. To see the full list of open days and to sign up, please visit https://nfts.co.uk/sign-me-up/open-days

The new intake of first year students at the NFTS were given an inspiring masterclass on TV writing and directing by Sally Wainwright who is behind hugely popular television dramas such as Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax.

The session was hosted by NFTS’ new Head of Editing, Richard Cox, who frequently works with Sally and has just worked with her on To Walk Invisible, a television film about the Brontë family for the BBC. Richard introduced Sally as “one of the best, if not the best TV writers and directors around!” Sally has won BAFTA TV Awards for Best Writing and Best Drama Series for both Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley, and has been nominated for BAFTA TV Awards for Unforgiven; At Home with the Braithwaites; Canterbury Tales and Scott & Bailey.

Kicking off, Richard asked Sally when she first realised she had a talent for TV writing? “I watched TV obsessively as a child and had a compulsion to write since I was 6 or 7. I started writing dialogue at the age of 10 or 11 as there was something about what people said that appealed to me.” Sally credits 70s TV series, Rock Follies and its ‘compelling viewing’ for making her realise “this is what I want to do.”

When quizzed on what she rates on TV at the moment, Sally plumped for: “Nurse Jackie; Pulling; Raised by Wolves; Hunderby– mostly hard edged comedies written by women. There are some very clever women out there at the moment.” And as to whether Happy Valley 3 is on the cards? “Who knows?! I have good ideas for it but it’s not happening soon as I have a number of other things in the pipeline.”

Early on in her career after securing an agent who saw a script for a stage play she wrote at university, Sally took to driving buses in London, which was a “good life experience” and “it left me free to write. I also managed to read the full works for Ibsen and Chekhov during that time!”

Sally’s agent secured her writing jobs for The Archers and then Emmerdale and Coronation Street. “It was a fantastic apprenticeship as the speed the product has to be turned out is relentless. To get asked to write for Corrie was what everyone wanted and it was my first ambition; the writers are so good at inventing and spinning stories that work for that medium.”

The skills Sally built through writing for the soaps led to her first series, At Home with the Braithwaites, being greenlit, which is “very much about my own family although I took a few liberties and added some fantasy bits!”

Richard showcased the breadth of Sally’s writing skills by setting up a number of clips from Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and To Walk Invisible. The clip from Last Tango, which Richard described as ‘a joy to edit’, illustrated how well Sally writes overlapping dialogue. For Sally, writing dialogue “is a talent that some people have an ear for. The way we speak is completely different to prose and it’s a skill to turn bitty stuff into something that means something. That’s the fun, the absolute delight in creating a world the audience believes.”

On whether directing was as much as an ambition as writing, Sally said: “I always wanted to direct as much as I wanted to write. I love to be on set and the discipline of working out the shot list; direction is an extension of writing. The biggest thing I learnt is the importance of teamwork and that you can rely on those that you’re working with.”

The renowned cellar scene from Happy Valley was the first episode that Sally directed and the next clip shown to the students. “The whole team was fantastic especially the editing, first AD and the DoP really came into his own.” The music was composed by NFTS alumnus, Ben Foster: “Sound was hugely important in that scene. It was only at the end that I realised how powerful the police emergency signal ‘beep’ was so we got special permission to have the sound turned down so the audience would hear that.”

Sally’s ability to seamlessly incorporate flashbacks and dark humour while cleverly setting up the second series of Happy Valley was evident in clip 3 where Catherine relates some strange goings on with sheep rustling to her sister: “I was determined to kick this series off with humour.”

Students were keen to know how Sally approaches the writing process. “Characters come first and fully formed. It’s the peripheral characters that are harder. For example, I could see Sarah Lancashire playing Catherine in Happy Valley. The story is where the hard work lies”. And on writer’s block, Sally said: “Writer’s block happens when you haven’t thought through what happens next and jumped to the fun bit without doing the hard work. You have to go backwards if you are stuck and find out what’s wrong in the preparation.”

After watching a clip of television film To Walk Invisible, students asked Sally if she would consider going into film rather than TV: “Film? No! Working in telly is more exciting than ever. Since the advent of Netflix, there’s lots of money in TV; there are lots of productions and possibilities of making things on an ambitious scale. Things happen quickly; I’d get bored with film; with TV, you get a greenlight and it’s on TV, which is so exciting.” Sally finished the session by reminding the students not to be swayed by what they think people want: “You can never second guess what the industry wants; it’s best to be true to yourself and come with real passion and they’ll realise that’s what they want!”

If you would love to be part of the exciting world at the NFTS, come along to one of our open days - we have several coming up - more info on how to sign up here: https://www.nfts.co.uk/sign-me-up/open-days 

(Still from BAFTA winning graduation animation A Love Story directed by Anushka Naanayakkara)

The NFTS annual graduation show, which takes place at London’s Picture House on the 20^th and 21^st February, is completely sold out! The event attracts influential industry representatives from the worlds of film, TV and games who come to experience the graduation films and projects and to meet the stars of the future!

The NFTS graduation show includes the screening of fiction, documentary and animation graduation films. There is a segment for TV Entertainment MA students to show their work and an Extra Cuts section for output from the NFTS Bridges to Industry Scheme; Kodak Nahemi (National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image) Student Commercial Awards; Sports Production Diploma; Creative Producing for Digital Platforms Diploma and Digital Effects MA. There will also be a dedicated area for the Games Design and Development MA students to demo their games.

Global video channel, NOWNESS has come on board as this year’s graduation show sponsor, which includes the online premieres of some of the NFTS graduation films. The first NFTS film to be showcased will be fiction, Sweet Maddie Stone, directed by Brady Hood.

NOWNESS, which launched in 2010, commissions and showcases established and emerging filmmakers through exclusive online premieres of short films covering a range of cultural topics from art to design through to music, food and travel.  NFTS Producing MA graduates Anna Higgs and Gavin Humphries are respectively Creative Director and Executive Producer at NOWNESS.

Anna and Gavin at NOWNESS say: “We pride ourselves on working with the highest calibre talent and the NFTS is a centre of creative excellence in filmmaking. Partnering with the NFTS is a great fit and we're delighted to support these brilliant films and filmmakers"

Nik Powell, NFTS Director says: “It’s fantastic to have NOWNESS on board as this year’s NFTS Grad Show sponsor and the partnership is a great opportunity for our students and graduates to have their films showcased on such an influential platform.”

To find out more about the NFTS, why not sign up to one of our open days – sign up here!

The National Film and Television School (NFTS) Board of Governors has bestowed an Honorary Fellowship on Malorie Blackman OBE, a best-selling and critically acclaimed writer and graduate of the School primarily known for writing literature and television drama for children and young adults.                                                                                               

NFTS Director Nik Powell will present the Fellowship, which is awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the industry, at the School’s annual graduation ceremony at ODEON Leicester Square on Wednesday February 22nd, 2017.

Malorie received a BAFTA Children’s Award for Pig Heart Boy, the diary of 13-year-old Cameron, who needs a heart transplant, and has written more than sixty children’s books. In addition, she writes television scripts including episodes of popular series such as Byker Grove and adaptations for television for her books Pig Heart Boy and Whizziwig. Her multi award-winning Noughts and Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional dystopia to explore racism and it has been recently announced that the series is to be adapted for the BBC.

She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Children's Literature and was UK Children’s Laureate 2013-2015 following the likes of Julia Donaldson, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Quentin Blake.

Malorie Blackman says: “I’m absolutely delighted to receive this Honorary Fellowship from the NFTS as I have such fond memories of my time spent studying there. The School is a great institution that supports and develops the best creative talent and provides a fantastic network of peers that you can call upon at any point in your career. It’s incredibly important to nurture a wide range of voices that reflect all aspects of society, particularly in screenwriting and I am wholeheartedly supportive of NFTS’ endeavours in this area. I wish all this year’s graduating students much success in their future careers.”                                                                              

Nik Powell, NFTS Director says: “It’s an absolute pleasure to award Malorie an Honorary NFTS Fellowship. She is in great company with the likes of David Lean CBE, Ken Loach, Jonathan Ross, Barbara Broccoli and Sir Michael Caine already named as Fellows. It’s important to us to recognise key figures who have made outstanding contributions to the industry and Malorie with her excellent track record in inspiring young people with her storytelling is no exception.”

For more information and to see our full list of fellows, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/who-we-are/honorary-fellows

Contact for further information:

Vicky Hewlett, Head of PR and Communications, NFTS: VHewlett@nfts.co.uk

NFTS Screenwriting MA graduate, Rafael Kapelinski and Sound Design MA graduate, Zoltan Juhasz have triumphed at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival and the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards respectively.

Rafael, who graduated in 2015, won the Crystal Bear for the Best Film in the Generation 14 Plus category, for his debut feature film, Butterfly Kisses.

About Butterfly Kisses: Propelled by the rhythm of its powerful soundtrack and imagery, this film awakens a terrifying suspicion in the viewer. Without resorting to simple accusations of guilt, it confronts us with an explosive issue, which our society has so far been unable to resolve. The finely differentiated characterizations inspire profound empathy for the protagonists in the situations they face. From the kaleidoscopic opening sequence onwards, we are captivated by the haunting intensity of this electrifying feature film debut.

A recent NFTS graduate, Zoltan won the Verna Fields Award for Student Film Makers at this year’s Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards, which is recognised as the sound world's equivalent to the Oscars. NFTS students and grads have won this prestigious award an impressive 14 times and been nominated 39 times since 1996 making the NFTS consistently the world's most acclaimed school for sound editing.

Zoltan won for his work as Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Foley Artist on NFTS graduation animation, Fishwitch, which is directed by Adrienne Dowling and produced by Hélène Sifre. Zoltan won the 2016 ‘Dolby Award for Best Sound’ for Fishwitch, an award that recognises excellence in sound mixing, editing and design.

Fellow NFTS graduate, Tom Jenkins, was nominated for the same award for NFTS fiction, Those who are lost, directed by Sam McMullen and produced by Millie Marsh, for his work as Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer; ADR and Dialogue Editor; Foley Artist and Music Editor.

To find out more about our MA in Sound Design for Film and Television, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/our-courses/masters/sound-design-film-television  and for more information about our Screenwriting MA, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/our-courses/masters/screenwriting

We caught up with Production Management for Film and Television Diploma students, Kieran Nolan Jones and Jenny Martin. Both Kieran and Jenny are supported by Sargent-Disc scholarships to help them with their studies. If you are looking to work in film and TV in a Production Management or Production Co-ordinator role, sign up to the NFTS Production Management open day on Monday 6^th March to find out more! https://www.nfts.co.uk/sign-me-up/open-days

Founded in 1986, Sargent-Disc is a family run business specialising in payroll, accounting and software services for the entertainment industries. These services are fundamental to the Production Manager’s role.

Kieran and Jenny gave us a snapshot of some of the activities he has been involved with since starting the course in September:

Kieran:“Since starting I have worked on a vast array of projects spanning many different disciplines. Before I began working on these projects, I participated in a series of seminars and workshops around budgeting, scheduling and location management. This gave me a great insight into the ever-evolving role of a Production Manager and allowed me to understand the job I was about to undertake. My first assignment was working as a Production Coordinator on a Russian Language short fiction film, Nina. Taking over a whole council estate in London, we shot a war based drama over four days with a budget of £4000. A baptism of fire, this experience allowed me to participate in all aspects of production from organising tech recces and transport plans, to catering and casting. This experience built my confidence for my next project, which was a live late night television entertainment show created by the NFTS Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA students.”

Jenny:“The project I've been working on is part of the 'First Year Film' module and is called The Last Ones to Leave; a 13 minute short about the last two men in a survival camp, after medicine has failed to match the evolution of humankind. It's post-apocalyptic/dystopian and all exterior locations are shot locally in Beaconsfield and Slough. The set is incredible and is inspired by the Lost Boys camp in 'Hook', where every piece of fabric, item and remnants of the camp echoes personalities of the people that lived and died there. It's shot on film and it was a crew of just less than 30. There was a night shoot and we were dealing with water, fire, smoke machines- the lot!” 

“It was a really valuable experience for me and I'm so glad to have been the first to shoot a tech recce, greenlight and shoot within 3.5 weeks of being at the NFTS! I'm now co-Production Managing a quiz show at Sky and sharing some Production Co-ordinator responsibilities on an animation graduation film. I've also been asked to Production Manage a multi-platform interactive game project, so I'm constantly learning and working with lots of new people.”

One of the benefits of studying at the NFTS is the chance to meet and work with students across a whole host of different courses.  As a result of this collaborative environment, Kieran was offered the chance to Production Co-ordinate a NFTS graduation animation project Tete A Tete.

Kieran:“Most recently I have worked as Production Manager on our Expanded Cinema film, Beast In The Bag. Through this project NFTS directors are tasked with stretching their imagination and attempting to push narrative boundaries. My project can be described as a surreal, noir inspired short thriller with darkly comedic undertones. There were no producers working on this particular project so many of the producers' responsibilities fell to the Production Managers. By taking on more experience this project allowed me to be creatively involved in all aspects of production and gain experience in being the sole leader of a film, steer the ship and trouble shoot all issues which arise.”

“As a result of all the experience I have built so far, I have been able to take on freelance work as a Production Manager outside my studies. This has included production managing an independent short film with a budget of £20,000, as well as production managing a short film for Channel 4 starring Dave Johns (I,Daniel Blake). I am currently in pre-production on a high octane virtual reality disaster/horror short film which I will production manage. Without the help I have received from Sargent-Disc I would never have been able to experience all that I have thus far in my NFTS Career, and for all their help and support I will be eternally grateful.”

(This year's Production Management Diploma students on a visit to Panalux!)

For more information on the Production Management for Film and Television Diploma, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/our-courses/diploma/production-management-film  and to sign up to the open day, click here.

A few days before director Babak Anvari won a BAFTA for ‘Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer’ for Under The Shadow at the EE British Academy Film Awards, he came to the NFTS to deliver an inspiring masterclass to the students. (If you are a budding screen director and dream of winning a BAFTA, sign up to our Directing Fiction MA open day on March 2nd 2017 - more info here).

Under The Shadow, described in a five star review in The Guardian as a ‘ghostly Iranian gem’, was screened before the Q&A, hosted by Chris Auty, NFTS Head of Producing in addition to Babak’s BAFTA nominated short, Two and Two.

(Still from Under the Shadow)

Babak Anvari also won the Debut Director award at the 2017 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and Two and Two was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film in 2012. He worked for MTV UK and Ireland as editor and director of music content and directed live performances for artists such as Lady Gaga, Florence & The Machine, Pixie Lott and Tinie Tempah.

According to Babak, the BAFTA nomination he received for his short film ‘opened doors’ although he did experience some resistance from his agent initially when he said he wanted to set his first feature in Tehran and that the language should be Farsi. “I was adamant I wanted to do it!”

(Still from Two and Two)

“Two and Two paved the way for Under the Shadow. I always say, ‘step by step’. Deep inside, I had belief in the film. My friends thought I was crazy and that no one would back a Farsi horror film. I’m glad I kept pushing.”

Chris asked if Babak had learned anything from his job at MTV? “I learned a great deal working as a video editor for music videos but then I started working in reality TV and that gave me the incentive to work on my script!”

Babak attended Westminster University and completed a BA in Film and Television Production. On whether he would recommend studying film and attending a film school like NFTS, Babak had the following to say: “It’s important to make other people’s films; I’m very glad I did it. I have a close circle of friends as a result as well including one who is at the NFTS now (Mohsen Shah, Screenwriting MA)!”

“Once Under The Shadow was optioned by Wigwam Films, we spent a year developing the script and removed 10 minutes in the edit.  We got rid of some aspects that are not necessary for the plot. Later you realise it’s more fun to hint at things and not spoon feed the audience.”

It was important to Babak that the lead character, Shideh, ‘is a 3D character with flaws and that her journey is believable. Authenticity is important to me’.

Chris asked Babak if he knew how he would make Under The Shadow. “I knew from day one that I couldn’t make the film in Tehran. For example, if I had made it there, the female character would have had to cover up inside her home and that’s not realistic so I chose to shoot in Amman. We shot in an apartment block in Jordan and cut the film in the UK. The shoot took 21 days and required a lot of planning due to the budget. The only way to tackle a low budget movie successfully is to plan beforehand.”

Under The Shadow was bought by Netflix before it aired at Sundance Film Festival but they allowed it to run in theatres with a three month theatrical window. “There was a lot of buzz about the film at Sundance because Netflix had bought it.”

On whether Babak initially wrote in English or Farsi, Babak said: “I wrote in Farsi and then translated it as the producers don’t speak Farsi. This forced me to do rewrites and revise the script. The next one is in English though! It’s a noir thriller set in London and backed by Film4 – I got Farsi out of my system for now!”

(L-r - Dan Lemmon, Andrew R Jones, Adam Valdez & Rob Legato)

A whole host of NFTS students and graduates were part of the team that won both the Oscar and the BAFTA for Visual Effects for their work on Disney’s The Jungle Book. (If this is your dream, come along to the NFTS Digital Effects MA open day on Wednesday 17^th May – more info and sign up here.)

MPC’s lead VFX Supervisor, Adam Valdez, picked up the Oscar on the night along with VFX Supervisor Rob Legato, Animation Supervisor Andrew R. Jones and VFX Supervisor Weta Digital, Dan Lemmon. Adam Valdez visited the School recently to give a masterclass on techniques used in The Jungle Book, which required over 240 million render hours to create! Read more here.

The MPC team that worked on The Jungle Book includes the following NFTS graduates:

Visual Effects Production Manager, Carlos Ciudad; Lead Compositor MPC, Chris Gooch; Stereo Compositor MPC, Graham Dorey; Digital Compositor MPC, Adam Arnot and Stereo Compositor MPC, Victor Almela. Both Graham and Victor worked on The Jungle Book as part of an internship at MPC while studying at the NFTS.

Other NFTS grads who worked on film’s visual effects include Lighting TD, Carlo Alberto Bagliolid, Roto/Prep Artist, Andrew Scattergood and Digital Artist, Helen Brownell.

Carlos Ciudad, who now works for Double Negative as VFX Producer, says: “Being part of both the Oscar and the BAFTA winning digital effects team at MPC is a dream come true; The Jungle Book was a joy to work on and the results created by the visual effects teams speak for themselves. I would encourage anyone with a passion for VFX to apply to study Digital Effects at the NFTS as it offers an excellent pathway into this exciting career.”

For more information about the NFTS Digital Effects MA, please click here and for more information about MPC, please visit http://www.moving-picture.com/

The NFTS Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA showcase, which took place at Channel 4 HQ in central London, was a big hit with television industry executives who came to see the graduation projects and meet the teams. The unique MA comprises two years of intensive creative practice that culminates in student teams directing and producing their own Television Entertainment shows, which are widely recognised as industry standard.

This year’s graduates are already thriving with many of them securing roles at top broadcasters including Betty TV and the BBC. (If you would like to follow in their footsteps, sign up to the Television Entertainment open day on the 6^th April to meet the tutors and get a tour of our brand new state-of-the-art facilities including a fully 4k TV studio.)

For more information on the course, watch the promo here.

Following a welcome and introduction by NFTS director and NFTS Head of Television, David G Croft, each producer and director team took to the stand to present their projects, which range from an action-adventure game show to a competition to find the best amateur stylist.

About the projects:

Against All Odds (Producer, Lucy Smith; Director, Jamie Minty)

In Against All Odds, five ordinary strangers each choose one of five locked bags – four contain blank paper, one contains £100,000 in cash. Over three days the team must carry their bags on an epic journey across some of the UK’s toughest natural landscapes for the chance to split the money at the finish line. Who will have the grit to make it to the end? Who will be broken by the unforgiving forces of nature? And will the contestant carrying the money even cross the finish line?

Far Out Festivals (Producer/ Director, Ingimar Davidsson; Associate Producer, John Higgins)

Far Out Festivals explores the fringes of festivity, exploring the weird and wonderful ways people celebrate their culture around the world. In this pilot episode, we visit the town of Dalvik, Iceland, where tens of thousands of people gather for a weekend to celebrate the most important thing in the area - fish.

Glam Squad (Producer, Meera Jade; Director, Madeleine Spivey)

Glam Squad is a reality competition format to find the nation’s best amateur stylists. In this semi-final episode, the two squads first take on the hectic ‘Day to Night’ Challenge where they must keep their cool whilst styling their vlogger clients for two different promotional events in the same day. Then in the ‘Showstopper’ challenge, our squads must show-off both their professional and creative skills when styling a rock band for a music video shoot with a gothic Day of the Dead theme. The secret to looking sensational rests in the hands of the Glam Squad.

The Real Car Share (Producer, Jules Braunstein; Director, Anastazia Pieniazek)

What happens if you shove a bunch of total strangers in a car together for the first time? Watch the drama unfold in The Real Car Share as people journey across the UK, sharing petrol costs and personal space. Using the latest in fixed-rig technology, this show is the first of its kind to be produced at the NFTS. There are 6 car share journeys, 3 drivers and plenty of banter. No subject is off limits...After 2 hours on the road, will they become car-sharing converts? Or are we about to witness a social car crash?

Saving Faith (Producer, Alex Dizer; Director, John Higgins)

Once the church used to be at the heart of British community, but now across the country congregations are dwindling and church doors are closing. Meanwhile, US mega churches have adopted modern marketing techniques to sell out stadiums and raise millions. So is American big business the answer to the Church of England’s prayers? Or is the almighty dollar a false prophet? Each week we bring an American mega church business consultant to a different struggling CoE parish. With just one month to change the church’s fortunes, could US business be the church’s saviour?

The Algorist (Director/ Producer, Mehran Karimi)

When French artist and scientist Patrick Tresset realizes he has bipolar disorder he replaces himself with what he calls ‘clumsy robotics’. Patrick is an internationally renowned Algorithmic artist who has exhibited all around the world. The Algorist observes and explores Patrick’s transformation.

For more information on the Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/our-courses/masters/directing-producing-television-entertainment

Projects with National Film and Television School alumni involvement have received nominations in several categories at this year’s Royal Television Society Programme Awards across a whole host of film and television making disciplines from production design to editing and composing! The NFTS has dedicated course open days coming up over the next few weeks catering for all these areas; sign up for your place here.

The awards ceremony takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Tuesday 21st March and will be hosted by Sandi Toksvig.

All three of the nominated programmes in the ‘Best Mini-Series’ category – London Spy, National Treasure and Thirteen - feature NFTS graduate contributions:

British-American five-part drama television series, London Spy, created and written by Tom Rob Smith, credits NFTS Production Design graduates, Lisa Hall and Marc Anton Restivo as Production Designer and Art Director respectively.  

National Treasure is a four-part 2016 British television drama by Channel 4, written by Jack Thorne and starring Robbie Coltrane. NFTS credits include Paul Davies, Supervising Sound Editor and Katherine Pearl, Post-Production Co-Ordinator.

Thirteen is a British drama television miniseries created and written by Marnie Dickens.  NFTS credits include Simon Archer, DoP; Hazel Baillie, Editor; Alex Ellerington, FX Editor; Jon Opstad, Composer and Martin Jensen, Rerecording Mixer.

Competing for the ‘Best Documentary Series’ award are Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (Editors on this series include NFTS Editing MA graduates, Simon Sykes, Nick Fenton & Sunshine Jackson) and The Murder Detectives (Composer, Jon Opstad).

ITV series, The Durrells is nominated for ‘Best Drama Series’, which has Additional Music composed by Jon Wygens.

The BBC3 production, Murdered By My Father (DoP, NFTS Cinematography MA graduate, Felix Wiedemann) has been nominated for the ‘Best Single Drama’ award and the ‘Best Soap and continuing Drama’ category includes EastEnders (Writer, NFTS Screenwriting MA graduate, Laura Poliakoff) and Emmerdale (Director, NFTS Directing Fiction MA graduate, Diana Patrick).

The Channel 4 series The Secret Life of 4 & 5 Year Olds (Director, NFTS Directing Documentary graduate, Jackie Waldock) and First Contact: Lost Tribe of the Amazon (Editor, David Hill) are both nominees for the ‘Best Science and Natural History’ award and another Channel 4 series, First Dates (Composer, Miguel d’Oliveira) is a contender for the ‘Best Popular Factual and Features’ award.

For more information on the NFTS open days, please visit https://nfts.co.uk/sign-me-up/open-days

Academy award and four-time BAFTA award-winning director, writer and producer Asif Kapadia wowed this year’s BFI Film Academy participants with a masterclass as they took part in the opening weekend of the Craft Residential course, which is delivered by the NFTS. The students are made up of 66 of the nation’s most promising young filmmakers aged 16-19 and the weekend included inspirational talks, team building and practical workshops.

Asif Kapadia won a ‘Feature Documentary’ Oscar for Amy, which documents the life and death of British songwriter, Amy Winehouse, and is described as ‘piercingly sad’ by The Telegraph. His documentary, Senna about Brazilian motor-racing legend Ayrton Senna, was a huge international box office hit and won multiple awards including two BAFTAs, ‘Best Documentary’ at the London Critics Circle, the BIFA award for ‘Best Documentary’ and the Audience Award for ‘Best International Feature’ at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Following Asif’s inspirational Q&A session, participants were divided into six groups. They spent the weekend working with their tutors on interpreting the script and agreeing a shooting script for the short films so they can hit the ground running for the main Craft Residential week in April. Students on the course specialise in screenwriting, directing, producing, cinematography, production sound, editing and production design to reflect a real filmmaking environment.

Jon Wardle, NFTS Director of Curriculum and Registrar, said: “We were overwhelmed with applications for this year’s BFI Film Academy, so the group of young people who were lucky enough to be selected really are the brightest and the best. They all really impressed us during the opening weekend so we look forward to seeing the resulting short films in Easter and wish them huge success for their future careers.”

The course is supported by the Department for Education, the National Lottery, Creative Scotland and Northern Ireland Screen. The final films will be screened at the BFI Southbank in April.

For more information, please visit https://www.nfts.co.uk/bfi-film-academy

We have a wide range of open days coming up for anyone interested in our MA and Diploma courses - sign up here https://www.nfts.co.uk/sign-me-up/open-days