Learn from the master movie makers at university

University of the West of Scotland has launched a new masters course in filmmaking where Ayr students will be taught by professional filmmakers including Oscar nominees and BAFTA winners.

The one- year course run by the UWS Creative Media Academy will take its first students this September.

It is the only practical industry- facing course of its kind in the west of Scotland where students can make fiction, documentary and virtual reality films.

The degree will focus on nurturing new voices in cinema and delivering the advanced professional skills required by the filmmaking industry.

It will be delivered from the studio facilities at UWS’s million Ayr Campus and at Film City Glasgow, which hosts the majority of Scotland’s film and television production companies, has the biggest post- production facilities in the city and Scotland’s only Dolby sound studio.

Professor Nick Higgins will run the course with colleague Sam Firth, with input from guest tutors, including four- time Oscar nominee David MacKenzie, BAFTA winner Scott Graham and multi- award- winning director Peter Mackie Burns.

The UWS Creative Media Academy also hosts guest lectures for students with industry figures including ‘ Mad Max’ producer Iain Smith and the producer and assistant director of ‘ Star Wars’, Tommy Gormley.

MA filmmaking students will receive £ 500 funding each towards their own productions, increasing to £ 2500 for those working in teams on their final masters’ project.