Goldsmith university MA Cinematography

Does anyone do MA Cinematography course at Goldsmith? Could you please share your experience? How is the course, is it really practical and does it worth this money? Many thanks

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I do see they have a good curriculum, but I'm not quite sure too. Have you looked into other options tho?

Now I checked again and I didn't have four responses, just two. The other two were people who studied at Bournemouth University and took the MA Cinematography there. If it is any interest for you, I can post it here.

So this is it. I hope this helps who need it in any way!

Wow, thank you so much for sharing this! I'm actually in talks with Bournemouth right now trying to figure out if we're a good fit for each other. It would be just grand if you could share those reviews here as well.

If you don't mind me asking, if you did end up studying cinematography, where did you go? How did it go? Thanks again, much appreciated.

Yes, of course!!

The first former student I talked to told me this:

Hi Karen, I understand your doubts since I have also had some myself, what I can share is my opinion/experience, therefore, it could have been different to another person so don't take my opinion as a decisive mark for your choice.
I feel like the course itself didn't bring me more knowledge, I came from a very practical bachelor degree and it touched on many subjects, so when I went through the Master, I felt like I already had the bases of what we were talking, though it went a bit deeper it was very much an introduction to a topic for you to search and dive into it by yourself.
I enjoyed the course for the experience it gave me, the contact with people from other cultures and backgrounds, and I believe that most of what I learned came from that contact and sharing of knowledge. For that reason, I think I don't regret doing the course.
There are things I wish the course would change, like have more workshops and be more practical, but my experience is from 2014/2015 so I believe some things might have changed since then. I am not sure if I answered to what you wanted to know, but feel free to ask me anything.
then I asked her some more questions and she replied:
I will start with saying that I have since then changed paths, it was very hard to find a job in the area with contract (there were lots of work experience in London, but since I had a rent to pay I couldn't afford something for free and unstable, that was the main reason that lead me to go into 3D)
The lectures were nice, Mark Bond was the lecture responsible for our course, you could see he knew a lot and was very close to us
Then he invited some people he knew for workshops but some were unprepared and we ended basically just talking and sharing experiences
Then you had a few classes that were common to the framework, which were more theoric
One nice thing that Mark started doing later on was ask us to do exercises with the topic we were working that week
So what we did was do small groups and each of us be responsible for a video so we could add on our showreel
You do have the tools at your disposable to practice and do things, so you could always be doing more
If that's what you are hoping
I took this master degree but I was divided between cinematography and vfx so maybe that's why I ended up changing after all. However I can see that I always end up using that I have learned in the course, so I don't think it was a waste
Hope I am helping in some way

And the second one:

Right, so, let me give you some background. I studied at BU for my undergraduate as well as my masters and my masters has been infinitely more useful. It has developed my skills, provided equipment access, gave me a better sense of professional hierarchies etc. The main issues with MA Cinematography are 1) the course size, 2) the financial logistics and, 3) the academic modules. So, the course size has ripple effects on everything from workshops to equipment availability to ACing and collaboration. It's really hard to know how many students will study this year but my class had 15 cinematographers which was just too many people. The financial logistics are hard because, unlike others on the MA framework, it is desperately hard to hold down a job at the same time as being on this MA. It's a demanding course and when everyone is shooting productions, your apartment becomes somewhere to sleep and eat. Finally, there are several really amazing cinematographers on the course every year who don't manage to do the academic modules to a good standard. The university recognises that most media students aren't principley academic but they need you to be for the course to exist. So the academic modules trip people up every year and sometimes people end up retaking which is difficult if it delays your final masters production.
I absolutely loved being on the cinematography MA. It's really been helpful to me! If you want to be worked hard and be properly immersed in the cinematographer role, it is a good place to start.
One thing I would argue, however, is that a masters degree counts very little in terms of career progression in the UK media industry. So, if career progression has played any part in your decision making thus far, maybe don't focus on it too much. I have made well over 30 films this year, for clients, for festivals and for the university so if you dedicate yourself to it, you'll learn tonnes about filmmaking.
Usually, having a masters would offer some additional progression but a masters in media related subjects tends to be more for personal development.
As for practice, I worked constantly from the first week on films and photos. I've finished my MA and I'm still shooting! You'll definitely have enough to do. However, yeah, it is hard to actually work round all the problems that come from having a bigger framework. There's more films but there's also more of us so you tend to do less films with decent sized crews. You'll be expected to have two to three assistant camera people in your team but that can be very hard to get when everyone is shooting. Equipment is the biggest problem because you'll often have shoots planned which require certain lights or bits of equipment but they're fully booked. So, that can be a bit of a pain. I'd say, be friends with kit room and network with the undergraduates because there'll be a couple really eager to be on board with masters films in camera department. It can be arduous but, for the most part, MA Cinematography is the most thought out course on the framework. You'll learn from each other, from situations on and off-set, from workshops and the masters project really gives you an opportunity to create loads of good content for your final steps into the media industry.
We have two Arri Alexa Classics and four Panasonic EVA-1s, you'll have access to HMI lights of varying wattages, Arri redheads of varying wattages, dedo lights, Kino Flo Divalite panels, some battery powered LED panels, a TV studio, LUMIX GH5/GH4, Zhiyun Crane 2, Movi, two easy rig systems (one's a minimax, the other's a vario). In terms of lenses, although you'll mainly work with primes, zooms are also available. Road flags and fast flags, c-stands, clamps and various grip equipment. You'll be trained in the green screen studio and when in there, you'll be able to work with the varicam classic. You'll also get access to Panther jib and track for the Arri Alexa and Libec jib and track or Hague jib arm for the Panasonic Eva-1s.

This is all the info I got for the MA at Bournemouth. I hope this helps you to make your decision.

And finally answering your question, I ended up not taking the course I still intend to take, which is the Cinematography Intensive at Maine Media Workshops and College (Maine, USA), yet (I was supposed to go next month but well... coronavirus). I'm from Brazil, so after all this research and talking to people, the majority of them told me that if I'm gonna travel to take any course then I should go to the USA, and I ended up agreeing with them. I'm obsessed with the UK and I really wanted to study there, but I realized it doesn't make sense to have an MA since the degree itself doesn't really matter to me. I just need to have more practical experience, which is what the course in Maine offers me, and even though it is not a cheap course, it will be a lot cheaper than taking a whole one-year one. But if the MA is the right choice for you, obviously, just go for it!

Can't tell you how useful this is to me, can't thank you enough. For me, studying in the UK is also a way to gtfo of my country (Lebanon), as the situation has become unbearable here.

I did however attend the full set of beginner and advanced cinematography workshops at the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles, about 2 years ago. The other contender was Maine for sure, eventually I opted for LA. Heard great things about Maine and it was a close call to say the least.

Anyway, thanks again friend, this was quite helpful. Gonna go for Bournemouth most likely, my first choice, NFTS, is unfortunately way too expensive for me.

Good luck!

I'm just really glad this was helpful to you!

And I'm so sorry for the situation in your country. I don't know if you live in Beirut, but that explosion last week was just terrifying, can't even imagine how things are over there right now. Wishing only the best for everyone.

Yeah, I heard good things about the Global Cinematography Institute too! And how was it for you, did you like it? Isn't it the course that lasts for about two weeks or something? I'm glad Maine was a good contender, I believe I chose it over the course you took in LA because it takes over about 10 weeks and I wanted to have a bigger and longer experience.

Oh yeah, NFTS is actually the dream but it's just too much, I think especially for us, foreign students. I hope Bournemouth is a great fit for you and you have the best possible experience!

Can't tell you how useful this is to me, can't thank you enough. For me, studying in the UK is also a way to gtfo of my country (Lebanon), as the situation has become unbearable here.

I did however attend the full set of beginner and advanced cinematography workshops at the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles, about 2 years ago. The other contender was Maine for sure, eventually I opted for LA. Heard great things about Maine and it was a close call to say the least.

Anyway, thanks again friend, this was quite helpful. Gonna go for Bournemouth most likely, my first choice, NFTS, is unfortunately way too expensive for me.

Good luck!