Eight leading figures from film and television have given fascinating masterclasses to NFTS students as part of the School’s Springboard Week for first year students.
Producer David Heyman, an NFTS graduate and the founder of Heyday Films, talked about securing the film rights to the Harry Potter film series and producing all eight instalments of what became the UK’s highest grossing film franchise. Students quizzed Heyman on the film Gravity, which won eight Academy Awards and included many NFTS graduates on its Oscar winning visual effects team. He also talked about the box office hit family film Paddington, which he produced.
Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy talked about the inspiration for then unexpected independent hit film The Full Monty, working with director Danny Boyle on the internationally acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire, which won an Oscar, Golden Globe and a BAFTA award, and his adaptation of the popular book Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday, which was made into a feature film.
Writer/ Director Peter Strickland explained how he managed to finance his first film Katalin Varga and filmed in Romania over a period of 17 days. His second film, Berberian Sound Studio, was a psychological thriller set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio and starring Toby Jones, which won critical acclaim.
NFTS graduate documentary maker Nick Broomfield, who was awarded a BAFTA life-time achievement for documentary making, explained the genesis about some of his most acclaimed films: Kurt and Courtnery, Aileen: Life and Death of a SerialKiller and Battle for Haditha.
Noel Clarke enthralled students by talking frankly about how his career developed from being an actor on TV series such as Dr Who to becoming a writer/ producer and director on ground-breaking independent films Kidulthood and Adulthood (both shot by NFTS head of Cinematography Brian Tufano), and 4,3,2,1. Clarke, who is in the forthcoming film Star Wars: Into Darkness, spoke about the pitfalls of producing, the need for a broader range of roles from Black an Ethnic Minority people on screen and behind the camera - and revealed he has written the next instalment of the Kidulthood trilogy.
Comedy writer Sam Bain revealed the creative process of writing with Jesse Armstrong for Channel 4's long-running TV hit series Peep Show, Fresh Meat, Rev and the film Four Lions and accepting feedback and his positive attitude to receiving production ‘notes.’ Bain, who is an advisor on the NFTS’ Writing Comedy diploma course, said he liked the challenge of tackling ‘taboo’ subjects with comedy and why he feels he’ll never run out of awkward situations to write about.
Aardman Animations Co-Founder Peter Lord delighted students by making a model of one of his most famous characters Morph while talking about the early days of stop-frame animation, which was first shown on TV. He explained how his fascination with real people’s conversations had led him to make Down and Out in which overheard conversations are brought to life with animated plastercine models, and had students in fits of laughter watching clips from Creature Comforts ( directed by NFTS graduate Nick Park)in which in the inner thoughts of zoo animals are revealed.
And the repsected TV Executive and businessman Lord Michael Grade, OBE showed clips from the hit TV series Mrs Brown's Boys during his masterclass for students on theNFTS' Broadcast Production and Producing and Directing TV on Television Entertainment course.
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Pictured is documentary maker Nick Broomfield with Head of Documentary Dick Fontaine and students at the NFTS.
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