Irish Feature Film How To Be Happy is currently in final week of production in Dublin. The relationship comedy tells the story of Cormac, a marriage guidance counsellor who starts sleeping with his clients, and Flor, a private detective hired to investigate his antics. The film stars Briain Gleeson (Love/Hate, Standby) and Gemma Leah Devereaux (Stitches, The Tudors) in the lead roles and is written by Conor Horgan (100 Mornings).

How To Be Happy is being shot on RED One as part of the Filmbase/Staffordshire University MSc Digital Feature Film Production course. The film completes shooting in Dublin this week and will finish post-production by early summer.  Students on the MSc course are completing the film as part of their programme and are hoping to have the film ready for festivals and distribution before graduation.

The course is unique in requiring students to complete the production of a full length feature film with industry support. The production follows a successful Fundit.ie campaign which set a record for the highest number of contributors to a film project and raised over €11,000 for the film.

Speaking about the course, James Fair, Course Leader and Lecturer in Film Technology at Staffordshire University, states “If we are going to be serious about educating filmmakers we need to be making films, not just reading about them. We see this as developing a pathway for aspiring filmmakers to work at an advanced postgraduate level while fully engaging in the practice of filmmaking”.

Last year’s MSc Digital Feature Film production Keys To The City received its premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh and has also screened at festivals in the UK, Europe and America.

The cast also includes Stephen Mullan (Out of Here), Laura Way (Anton, The Clinic), Brian Fortune (Game of Thrones), Carrie Crowley (Earthbound), Rebecca Wainwright (The Tudors), Leslie Conroy (Mattie, Life’s a Breeze), Steve Gunn (Titanic: Blood and Steel) and Geraldine McAlinden (Portrait of a Zombie).

Keys to the City, the feature film shot by the MSc Digital Feature Film Production students wraps filming in Dublin.The film was written by writer/directors Conor Horgan (imdb), Conor McDermottroe (imdb) and James Fair (imdb) and stars an impressive cast including Rory Keenan (The Guard), Conor Mullen (Holby City), David Murray (King of the Travellers) and many others.

IFTN reports on the film here and you can check out the IMDB page for the film here.

Key features

• Our MSc. Digital Feature Film Production (Creative Documentary) is a flexible course designed to develop industry professionals interested in feature documentary production.
• Our students learn directly from experienced documentary film makers in Ireland and abroad.
• Our students use the latest industry standard equipment.
• Industry integration is a core feature of this programme.

What it’s about

The MSc.  is an exciting and innovative course that equips students with both creative and technological skills for careers as documentary film makers.

Our philosophy is to nurture technical specialism and creative professionalism through research and practical production.

We aim to produce innovative thinkers that have the ability to create original film productions, enabled through a growing and enhanced understanding of digital technology.

Student access to digital cameras, film making equipment and post production facilities will assist this blend of contemporary technical skill and techniques, which will inform and prepare students for a future in documentary film production.

What you do

Irish feature documentaries have enjoyed unprecedented success in recent years, with many documentaries achieving theatrical cinema release and winning critical awards. Digital technologies have removed many of the barriers to documentary production and have allowed creative filmmakers new opportunities to create work of real importance and artistic merit. Films such as Pyjama Girls, The Pipe, Colony, Saviours, Ballymun Lullaby and the films created through the Arts Council Reel Art scheme (administered by Filmbase) have led to a resurgence in the production of Creative Documentary in Ireland. This innovative MSc. course will equip students with the essential skills necessary for future roles in documentary production while offering students the opportunity to engage with this new wave of digital documentary filmmaking.

The MSc. requires students to achieve advanced production standards. Tutors with feature documentary experience will assist students in achieving their aims of developing a feature documentary project. Students will clearly demonstrate their increased knowledge of technology and their understanding of documentary production and practice as well as the marketing and distribution of documentary films.

Your work throughout the duration of this MSc. programme will require a significant element of independent development and research, allied with group and individual project work. Along with ongoing assignment work you will attend formal lectures offered by film academics, expert practioners, industry strategists and key figures from the world of documentary film in Ireland and abroad.

Course modules will be supported through Blackboard, Staffordshire University’s virtual learning space.

Students will have full library access and lending rights through the Dublin Business School (Aungier Street campus) and the Irish Film Institute resource library.

Fact File

Out of the Blue, Director Michael Lavelle

Filmbase/RTE Short Film Funding
The Filmbase/RTE Short Film Awards are the longest running short film scheme in the country and seek to give new and emerging filmmakers an opportunity to produce creative fiction projects. Applications are invited twice per year (in March and September) and are open to filmmakers at all levels.

Filmbase/TG4 Lasair Short Film Funding
In addition, Filmbase runs the Lasair, Irish language short filmmaking scheme in association with TG4. Past successes from this scheme include Yu Ming Is Anam Dom, winner of over 40 international festival awards.

Filmbase/Temple Bar Cultural Trust Made in Temple Bar Fund
Filmbase are currently running the Made in Temple Bar film competition and have funded 4 teams of filmmakers to produce short 3 minute films for online distribution, made in association with Temple Bar Cultural Trust. Films will be posted online later this summer.

RTE Dance on the Box
Filmbase have administered three rounds of the RTE Dance on the Box scheme on behalf of RTE and the Arts Council.

For more information on Funding please see www.filmbase.ie/awards.

In addition to the training modules, the scheme provided funding of €275,000 to each of three selected projects from first time feature film makers. All three films have received a theatrical release in Ireland, have played major festivals internationally and have all won awards at home and abroad.

The three films funded under the first round of the scheme were:

Eamon (Writer/Director Margaret Corkery, Producer Seamus Byrne)
IFTA nomination Margaret Corkery, Rising Star

One Hundred Mornings (Writer/Director Conor Horgan, Producer Katie Holly)
IFTA Winner, Suzie Lavelle, Best Cinematography; Zebbie Award Conor Horgan, Best Feature Film Script

Rewind (Writer/Director PJ Dillon, Producers Alex Jones, John Wallace)
IFTA Winner, Amy Huberman, Best Actress

Expressions of interest are currently invited from prospective students. Prospective candidates are asked to make contact with Filmbase to discuss the course in advance of making applications. Applications may involve an interview stage.*

Anyone interested in applying should make contact with Alan Fitzpatrick, Filmbase Director, as first point of contact for this course (masters@filmbase.ie)

Industry Applications

Filmmakers who have already completed a Feature Film in a professional capacity may apply to have their previous work validated for course purposes. Filmmakers applying on that basis may earn the MSc qualification on completion of a supervised thesis and certain academic modules. Reduced course fees will apply in such cases.

Industry professionals interested in applying should make contact with Alan Fitzpatrick, Filmbase Director, as first point of contact for this course (masters@filmbase.ie).

______________________________________________________________________

*All Applications Will Be Subject To Final Approval by Staffordshire University.

______________________________________________________________________

For further information on the MSc Digital Feature Film Production, please contact us as follows:

The latest issue of Film Ireland magazine carries an interview with MSc. Programme leader, James Fair of Staffordshire University, discussing his work on the feature films Watching and Waiting and The Ballad of Des and Mo, both created as part of the 72 Hour Film Project.

Click here to view the article.