Choosing Film and Oxford Brookes University
Linda: Coming from Germany, I was looking at film related course options in both Germany and England. What drew me to the Oxford Brookes course over other options was its mix between the theoretical and practical and that you could combine your modules together within the course to match your interests. I wanted to study film form, film analysis, language, composition breakdown, and screenwriting, which are all theoretical aspects. However, I also wanted to apply these skills practically because I knew I wanted to pursue a career in directing and the practical side of film-making. Oxford Brookes seemed to offer a blend of both, and that was the key aspect for me.
The importance of practical and theoretical balance
James: I had initially been set on studying English Literature, encouraged to do so during my A Levels. I realised I didn’t have to limit myself to traditional subjects and that I could focus on something I really wanted to do. The course allowed me to go into depth in theory and film form, and apply that practically, which was really interesting to me. Other film programmes I looked into were only theory-based, so the course offered by Oxford Brookes was appealing to me.
Linda: When you study a subject such as film, there's an industry for it, there’s a structure to screenwriting and a structure on how to make films. Certainly the course needed that element of allowing you to express yourself artistically, but also you can do that after the course. I think the key was that you get the roadmap of how you actually approach film academically so that you can make a profession out of it.
The role of history in film
James: It’s also important to understand the history of what's come before, and how the language of film and cinema formulated. As a filmmaker going out into the professional world, you need an appreciation of what’s come before you, so you understand where you are and where the industry is right now in relation to the past. It's really important in being a good filmmaker.
We’re still in frequent contact with our tutor
Linda: We both had the same tutor, Dr. Paolo Russo, who was a significant element to our experience because he has, in the time that we studied, been very supportive and continues to be very supportive. He loves to hear how your career evolves when you’ve graduated. That, to me, was a really significant experience, because just having a mentor who you're able to go to, who is able to guide you and give you that honest feedback on your work is really what drove me to work harder and always be aware of where I'm at.
James: We both graduated over ten years ago and we’re still in frequent contact with Paolo. There were also several members of the faculty that were really supportive.
Our production company, Inquisitive Pictures, was formed whilst we were still making films at university
Linda: James and I met on the course. We didn't know each other at all before going to study film. We actually met at a DVD sale on the Headington campus during our lunch break! Also, in our professional life, it was the beginning of us sharing what we were doing. Filmmaking requires a lot of collaboration and we were encouraged to work on each other's projects as we were going through the course.
The practice of doing that gave us the communication that we needed to go into our professional careers together as a writing and directing duo now. We were encouraged by the format of the course to make those relationships.
We were both taking a video production module, and as part of that we had to do lip synching and that gave us the very early building blocks on knowing how to create a music video. Ironically, the first offer that we had coming straight out of university was an offer to do a music video.
James: We didn't have a production company at the time - we had a production name that we created our student films under. So, we made that an official production company. The idea was formed whilst we were still making films at university and then post-university, we made it official and then started putting professional projects through it.