Title How Film Education Might Best Address the Needs of UK Film Industry and Film Culture
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Title How film education might best address the needs of UK film industry and film culture Name Neil James Fox This is a digitised version of a dissertation submitted to the University of Bedfordshire. It is available to view only. This item is subject to copyright. HOW FILM EDUCATION MIGHT BEST ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF UK FILM INDUSTRY AND FILM CULTURE by Neil James Fox A thesis submitteD to the University of BeDforDshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Professional Doctorate. February 2014 HOW FILM EDUCATION MIGHT BEST ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF UK FILM INDUSTRY AND FILM CULTURE Neil James Fox ABSTRACT This thesis reveals anD explores contemporary relationships between film eDucation, film inDustry anD film culture within a UK context through a series of interviews, Data analysis, historical research anD international case stuDies. It highlights what appear to be binary oppositions within film such as Divisions between theory anD practice, inDustry anD academia or art anD entertainment anD interrogates how they have permeateD film eDucation to the point where the relationship between film stuDies anD film practice is polemical. Also, the thesis investigates how a relationship between two binary areas might be re- engageD anD it is within this context that this thesis adDresses contemporary issues within UK higher eDucation anD national provision of film eDucation. There is DetaileD analysis of UK film policy alongsiDe the philosophies anD practicalities of filmmaking to establish how connecteD the practice of filmmaking is to the film inDustry anD national strategy. An international perspective is proviDeD through the analysis of the film school systems in Denmark anD the U.S. anD this postulates potential future Directions for UK film eDucation, particularly within the university sector. A main focus of the thesis is to question film eDucation by engaging with the voices of actual filmmakers anD also via Data analysis of the eDucational backgrounD of filmmakers as a way of Developing film eDucation. The thesis is unDertaken at a time of major changes across film anD higher eDucation. Film proDuction, Distribution anD consumption have unDergone major technological evolution anD the structures that were once in place to facilitate graduate movement into the workplace are changing anD shifting. Simultaneously the iDentity of the university as a place of skills training or critical Development is unDer consistent scrutiny. With this in minD this thesis seeks to engage with the potential future for film eDucation. 2 DECLARATION I Declare that this thesis is my own unaiDeD work. It is being submitteD for the degree of Professional Doctorate at the University of BeDforDshire. It has not been submitteD before for any Degree or examination in any other University. Name of canDiDate: Neil James Fox Signature: Date: 28/2/2014 3 LIST OF CONTENTS Abstract p.2 Declaration p.3 List of Contents p.4 IntroDuction………………………………………………………………………………………………p.6 The view from the trenches – An interview with Patrick Phillips, MiDDlesex University………………………………………………………………………………..p.20 Chapter one: Cogs in the machine: What can we learn from Higher Education?................................................p.29 1.1 IntroDuction…………………………………………………………………………..p.29 1.2 An overview of UK higher eDucation………………………………………p.30 1.3 Education anD inDustry…………………………………………………………..p.34 1.4 Theory, practice anD a right wing agenDa……………………………….p.39 1.5 The split between the academy anD the inDustry…………………..p.43 1.6 Overcoming obstacles……………………………………………………………p.49 1.7 Film in UK higher eDucation…………………………………………………..p.53 Chapter two: More people than jobs – Film education and the film industry………………………………………………………..p.62 2.1 IntroDuction…………………………………………………………………………..p.62 2.2 Arriving at this moment in time……………………………………………..p.64 2.3 The 2012 UK Film Policy Review…………………………………………….p.66 2.4 The BFI Film Forever Strategy 2012 – 2017…………………………….p.76 2.5 The film inDustry anD academia in the UK……………………………..p.83 2.6 Film eDucation from the perspective of filmmakers………………p.88 2.7 Film eDucation as DesigneD by filmmakers………………………….…p.98 4 Chapter three: Interesting failures anD inDustry luminaries – International perspectives on film education………………………………………………………………..p.110 3.1 IntroDuction………………………………………………………………………..p.110 3.2 The Danish System………………………………………………………………p.114 3.3 The American Perspective…………………………………………………..p.138 3.4 International iDeas: new methoDs of peDagogy…………………..p.150 Chapter four: Paths to the Pantheon – The education of actual filmmakers………………………………………………………..p.157 4.1 Rationale…………………………………………………………………………...p.156 4.2 Measuring success by alumni anD alumnae………………………..p.158 4.3 MethoDology……………………………………………………………………..p.161 4.4 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………..p.168 4.5 Education trenDs across film history…………………………………..p.179 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………..p.189 Reference List p.194 Interviews p.204 AppenDices p.242 5 Introduction Perceptions of film education This thesis adDresses contemporary film eDucation anD how the consequences of historical inDustrial anD institutional practices have leD to this moment in time. It also seeks to ask if what is consiDereD film eDucation in local anD wiDer contexts is appropriate, relevant or maximising its potential impact. It adDresses film eDucation from a Diversity of theoretical, historical anD strategic positions. The film inDustry, participation in which most film stuDents are aiming for, has a mostly negative view of film eDucation. This view is emblematic of the Division between film inDustry anD film eDucation that this thesis investigates. WooDy Allen DiD not complete his stuDies in film at New York University (NYU). In his early works, moving from his all-out comeDies to his celebrateD comeDy- Dramas, eDucation itself anD the eDucation of his films’ protagonists is frequently a subject for Dialogue. Allen’s response is often Derisory about the neeD for eDucation at all. In both Manhattan (1979) anD Stardust Memories (1980) Allen’s on-screen character is askeD about his eDucation anD gives flippant, comeDic answers regarDing why he DiD not complete his stuDies. He uses the opportunity to show his innate wit, as if that alone was the reason for his success, anD he dismisses eDucation as funDamental to a person’s Development. He is not just Derisory about eDucation, but also towarDs academics. In Stardust Memories he proclaims he is not the type of person who is suiteD to giving lectures anD in Annie Hall (1977) his character claims that ‘everything our parents saiD is gooD for us is bad, incluDing college’ before the famous scene where Allen embarrasses a garrulous academic regarDing his knowleDge of Marshall McLuhan 6 by presenting McLuhan himself. As chapter four of this thesis will highlight, Allen is a filmmaker who has succeeDeD Despite a lack of formal film training. However his success is in part Due to a Deep engagement with film history anD an intellectual unDerstanDing of wiDer social, cultural anD artistic content anD contexts. Allen may not be keen on formal academia, but through his creative works he has shown that learning from other artworks anD knowleDge of other cultural anD artistic areas are key aspects in his filmmaking. Film stuDents anD film schools on screen are often portrayeD negatively in a number of genres, highlighting a DisDain among the film inDustry towarDs film eDucation. One of the most extreme representations of a film stuDent is in the adaptation of novelist Bret Easton Ellis’s The Rules of Attraction (Avary, 2002) where a young man stuDying film at NYU misquotes the title of Dziga Vertov’s seminal The Man With A Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929) before viDeoing the rape of one of the protagonists anD calling it his ‘film’. Exceptions to the largely male DominateD ‘auteur in training’ portrayals can be founD in Tiny Furniture (Dunham, 2010) anD The Blair Witch Project (Myrick anD Sánchez, 1999). In Tiny Furniture Lena Dunham, who also wrote anD DirecteD the film, stars as a film graduate who returns home to a life of veritable privilege in New York anD to work through her post-graduation angst. The most poignant moment regarDing her schooling in film occurs as she is explaining that she majoreD in film theory before taking a summer job as a research assistant to a Documentary professor. The person she is in conversation with says: “that sounDs like fun”. “It wasn’t” is Lena Denham’s character’s reply, before immeDiately inhaling marijuana through a bong. Dunham herself stuDieD Creative Writing at university anD has founD great success recently with her television show Girls (HBO, 2012) in which she plays a privilegeD anD professional, if naïve, creative writing graduate. The three film stuDents in The Blair Witch Project are portrayeD as people who are exciteD anD engageD with their filmic iDea anD there is a sense of collaboration anD shareD goals. The female character of the trio is the Director 7 anD, Despite the neeD for conflict to arise within the group, her narcissistic anD overtly megalomaniac tenDencies are minimal. Instead she is portrayeD as committeD anD Driven anD with the requisite commanD to keep the work on track. There’s a naiveté anD an almost chilDish joy that captures the thrill of embarking on a first serious project for a group of young aspiring filmmakers. The Blair Witch Project is a horror film, a genre where many film stuDent representations are founD. Another such film is the Norwegian fantasy film Trolljegeren (ØvreDal, 2010) that follows film stuDents as they become involveD in hunting trolls. LeD by a maniacal, arrogant anD authoritarian self-proclaimeD auteur the group is thrust into serious peril in his quest for the ultimate Documentary. This Depiction of film stuDents again focuses on ambition, selfishness anD naiveté as key characteristics anD personality traits. The fact that it is a commercial founD footage film, however, is interesting particularly given the ScanDinavian context. FounD footage woulD seem the logical commercial conclusion for aesthetic changes in recent film history brought about by the emergence of the Dogme 95 movement in nearby Denmark in the miD 1990s.