Film, TV and Theatre students experience fantastic range of Masterclasses and guest lectures
Film & TV and Theatre & Film students enjoyed a busy semester filled with guest lectures and masterclasses delivered by leading industry professionals.
To kick off October, Year 3 students taking the Production Management module welcomed Helen Thompson of Big Mountain Productions. Helen spoke about her experience as Client Manager and Lead Talent Manager with BBC Northern Ireland, as well as her role as Head of Operations at Big Mountain Productions, which creates award-winning unscripted formats for broadcasters and platforms worldwide.
As part of their Creative Documentary module, Year 3 students also took part in a masterclass with award-winning documentary filmmaker and editor Tom Burke. Tom discussed the topic of consent in documentary filmmaking, drawing on his film and PhD thesis The Gap in Consent, which features 14 Irish documentary filmmakers reflecting on ethics, consent and relationships with contributors.
Later in October, director Kieron J Walsh and producer Brendan Byrne hosted a masterclass at DkIT as part of the institute’s collaboration with the feature film Skintown. Kieron has directed numerous award-winning productions for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Granada and RTÉ, including The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rockstar, while Brendan is producer of Gaza and director of Bobby Sands: 66 Days.
Set in a small Irish town during the mid-1990s IRA ceasefire, Skintown follows two best friends attempting to escape their circumstances. Filming took place in Dundalk in September and October, with four Year 4 Film & TV students gaining valuable on-set experience. Some scenes were even filmed on the DkIT campus, including in the Nursing Building.
Following the shoot, Brendan and Kieron returned to campus to deliver a masterclass for Year 3 Film & TV students and Year 2 Theatre & Film students. The session offered valuable, real-world insight into the filmmaking process, with Film & TV Year 3 student Darragh Scanlon describing it as “a great talk” that gave him “so much insight into how movies are made by the people who make them happen.” Fellow student Mitchell Fleming also praised the clarity of the session, noting that Brendan and Kieron “broke down the timeline of a feature film’s development in a way that was straightforward and easy to follow,” adding that it felt “very demystifying,” which he greatly appreciated.
To round off the series, students welcomed TV producer and content creator Brittny Heinrich, who explored case studies from her work as a Development, Story and Edit Producer on programmes including RTÉ’s The Case I Can’t Forget and Manchán’s Europe by Train.
The programme of workshops and masterclasses was organised by Sarah McCann, Lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music.
Sarah said:
“Ongoing access to industry professionals is a core feature of the Film & TV programme at Dundalk Institute of Technology. It offers students invaluable insight into the realities of working in the industry and reflects our strong, ongoing relationship with the Irish film and television sector.”
