Student Blog

This is a guest blog post from student Harley Huyen Le about her challenges and successes so far.

From Vietnam adapting to a new country, it’s common for us international students to be overwhelmed sometimes, no matter how many experiences we have had. I am no exception.

Fortunately, thanks to the support from our lecturers, I never feel lonely in my Producing Film & Television course. My classmates are so striking with their diversity of cultures and talents, we’ve all come here with the same interests and an open mind.

17 MA Producing for Film & Television students smile in a group photo with trays of doughnuts after getting to know one another in their first few weeks on the degree.

My classmates, MAPFT 2022/23 students in our course unit leader’s eyes. [Taken by Dr. Reina Loader]

From the beginning the ice was broken by our Programme Leader, Reina, with the general question “What is your favourite film, and why?”; it was a doodle to share our hobbies, experiences, who we are, and our stories so far.

Nine months of studying in three semesters are challenging, especially with academic requirements and film projects. However, we have all the intellectual resources we wish for, with detailed explanations to ensure we are on the same page and engage with each unit. Of course, we are the only ones who can use them wisely or not! It is up to each individual to plan their one-year master’s. Moreover, I always enjoy my tutorial time, where I am listened to and then guided in the best ways possible.

I’m finding our course is preparing us to be professional producers so that after graduation we can jump into the real world of project production and present our abilities in distribution and communication.

Harley stands in a dimly lit lecure theatre ready to share her Film/TV pitch to peers and academics.

Harley Huyen Le and her pitch for a documentary film in the 2023 pitch session.
[BTS photos by Avinash Nair]

I will never forget the three great pitching days at the end of our second semester, where each of us had a chance to present our project, from concept idea to pitch deck.

All of the lectures and other course mates attended. It is not overrated for the qualities we get from various works, from documentaries and fiction films to animation, action, noir, or romance genres, with excellent research and masterful performances. When writing these words, I still recall my pleased and excited feeling when I enjoyed each of our pitches.

As a master’s student, I always treat my work and my teammates as professionally as possible. Sometimes it is a bit strict, but I believe that “pressure makes diamonds.”

a collage of images showing Master's students pitching their ideas in the screening room.

We, as MA students at MAPFT, were in our 2023 pitch session. [BTS photos by Irmak Karayel]

One of my latest projects has come to the industry as professional work. It is a music video produced with a limited budget and hectic schedule, with only two weeks for us to prepare everything, including casting calls, pre-production, setting up locations, and a ton of paper-works. As a producer, my creator, DOP, Tiqian Huang, and I were in high tension to ensure everything would be done, and ready for the three continuous shooting days.

As a result of the hard work of our team, of nearly 30, we produced excellent footage. Our MV “What’s My Name” was nominated as a Top 5 Music Video in Canon’s UK and CVP UK events, along with the “Stories in Motion Film Competition” and other professional works in the industry.