What’s it like to study a masters degree in film editing?

Studying film editing

Bursary winner Ben Prideaux Benjamin Prideaux was awarded one of our £2,000 Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries in 2024 and put this towards the costs of studying an MA in Editing at the National Film and Television School.

Ben started his masters degree in January 2025 and is now halfway through the course – we thought it would be the ideal time to catch up with him and see how his studies are going.

“My first six months at the National Film and Television School have been transformational. I have been given the opportunity to dive head-first into the craft of editing, working on fiction, documentary and animation projects and learning so much in the process.

The course is extremely hands-on with a series of back-to-back projects which have pushed me to my limits creatively, professionally and technically. Each project is reviewed by a cross-departmental panel who provide extensive and thorough feedback on every aspect of the film. I have learned a huge amount about storytelling, editing techniques, sound design and music scoring – taking the new knowledge and reflections forward into each new project. The tutors at the school have a wealth of industry experience and insight into the filmmaking process and their feedback has been invaluable. I feel grateful to be at an institution with such a high level of expertise.

I have recently completed a documentary project which resulted in a 10-minute film. This was a real challenge as I had never worked with observational material before and it taught me a lot about structure and film language. In documentary filmmaking, the editor’s role is often as a writer too, as we work closely with the director to tell the story in the edit. The experience revealed areas of my craft that are strong and other areas that need work and I’m excited to build on these experiences in the next project.

The collaboration the school encourages has been extremely rewarding. As an editor I work closely with directors, sound designers and composers. These collaborations demand an ability to communicate creative ideas and feelings clearly and succinctly which is helping me to better understand my ideas as I put them into words. I hope I can continue these creative relationships once I graduate and we all enter the industry together.

After the summer break I will be starting to edit a Science and Natural History Filmmaking graduate project. This will be another step up in terms of length and complexity but I’m super excited to get started.”

Applications are open for this year’s Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries worth £2,000 each until Tuesday 30th September 2025 – apply now for the chance to win £2,000 towards your masters degree or PhD.

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