COURSE OVERVIEW
Develop your skills as a narrative and technical editor.
Work in your own dedicated edit suite, graduating with experience on a wide range of practical projects in a professional setting, including animations, fiction films, documentaries, science and natural history programmes and commercials.
Content Tabs
This course encourages you to look at your craft as part of the whole process of film and television production and not merely as the final stage. You will work to Industry standards using high-end facilities, including your own edit suite.
You will collaborate with fellow students in other specialisms on a wide range of projects, and take part in a series of seminars, tutorials, and meetings with industry specialists both in film and television.
COURSE FACILITIES
Aside from your own edit suite, you will have access to a large number of specially equipped cutting rooms for digital and 16mm film editing. These suites are supported by viewing and transfer facilities, 16 NLE systems running AVID Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro.
The emphasis of this course is on storytelling and the relationship between editor and director. You will learn to apply your craft across genres, creating visual narratives while working with sound, music and, where appropriate, special effects. Workshops with other departments across the NFTS develop concepts of visual storytelling, mise-en-scène, storyboarding, sound design, music and scriptwriting.
It is our aim to assemble a group of students with diverse and varied backgrounds. There is no 'typical' student or perfect candidate who conforms to a mandatory list of qualifications.
You are likely to have some industry experience or training in editing. Your background may be in the arts or other media.
While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
International students Visa and English language requirements
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk.
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- You must supply a creative video montage, between 2 and 5 minutes of length. The montage should be made out of found images (obtained from the television, internet or other source), with sound. Music and dialogue can be included, but is not essential. In constructing your montage, think about the emotions and/or ideas that you want to convey, and how you will do this in an original and engaging way. Please submit the montage as a Vimeo or YouTube link.
Once we receive and review your application and creative montage, we will provide you with a link and password via email, to download selected rushes of an NFTS first year short drama student film. You will be asked to edit the film from these rushes, following the shooting script supplied. Please add music and sound effects where you feel appropriate. When the email containing the link is sent to you, you will be given a 7 day window to complete and return. Once the edit is completed, you are required to upload to Vimeo or YouTube and send the link to registry@nfts.co.uk
Please note. You may not receive the email containing the link as soon as you submit your application. Please bear with us and it will be sent as soon as we have reviewed your application.
Applications will close at 23:59 on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.
Funding Available
The NFTS offers more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to its size, than almost any UK educational institution. If you successfully gain a place on a course, you’ll receive details on how to apply. Funding is available to UK citizens and British passport holders; we recommend international, EU, and EEA students to take a look at our funding guide for helpful advice and resources.
Tutors
Student Showcase
Welcome Home Freckles (Trailer)
2025 graduate BAFTA nominated documentary
Director/Producer/Motion Graphics and Titles Designer - Huiju Park
Editor/Online Editor- Clare Maleeny
After four years apart, a daughter returns to Daegu, South Korea, to confront the unresolved family conflicts and deep-rooted domestic violence that plagued her childhood. She discovers the generational cycle of abuse and realises that only she can break it.
Deep End (Trailer)
2026 graduate animation
Director/Animator - Puzhen Zhang
Producer - Dylan Gillah
Editor - Suzy Shepherd
In early-2000s China, two kids take their first swimming lesson - a moment that will change their lives forever.
Oneiros (Trailer)
2025 graduation film
Director - Junbo Qiu
Producer - Paola Dominique Delfuego
Editor - Bert Welsh
Lost on a distant planet, a lone astronaut embarks on a journey where the search for others becomes a search within himself.
Shiny Floors (Trailer)
2022 graduate television show
Director - Aenn-Sophie Siebert
Producer - Matthew Bibby
Editor - Jón Atli Guðjónsson
When a primetime reality show host is ousted in a very public scandal, a motley crew of surviving production members must work with a newly promoted producer to rebrand the show whilst battling the comical eccentricities of the television business along the way.
Seabird (Trailer)
2021 graduation science and natural history film
Director/Producer/Camera - Conor Ferris
Editor - Zak Lawrence-Earey
Since he was a boy, writer Adam Nicolson has been visiting remote islands in Scotland that were once filled with the sound of seabirds each summer. After witnessing the distressing decline of these colonies first hand, he shares a unique perspective on the resilience of life in the face of catastrophe.
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Young Sherlock
Editor Miikka Leskinen
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Down Cemetery Road
Editor Daniel Greenway
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Slow Horses S5
Editors Zsofia Talas and Fiona Brands
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Miss Austen
Editor Alex Mackie
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Paddington In Peru
Editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
The Rig S2
Editor Raluca Petre
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Kensuke's Kingdom
Editor Richard Overall
Winner of 3 British Animation Awards including Best Feature.
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
The Acolyte
Editor Miikka Leskinen
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Baby Reindeer
Editor (eps 1-4) Benjamin Gerstein
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
The End We Start From
Editor Arttu Salmi
Graduate Success
Editing graduates have a high rate of employment on feature films, shorts and television programmes. Many new graduates quickly become editors on independent productions or assistant editors on features or TV drama.
Recent credits include...
Heartstopper
Editor Sofie Alonzi
