TG4 to screen student films

FIVE documentaries made as part of a new Irish language qualification in TV production are to be screened later this year by TG4.

The programmes will be shown as part of the channel’s Céad Seans series in the autumn and were made by students of the Higher Diploma in Television Production.

Run by Nemeton Studios in An Rinn, Co Waterford, the course is heading into its third year in September.

Nemeton managing director, Irial Mac Murchú, said that TG4’s commitment to broadcast the documentaries adds a “hugely important dimension” to the course.

“It sets the course apart, not only in terms of its content and make-up, but also in the opportunity it gives students to produce television programmes in the knowledge that they may have their first broadcast credit just after leaving college.”

One of the programmes, Torann na dTonnta, tells the story of three fishermen who were killed by a British mine off Helvic Head in 1945.

Co-director, Fiona Ní Fhathaigh, said the editing process involved months of “constructing and deconstructing” the footage.

“But it has never failed to touch me,” she said.

“It is a tragic story which has remained largely untold and I hope it moves the nation as much as it has moved us. I’m really excited about seeing it on TG4. It’s a great story and I hope we did it both the sincerity and justice it deserves.”

The other co-director of this programme, Niall Ó Faoláin, is the grandson of the sole survivor of the Helvick Head accident. He is working in London on a new children’s programme for the BBC while Fiona Ní Fathaigh is head of development in Nemeton.

The NQAI Level 8-approved course is a Higher Diploma in Television Production, with a specialisation in directing or editing.

The course design works from the blueprint of the actual television production process. Included in the early stages are topics such as ideas generation, pitching to broadcasters and funders, preparing budgets and programme research.

The next stage is production, where students are in a “hands-on” production environment, shooting their programme, acquiring directing skills and understanding the production management element of the process.

The post-production stage of the course sees students focusing on editing the programmes as well as the marketing, business and legal elements of wrapping up of a programme.

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