Ella Wright BA, MA

Ella Wright

Department of Film and Creative Writing
Digital and Media Technician

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 3274
Email
e.wright.3@bham.ac.uk
Address
Department of Film and Creative Writing
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

As Digital and Media Technician, I work across Film and Creative Writing, English Literature and Language and Linguistics, Drama and Theatre Arts, Shakespeare Institute and Digital Media and Communications, to make sure students have access to the best filmmaking equipment and professional expertise we can offer, as well as managing these resources by keeping them aligned with the evolving digital media landscapes. I also assist in teaching practical media skills in filmmaking, camera work, lighting, audio recording and design, photo editing, podcasting, and more!.

Qualifications

  • MA in Film and Television: Research and Production, University of Birmingham, 2021
  • BA (Hons) in English, University of Birmingham, 2019

Biography

I completed my Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Birmingham in 2019, culminating in my dissertation thesis titled: ‘It’s just business, nothing personal...’: An Argument for Hard-Boiled Masculinity and Cultural Fantasy in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. I continued my love of studying film at Birmingham by achieving my Master’s degree in 2021 in Film and Television: Research and Production, completing an audio-visual thesis. I then took a brief segue to explore the world of feature film and television production, working as a runner and production coordinator for the BBC and Sky Arts, among others, before returning to the University to continue both my doctoral research and professional career here. I also work as a freelance videographer, video editor and artist, working largely in the documentary / factual genre.

Teaching

I teach as required across EDACS masters level and undergraduate:

  • Camera techniques including framing, exposure and focus
  • Production sound recording
  • Production scripting, planning and industry standard set etiquette
  • Film Post production and editing including grading and colour correction
  • Film audio production and design
  • Documentary narrative development 

The main modules I am involved with are:

Digital Media and Communications

  • Creative Practice A (UG)
  • Creative Practice B (UG)

Film Studies

  • Digital and Documentary Filmmaking: The Video Essay (UG)
  • Filmmaking (UG)
  • Guided Project in Editing and Production (MA)

Research

I am currently researching towards an audio-visual PhD. My doctoral research is an exploration of the video essay form, face to face with notions of embodiment, materiality, logocentrism and epistemology in regards to scholastic video making research-by-practice. My investigations hinge on ‘the video way of thinking’, a concept developed by Ben Spatz, using this to examine the processes that underpin audio-visual creation through its relationship to written scholarship, and tracing the pragmatic implications and possibilities this has on the form. My central research methodology takes the form of audio-visual experiments and video essays.