Nigel Orrillard

Willing to speak to media

Research activity per year

Research interests

If you’re thinking that University might not be for you, then this is to encourage you to apply.

Education and Film have transformed my life.

In 1989, when I was twenty-five, I drove up to the gates of Swansea University in the taxi I was driving for a living at the time. The taxi had been lent to me for the day, free of charge, by my mate Gerry Loughlin; the diesel for the Nissan being cheaper than the return train fare from the Midlands. Gerry took the hit on his earnings from his taxi for the day so that I could get to my University interview. The University Gate Porter asked me who I was picking up. I told him I was there for an interview for a place on the BA Politics. He told me where to park and raised the barrier.

My purpose in Higher Education is to raise the barriers for my students.

In 1998 my MA Graduation film, May Day (Writer, Director, Producer, Editor), dramatised the political abandonment of the generation who fought in WWII, won the £30,000 DM Davies Award at the International Film Festival Wales, was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru, broadcast by HTV and described as “very moving” by Jeremy Sandford (Writer; Cathy Come Home, Dir. Ken Loach, 1966).

My first stab at writing a feature film screenplay, King’s Shadows, 1999, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear exploring global media ownership, was awarded £11,500 in Development Funding by the Arts Council of Wales and Optioned by Antenna Cyf.

I’ve been lecturing in Film Production full-time since 2000 with over 3,000 students. I led the MA / MFA Film Programme at Newport Film School for eight years with nearly 150 Graduates and pass / progression / completion rates over 95%.

Since 2005 I’ve collaborated with many great colleagues and students in Film and Performance to devise and deliver the largest collaboration between student film-makers and student actors in the UK: Working with Actors: Film Directing, Film Acting, including Convening an International Symposium in 2009.

Since 2006 I’ve worked as a contracted Script Consultant to 57 feature film projects at the Oscar® and Palm d’Or® winning Andrzej Wajda Film School in Warsaw on the EKRAN European Training Programme for Film Professionals, providing advice and guidance to the best new film-makers in Europe. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 I was able to get six alumni and MA Film students onto EKRAN.

I’ve been a regular Visiting / ERASMUS Tutor at ESMAE (Escuola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo) Porto, Portugal, since 2009 on their MA Film courses.

In 2010 I was a Visiting Scholar at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and was able to get two of my students to sit in on NYU Tisch classes for three weeks.

So if you think University isn’t for you, think again, and apply now.

RESEARCH

Orrillard, N. & Smith, A. (2017) ‘Working with Actors: Learning – teaching – Learning’

in Mourao, M., Semerdjiev, S., Mello, C. & Taylor, A. (eds)

The 21st Century Film, Television and Media School: Challenges, Clashes, Changes

CILECT

(Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision - The International Association of Film and Television Schools)

ISBN 978-619-7358-00-1

Orrillard, N. & Smith, A. (2015) ‘Continuity is Hard: modelling collaborative Director/Actor relationships’

CILECT Conference ‘Working with Actors’ Paper

HFF Munich, Germany

(Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (The International Association of Film and Television Schools)

http://www.cilect.org/news/view/350#.Wzn7Un4nYUG

20151118 Directing Acting – Orrillard Smith Moreira Gustavsson

£5,000 Innovation in Learning & Teaching Grant (2014)

Working with Actors

Principal Investigator

Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching

University of South Wales

International Conference Presentation (2012)

Americana: writing with actors

ESMAE (Escuola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo)

Porto

Portugal

Visiting Scholar (2010)

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, USA

£5,000 Educational Exchange Award, Skillset Media Academy Wales (2010)

Working with Actors

Principal Investigator

Successful bid for two staff and two students to attended three weeks of Acting and Directing classes at Stonestreet Studios, a New York University Tisch School of the Arts affiliate

£1,500 Skillset Media Academy Wales (2010)

Visiting Professors’ Award

Principal Investigator

Successful bid to bring Professor Louis Scheeder (NYU) to Newport to work with BA Film & BA Performance students and staff for one week on two scenes from King Lear

£5,000 Award Skillset UK (2009)

International Symposium on Film Acting, Film Directing

Convenor with Dr. Andy Smith

Speakers:

Ken Russell
Professor Louis Scheeder (Associate Dean, NYU Tisch)
Witold Stok BSC (Kieślowski’s early cinematographer)
Danusia Stok (Kieślowski’s biographer)
Owen Teale (Emmy ® winning actor, Game of Thrones, Line of Duty etc.)
Dr. Victoria Lowe (MMU)
Jethro Skinner (winner of the Russian ‘Oscar’ 2008)
Vladimir Bouchler (Shukin Theatre Moscow trained theatrical director and film-maker)
Stephen Bayly (former Director of the National Film & Television School, UK)

International Conference Paper (2008)

Orrillard, N. & Smith, A.

On Actor & Director Training in the university curriculum

Training & Performance Research Association (TAPRA)

School of Creative and Cultural Industries, Leeds University

National Conference Paper (2008)

Orrillard, N. & Smith, A.

Reviewing and amending cross-programme collaboration

Learning & Teaching Conference, University of Wales Newport

£5,000 Learning & Teaching Fund Award (2008)

Orrillard, N. Smith, A. & Wooster, R.

Working with Actors

University of Wales Newport

Pedagogical research project on film directing and film acting

£4,425 Research Support Scheme Award (2007)

Americana: writing with actors(Writer, Director, Producer, Editor)

Principal Investigator

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts

meeting with Head of Film, NYU Tisch, Lamar Saunders

https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/film-tvs/3329679

meeting with Head of Drama, NYU Tisch, Kevin Kuhlke

https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/drama/3292014

filmed rehearsals and actors’ workshops with Graduate Actors at New York University
New York location filming and location research
a feature film research and development package

International Conference Paper (2007)

Orrillard, N. Smith, A. & Wooster, R.

They Shoot Actors - Don’t They? On collaboration between Film and Performance practice in the university curriculum

Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

National Conference Paper (2007)

Orrillard, N. & Smith, A.

Developing cross-programme collaboration

Learning & Teaching Conference

University of Wales Newport

International Conference Paper (2004)

Orrillard, N. & Chandler, D.

Parallax Views - On the semiotics of film editing

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association

The Association of Media Practitioners in Education

University of Lincoln

National Conference Paper (2003)

Orrillard, N.

Assessment patterns and structural strategies in the context of high student numbers

Learning & Teaching Conference

University of Wales Newport

TEACHING

2019

Nominee — Best Lecturer

Faculty of Creative Industries (Student Choice Awards)

Nominee — Best Supervisor

Faculty of Creative Industries (Student Choice Awards)

2018

Winner — Best Lecturer, ‘Winner of Winners’

University of South Wales (Student Choice Awards)

Winner — Best Lecturer

Faculty of Creative Industries (Student Choice Awards)

2017

Nominee — Best Lecturer