Meet AIU Faculty/Staff
Professor Mark Lonsdale
Mass Communications Lecturer
Phone: +44 (0) 207 467 5697
Email: mlonsdale@aiulondon.ac.uk
Subjects taught at AIU:
Edit Post 1
Scriptwriting 1
Producing and Directing
Pre Production
Acting for Camera
Production Seminar
Meet Professor Mark Lonsdale: Bringing the Real World into the Classroom
Degrees:
- M.A., Film and Television Studies, Warwick University
- B.A., Film and Video, London College of Printing
Out of the Classroom:
Prof. Lonsdale started playing tennis 20 years ago and has some amazing shots, that are usually followed by two less-than-amazing shots. "I'm a total park player. It's very social though, asking people to fetch the over-the-fence balls for you."
Professor Mark Lonsdale once spent three months cleaning out the cellar of an old brewery only to have the brewery torn down once everything was spic-and-span. Thankfully the achievements of his professional life aren't as transient. As a producer of everything from music videos to commercials, Prof. Lonsdale's work literally now lives forever. As a teacher, he inspires the next generation of producers and filmmakers.
One of Prof. Lonsdale's music videos was for Artful Dodger's Rewind, which, as we're sure you remember, was a huge hit. The video was played hundreds of times on MTV. He also did videos for a number of other U.K. garage bands during the time when that music genre was really taking off. One of Prof. Lonsdale's projects during the garage bands' heyday was a video nightshoot in one of the glass houses at Kew Gardens.
While he is now throwing most of his creative energy into teaching at AIU London, Prof. Lonsdale does continue to do freelance production work. "Teaching at AIU encourages you to stay involved in the industry and in touch with industry developments such as HDV and the new editing software."
Having taught at other London universities, Prof. Lonsdale is in a unique position to see how AIU stacks up. "We are extremely competitive. For instance, our script writing courses (I to IV) allow students to develop a feature length script over four modules. Starting from a pitch, then progressing on to a proposal outline, then a treatment, and finally a full draft script. This is an invaluable experience. And we get industry practitioners to guide students through the process. I can't think of any other British degrees where this would happen."
Perhaps it is because of this experience that one of Prof. Lonsdale's Scriptwriting II students returned to the U.S., completed his script, shot the film on a shoestring budget and has signed a distribution deal with Troma.
"I love seeing students connect with and be enthused about films, especially when it leads to their own successes."
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