UNSW MD Students Documentary
Follow along as we witness the perils and elations on the road to becoming a doctor
The documentary
Each year, a class of bright students who are passionate about health and well-being are admitted by a leading Medical training institution in Australia to begin their preliminary 6-year journey to becoming a qualified Medical Practitioner. The destination is rewarding and inspiring, but the journey is not always easy. Long hours, personal sacrifice, and rock-solid persistence is required at every level. Along the way, they also gain friendship, resilience and transition from teenage to new doctors. In an Australian first, we follow the highs and lows of a handful of these students from their enrolment through to graduation. Follow along as we witness the perils and elations on the road to Becoming a Doctor.
Join us
During 2023 Orientation Week, the production team met and introduced this project to new BMed/MD students. We have received overwhelming interest from students and are in the process of shortlisting volunteers. Meanwhile, if you want to contact us and share your stories, please email us on MDStudentDoco@unsw.edu.au
Our work
"A Day in the Life" is a short video which was produced by our media team in 2022 to celebrate the first full Medicine Program graduates at a Rural Campus in NSW. This was a concept which helped paved the way for producing a documentary aimed at showcasing the full journey of 6 years for the undergraduate Medicine program at UNSW. We will be releasing more exciting works in due course.
What would you tell your Year 12 self?
What was your highlight of Medicine & Health at UNSW in Year 1?
The production team
Matt Oxley | Producer
Matt Oxley is an actor and filmmaker based in Sydney NSW. A graduate of both NIDA and Screenwise, he also completed his BA in Media Communications at UNSW. Matt has been the patron of the Arts Alive Film Festival since 2011, and has also hosted the Sydney Intercultural Film Festival. His experience in TV and Film is vast, and being versed in both sides of the camera allows Matt to nurture talent to produce their best performance in front of the camera, whilst efficiently driving a production from pre through to post. Having produced educational content for the Medicine & Health Faculty for 5 years, he understands the necessity to produce quality content which both educates and engages the student body. This documentary is an exciting opportunity to showcase the amazing lives of students embarking on this incredible journey to becoming MDs.
Nathan Colquhoun | Director
Award winning director, Nathan Colquhoun, has been producing creative and challenging content for over a decade. His recent web series ABANDONED won best action series in Seoul in 2018, and his recent films DROUGHT and THE WILD ONE have been attracting media attention in Australia for their portrayal of real-world events. A skilled writer, editor and DOP, Nathan has a rare combination of talents which affords him the ability to oversee a project from start to finish, being involved at every crucial stage. His nurturing of talent on-screen means he can make the shyest person feel very comfortable in front of the lens. Nathan always finds a way of capturing the best moments on camera and pulling together an amazing product under the toughest of circumstances.
Francy Fan | Executive Producer
Francy is the Senior Manager of the School of Clinical Medicine, and she is passionate about medical education and student experience. Francy volunteers to support the documentary project and looks forward to the production journey.
Our timeline
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And that's a wrap for 2023! What a great start to this ambitious and exciting documentary project. We are so grateful for everyone who put their hand up, and those whom have invited us into their lives as we kick off this first year. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the students and staff who are making this possible. What a great bunch of people!! This year was all about introductions and getting to know the cohort. We've already had a few curve balls, but that's what makes this documentary exciting. Stay tuned as we prepare some material to get you excited and to share with friends and family.
Once again, we would like to extend our thanks to the students who have opened up quite personally about their journey so far. We look forward to watching you grow through the course, and share the ups and downs through the years. Keep an eye out for the cameras next year as we begin to engage more regularly with some of the in class work and some of the extracurricular activities.
We hope you have a restful and safe holiday, and that you feel recharged and ready to hit the ground running in 2024.
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We are overwhelmed by the positive response that the first-year students have given to the opening of this project. So many people have illustrated their interest in participating, that we have had to re-think how best to involve everyone.
We ran some interviews locally on Kensington campus to kick things off and will delve into the stories shared in more detail in the coming weeks. One thing has become clear to us, and that is the calibre and diversity of medical students enrolled in the program. We cannot wait to see what transpires over the duration of this course.
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After the trip, Matt and I spent hours editing. The first video is now released.
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This is where everything starts. The production team was tasked with making a video for a graduation, a very special one. We flew to Port Macquarie, a town at the mouth of the Hastings River in New South Wales, Australia. The rural clinical campus was buzzing. The graduation was for the first group of students to complete the full Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine program.
We interviewed students, staff and the community. One idea came to our mind, why don’t we do a documentary to track the ups and downs of the journey? The journey to becoming a doctor.
