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Editing Doctor Who with Adam Mamoun (BA Content, Media & Film Production Graduate)

By Elise Czyzowska

07 June 2022

Adam Mamoun will forever be a part of MetFilm School history as a graduate from the first-ever cohort of our BA Content, Media & Film Production degree, and already, he is proving the success that our graduates see in the media industry.

Joining the BBC Traineeship Scheme, Adam contributed to the post production of Jodie Whittaker’s final season of Doctor Who, joining the team in Cardiff. Since then, he has taken on a new role at Entertainment One, a company that produces and distributes premium television content across various genres, platforms, and territories.

To celebrate the start of his career, we caught up with Adam to learn more about his new role, his time at MetFilm School, and of course, what he’s excited to see from Ncuti Gatwa as the 14th Doctor!

To start with, can you tell us a little about your current role?

I’m currently working as Edit Assistant Trainee at Entertainment One, and my role mainly involves helping the team cut together videos for projects that they’re planning to develop.

You’ve worked on one of the landmarks of British television, Doctor Who – what was that experience like?

The BBC Traineeship came about when I saw a post on social media about a post production trainee opportunity. I responded to the post and put myself forward for the role and I got lucky!

It was a very special experience to me, since I grew up watching the show. It was also the television show that inspired me to work in the media industry in the first place. As part of my time there, I got to cut my own scenes, and even a trailer for Doctor Who: Flux. I also got to add some VFX into one of the battle scenes!

The best – and most exciting – part of the experience was definitely going into the TARDIS set. It was an absolute childhood dream of mine come true.

Watch the trailer for Doctor Who: Flux, the season that Adam Mamoun worked on as part of his BBC Traineeship Scheme!

What did you learn from working on such a major show?

From this experience, I really gained an understanding of the workflow and responsibilities of an assistant editor. The training scheme involved me learning about Avid Media Composer, and how they ingest and organise video files.

I mainly used Premiere Pro to edit before this, so it was very useful to learn how to use another software, should it be required for a future job! I also picked up a great tip for editing, which is to always allow your audience to immerse themselves in the project, which often means allowing them to take in a scene or a key moment without too many cuts.

While we’re on the subject, what are you most excited about for the future of Doctor Who since Ncuti Gatwa has been announced?

I’m incredibly excited for Ncuti Gatwa being cast as the next Doctor. I hadn’t seen his work prior to the announcement, but I really like it when you don’t know what to expect from their performance until the series starts.

I’m equally excited that Russell T. Davies will be helming the new series, too. From what I’ve seen in interviews, he’s going to give a completely new take on the character, and I think that he’ll bring a wonderful new energy to the show.

Ncuti Gatwa is one of the stars of Netflix’s Sex Education, as well as being cast in the upcoming Barbie movie, directed by Greta Gerwig!

Can you tell us a little about your time at MetFilm School?

I studied on the BA Content, Media & Film Production course in London. If I had to summarise the degree in one sentence, it was a bible for learning the most important skills for entering the media industry.

When I think about my time at MetFilm School, one of the standout memories would have to be shooting our final project last year. It was an online web series pilot based around two university graduates who become interns at a company developing a dating app. There were pressures involved during the filming, especially with Covid restrictions, but I feel like the team gelled incredibly well, and we made a project that we were all happy to go out on.

Finally, what’s one piece of content that’s inspired you lately?

I watched a show late last year on Disney+ called Only Murders in the Building. It’s centered around a murder in a New York apartment building, and the three leads (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) document their investigation via the means of a podcast. This show really inspired me, because it does something different with the murder mystery genre, and it features some good comedy in the mix of it all!