Summary
- Duration
- Full-time (Sept start): 12 months
Full-time (Feb start): 15 months
- Fees
- 2012/2013: £6,500
2012/2013 (Supplement for the optional BBC Wood Norton residental element): £1,300
Overview
Register now to attend our Postgraduate Open Evening on Thursday 10 May 2012
Formerly MA TV and Interactive Content
Please note: Courses starting in February include a break from August until the start of autumn term (late September).
This new MA focuses on contemporary UK television and digital media content production and is designed for those seeking a career as a producer. At its heart is the understanding and development of collaborative working practises across disciplines and platforms, creating an agile and knowledgeable media professional.
This course directly addresses the fundamental and unprecedented speed of change within the television industry in recent years. Your study will equip you to forge a portfolio or freelance career, giving you the ability to diversify into the production and delivery of high quality video content for a wide range of platforms and clients.
Working within the context of recognised programme genres, you will have the chance to collaborate with a broad range of creative professionals and will be able to choose between a number of available platforms for the delivery of your content.
Key Facts
- This is the only such postgraduate course in the UK to offer an assessed residential training component at BBC Wood Norton.
- You will become proficient in industry-standard digital and media production equipment.
- Your study will address topics fundamental to your success in the industry, such as pitching and commissioning, intellectual property, ideas development, talent casting and audience profiling.
- You will define your own MA by Practice Project, which will expand your professional network and allow you to make an original contribution to practice within your professional field.
- Course leader Caroline Officer worked in television production for 18 years with the BBC and with Endemol, as a Series Producer (London) and as Head of Production (Endemol Midlands).
Course Outline
Course Structure
The course contains five main modules: two television modules unique to this award, two professional development modules shared with other courses in the School’s respected MA suite and an MA by Practice Project. There are no exams or substantial pieces of written work; the course is practical and aims to equip you with the knowledge and tools to enter the television industry immediately after graduation.
Our Television Documentaries and Features and Television and Factual Entertainment modules are rooted in UK television production and focus on two main genre areas, familiarising you with a broad range of popular and specialist programming. Throughout the course we bring into the classroom a range of current industry professionals to present specialist lectures and run practical workshops allowing you to experience the most up-to-date industry practices. The two modules also allow you to gain the skills to film both on location and within the television studio.
The Factual Entertainment module culminates in an assessed residential studio production course, devised in conjunction with and recorded at the BBC’s Wood Norton Production Facilities in Worcestershire. Ours is the only postgraduate programme in the UK to incorporate a BBC course.
The Enterprise module will equip you with a range of skills to develop professional practice and entrepreneurial techniques. You will join other students from other Media MA courses and work collaboratively to develop enterprising strategies and critically evaluate professional media practice. Television is predominately a freelance industry and the ability independently to develop ideas and opportunities is imperative to a successful media career.
Production Lab again allows you to collaborate with a wider group of MA students and to develop ideas collectively across disciplines. For example, as a television student you will be encouraged to devise a programme idea with innovative online, mobile and social media elements alongside students specialising in these subject areas and allow you to utilise their expertise. This module offers excellent preparation for your final project, allowing you to test out collaborations, processes and techniques.
Finally, your main production project (MA by Practice Project) will allow you to focus on a subject area and genre of your choice, incorporating appropriate online, mobile and social media elements. You will be encouraged to build on the type of working relationships you established during the Production Lab module and will be supported throughout the process by your course tutor.
Throughout the course your Personal Development Planning (PDP) will be an important element, helping to transform you into a ‘thinking media worker’. PDP embraces a range of approaches to learning that connect planning (an individual's goals and intentions for learning or achievement), doing (aligning actions to intentions), recording (thoughts, ideas, experiences, in order to understand and evidence the process and results of learning) and reflection (reviewing and evaluating experiences and the results of learning).
Modules
| PgCert |
Television Documentaries and Features
(30 Credits) |
Enterprise
(30 Credits) |
| PgDip |
Television Factual Entertainment
(30 Credits) |
Production Lab
(30 Credits) |
| MA |
MA by Practice Project
(60 Credits) |
Assessments
The course is structured in three stages: Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and MA by Practice Project. Throughout your study, you will receive regular feedback from your tutors to guide your development. Your formal assessments will involve a combination of production-based and practical work and reflective work relating to your own personal and career development.
After your studies
Further Studies
If you are interested in pursuing research in this area towards an MPhil or PhD at Birmingham School of Media, please speak to the course director in the first instance.
Employment Opportunities
This updated MA replaces our successful MA in Television and Interactive Content, which enjoyed a very high employment success rate. Past students have achieved successful careers both in mainstream media (BBC, Channel 4, CNN), and key Independent companies, such as Endemol, Maverick and North One, initially gaining positions as Researchers/Assistant Producers and Postproduction Editors, on a wide variety of programmes and interactive projects.
Entry Requirements & Applications
Entry Requirements
- You should have or expect to gain at least an upper second-class bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject area.
- You should be able to demonstrate prior experience of work in television, media production or other media related areas. Your achievements should clearly demonstrate a keen interest in the television sector.
- You are advised to read around the subject of media and to explore examples. Your application should demonstrate your ability to generate and develop ideas, as judged by the MA team.
- If your first language is not English, you must ahve achieved an IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent)
We welcome non-traditional applications, particularly from applicants with substantial professional or production experience. It may also be possible to award module credits via APL/APEL if you can provide evidence of prior learning.
Application Details
Please apply direct to faculty:
Online Application Form
Telephone: +44 (0)121 331 6618
Email: media.admissions@bcu.ac.uk
Enquiries
Prospective students from the UK or EU may enquire online by using the Course Enquiry Form or call +44 (0)121 331 5595.
Prospective students from non-EU countries may enquire via the International Enquiry Form or call +44 (0)121 331 6714.
Further Information
Birmingham School of Media
Birmingham City University
City North Campus
Perry Barr
Birmingham B42 2SU. UK
Telephone: +44 (0)121 331 6618
Fax: +44 (0)121 331 6501
Email: media.admissions@bcu.ac.uk