Media Production - MA

This specialist production module explores the field of documentary production with an emphasis on working on-location. You will gain a professional understanding of the technical and editorial requirements which underpin the production of compelling visual and audio documentary content.

The module provides you with the core skills required to record on-location documentary content in varying conditions, including technical proficiency with cameras, microphones and lighting equipment. Presentation skills, content structuring and approaches to multitrack editing are also explored. You will develop the interpersonal skills required to effectively communicate with subjects, to gain trust and capture authentic content.

You will learn about the development of the documentary genre, including significant movements, influential producers, and how historical and cultural contexts have shaped documentary practices and trends. You will explore a range of platforms and formats to assess their ability to target diverse and international audiences. Classes consider narrative strategies and the impact of technological developments on the production, distribution and consumption of visual and audio documentaries. The module will also investigate issues of ethics and representation in documentaries, such as power dynamics, consent and the risk of exploitation. The representation of authenticity, bias and credibility is addressed alongside equality, diversity and inclusion.

You will develop the critical and professional skills required by entrepreneurial programme-makers in a variety of digital environments. These include traditional media platforms alongside newer digital technologies such as VOD, VR, immersive 3D sound design, amongst others, which have reshaped the documentary form.

You are assessed via a portfolio assessment, which includes a live assessment and written reports which demonstrate critical engagement with academic texts and practical audio production skills, as well as self-reflection.

The module takes a ‘real-world’ approach, by studying the pitching and commissioning of original documentary concepts and encourages an interdisciplinary approach, with students working in teams to create innovative, legally compliant, responses to the assignment brief. The module supports students seeking to complete their studies via a production project route and course work may be used in an industry showreel to enhance employability.

This module will help you to develop and consolidate your ideas for your MA Major Project. A common module taken by all MA Media cohorts, Research in Practice equips you to successfully complete of the MA Major project, as also provides routes into PhD progression. It is also designed to encourage interdisciplinary discussions across MA awards. You will be encouraged to identify and critically evaluate the key issues in your field. You will examine how they are being explored by other researchers and practitioners, and establish how your MA project will creatively address specific issues, challenges, and opportunities.

The module introduces you to the key skills required to complete a successful MA project. This will include identifying strategies for effective project management (with appropriate risk assessment), and appreciation of ethical considerations. The module will also introduce you to a range of methodological approaches appropriate to both dissertations and production projects. Presentations and activities will be delivered by module tutors and guest speakers whose work is relevant to both approaches, and who are active within local and global contexts. These presentations and activities are intended to help you get a sense of what media projects look like in the “real world”, expand your knowledge of the possible approaches that could be taken, and ultimately help you decide on the most appropriate approach to your own MA project.

You will develop the skills to conduct rigorous primary and secondary academic research (following academic convention), alongside an ability to interrogate appropriate industry sources and databases.

This module builds from your existing knowledge and experience to support you in fusing your practice, research, reading, writing and communication skills to develop your own voice, self-direction, and a deeper and more critical engagement with your work and area of interest. You will expand upon your research and generate ideas and concepts in relation to your project or topic by exploring the situated and relational connection between your writing, practice, reading and research as closely integrated areas. The overlapping between academic and creative ADM practices, methods, approaches, and theories guides the content as well as the teaching and learning approach of this module. Through a series of synchronous online and face-to-face sessions and tutorials, asynchronous interactive resources, and site-specific, off-campus activities you will explore and develop essential skills and knowledge to succeed as a postgraduate student and beyond. The learning experience of this module will be enriched through a practice-based, dialogical, collaborative, and creative approach that facilitates proactive engagement and independence. The module will encourage you to explore relevant learning strategies and formative assessment opportunities to discuss your practice and its context, develop interpersonal skills and relation building.

You will start by developing your Individual Learning Plan in conversation with your tutors. The Learning Plan sets out your academic and practical strengths, and areas of development for you to focus on, and allow you to review your progress more regularly and become a self-directed learner. There is no required assessment to complete this module. Instead, you will have the opportunity to fully embed your learning as part of your research through an optional critical reflection of your work in relation to its context in a personal and creative way (video essay, artist’s book, journal, blog, engaging presentation, student-led exhibition, etc) that articulates your practice and its future direction. In addition to enhancing your postgraduate studies, academic skills and developing your own voice within your subject area, your successful engagement with this module will enable you to gain additional recognition through the Graduate+ Bronze or Silver level award.

This module builds key transferable core skills that are needed to work within a modern multiplatform media industry, including the ability to identify and communicate stories for specific audiences; to recognise story formats across multiple platforms along with their generic qualities; to plan and collect information needed for storytelling purposes (including interviews); to write for a range of platforms; and employ multiple media forms.

These skills will help the student develop employable skills in identifying, planning and executing storytelling projects across multiple platforms and media, including emerging formats.

A mixed methods pedagogical approach is adopted, combining lectures with hands-on workshops where students produce stories within their own professional contexts, exploring cycles of pre- production, production and post-production activities. Supplementary technical sessions provide specialist skills with particular media to an advanced technical level. Teaching builds towards an assessed project that demonstrates the application of editorial, creative and practical skills, alongside an evaluation which evidences a methodical and critical approach to all three stages of production.

This specialist module focuses on the editorial and practical skills required to produce content for live studio environments, including technical proficiency, live broadcast management, audience engagement and regulatory and ethical awareness.

You will evaluate the challenges and opportunities presented by multi-platform live streaming and broadcasting, and gain a professional understanding of the pre-production, technical operation and presentation processes involved in live video and audio production.

The module teaches practical technical aspects, including presentation, camera work, sound engineering and live editing. You will also gain an understanding of how live media content has evolved and consider the key historical and cultural contexts which have shaped contemporary practices and trends. Students can follow set briefs or conceptualise their own live streaming projects. Students can explore studio-based entertainment programming or respond to societal issues by exploring how live studio productions can be used as a tool for educational and community development purposes; targeting specific communities with appropriately proposed programming which facilitates social gain.

The module considers audience engagement with live content, and investigates real-time interaction, social media integration and other opportunities for interactivity with viewers/listeners. You will also evaluate the impact of live feedback and audience analytics. The ethical and legal considerations associated with live content are assessed, such as legal frameworks and issues of privacy, consent, and real-time content moderation.

Students are assessed via a portfolio assessment, which includes a live assessment and written reports which demonstrate critical engagement with academic texts and practical production skills, as well as self-reflection. The module supports students seeking to complete their studies via a production project route and course work may be used in an industry showreel to enhance employability.

This specialist production module explores the post-production and distribution stages of digital content creation; allowing students to maximise the creative potential of their production work and reach targeted audiences effectively. You will learn advanced editorial and production skills associated with the editing and mastering of video and audio post-production, such as multitrack editing, sound design, colour grading and visual/audio effects processing. You will learn the key practical and theoretical principles which underpin these technical skills and understanding how they can contribute to the narrative structure, pacing, and overall aesthetic of digital media production.

The module considers the promotional techniques, distribution methods and platform considerations to assist in the successful delivery of targeted media content and maximise audience engagement. You will consider the broad framework of the media landscape and Creative Economy, the relationships which exist between different media environments, and how these may influence content distribution and consumption.

The legal and ethical considerations associated with postproduction practices will be assessed, including copyright laws, licensing, image manipulation, and editorial misrepresentation. The industry’s need for equality, diversity and inclusion will underpin discussions surrounding industry distribution processes.

The module aims to prepare students for the rapidly evolving media landscape. It provides valuable theoretical and practical skills for students taking the production route for their final Major Project. Students are assessed via a portfolio assessment, which includes a range of practical post-production tasks and the distribution of self-produced content to a targeted audience. This work will be accompanying by written reports which demonstrate critical engagement with academic texts and practical production skills, as well as self-reflection.

The module provides an opportunity for student to revisit and improve past coursework and may be used to refine a personal showreel for industry to enhance employability.

The module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create a research-informed interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines, or with academic staff.

Collaboration is a vital employability skill within the Creative Industries and this module allows you to develop professional key interpersonal and communications skills, share knowledge and ideas, and engage in collective strategic planning, diagnostic analysis and peer support. Working in an interdisciplinary team will help you to learn beyond your own subject boundaries, which is central to the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) philosophy of education and resembles work patterns within the creative industries.

In the module you will produce an interdisciplinary and imaginative group project outcome supported by an in-depth critical evaluation.

Within this module framework, several kinds of collaborative opportunities are available. For example, your supervisor may set you a predetermined project to enable you to work with other students in a cross-course project; there may be opportunities for you to collaborate with staff on research projects; or your supervisor may engage you in a collaborative group brief with a professional client, community or agency.

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of either a written dissertation, or a practical based portfolio with accompanying reflective, critical and contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be relevant to your programme and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.

At this level, you will be expected to work independently but you will receive additional one-to-one support from your supervisor, who will be familiar with your chosen topic area. As you progress on the module, extra support will be available and this may take the form of group seminars, workshops and online materials that will help in the development of your project.

This module is an opportunity for you to develop skills which will contribute to the acquisition of key BCU graduate attributes; creative problem solvers, enterprising, professional and work ready and global outlook. In the context of the creative and cultural industries and at this academic level, this means an ability to: create work which is of a professional standard relevant to the discipline; undertake successful project planning to a professional standard, which may include budgetary and other relevant constraints; innovate and experiment; to self-evaluate and reflect critically on your work, situating your practice within the context of relevant academic/professional debates within your chosen medium.