Creative Media and Production BA(Hons)

The content we share and find is shaped through the specific organisational structures of the film and media industries. This module provides you with an introduction to the key theories, concepts and methods needed to understand those structures, their impact on the professionals and organisations working within them, and the ways in which they shape media landscapes. The module places particular emphasis on political economic approaches and production studies, but attention will also be given to theories of creativity, branding, and industrial conceptions of their audiences.

The module introduces you to a range of audio formats and technologies: mobile, online, radio and podcast. You will be provided with the essential recording, editing and studio skills necessary to produce an audio output, and to understand the language and concepts required to critically evaluate audio content.

Your phone screen may be the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you check at night, and in this module we look at the role of technology in shaping our world. We combine critical analysis of key platforms and technologies, from Google and YouTube to Facebook and Twitter, with teaching you the skills to use those tools to create professional media content.

The module introduces you to a range of video formats and technologies: mobile, online, television and video. You will be provided with the essential recording and editing skills necessary to produce a video output, and to understand the language and concepts required to critically evaluate video content.

Telling stories is at the heart of all kinds of journalism jobs, from news reporting to music reviewing and covering live sport. Here, we help you improve your writing, so you’re comfortable researching and writing pieces in a range of styles. Analysing professional examples will help you get a handle on what you’ll be aiming to match as your skills develop.

You’ll often hear us say that media is changing quickly: and we mean it. This module helps you make sense of what that means for your future career, and why the jobs of tomorrow aren’t always the same as the ones of the past. You’ll work on a career plan, so you can be ready for a placement year and other media work opportunities.

Popular formats from Strictly Come Dancing to I’m A Celebrity are central to the success of our biggest broadcasters. This module takes you inside the creation and development of the next big thing in TV. You’ll develop your creative and technical skills, as you plan how to turn your idea into a potential hit of the future.

Being a producer in film and TV is an important job, putting you right at the centre of any production. You’ll learn about production management tasks ranging from casting to location scouting, while getting a handle on the logistics of production both in the studio and outside. You’ll also focus on health and safety, knowledge that is more essential than ever.

You'll develop your music journalism writing skills, turning your hand to a wide variety of styles – from reviews and features to opinion articles, listicles and other forms of online and social media journalism. There will be in-depth teaching and guidance not only about how to write, but also how to pitch your work to editors. You'll learn about the tradition and history of music journalism, and think about its past, present and future.

There’s a magazine for almost any topic you can think of, and this module helps take you closer to a job working for a publication you’ll love. Industry experts help teach you how to use software packages to design a stunning product. Then, you’re tasked with coming up with your own idea for a new magazine, to fill a gap in the market that you’ve spotted.

You’ll often hear us say that media is changing quickly: and we mean it. This module helps you make sense of what that means for your future career, and why the jobs of tomorrow aren’t always the same as the ones of the past. You’ll work on a career plan, so you can be ready for a placement year and other media work opportunities.

This module develops your existing technical production skills in key areas of film and television production: lighting, cinematography, sound recording, script supervision directing and editing. All strands reflect professional roles and seek to advance your existing technical skills to help you achieve creative and aesthetic objectives and high production values. It also allows you to build a specialism in a technical or production role. In doing so the module builds key skills in collaborative cultural production in the context of film and television.

This module takes you inside cinema, as you examine contemporary film as a global media industry. It’s not just the movies themselves, but how they are produced, distributed, promoted and received. There’s a particular emphasis on how processes of globalisation and circulation allow films to become meaningful, far outside the contexts in which they were originally made.

From podcasts to Spotify and even YouTube, listening to audio is one of our favourite things to do. This module helps you develop advanced skills in creating your own, including podcasts, soundscapes, and much more.

Radio is a classic medium and both BBC and commercial radio are bigger than ever. This module helps you develop skills in devising and producing radio programmes, along with news bulletins and online content. You’ll finish by working as part of a team to put on a week-long pop-up radio station, a demanding but exciting assessment.

This module focuses on developing your understanding of different kinds of promotional culture – public relations (PR), influencers, marketing and advertising – and your critical, analytical and evaluative skills. You will learn how to critically analyse different kinds of promotional culture and evaluate its role in society, developing skills you will need to help you develop successful, effective and ethical promotional campaigns and content. As the module continues, you will apply what you have learnt to the practice of PR, and further develop the creative, analytical and technical skills you need to succeed as a public relations practitioner.

This is where you put your academic learning to use, by doing guided independent research into an area of the media you want to learn more about. You’ll review what others have written about your topic, identify a suitable method to use and carry it out, before analysing your findings. It’s a challenge - but you’ll have a supervisor to help you all the way.

Gaming is one of the most dominant forms of entertainment, more valuable than the movie and music industries put together. In this module, you’ll examine key debates in video gaming analysis, putting games into their historical, social and economic contexts. You’ll create a video essay to help demonstrate what you’ve learned.

Brands and branding are all around us, and you’ll get inside the promotional techniques used to sell us things. You’ll use knowledge of media industries, consumer research and communications theory to examine how products and services are promoted. You’ll also create materials for a new brand of your own, developing skills useful for careers in advertising and marketing.

Sustainability is discussed in boardrooms and on protests, but what exactly does it mean? And what is its significance for those using, working in and leading media businesses? This module situates these issues in the field of environmental social sciences and draws on the widely used, and often critiqued, idea of sustainable development. This will help you understand what sustainability might mean today and for your future careers in journalism and the media. You will create examples of sustainable media content, such as longform journalism or podcasts, based on your learning.

This module will help you imagine and plan for your future. Whether you want to be an actor, director, film-maker, producer, technician, or teacher, or to do something outside the creative industries, you will need to find the right context in which to work with others and develop your practice. In this module you will reflect critically on your current work and investigate potential employment opportunities, thinking about where you may want to take your career. You will conduct research into a specific industry and/or cultural context that matters to you, learning about what others are doing and imagining what you might contribute.

People all over the world long for their 15 minutes of fame, whether waiting for an audition or trying to become the next big streamer. In this module you’ll think about the power of celebrity in contemporary in society. You’ll examine the cultures of stars and celebrities, particularly in relation to film, music, sport and other popular cultures.