Media Production BA Hons

Course title:	BA (Hons) Media Production
Apply:	via UCAS
Code:	P310
Start (ft):	September
Mode:	full-time
Duration:	3 years full-time
Location:	Luton campus, Park Square
Faculty:	Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science
Department:	Bedfordshire Institute of Media and the Creative & Performing Arts: Division of Media Arts & Production

Summary

Media Production is a well established and very successful course. Many of its graduates have now progressed to successful careers in the UK and international media. The emphasis in this course is on the production process. Media production is a social activity and is influenced by many cultural, economic and political factors.

You will study these factors, together with the history of the media, so that you can make really effective, powerful media products that communicate with their target audience.

The course covers theoretical and practical concepts, and you will learn to combine these to produce effective communication.

All students learn to make dramas and documentaries on video. You can then go on to specialise in an area such as moving image, new media, radio and scriptwriting.

You will consider the ways in which media products are created and the social and cultural factors that shape and influence the creative process. You will explore these issues through a substantial amount of practical production work together with reflective critical analysis of your own and the work of others.

Most media products are produced by teams of people so this course allows you to develop your ability to work in groups. You will learn professional skills such as budgeting, estimating and time management and then combine these with the technical productions skills you've learned to enable you to deliver high quality products within budget and on time.

You will be introduced to a range of theoretical strategies to inform your production work and also begin to test the validity and limitations of theoretical approaches.

The course culminates in the special project during the final semester and gives you the opportunity to create a substantial piece of production work. Probably working in a group, you'll have the time and space to explore the themes of the course that most interest you.

This wide-ranging and practical course is an ideal preparation for employment in the media or for specialised postgraduate vocational or academic study. The course includes courses on career development.

Areas of study include:

Documentary and Drama Production
Radio
Film Studies
Digital Media
Scriptwriting
Social, Political, Legal and Economic
Factors in Media Production

Why choose this course?

- Excellent production facilities, including broadcast-standard television and radio studios
- A community radio station based in the University
- Well-established and top-rated department
- Regular opportunities to attend media- related events and conferences, featuring international practitioners and theorists, held in the University
- Close proximity to the London-based media industries
- Relevant, research-informed theory combined with current industry practice
- Practical, vocationally relevant curriculum
- Lively, enthusiastic community of staff and students

Student Comments

Q: What is your particular area of interest?
A: Radio, radio and radio. When I began my Media Production course, I rather fancied becoming a film director. But then I did my first unit in radio and became almost instantly hooked on the idea of becoming a radio broadcaster
Q: Why did you choose Beds?
A: The Media Production facilities looked rather great - especially as I wasn't sure what I was going to specialise in. These days, I spend most of my available time in the radio studio studio - my second home.
Q: What would you say is the best thing about your course?
A: Every day brings something new and different. There's certainly no excuse for getting bored in Media Production.
Q: What does it feel like when you get behind the microphone?
A: Fantastic. I gives me a real adrenaline rush - a surge of energy that lasts as long as I am on air. Using the equipment is now second nature to me, and I'm really looking forward to attacking the airwaves when I graduate later in the year.

Jack Cornell, BA Media Production

Career Opportunities

Career paths open to you include any industry that requires excellent communication and team-working skills. Media Production graduates often go on to work in television and radio production, digital media production, journalism, teaching, advertising and Media/PR.

Teaching/learning methods and strategies

Practical workshops, seminars, lectures, tutorials.

Assessment

Assessments focus on individual and team work, the development of your production skills, the development of your professional skills, the development of your own research skills, your ability to evaluate qualitative and quantitative information from the industry and from academic sources, and your ability to consider and apply relevant theoretical positions from media and cultural theory.

Assessment types include:

- essays
- log books,
- group work
- in-class tests (practical and written)
- programme making, presentations, story boarding
- artefact production, presentations and portfolio
- written reports, proposals, copy writing
- group production work (writing/designing)
- exams

Dissertation/project and research

In year 3 you will have the opportunity of working on a Special Project - this is a substantial piece of practical or written work of your own creation.

Further details about the course

Areas of study include at Level One:

Reading Hollywood (Level 1):

This year long unit examines popular films and narrative. Specifically the unit looks at fiction films and narrative form, and examines students' assumptions about the construction and content of fiction films and popular television programmes. Students will explore the role of stars in the film industry and examine how they are used in relation to narrative, film style and genre. They will discuss how genre and star roles have been used to convey discourses about masculine and feminine identity.

Video Skills and Production (Level 1):

The year long Video Skills and Production (MSP) unit concentrates on single camera work making recordings on location for subsequent editing. It provides a thorough introduction to: basic video production skills, the conventions film continuity and creative approaches to narrative fiction. The module includes practical teaching about lens characteristics, digital video and sound recording using small and standard size cameras, digital editing using Final Cut Pro. Throughout the year, students are encouraged to try out different production roles while working in small production teams.

Media Theory and Research (Level 1):

This year long unit will develop your skills for media research within a cultural-historical context: the knowledge and understanding of the history of their subject, and the means to research and elaborate that history for academic and professional purposes.

You also have the option to study one of the following level one units:-

Audio and Visual Effects (Level 1)

This year long will develop your skills in sound design for the moving image, digital special effects and examine studio and location lighting. In Part 1, you will study Sound Design and how it affects the recording and editing of productions including location recording techniques, dialogue, sound effects, and ambiance. In Part 2 you will learn how to create and edit a variety of special visual effects including lighting. During the year, you will work in small teams to make short productions that concentrate on sound and special effects.

Creative Writing Theory and Practice (Level 1)

This year long unit introduces students to a variety of theoretical perspectives and concepts, studied from the standpoint of creative writing practice. You will be presented with fundamental concepts of critical theory and post-structuralism, as they relate to creative writing. The theoretical writings of various C20 and C21 writers will also be studied, with particular emphasis on modernist and postmodernist writers. Assessments will be presented in the form of theoretically-informed creative texts (in poetry or prose), or in essay form. From the second half of the first term, you will also be taught the context of theory of drama and scriptwriting for film and television.

Digital Cultures (Level 1)

This year long unit will provide you with an opportunity to explore a variety of cultural, economic, technological and social perspectives that seek to explain the wide-ranging effects on society brought about by the widespread deployment of new media forms. You will also gain experience in implementation of these theoretical perspectives in analytical exercises using basic new media forms.

Radio Skills (Level 1)

This year long unit allows you to develop the basic skills required by radio production that will help you produce radio productions throughout the rest of your course. You will learn some of the underlying principles of radio together with some basic digital production techniques that will enable you to produce high-quality work.

At Level 2:

Documentary Practices (Level 2):

This year long unit builds on the level one moving image units. The emphasis on single camera location work for subsequent editing continues and you will work in small production teams to complete two assignments during the year. In addition you will write an essay. The unit content changes from fiction to factual production and concentrates especially on documentaries. During the year students learn about the similarities and differences between narrative in documentary and fiction, they also study documentary production processes, conventions and styles through studies of montage, interviewing and a critical history of the genre. The unit is related to the theoretical and critical studies of realism in world cinema.

Other Cinemas (Level 2):

This year long unit looks at examples of European, World and experimental / avant garde film as well as at how non-mainstream / non Hollywood film has been approached and studied. Building on concepts covered in level one, such as mise-en-scene, genre, and narrative, we will discuss the notions of auteur, art cinema and national identity in film, as well as oppositional practices and artists’ film video. This unit also examines the differences between European cinema and Hollywood cinema as well as their mutual influences. It also introduces students to issues around distribution, exhibition and audience of non-mainstream films

Working in the Media (Level 2)

This year long unit will help you learn about working in the media industries. Through studying this unit you will acquire many of the skills necessary to function as a professional within the media. You will also consider some of the common business processes and revenue models so that you understand how you can play a role in the industry as employee, contractor or freelancer. You will develop your appreciation of the values and principles that will underpin your ethical practice.

You also have the option to study one of the following level two units:-

Developing Drama (Level 2):

This year long unit examines the principal characteristics of writing narrative dramas and producing short fiction films. In Part 1 you will learn how to turn your ideas into scripts and explore ways of working with actors. In Part 2 you will select the scripts to go forward into production. Working in teams, you will develop the screenplays, audition and rehearse your actors before shooting and finally, editing your productions.

New Media Production (Level 2):

In this year-long unit you will develop core skills for the production of new media artifacts. This unit also provides an opportunity to investigate through practice the cultural, economic and social issues introduced in Level One Digital Cultures. Working in teams, your have an opportunity to develop independent project management skills and to develop skills in analyzing and critiquing your own work

Radio (Level 2)

This year-long unit allows you to develop your core production skills in the area of radio production. You will investigate the radio industry through listening to a range of radio stations. You will also develop your radio production skills through location and studio recording and digital post-production editing. You will learn to use your voice to present to microphone.

Scriptwriting (Level 2)

In this year-long unit, you will examine the principal characteristics of producing short narrative dramas. During the first part of this unit, you will take a detailed look at the creation of dramatic texts for live performance. You will analyse the social location and thematic concerns of selected scripts, and study the stages that the writer goes through in order to achieve a well-constructed piece of work. You will have the opportunity to explore and create your own dramatic situations that will culminate in the creation of a dramatic text of your own. During the second part of this unit, you will examine the composition of the short film. You will analyse the specific features of and techniques used in writing for the screen, and you will look at the historical development of the form, and its current social and artistic manifestations. You will have the opportunity to explore and create your own dramatic situations that will culminate in the creation of a film script of your own

At Level 3:

Cinematic Journeys (Level 3)

The journey has always held a central place in our interpretations and representations of the world. This preoccupation can be seen in religious tales, the journeys of The Buddha, or Christ for example. Greek myth (Odysseus), the early western novel (Don Quixote) and from early still and moving image (the Lumiere camera was soon travelling) through to today and a need to record, document and represent journeys. In this unit you will explore the ways this preoccupation with the journey has shaped fiction, documentary and experimental work. It is an opportunity to explore new ideas using and extending your practical and conceptual skills across the creative visual media in film, video, photography and digital multi media practice.

Contemporary Practices and Debates (Level 3)

This unit develops, to an advanced level, your contextual knowledge and ideas acquired and explored in earlier units at levels one and two, specifically:- Media Theory & Research, Reading Hollywood, Other Cinemas, Digital Culture and Documentary Practices, in the context of the latest cultural, political, theoretical, aesthetic, technological and industrial developments.

Sound and Image (Level 3)

This unit explores the relationship between still images and sound. This will be valuable for anyone working with still or moving images. It will help you concentrate on the basic elements of communicating with images. You will study the history and practice of story telling with still images from cave paintings to the internet. The unit will also enable you to enhance their theoretical and practical skills through the production of a short creative practical piece exploring the potential of stills to portraying narrative and movement in conjunction with a sound track. You will also produce a short contextual study.

You also have the option to study one of the following level three units:-

Creative Writing Level 3 Specialisms

In this unit, you will produce a single assessment piece, reflecting the scriptwriting specialism you have developed during their time at the university. The priority is on your management of their own writing and researching processes, in preparation for the Special Project, making as much use of the range of expertise within the Creative Writing teaching team as you can.

Experimental Film & Video

This unit develops from units at Levels 1 and 2 by emphasising the relationship between theory and practice. The unit requires you to carry out your own research into the character and structure of experimental films and the associated approaches to production. The unit is intended to help you prepare for the Special Projects by exploring new ideas in order to extend the range of your work. Before starting your practical work, your group will be required to report on the work of specific directors or productions related to your own ideas and interests. You are then encouraged to experiment and take risks with the content and style of your experimental productions.

Future Media

In this unit, you will investigate the opportunities afforded by emerging new media. You will explore a wide variety of contemporary new media technologies and forms. Working as part of a small production team, you will undertake a challenging new media project.

Radio 24/7

In this unit, working as part of a production team you will make a series of radio programmes in specified genres.
This unit is firmly rooted in ‘broadcasting’ and you will need to listen widely to all sorts of radio and know what is currently being broadcast.

Uses of Film Theory

This unit is a critical examination of the uses of film theory. The unit explores film theory by initially examining in detail the theoretical issues raised by the notion of ‘authorship’ in cinema (in relation to ‘auteur’ theory). The module then uses the issues so raised to introduce a range of different theoretical approaches to cinema texts.

Your studies will be compete by a Special Project unit (Level 3, Term 2&3):

You will propose a project topic that requires you to work to a high standard in at least one of the areas of media arts. This unit allows students to demonstrate their skills, ideas and learning in an extended piece of work that is self initiated. The term 'project' is used to denote that the work may be practical (production based), performance or theoretical (dissertation based).

Entry requirements

Standard entry requirements apply for this course.

For further information ring our admissions office on 01582 489286.

Or you can go to the Ask Beds icon on the website and ask through there and admission staff will answer any other questions you may have.

Go to UCAS tariff table for information on the number of points of different qualifications.
www.ucas.ac.uk/students

Find out more

Please contact Dr Gavin Stewart, Course Leader Media Production BA (Hons).

E: gavin.stewart@beds.ac.uk

Related courses

• Television Production BA Hons
• Media Production (Script Writing) BA Hons
• Media Production (Radio) BA Hons
• Media Production (New Media) BA Hons

Further Study Opportunities

Postgraduate study is a common choice for our Media Arts students. On successful completion of this course you may wish to progress to one of our masters programmes.

• Media Arts (Mass Communications) MA

General Enquiries

• www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply for information about standard entry requirements, application routes, open days, fees and funding.
• T: +44 (0)1582 489286 UK/EU Admissions
• T: +44 (0)1582 489326 International Admissions
• Order a prospectus form. Enquire about courses and order a printed undergraduate or postgraduate prospectus.
• T: +44 (0)1234 400 400 University switchboard