Media Theory And Research

This unit will help you to develop your understanding of a range of film and media theories and how they explain the cultural and historical contexts of contemporary film and media. Whilst doing so, this unit will also give you an opportunity to develop your skills in academic research, analysis and writing.

Digital Design Skills

In this unit you will learn the core skills used in the design and evaluation of web-based media and digital imaging. You will also have an opportunity to consider the cultural, economic, social and technological issues that define contemporary web design and digital technologies.

Reading The Screen

This unit introduces students to the basic principles of textual analysis of audiovisual material alongside developing an understanding of processes of transmediality and intertextuality across different media.

It focuses on “the silver screen”, specifically contemporary global cinema, as well as dealing with other technologies and screen media of the 21st century.

Different theories and approaches to audiovisual material are introduced including overview of topics such as genre, authorship, stardom/celebrity, feminist film theory and ideology. The central question that this unit addresses is, “What is the difference between reading the screen and watching a film/tv drama/online video?”

This unit aims to:

• Understand the main aspects of film style (narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing and sound design);
• Grasp the role played by celebrities, genres and auteurs in creating meaning in audiovisual material;
• Become familiar with theoretical approaches, drawing upon film and media theories and more contemporary developments.
• Equip students with key academic skills for their courses.

Making Images

This unit provides an opportunity to focus in depth on the principles, techniques and practice of image making through still and moving images on location and in the studio. The unit will help you develop the range of skills you need to approach image making in a creative and professional manner and record sound on location and in the studio. It will help you develop a strong, personal visual style by making you aware of traditional craft-based techniques as well as cutting edge digital skills. The unit will also explore the work of individual photographers and film and video makers  and look at a wide range of subjects and genres drawn from the history of image making practice.
 
During the course of the unit you will learn
-        a critical understanding of the basic principles, techniques and practice of image making and sound recording.
-        a systematic and creative understanding of the relationships between image and sound making and technology.
-        a critical understanding of how the cultural and socio-political background affects what image makers past and present choose to capture with their camera.

Future Digital Production

In this unit you will develop core skills for the production of new and emerging media digital artefacts. In doing so, this unit provides you with an opportunity to build on level 4 skills of digital media production.

This unit has a client focus in its approach to design and so develops your independent project management skills and your skills in analysing and critiquing your own work.

Non-Fiction Filmmaking

This unit is a practical and critical examination of non-fiction film which sets out to explore the history, theory and practice of different modes of representing reality in cinema.

This unit will enable you to achieve high production values in your practical work as well as facilitating your ability to work in small production teams to produce a short non-fiction film.

You will learn to use digital recording and editing equipment with confidence and develop a critical understanding of production values in practical work

You will also examine the codes and conventions of the genre by looking critically at the history, theory and techniques of documentary practice.

Becoming A Freelancer

Developing a professional persona and working on assignments with a professional brief is an important part of developing skills and building links with relevant industry contacts. This unit enables you to prepare for the real world environment. 

In the unit, you will examine the nature of freelancing in the media industry and it will build the confidence needed to find and establish contacts, essential for securing work in the creative industries.  You will be supported by a tutor as you audit your skills, update your CV, develop contacts through explicit networking and create a personal development plan which charts your employability development.

Digital Cultures And Practices

In this unit you will 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.

Experimental Production

This unit focuses on theory and practice of experimental production and practice beyond the mainstream. Building on skills and concepts covered in the first year in the areas of digital production, analysis and theory, you will analyse and contextualise examples of experimental production in 20th and 21st century, focusing on a range of approaches:  including surrealism, expressionism and the American avant garde. You will be making a short experimental production, which will demonstrate your understanding of this practice. Your contextual study will locate your practice in theory.

Contemporary Practices And Debates In The Media

This unit will help you to develop your critical, contextual and self- reflective thinking to an advanced level. It will revisit the ideas acquired and explored in earlier units, for instance Media Theory and Research, and place them in the uncertain context of the latest cultural, political, theoretical, aesthetic, technological and industrial development impacting on the media. The central question that this unit addresses is:

• What is the relationship between contemporary developments in the media and their socio-historical and theoretical contexts?

The key ability to engage critically with challenging new media contexts will inform and enhance your subsequent undergraduate final project work and your continuing academic, professional and personal development.

Sound, Image And Interaction

To explore the relationship between still, moving images, sound, and Interaction.

This will be valuable for anyone working with still or moving images. It will help students concentrate on the basic elements of communicating with images.

To study the history and practices of working with still images, sound, and interaction, from early painting technologies to virtual environments.

To enhance students’ 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 soundtrack.

To enhance students’ skills of exhibition and presentation.

Research, Development And Industry

To provide an opportunity to focus in depth on the development of a media project. You will work with a supervisor to produce a portfolio of applicable production development documents. These will not only help you work towards your final project/dissertation but also enable you to investigate relevant industry contexts and practices relevant to your chosen field of exploration.

To enhance your critical understanding of the value of effective production research and development in both professional and academic contexts.

To enhance your understanding of the relationships between the proposal, development and production documentation to potential production outcomes. 

To enable you to understand and apply the expected high professional standards of industry to your own work.

To enable you to develop effective research methods for academic enquiry. 

To emphasise the need to have effective research and preparation in production/employment contexts.

Special Project: Media Production

This unit allows you to demonstrate the skills, ideas and learning acquired during your degree in an extended piece of practical media production work OR in a media studies dissertation, that is self- initiated, self-managed, and supported by your assigned supervisor.

The practical option is an individual activity. You will work on a project that requires you to complete a digital media production (e.g. a documentary film, a web presence, or script etc.); this practical work will be supported by a 3000 word individual contextual study.

The dissertation option is an individual study. The project focus should be taken from your main area of interest within media studies and will require the prior approval of the unit coordinator. 

The aims of the unit are, therefore:-

To produce work of a high quality work in the field of media production that shows that you can combine professional and academic standards

To enable the development of high levels of competency in the production of practical and theoretical material

To encourage you to think independently, research, collaborate, create, be enterprising and achieve high-level communication skills.

To enable you to use appropriate media constructively and with responsibility.