BA Media & Communications practice options

Animation

Initially you will be working with others, and will collaborate on the script and storyboard, while researching sound and pictorial reference as part of the small production group. The animation production will take place using a Mac-based digital rostrum camera, and you’ll have the opportunity to use digital editing facilities under the guidance of a technician. You will then work individually to conceive, write, develop, and produce several animations using digital software. You will be supervised at every stage of the workshop, by a lecturer and technical adviser.

Creative Writing

You’ll become a storyteller. You will create an original story and vivid characters, and will then develop their concept into an original short film, short TV drama, radio play or a prose short story. Regular pitching exercises will develop your presentational and marketing skills. You will be encouraged to think reflectively and analytically about life, the people around us, and ourselves.

Illustration

You will produce a portfolio of illustrative artworks. This body of work will be in response to a series of illustration briefs, set by the lecturers, who are all practising illustrators. You will have had the opportunity to work with analogue and digital techniques using industry-standard software. The emphasis will be on the concept and realisation of inventive, original artwork that will involve research, experimentation and design roughs, before arriving at the solution that is personal to you.

Interactive Media

You will design and build several websites that consider the communicative role of the digital world online. You will use the fullest possible range of image-making and contemporary ‘front-end development’ practices to create the websites or interactive pieces of work. Initially the projects are directed by creative briefs that enable you to respond individually. Your final work will allow you to develop more personal themes, and create content, both written and image-based, to communicate these ideas. With the help of a tutor and technical adviser, you will learn the techniques of design, image-editing, typography and web technologies and languages that help add real interactivity to your content.

Journalism 

Write news and features for use online or in print. You will learn how to integrate visual material, text and interactive features in an online or print environment. You will critique your own work and the work of others, and integrate the insights learned in the whole of your degree into the production of thoughtful, compelling journalism.

Photography

You’ll be introduced to analogue and digital photographic technologies that will enable you to explore the aesthetic and conceptual impact of image making. After working on structured set projects designed to help you to identify your own visual style, you will be fully supported to develop a self-directed body of work and situate your practice within wider visual culture.

Radio

You will experience producing your own storytelling in sound and radio as an art-form and expression of professional journalism. Using digital equipment and editing software you will have the opportunity to develop your own research, ideas and writing through the genres of documentary and drama with the completion of a 15-minute programme. In addition, you will produce live radio programmes as a group in our networked studio and newsroom complex.

Television and Film

At the centre of all good filmmaking is the story. You will be taught how to find your voice, about the importance of the idea, the value of teamwork and how to develop a project. You will be challenged to think in new ways as content creators. You will learn how to pitch an idea, write treatments, produce press packs and will have master classes and practical workshops given by industry professionals. It is an immersive experience that will give you a robust and transferable skill set, allowing you apply to any area of the media industry you wish to enter.