Media and Communication MA

60 credits

This module enables students to demonstrate their ability to undertake a sustained piece of independent project in media and communication at an advanced level on a topic of their choice agreed in conjunction with their dissertation supervisor. Dissertations may be based on some primary research into a particular case study, archive or canon in combination with an engagement with secondary material, criticism or literature review. Students can either undertake a standard dissertation (12- 15,000 words) or a practice-based dissertation (plus a maximum of 5,000 word reflection on practice and/ or the creative process). The second part of MD7001 provides the teaching for this module, and covers research skills such as constructing a proposal, editing and composition, reflection on practice, referencing, and on online and electronic research methods.

30 credits

The culture of the West is no longer the sole driver of globalisation. All nations around the world are enjoined to compete on multiple media platforms and cultural arenas where culture and economy are conjoined across globalized communications networks. At the same time, even as national cultures seek to position their ‘brands' in the global ‘marketplace', they are challenged by trans- and post-national corporations, particularly new media companies among the wealthiest in the world.

The rise of popular social and nationalist movements contesting the inequalities represented by these elites take place, similarly, across global media networks. This module explores the current debates around the cultural politics of the new globalization that is continually being transformed by the radical changes being introduced by technological ‘disruptions' that have collapsed familiar spatial and temporal dimensions of the world. Through addressing pertinent theoretical perspectives and case studies from different parts of the world, the module examines the political, social, cultural and moral issues that arise in the context of the new realities and conflicts being produced and facilitated by globalized media and communication.

30 credits

This module provides a broad-based exploration of the conceptual history of electronic and digital media technologies and their effect on society, culture and politics. Contemporary case studies from everyday media are used to evaluate the usability of different theoretical frameworks discussed in the first part of the module. These are organised into three major topics.

1) The transition to managerial governance, cultural politics, consumer cultures and the media industries.

2) The analogue-digital interface in media aesthetics and media art.

3) Emerging trends in theorising new media and digital cultures.

30 credits

This one-semester module is an elective primarily offered to students taking an MA in Media & Communication or an MA in Film but it is also relevant to those taking postgraduate degrees in politics, political communication, human rights and conflict. It deals with some of the most hotly-debated issues in different societies about how to balance core freedoms (expression, press and protest) with the state protecting what and who may be potentially harmed by certain forms of expression through censorship. Even then, these remain open debates as new forms of subversion and resistance emerge with new technologies or through the use of the body to express protest. The module explores these at two levels. The first outlines different approaches to, and principles governing, censorship depending on whether expression is through images, words, ideas and beliefs, information or action. These are then explored more deeply in sessions that draw on staff specialisms, for instance, in film, news, information-privacy and protest movements.

30 credits

This module aims to provide you with the practical skills necessary to work as successful journalists, underpinned by an understanding of the constraints and tensions inherent in magazine offices, and online operations developing in a changing industry. You will examine the structure of this fast-expanding sector, with a particular emphasis on the role played by freelance journalists and production staff in generating content.

You will have the opportunity to acquire the core skills for producing online and print publications which will include the use of social media/analytics/branding/research and interview techniques. You will be equipped with multimedia reporting, production and design skills in demand in the journalism industry and will be confident about telling stories through video and audio as well as the written word.

The module offers valuable opportunities for you to work together to produce and run your own group website, and magazine, developing your teamwork skills and experiencing the reality of different job roles in a multimedia operation. This classroom experience will provide a valuable introduction to the two-week work placement all students will be required to undertake as part of the module.

30 credits

This module explores content creation through physical and digital archives in the contemporary media landscape; it shows how archival practices shape personal, local, and global memories, identities, and stories. The module aims to consider the diverse ways in which we encounter the modern archive, its spaces, uses, and formats, to gain an understanding of how archives and archival methods are being creatively reinvented and disrupted in traditional and digital media environments.

The module also examines the changing role of the archivist, the politics of data collection and storage in the digital era and how it impacts our perception of current events and the world we live in today. The module invites students to interrogate gaps and absences in archives to develop ethical and globally aware practices of excavating marginalised voices.

Students will gain critical and practical skills to navigate different types of analogue and digital media archives through their own practical engagement and digital experience, to recognise themselves as archival practitioners.

30 credits

This special study examines art / media management and production in relation to opportunities and challenges posed in the current digital landscape. Students are able to familiarise themselves with how projects are managed; rights management issues, defining and understanding rights in the context of their own topical areas of interest; professional practice; and/or, production work.

Looking at such rights as copyright, brand rights, image rights, privacy, freedom of expression and information, censorship, and regulation - students explore how these work in practice. They also develop knowledge and understanding of the use of agreements and of licensing, and relate these to art / media production and, professional practice. Students have a wide range of case studies to focus on: film, music, fashion, advertising, PR, publishing, and art; global media production and cultures of appropriation.

There will be an opportunity for portfolio development and the study of theoretical aspects of ‘digital disruption', the impact and use of free / open media and, how making media is affected by share culture, remix/mashups. Production work with archives and issues raised by archival rights are an important focus and students learn how to navigate these. To understand what happens to art and media work once produced, students look also at distribution, the rights affecting distribution, and the impact on these of e.g. download culture, cultural appropriation, globalisation; transborder flow, media convergence and spreadability.

Students may EITHER write an extended essay OR engage in production or practice-based projects. The focus topics are wide and based on student choice (such as, in the past, free expression and identity; cyber-bulling & social media; documenting conflict; PR and reputation work; culture jamming; brand management; style and advertising; online art trade; music production).

The output options are also wide ranging (from critical essays; to video essay; blogs; podcasts / vlog websites; music and video mashups; short video documentary). There is a substantial opportunity to transfer employability skills and knowledge acquired in the module to a range of professional contexts.

30 credits

This module seeks to synthesize and draw together students' understanding of theoretical and contextual approaches to the interpretation of media and culture, which they have learnt about in the first two years of the degree. Furthermore, the module enables students to apply this heightened understanding of theory to analysis of contemporary issues, practices and debates reviewed in the module.

The module is taught in different strands, to provide students with a breadth of themes and specialists subjects on the most contemporary issues in media and communication, which are being debated and discussed both by the public and by academics. The content of the strands may range from discussions on consumerism, neoliberalism, and selfie culture, to debates about art, creativity and digital technologies.

Each strand is taught by a different lecturer and has its own syllabus and reading lists. Whilst the number and specific focus of the strands may vary from year to year, the content is always current and teaching delivery pattern as well as assessments in various strands remain the same.

30 credits

This is a practical module designed to enable you to experience and work in a professionally-focused industry environment, and develop television production skills such as multi-camera operation, sound, mixing and teleprompting.

You will learn how to work and operate a professional broadcast studio as well as developing TV production skills. In addition, you will build on and reinforce employability skills such as problem-solving, time management and dependability sought by employers looking to fill graduate positions. You will be encouraged to reflect on your professional practice and critically evaluate your teaching and learning contributions.

This module builds practical and theoretical knowledge and skills towards the creation of a final year production piece. You can make either TV drama or TV documentary but must use the production studio for at least part of their production. This caveat will contribute to the wide range of skills that the industry demands of graduates.