Media Arts
Department of Media Arts Undergraduate Studies
Royal Holloway is widely recognised on the world stage as one of the UK’s leading teaching and research universities. One of the larger colleges of the University of London, we are strong across the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. We were ranked 12th in the UK (102nd in the world) by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014, which described us as ‘truly world class’. 2
Department of Media Arts
As a cosmopolitan community, with students from 130 countries, we focus on the support and development of the individual. Our friendly and safe campus, west of central London, provides a unique environment for university study. We have been voted as one of the 16 most beautiful universities in the world (Daily Telegraph).
Media Arts The Media Arts department is one of the top ten in the UK. Led by award-winning, worldclass experts in the field, our degrees provide a uniquely balanced opportunity to gain both the practical and creative skills you need, and a rigorous critical understanding of the intellectual ideas behind them. You will be taught by leading scholars in film, television and digital media alongside current media professionals who have the experience, knowledge and passion to enable you to develop your own creative career in the media and creative industries. Our undergraduate curriculum is at the cutting edge of media and film studies, informed by our excellent reputation for research. 75% of our research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. Our staff’s creative work has received BAFTA, Royal Television Society and numerous other awards and they bring this expertise into the classroom. All our degrees prepare students with the creative, critical and flexible skills required for a lifetime’s work in the rapidly changing creative industries and beyond.
Contents Why study Media Arts?
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Why study Media Arts at Royal Holloway?
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Degree options and entry requirements
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Teaching, assessment and facilities
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Degree structures
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Course information
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Your future career
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Teaching staff
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Contact details
Head of Department Dr James Bennett james.bennett@royalholloway.ac.uk Admissions Tutor Rhys Davies, Senior Lecturer in Sound Design rhys.davies@royalholloway.ac.uk Department of Media Arts Royal Holloway, University of London Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK T: +44 (0)1784 443734 F: +44 (0)1784 443832 royalholloway.ac.uk/mediaarts @RHULMediaArts
more information
This brochure is designed to complement Royal Holloway’s Undergraduate Prospectus and information on the department’s website at royalholloway.ac.uk/media arts It is also available as a PDF at royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere Department of Media Arts
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Why study Media Arts? The creative industries are the UK’s fastest-growing economic sector, worth £71.4billion a year and making up 5.6% of the UK’s work force (Department of Culture, Media & Sport, 2014). The UK’s creative industries sector is one of the most dynamic in the world, producing film, television, radio, digital storytelling, animation, web design, software apps, journalism and a range of multiplatform content. The media is one of the most powerful forces in contemporary society, shaping much of modern life. Our degrees provide you with the critical and creative skills to both understand and work in this exciting and compelling sector. Studying media arts is exciting and provocative. We engage with current debates that affect the cultural experiences of billions around the globe and place these in historical context. Understanding the historical, aesthetic, economic, social and political power of the media gives students a degree with highly transferable skills. Combined with the development of students’ creative abilities in a range of production platforms, scenarios and techniques, our graduates are highly valued by employers around the world. To find out more about our courses, please visit us on one of our Open Days or contact our Admissions Tutor for more information. Creative, critical, compelling: I look forward to welcoming you Royal Holloway. Dr James Bennett Head of Department
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Department of Media Arts
Why study Media Arts at Royal Holloway? At Royal Holloway you will join a vibrant community engaged in all aspects of audiovisual media, from production to criticism. Media Arts students enjoy 24/7 access to our industry-standard production facilities and television studio alongside a range of opportunities on our campus’ own newspaper, radio and television station. The distinctive features of our degrees include a strong emphasis on the practice of film, television and digital media as creative arts coupled with a rigorous approach to the critical theory and history of these media forms. A degree in Media Arts offers the following benefits: • compelling and flexible degree programme, enabling you to specialise in an area of creative practice and pursue your intellectual passions • you will be taught by world leading academics in creative practice and critical research • current media professionals whose work is screened at nationwide cinemas, international film festivals, on major television broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4, and at galleries and leading websites • international renowned scholars in a range of specialist fields from Hollywood cinema, to British and European film, television history, digital culture, celebrity and world cinema
• excellent technical facilities, which include a purpose-built digital television studio, two multimedia labs, and an art direction/scene construction space • support from a wide-ranging technical team, including a props and art department, television studio manager and media technicians • industry standard training and equipment, with students learning to follow the same protocol as used in professional practice • close links to the creative industries, including an extensive Media Arts alumni network (see p. 17) as well as regular guest speakers from a range of professions • access to a competitive work placement scheme, including selective placements on ITV’s Coronation St • exciting career options. Over 75% of our most recent graduates were employed or in further study immediately after completing their degree. (see p.16 for more information) • a supportive and inspirational environment, with students assigned Personal Advisors who provide academic advice and support, helping students develop their potential and leave with an exciting portfolio.
GRADUATE VIEW
Kate Maddigan, Commissioner, Entertainment ITV “Being at Royal Holloway was the first time I met people who had similar hopes and ambitions as mine – to work in film or television. This atmosphere of like-minded creativity gave me the space and confidence to explore my own ideas and share in other peoples’. The facilities on site enabled me to try things – some good, some terrible - but also gave me a good overview of the technical side of the business which has stood me in good stead ever since. Discussing and learning how to study other people’s work in the lecture rooms helped me critique my own efforts and now in commissioning I am able to analyse and breakdown a pitch to see what may or may not work - all skills I learned and honed at Royal Holloway.”
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Degree options and entry requirements There are approximately 300 students in the Media Arts department, with the majority of these studying our unique BA in Film, Television & Digital Production, which combines theory and practice equally. We also have a thriving Film Studies programme, with degrees in BA Film Studies, BA English & Film Studies and BA Film with Philosophy. For 2015 entry we have also launched a new BA/BSc in Digital Media Communications, jointly run with the Department of Computer Science (see p. 10) Single Honours BA Film, Television and Digital Production BA Film Studies BA Digital Media Communications
Joint Honours BA English & Film Studies BA Film Studies with Philosophy
Study abroad/student exchange All students in the Department of Media Arts have the chance to study abroad as part of their degree or as an additional year, where students spend one year studying at a top university abroad. These tend to take place at universities located in ‘media cities’ around the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Amsterdam. Royal Holloway currently has full exchange agreements with several institutions abroad. If you are a student at one of these institutions, you may be able to apply to come to us on an exchange programme. However, you will need to direct your application through the Student Exchange Co-ordinator at your
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Department of Media Arts
own university. The College also has Study Abroad agreements with a number of other institutions in the USA, Brazil, Japan and Korea, and students from universities other than these may also apply to come to Royal Holloway as a visiting student by applying through our International Office. Find out more at: royalholloway.ac.uk/international Entry requirements Students are admitted to the department on the basis of attainment at A-level qualifications or the equivalent. The standard offer is currently ABB at A-Level or equivalent (including an A in English for BA English & Film Studies). Most A-level subjects are accepted. If we are considering making you an offer, you will be invited to interview. Our decisions are made on the basis of grades, personal statement, interview and portfolio. Further advice on the portfolio and interview process are available on our website: royalholloway. ac.uk/mediaarts/prospectivestudents/undergraduate We welcome applications from candidates with alternative qualifications, and special consideration will be given to mature applicants. If you wish to take a year off between leaving school and entering university we’re very happy to take applications for deferred entry. If we offer you a place, and you meet the conditions of the offer, your entry into the department the following year is guaranteed.
Teaching, assessment and facilities 24/7 access to production facilities on campus and dedicated loans services for off campus equipment use helps brings your creative ambitions to reality with maximum flexibility. Teaching in the Media Arts department is organised around a mixture of lectures, seminars, screenings, tutorials and practical classes, such as performance, editing, filming and screenwriting. Students experience a range of supportive learning environments, innovative and varied assessment instruments as well as a rigorous and demanding curriculum. Teaching and assessment methods include: • a low staff/student ratio, which ensures seminars for critical courses are no bigger than 16 and much smaller for practical courses • a variety of written and oral assessment in critical courses, which expand and test students’ abilities in a range of communicative and analytical contexts, including essays, exams, blogging, film reviews and pitches • a range of audiovisual assessment exercises, from control of your own film project to collaborative documentary, script writing, budget control, exercises in editing, sound design and the creation of your own exhibition installation • all students write a final year 10,000 word dissertation on a topic of their choice that allows them to explore an area of academic of interest in detail.
Industry-standard facilities From year 1 you will gain practical experience using the department’s excellent technical facilities, which include a purpose-built digital television studio, two multimedia labs, and an art direction/scene construction space. Our technical support team has an extensive range of industry and educational experience and provides operational training and advisory support for project work including camera operations, sound recording, art department and post production. You will have exclusive 24/7 access to 39 Apple computers linked to the department’s own media file server, which operate in the two labs, the sound recording studio and in 12 individual editing rooms, some of which are additionally equipped with 5.1 surround sound monitoring. Installed applications include Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Adobe Creative Suite and the department is an Apple Authorised Training Centre for Education. The location services store offers a stock of professional DVCAM/HDV video camcorders, NXCAM Super 35mm sensor camcorders for the Directing Screen Fiction and Moving Pictures options, and an extensive range of location sound recording and lighting equipment, all of which can be used for coursework and students own personal projects. Students joining us from 2015 will benefit from a £125,000 upgrade of our digital facilities.
GRADUATE VIEW
David Cummins, BA Media Arts (now BA Film, Television and Digital Production) Digital Account Manager/PR, Substance “My top advice would be to be a networker – on my first day at Royal Holloway, I was told to look around me in the lecture room, because those people would be my colleagues and collaborators in the future. Everyone you meet is connected to someone you need – so stay friendly, keep your little black book to hand at all times and get ready for champagne and canapes with journalists in the future!”
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Degree structures BA Film, Television and Digital Production The BA Film, Television and Digital Production degree offers a unique and equal split between practical work and critical theory unavailable elsewhere in the country. You’ll combine the critical, theoretical and historical study of film and television with the practical production of a wide range of creative material, including drama, documentary, and the visual arts, in a cutting-edge programme informed by current industry trends and worldleading research. The degree provides a foundational first year where you’ll gain a comprehensive grounding in the practical and theoretical skills and abilities required for more advanced study in the second and third years.
You will acquire a range of transferable skills, including analytical writing and advanced experience of time management, research skills and team working. It provides a professional preparation for a broad spread of media and related careers as students gain practical and analytical experience and skills in producing, directing, writing, digital storytelling, cinematography, sound design and documentary.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
All courses are compulsory
Students take one core half unit and then choose three theory half unit options and two full unit practice options
Dissertation
Core
Theory
Creative Industries
Television Histories
Theory
Contemporary British Cinema
Women’s Cinema
Cinephilia
Documentary
Melodrama
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Cinema
Transnational Cinema: issues and identities
Psychoanalysis & Cinema
Film Aesthetics
Interwar – Modern European Cinema
Practical
Television Aesthetics
Directing Screen Fiction
Modern European Cinema
Moving Pictures
Postclassical Hollywood
Screenwriting
Contemporary Chinese Cinema
Producing Film & TV
Cultures of Celebrity
Contemporary Media Art
UK Film Industries
Transmedia
Practical
Creative Sound Design
Directing Screen Fiction
Screen Documentary
Theory Film and Television Histories Critical Theory & Textual Analysis
Practical Introduction to Media Practice
Moving Pictures Screenwriting Producing Film & TV Contemporary Media Art Transmedia Creative Sound Design Screen Documentary
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The flexible course unit structure enables you to specialise in a particular area of creative practice and follow your intellectual interests on the theoretical side of the programme. You take a core course in the Creative Industries in Year 2 and a Dissertation or Media Research Project in final year, but otherwise have freedom to choose electives from a wide variety of courses.
Department of Media Arts
plus one theory unit and one practical unit
BA Film Studies The degree in Film Studies builds on the established strengths of our status as a top ten department for film and media research. The degree is run jointly with the internationally-renowned School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, which provides award-winning teaching and a wide range of analytical skills. The course stretches you intellectually, primarily focusing on the critical appreciation of film and television rather than the practice of making films, while also providing you with the creative opportunity to undertake courses in screenwriting. The programme offers: • teaching by world leading professors and internationally recognised experts in their subjects areas • a comprehensive grounding in the history and theory of moving image media, and the opportunity for you to develop your own appreciation and understanding of film and television’s rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions
• a particular emphasis on Hollywood and European cinemas and UK television. Over the three-year programme, you will encounter film and programme-makers as varied as Michael Mann, Dennis Potter, Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion, Alan Ball, Jean Renoir – to name but a very few – in numerous genres, movements, historical periods and social contexts • ample scope for the study of non-Western cinemas, global television and non-narrative film, such as Bollywood, Chinese cinema and the film of Latin America • a focus on the contextual analysis of film and television history and aesthetics. It is taught through a combination of formal lectures, small group teaching and individual tutorials • the opportunity to undertake creative writing courses in Screenwriting • a degree with highly transferable analytical and communication skills.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
All courses are compulsory
Choose five Media Arts courses and three Modern Languages courses
Dissertation
Media Arts Film and Television Histories Critical Theory & Textual Analysis Introduction to Narrative Screen Narrative: Theory and Practice
Modern Languages Birth of European Film Reading European Film
Media Arts
plus two Media Arts courses and two Modern Languages courses
Documentary
Media Arts
Beyond Bollywood: Indian Cinema
Avenues and Alleyways
Psychoanalysis & Cinema
Television Histories
Interwar – Modern European Cinema
Contemporary British Cinema
Avant Garde Film
Cinephilia
Modern European Cinema
Melodrama
Postclassical Hollywood
Transnational Cinema: issues and identities
Contemporary Chinese Cinema
Film Aesthetics
Television Aesthetics
Screenwriting
Screenwriting
Modern Languages
Modern Languages
Image, Identity and Consumer Culture in PostWar Fiction and Film
Cinema in France Stage and Screen Representations of Childhood and Youth in Modern German Culture Post-War Italian Cinema German History and Politics in Film Reading European Film II Constructing Identity in Contemporary Spanish Film
Text and Image in France: From Cubism to present Ethics and Violence: Murder, Suicide and Genocide in Literature and Film The Passion of Place: Desire and identity in Modern Paris Shooting History: Fascism and Mafia in Fiction and Film Contemporary Mexican Cinema
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Degree structures continued Your choice of BA or BSc degree
• full grounding in cross-platform media skills from camera, sound and editing to programming and games
BA/BSc Digital Media Communications This groundbreaking collaboration, located in Media Arts but taught in conjunction with Computer Science, combines the critical and creative skills of media production with coding, design and data analytics. From blogging to vlogging, Tweeting to Instagram, the degree is focused on new and emerging forms of audiovisual and written communication. As a BA Digital Media Communications student you will gain the multiplatform media skills you’ll need to help shape the digital communication industries of the future. The programme offers: • a great balance between practical industry knowledge and blue sky thinking in a friendly department with small seminar and workshop groups and approachable lecturers on one of the world’s most beautiful campuses
• relevant Computer Science skills including Data Visualisation and core coding skills • you’ll learn from world-class experts and practising professionals to express yourselves in text sound and image, to work with data, and make it work for you; • you’ll be able to use your unique combination of media and programming skills to develop your own projects and build a professional portfolio • our emphasis on project-based learning and regular industry involvement means that you’ll have the chance to push social media to the limit on live, real-world projects.
• the opportunity to graduate with either a BA or BSc degree, based on your choice of Media Arts or Computer Science pathways Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
All courses are compulsory
Introduction to Digital Media Practice
Students take one full core unit in Media Arts and two half units in Computer Science. Students then choose two further half units and one further full unit course from a wide variety of options (see list of courses on following page and Computer Science Prospectus for more information)
One double unit in Media Arts comprising an extension of the digital communication course as well as their final year project/ dissertation. Students take one half unit in Computer Science and one elective from each department
Computer Science
Media Arts
Introduction to Programming
Digital Communications
Introduction to Laboratory (Games)
Computer Science
Media Arts Introduction to Digital Culture Introduction to Media Practice
Data Analytics and Visualisation Internet Services
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Department of Media Arts
Media Arts Advanced Digital Communications
Computer Science Semantic Web
BA English & Film Studies This exciting programme provides students a distinctive blend of English and Film Studies. Students graduate with an outstanding English degree complemented and enhanced by an understanding of the links between literary and visual media through Film Studies. You will gain an appreciation of the relationships between English literature, poetry and dramatic writing and the forms they take on screen – especially through the fascinating process of adaptation. The programme offers: • t eaching by world leading professors and academic staff from both the English and Media Arts departments • a highly flexible syllabus informed by cutting-edge research from two leading academic departments, with the opportunity to pursue your own individual intellectual interests and develop your own specialisms • a vast array of course choices, enabling students to study everything from Shakespeare to The Sopranos, from
contemporary novels to classic Hollywood, and from poetic practice to experimental film • a n understanding and appreciation of the complex relationship between visual media and English literature, poetry, drama and prose • a comprehensive grounding in the history and theory of moving image media, and the opportunity to develop your own appreciation and understanding of film’s rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions • t he opportunity to pursue your own creative writing and analyse the latest developments in English literature and film, including a chance to specialise in screenwriting • a curriculum that provides students with a global outlook on film and English writing, exploring Shakespeare and Bollywood, European film and Victorian literature, from around the world.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
All courses are compulsory
Choose two Media Arts theory units and two English units
Dissertation
Media Arts Film and Television Histories Critical Theory & Textual Analysis
plus one unit from your supervising department, plus two units from the opposite department
English Shakespeare Inventing the Novel
BA Film Studies with Philosophy This course offers the opportunity to combine Film Studies with Philosophy, the latter comprising 25% of the course. You will receive a comprehensive grounding in the history and theory of moving image media, and have the opportunity to develop your own appreciation and understanding of film and television’s rich and diverse artistic, social and political traditions. The Philosophy course units will complement your studies by deepening your understanding of issues such as contemporary politics, literature and art. The programme offers: • innovative teaching from internationally recognised professors in two leading academic departments • a n appreciation of how film and television interact with society, and the way in which they help to shape our realities • a critical understanding, and ability to employ, philosophical argument in the analysis of film, such as ancient philosophy and reason, argument and persuasion
• a n opportunity to study film in a variety of contexts, from Hollywood movies to European cinema, UK Television to non-Western films, and from global television to non-narrative audiovisual forms • a foundational first year that introduces students to critical, historical and cultural approaches to the study of global film, television and other screen media, alongside an introduction to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato as well as specialist fields such as the philosophy of art and radical political theory • a flexible degree structure that enables students to develop and follow their own intellectual interests, with teaching comprising everything from screenings, seminars, lectures, workshops and debates • a wide range of transferable analytical and communication skills that are highly valued by employers.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
All courses are compulsory
Choose three Media Arts units and one Philosophy unit
Dissertation
Media Arts Film and Television Histories
plus two Media Arts units and one Philosophy unit
Critical Theory & Textual Analysis Introduction to Narrative
Philosophy Fundamental Questions in Philosophy
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Course information Year 1
Year 2
Media Practice (MA1007) This unit begins the process of acquiring the technical expertise and developing the creative skills required for all areas of media production. As well as providing students with the necessary level of technical ability to progress to the more advanced levels of years two and three, it also allows them to experience a wide range of creative pathways involved in the creation of content.
Creative Industries (Core for BA Film, TV & Digital Production only) This course provides students with a critical understanding of the UK’s Creative Industries in global and historical context. Students will examine how media industries are structured, their economic underpinnings, the cultural and legal implications of how media operate, as well as develop the research skills to both analyse and work in the media industries.
Film and Television History (MA1051) The course provides a survey of the emergence of film, television and the new medias of the 21st century. Each week examines the dominant or most significant contribution film, television and new media made to a specific decade. Issues examined include: the evolution of a classical film style, genre, film and politics, the impact of television, television drama and politics and developments in digital technology. Introduction to Critical Theory and Textual Analysis (MA1052) The course introduces students to the in-depth study of the specific aspects of film and television textual appreciation: miseen-scène, narrative, editing, sound, costume, camera and lighting. Students critical abilities to closely analyse audio-visual texts as well as assimilate and interpret theoretical writing are nurtured in seminars. Introduction to Narrative (Film Studies only) The course provides Film Studies students with an in-depth understanding of narrative structure, function and style, examining narrative form across a range of different contexts, from Hollywood film to UK television, and from Bollywood to European cinema. Screen Narrative: Theory and Practice (Film Studies only) This course extends Film Studies’ students understanding of narrative form and allows them to place it in critical and creative contexts, requiring students to develop their own original screenplay and narrative critique of its form. Students will apply knowledge of narrative form to the structure and cultural context of film, especially Hollywood cinema. Introduction to Digital Culture (BA/BSc Digital Media Communications only) Students are introduced to the history, research methods and uses of digital and social media communications in the context of film and TV history. The course allows students to develop their own blog and appreciate the challenges digital media has posed to the economics, aesthetics, organisations, audiences and users of media. Introduction to Digital Media Practice (BA/BSc Digital Media Communications only) In this course, students will begin to specialise in non-linear and digital forms of creative storytelling, experimentation and game design. This course expands students’ media production skills into new areas of digital media and technical innovation with an emphasis on creative play and digital design.
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Department of Media Arts
Digital Communications (BA/BSc Digital Media Communications only) Students study the theory and practice of managing social and digital media for creative, critical, marketing and PR purposes. The course allows students to explore the creative potential of different communications platforms, meet PR and marketing briefs as well as gain insights from top visiting industry professionals. Theory course unit options Documentary (MA2052) This course examines long-form documentary filmmaking through the study of a series of issues: what happens when the cameras are turned on? What are the ethical issues raised by putting people’s lives on screen? What does it mean to witness events through the audiovisual? How has documentary changed and what role has technology played in this? Psychoanalysis and Cinema (MA2054) Sigmund Freud invented psychoanalysis in the late 19th century as an investigation into the fantasy life of human beings. On this course Freud’s ideas about unconscious fantasy are used to study certain recurrent aspects of popular cinema, including the works of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and classic horror films. Interwar Modern European Cinema (MA2055) This course introduces students to the most important movements of European film history between 1914 and 1939, including Weimar Expressionism, Soviet Montage, Poetic Realism and Surrealism. The course situates the key developments in European cinema during this period in their cultural and historical contexts and explores the relationship between cinema, the rise of 20th-century mass media and major artistic movements such as modernism and the avant-garde. European Modernism and Experiments in the Avant-Garde film, 1910–1939 (MA2059) This course examines art’s response to the emergence of the new medium of film from the birth of cinema to the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. It looks at how art makes radical experiments with the language of film, striving to make cinema into something more than filmed theatre, and how it tries to make film a medium of personal expression, as intense and individual as a painting or a poem, rather than a source of mass entertainment and corporate profit.
Hollywood Star Performance (MA2061) This course looks at acting and performances in popular Hollywood films from the 1930s to early 1960s – the period sometimes known as the ‘golden age of Hollywood’, ‘classical Hollywood’ or ‘the studio era’. Studying the performances of Hollywood stars and considering their achievements will increase your understanding of why this period of American cinema is still celebrated so highly today, and increase your ability to evaluate films generally.
Contemporary Chinese Cinema (MA2076) This course will introduce students to the history, formal complexities, and cultural politics of the contemporary cinemas of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Over the last three decades, Chinese-language films have regularly gained critical acclaim and major awards at international film festivals, as well as worldwide box office success. This course traces the emergence of Chinese cinema into international prominence and its impact on maps of “world cinema”.
TV Genre (MA2064) TV genre gives you the opportunity to examine the relationship between genre, industry, texts and audiences, and is organised around two key themes: the relationship between television genres and television’s ‘ordinariness’, the relationship between genre and the television schedule. The course includes a ‘pitch presentation’ that requires students to develop their own TV format.
Beyond Bollywood (MA2077) This course provides a critical overview of the history, aesthetics, and cultural politics of cinema in India, which produces the highest number of films in the world, with a particular focus on the Hindi cinema of Bombay (Mumbai) known around the world as “Bollywood.” It examines how Indian cinema has always attracted audiences across its borders, assimilated a wide range of global cinematic influences and prevented Hollywood from making inroads into its home territory.
Modern European Cinema (MA2065) This course examines the development of modern cinema in postwar Europe. Focusing on such major directors as Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard and Andrei Tarkovsky, the course explores the different ways these filmmakers worked to transform the relationship between cinema and the events it depicts. Post-classical Hollywood (MA2066) A course that gives a structured introduction to the development of Hollywood cinema since World War Two. Topics covered on the course include censorship and regulation; the collapse of the studio system, Hollywood’s relationship to sixties countercultures, the development of multi-national media conglomerates, key genres including the Western, film noir, the musical, the war film, and the action blockbuster, the rise of digital cinema, and independent/“Indiewood” film. The Cultures of Celebrity (MA2072) In 2011 leading Conservative politicians attacked Britain’s ‘celebrity culture’ for celebrating ‘all the wrong people,’ and they were not alone. Every section of respectable opinion – political, educational, religious and commercial – has recently denounced the ‘worship of the worthless’. This course will consider these arguments in the light of the history of fame – from that of the ancient Greek conqueror Alexander the Great to the contestants in X Factor to the emergence of ‘do-it-yourself’ forms of fame on social media. The UK Film Industry: Contemporary Issues and Debates (MA2073) The course will critically examine a number of key issues and themes in the study of the UK film industry. Topics include: the international motion picture industry and the role of the US studios, the structures of the UK film industry and the relationships amongst the production, distribution and exhibition sectors, UK government film policy and discourses of state intervention, Hollywood production in the UK.
Practical units Directing Screen Fiction (MA2003) The course examines the role of the director as a visual artist. It provides students with an opportunity to write and direct an individual 5 minute film. Editing will form a secondary layer to the course, with regular practical classes in which students will learn about the emotional spine of a work, structure, meaning, rhythm, action, and how to view rushes, select ‘takes’, and construct two and three dimensional film space. Screen Documentary (MA2004) Building on the introduction to documentary in the first year, this creative and challenging course exposes you to a broad range of documentary practice and encourages you to begin translating your own ideas onto screen. Supported by screenings, ranging from popular television to fine art – selected to test the boundaries of what we understand by documentary film – you will build your filmmaking skills through a series of practical exercises and are encouraged to focus on ideas and characters they are passionately engaged with. Screen Writing (MA2005) Explore your creative and dramatic writing through regular written and oral exercises and feeding back on your peers’ work. Develop your creativity and storytelling skills and gain an introduction in how to write for different audio-visual material, including dialogue, description and narrative structure. Producing Film and TV (MA2006) Concerned with introducing the basics of the Producer’s role, this course looks at all the elements involved in production and how a Producer contributes to the creative process. It looks in detail at the skills needed to work with writers, and examines the managerial aspects of production with particular reference to documentary production.
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Course information continued Moving Pictures (MA2012) In Moving Pictures, you will learn how to interpret stories and translate them into images, in a multidisciplinary course embracing art and technology. You will be introduced to, and develop the principles of, picture composition, camera movement, the theory and practice of lighting design, exposure, colour, and optics. This creatively, technically and physically demanding course will enable you to produce your work in entirety from story to moving image. Transmedia (MA2013) Smartphones, tablets, the internet and a growing list of ondemand services are changing how, where and when we all access entertainment media. Transmedia is the process of using multiple media to tell more complex, immersive stories that take full advantage of an expanding range of digital, creative tools. This course is a broad introduction to integrated, multi-platform storytelling that provides challenging opportunities to develop a unique personal portfolio. Creative Digital Arts (MA2020) The aim of this course is to enable you to appreciate the imaginative and creative challenges posed by the creation of contemporary artworks, and encourages a very broad approach to artistic research and creativity. You will gain an understanding of the processes and techniques employed in creating contemporary works of art, with an emphasis on digital technology. You will be able to produce your own experimental works in which you explore your creativity, and are able to communicate the concepts behind them. Creative Sound Design (MA2022) This option explores the role of mediated sound within a wide variety of creative genres including Film (sound to picture), Transmedia (conforming for web), Abstract Sound (gallery installation), Radio Documentary and Radio Drama. This is a creative course, incorporating some technical training, enabling you to produce original creative industry focussed ‘sound design’ work, factual and fiction programme making, as well as exploring the avant garde abstractions of “sound art”.
Year 3 Course requirements and options Dissertation (BA Film Studies, BA Film, Television & Digital Production only) Students are required to develop an 8-10,000 word dissertation that critically investigates a topic of their choice. The courses tests students ability to research and organise material to develop an original critical argument. Advanced Digital Communications (BA/BSc Digital Media Communications only) Students develop their ability in social media and digital communications to manage their own live project, work with clients and deliver against key performance indicators (KPIs). Media Arts theory units Avenues and Alleyways (MA3056) From the silent era to the present, motion pictures have rendered the multifarious experience of urban life in diverse and compelling ways. Landmark films, from Metropolis to Taxi Driver to The Dark Knight Returns, have defined our sense of the modern city as inspirational, threatening, alluring, terrifying, beguiling, incomprehensible, and much more. This course explores the historical and ongoing relationship between the moving image and the metropolis as key vectors of modernity and postmodernity. Television Histories (MA3064) Taking an historical approach to the analysis of television, its programmes, audiences, technological and cultural form, this course looks at television as both a broadcast and digital media form. The course ranges from broadcast origins through to the rise of user-generated content and participatory culture and new modes of television aesthetics in online television, such as YouTube or iPlayer. Film Aesthetics (MA3065) This course discusses two fundamental subjects: film storytelling and film interpretation. You will study the history of film storytelling through examination of a sample of types of cinematic expression within the narrative tradition and some of the greatest achievements in narrative filmmaking, looking at work from a wide range of periods and countries. Contemporary British Cinema (MA3071) The course critically examines key issues and themes in the study of contemporary British cinema, including the relationship of British cinema to those of Hollywood and Europe, British cinema as ‘national’ and regional, representations of the past, costume drama and heritage cinema, representations of race, class, gender and sexuality in contemporary British cinema. Cinephilia (MA3074) Cinephilia is the name given to a particular kind of love for cinema, notably that of the Cahiers du Cinéma critics in the 1950s and 1960s – many of whom would go on to become the major filmmakers of the French New Wave. It celebrated the film director as auteur and which claimed mise-en-scène, the art of the director, to be the essence of cinema.
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Melodrama (MA3075) Sympathetic sorrow may seem old-fashioned, yet melodrama continues to be successful in contemporary cinema, reappearing in films like Brokeback Mountain and Precious. Emphasizing personal life rather than public affairs, the melodrama often represents what cannot be said aloud by using costume, architecture, décor, colour, cinematography and music. If you are interested in discovering through detailed textual analysis how the emotional conflicts of gender, sexuality and race are represented in the cinema, this course is for you. Transnational Cinemas: Issues and Identities (MA3076) The course explores the shift from the ‘national’ to the ‘transnational’, which has occurred in Film Studies as well as in the production, circulation and reception of cinema over the past 30 years. It aims to provide you with relevant theoretical frameworks and an understanding of socio-historical contexts, such as the forces of globalization and transnational mobility, which underpin the emergence of transnational cinema. Dissertation (MA3061) This project begins with a series of five lectures introducing you to more advanced research methodologies and consolidating the theoretical skills already learnt on other courses during your degree. These include how to select your research topic, advanced library and database skills, assistance with compiling bibliographies and filmographies, writing proposals and assimilating research. You will select your dissertation topic and be assigned a supervisor with relevant expertise to support you during the research and writing stages. Media Arts practical units Directing Screen Fiction (MA3003) Building on the ‘visual’ work undertaken during the second year, you will learn how to work with published scenes, professional actors, and in particular, dialogue, as well as continuing to write and direct short mise-en-scène exercises which will be evaluated by your peers. You will have control of your own final film project and your achievement in editing skills will be assessed as the culmination of the editing programme which the course develops over two years.
Producing Film and Television (MA3006) This course explores further the role of the Producer. Firstly, ‘Budget, Schedule and Cash Flow’ looks at the role of the producer from the birth of an idea to the finished product, working within financial and practical constraints. The second, and totally distinct, part of the course will give you hands on experience of producing a project by working on a Directing Screen Fiction film with a director. Moving Pictures (MA3012) Third year Moving Pictures works on refining the interpretive art of cinematography and storytelling. You finish the course with two further short films to add to your existing portfolio of work from the second year. Transmedia (MA3013) This course concentrates on moving image production for integrated multi-platform distribution, with a range of coursework options designed to encourage you to develop specialist skills in your preferred production roles. It aims to prepare you for the shifting demands of media industries in transition and provide opportunities to augment your portfolio with hybrid, moving image narratives. Creative Digital Arts (MA3020 / MA3120) This course follows on from Creative Digital Arts in the second year (MA2020) and continues to develop and satisfy your creative urges. Using existing art forms within video and multi-media environments, you will create individual works of art either in the video studio, digitally or a combination of the two. Creative Sound Design (MA3022) Following on from the second year course Creative Sound Design, in the third year of study you will continue to use Logic Studio and Soundtrack Pro, although now you will learn how to design sound in 5.1 surround sound, rather than stereo. We will also look at the role of non-diegetic sound support in dramatic fiction, in particular, the emerging non-traditional sound/music modes and the shift from music to sound beyond the diegesis.
Documentary (MA3004) This is a creative and challenging course designed to deepen the skills and learning developed in the second year documentary course. All aspects of technical and conceptual skills and learning are developed from research, through pre-production, to shooting and editing two short documentaries. The course’s main aim is to get you to develop your own distinct and personal approach to documentary filmmaking. Screenwriting (MA3005 / MA3015) In this course you develop an idea for a short film in collaboration with a Producer and Director from MA3006 and MAM3003. You will also be required to develop a major project of 60–1100 pages (feature screenplay, TV series idea and sample episodes or other piece of audio-visual drama).
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Your future career Because we uniquely place an equal weight on developing production expertise and creating content, with building critical and analytical skills, Royal Holloway’s Media Arts graduates are well equipped with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required to enter an extremely competitive job market. And, as media skills expand into all walks of life, students find their degrees applicable to an ever increasing number of career pathways – some examples are listed below. Over 75% of our most recent graduates were in employment or further study six months after graduation*. Recent employers include BBC, Left Bank Pictures, Duke of York’s Theatre, Christian Dior, Apple, Momentum Pictures, ITV and Warner Brothers, and a number of graduates go on to form their own companies. A degree in the Media Arts department offers those interested in practice the opportunity to specialise in a particular area of production, from cinematography, screenwriting, documentary filmmaking, producing to transmedia storytelling, but all graduates leave with a highly-valued degree that provides a range of transferable skills:
• ability to work independently • time management, planning and research skills • ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories • ability to lead and participate in discussions and have confidence in your own opinions • skills in working with others when creating and presenting ideas • ability to convey effectively arguments and opinions, and encourage independent and creative thought • problem-solving using negotiation skills • using judgement when weighing up different options and alternative perspectives • skills in critical reasoning and analysis. *KIS, 2014
GRADUATE VIEW
Roxy Prophet, BA Media Arts (now BA Film, Television and Digital Production) Video Production Intern “So far I have produced 10 short films and edited a three hour production of the ‘Marriage of Figaro’ whilst working for Royal Holloway’s communications team. I have developed multiple skills. With film making, every time you take the camera out you learn something new!”
media planner
editor multimedia journalist
producer
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web designer
film director
gallery curator
scriptwriter
music artist
social media manager
Media Arts placement scheme We also run a very successful work placement scheme, open to all second and third year students in the department. Running in the summer term and consisting of at least two weeks of work experience within a production company, this is a fantastic opportunity to find out how the skills you have learnt are applied in a real-life industry situations, network and make contacts. Places are limited and in much demand, but every student has a chance to apply, and workshops and online resources are available to help you with the skills needed to do this. Simply taking part in the application process is a valuable chance to develop and practice the skills involved in applying for jobs, including writing application forms and covering letters, interview technique and making a pitch – the latter helps with your ability to persuade, crucial within the media industry. Unsuccessful applicants will be able to take advantage of one to one coaching and support in finding alternative schemes. The scheme has been running for a number of years and past students have worked with companies including Remedy Productions, Combined Mind, ITV, Dogwoof pictures and the Raindance Film Festival. In addition, we run a competition for a work placement scheme on ITV’s Coronation St.
Student Harry Orme undertook a work placement at ITV’s Coronation St. in 2014.
Careers support The department works with the College’s dedicated Careers Service to help you to enhance your employability and prepare you for the choices ahead. Media Arts students can access a wide range of tailored opportunities on campus, for instance a part-time jobs fair which provides students with access to local employers, a wide variety of skills workshops, and a new series of themed careers weeks including ‘Creative Careers’, offering you the chance to explore the diverse range of occupations available to you. royalholloway.ac.uk/careers After you graduate And when you eventually move into the world of work, we like to keep in touch with you around the world wherever possible and are always delighted to hear how your chosen career is progressing. royalholloway.ac.uk/alumni
GRADUATE VIEW
Sam Rees-Williams, BA Media Arts (now BA Film, Television & Digital Production), Marketing Executive, Deliverance “My experience in the Media Arts department opened up a lot of creative opportunities beyond simply the film or TV industry. I was hired because of my ability to write and create innovative new media. These were skills I gained exclusively through the 50/50 split between theory and practice. Over the three years, my studies and writing informed the films I made and vice versa. I’ve been able to move into a new area of media (digital, social, marketing). Everything I learnt remains relevant and I use it every single day.”
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Teaching staff Dr James Bennett, Head of Department and Reader in Television and Digital Culture James’ work focuses on digital television, digital culture and celebrity. He is the author of Television as Digital Media, Media Independence, Television Personalities: Stardom & the Small Screen and one of the founding editors of Celebrity Studies Journal. Professor Daniela Berghahn Staatsexamen, Professor of Film Studies and Head of Research Daniela has published widely on East and West German cinema as well as Transnational cinema and is the author of Hollywood Behind the Wall: The cinema of East Germany (2005), European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and diasporic film in contemporary Europe (2010) and Far-flung Families in Film: The Diasporic Family in Contemporary European Cinema.
Gillian Gordan, Senior Lecturer in Media Arts Gillian is an award winning producer who has been working in the UK for the past 20 years as a Television Executive and Producer. Her production credits include Get Outta My Room (Cheech and Chong 1985), Swell Party (1992), Call Red (Series Creator and Producer, ITV), Sunny’s Ears (RTS winner) Ragazzi, Greatest Store in the World (BBC, BAFTA nominee) 22 episodes Star Street (ITV), Green Eyed Monster (BBC), Bond Girls Are Forever (USA/ITV) and Amnesic Borders. George Guo, Lecturer in Broadcast Media George’s research interests include media audiences, global television and popular culture in East Asia. He is currently extending his doctoral research on Chinese historical TV drama and popular cultural flows in East Asia.
Manishita Dass, Lecturer and Head of Film Studies
Nick Hall Research Officer, ADAPT project
Manishita’s research and teaching interests revolve around South Asian film and cultural history, approaches to world cinema, transnational cinematic traffic, Asian cinemas, international silent cinema, global art cinema, and the geo-political imaginary of film and modernist studies. She is the author of Outside the Lettered City: Cinema, Modernity, and Spectatorship in Late Colonial India (forthcoming).
Nick works on the ADAPT project which examines the historical development of British television broadcast production technology. Nick’s research specialisms include early postwar American television history and cinematography.
Rhys Davies, Senior Lecturer in Sound and Admissions Tutor A professional sound designer and commercial composer, Rhys began his career as a theatre sound designer, working on a wide variety of productions in most of the noted theatre venues in London. He is now a commercial composer for television including the series music and sound design for The History of Football/ The Beautiful Game (Fremantle Media). Professor John Ellis, Professor of Media Arts and Course Director, MA International Broadcasting Between 1982 and 1999 John was an independent producer of documentaries, and was elected Vice-Chair of the producers’ association PACT for several years. His books include the influential Visible Fictions (1982), Seeing Things (2000), TV FAQ (2007) and Documentary: Witness and Self-Revelation (2012). He chairs the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC) and currently leads the ADAPT European Research Council project on the history of television technology. Adam Ganz, Reader in Screenwriting Adam has written for Radio, Film, TV, theatre, and transmedia. He also works as a script consultant and dramaturg and has directed for TV. His short films have been shown at festivals around the world, and on terrestial and satellite television. His radio work includes Nuclear Reactions (BBC Radio 4, 2010) and The Gestapo Minutes (BBC Radio 4, 2013).
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Professor John Hill, Professor of Film Studies John is a leading figure in the study of British cinema and television. His books include The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (1998), British Cinema in the 1980s (1999), Cinema and Northern Ireland (2006), and Ken Loach: The Politics of Film and Television (2011). He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the UK Film Council and has also served as Chair of the Northern Ireland Film Council and a Governor of the British Film Institute. Marc Isaacs, Lecturer in Documentary Marc has made more than 12 creative documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. His films have won Grierson, Royal Television Society and BAFTA awards as well as numerous international film festival prizes. In 2006, Marc had a retrospective at the prestigious Lussas Documentary film festival in France. Helen Littleboy, Lecturer in Documentary Helen is an award-winning television producer and director with over 20 years’ experience making documentaries, and excellent current industry connections. As an executive producer, Helen has developed a particular specialism nurturing emerging talent, producing acclaimed films for Channel 4’s Cutting Edge series and the First Cut strand for new directors. Professor Barry Langford, Professor of Film Studies Barry is author of Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond (2nd edition 2013), Post-Classical Hollywood (2010), and numerous essays on Holocaust film, urbanism and cinema, screenwriting and film theory, amongst other topics. Barry is also a screenwriter whose professional credits include the award-winning short script Torte Bluma (2005) and episodes of Trial and Retribution (ITV) and Thorne (Sky).
Jacob Leigh, Lecturer in Film Studies
John Roberts Teaching Fellow, Directing Screen Fiction
Jacob’s research interests are in the following areas: film interpretation, film style, film storytelling and film aesthetics. Jacob is the author of The Cinema of Eric Rohmer (2012), and has written extensively on Eric Rohmer, Ken Loach and Terrence Malick.
John is a film director and screen writer who has directed internationally acclaimed and award winning feature films, as well as television, numerous short films, TV commercials and promos. John has won two BAFTA, for Say Goodbye, a short film screened at international festivals and on the BBC, and For Paulie, a top five in the USA. His most recent film Day of the Flowers stars acclaimed dancer Carlos Acosta and was the first British feature film to be made in Cuba since 1959.
Victoria Mapplebeck, Senior Lecturer and Course Director of the MA in Documentary Practice Victoria is a director of creative documentary films and series for cinema, TV and the web, and wrote and directed British TV’s first convergence project – Smart Hearts, an interactive TV and online series made for Channel 4. Her current research, InBox, has also been funded by Channel 4; a cross platform documentary project that takes as its starting point developments in digital messaging and archiving. Steven Marchent Steven teaches film theory and film history. His research focuses on the way films give form to events. Current and long term interests include Fritz Lang, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Pedro Costa, the film theory of André Bazin, and debates around cinephilia and mise-en-scène. Mandy Merck, Professor of Media Arts Mandy is the author of Perversions: Deviant Readings and In Your Face: 9 Sexual Studies, she is a former editor of the journal Screen, and series editor of Channel 4’s pioneering lesbian and gay programme Out on Tuesday. Her next book is The Melodrama of Celebrity. Gail Pearce, Lecturer in Contemporary Media Art Gail is an artist using video in films and interactive installations, exploring topics including gender, technophobia, family relationships and the credit crunch. Recently Gail’s work has been inspired by the London 2012 Olympics and the Cultural Olympiad – rowing (Going with the Flow, Watermans Gallery) and table tennis.
Christopher Townsend, Professor in Video Art, Photography and Film, Visual Art and Avant-Garde film Christopher devised the BAFTA nominated Vile Bodies: Photography and the Crisis of Looking as a television series for Channel 4 and wrote the accompanying book of the same title. His work includes Author of Rapture: Art’s Seduction by Fashion, 1970–2002 and curator of the major exhibition of the same title, he is Co-Editor of The Art of Tracey Emin, and author of A World at Random: The Art of Boyle Family. Kishore Verma, Lecturer in Moving Pictures Kishore’s works include experimental stage and screen. His teaching and research interests bridge technical and formal innovation, especially with regard to visual story craft, picture composition, spatial relationships and dynamics within the frame. Martyn L. Wilson, Teaching Fellow Martyn teaches Transmedia. He trained in all aspects of film making with the UK’s leading technicians as part of the Joint Board for Film Industry training programme. His work as a director and designer has consistently embraced innovation and spans a whole spectrum of media from feature films to mobile phone content. He joined the Media Arts department fresh from seven years in Asia developing new digital media channels, applications and content for super high-bandwidth networks.
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Royal Holloway, University of London Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX T: +44 (0)1784 434455 royalholloway.ac.uk
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