SCHOOL OF MEDIA Faculty of Arts
THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OPPORTUNIT Y
SCHOOL OF MEDIA Faculty of Arts
The Faculty of Arts is an exciting and vibrant place to be, where creativity and personal discovery go hand-in-hand with scholarship and academic endeavour. Whether your interest is Art and Design, Humanities, Media, or Performing Arts, each of our four Schools has a wide range of courses at postgraduate level, and you can look forward to studying in some inspirational surroundings using state-of-the-art technology. You’re welcome to contact us at any point if you’d like to talk more about our courses, or if you’re working on a research proposal to read for a PhD.
In the School of Media, we offer courses dealing with the theoretical and practical study of Digital Media, Film and Broadcasting. Our excellent facilities include dedicated studios with workstations running industrystandard software, a motion capture suite, a purpose-built media suite, TV studios and a sound booth with full recording capabilities. Full details of all courses and entry requirements can be found at: wlv.ac.uk/postgraduate
COURSES • Animation (MA) • Contemporary Media (MA) • Film and Screen (MA) • Film and Television Production (MA) • Public Relations and Corporate Communication (MA) • School of Media research degrees
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ANIMATION MA The MA Animation course (part-time only) has been revised and improved to create a course that will help you develop your specialist portfolio, or to direct ‘that’ film. Most of all, it is designed for those who regard graduating from their BA course as the beginning, not the end, of their artistic journey. Everything you do on this course is aimed at you becoming a creative, employable thinker, prepared to develop your career in the creative industries. Every module you study, every grade you achieve, and all the feedback you receive will be based around the central aim of you becoming a creative, employable thinker.
WHY WOLVERHAMPTON? Our resources and equipment fully support the aspiration for high-end productions to be created. You are encouraged to work to industry standard and aspire to award-winning animations. Facilities include: • A dedicated studio equipped with 25 workstations developed to replicate a professional configuration • All workstations have Wacom Cintiq creative and touch displays • Screen set-ups for production and post-production • Production cycle software applications: CGI software, Adobe and Autodesk studio packages, and TV Paint
PART-TIME: 2 years
LOCATION: City Campus
START: Semester 1
• A multifunctional capture area where line-testing and stop motion animation spaces can be used for testing, experiments and high-quality final productions • Dedicated blue and green screens and portable motion capture rig • A stop motion space that can be used to facilitate puppet and model animation production • Fully-equipped drawing and life studios.
HOW WILL THIS COURSE IMPROVE MY EMPLOYABILITY? You will become an animation professional… • with industry-standard skills, developed in a creative environment with like-minded students and enthusiastic staff • who understands and uses research and practice as a combined creative tool to enhance your thought processes, workflows and creative outcomes • who has developed communication on a professional level through presentations, written communication, written documentation, 1:1 tutorials and group tasks • who is able to specialise in a single production area such as (but not limited to): storyboarding, directing, concept art, character design, script writing etc.
WHAT WILL I STUDY? Example modules include: • Research and Play (60 credits) • Creative Investigation (30 credits) • Creative Development (30 credits) • Creative Production (60 credits)
OTHER COURSES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: • MA Film and Television Production • MA Film and Screen SCHOOL OF MEDIA 3
CONTEMPORARY MEDIA MA
FULL-TIME: 1 year
PART-TIME: 2 years
LOCATION: City Campus
Designed in conjunction with professional broadcasters and taught by media professionals, this multi-disciplinary course combines intellectual study with practical experience to give you the necessary understanding and skills to work in the constantly changing media industry.
WHY WOLVERHAMPTON? You will be taught by media professionals and find out first-hand about industrystandard practices. You will benefit from the course team’s close relationships with media industries in the region, including the BBC, ITV, independent producers, and press and PR companies, which will enable you to make contacts with industry professionals.
skills of self-shooting, editing and directing as well as the role of press, PR and marketing. You can choose from an industry placement within an organisation, or a professional practice module where you will produce a piece of media text, for example a television or radio production. Typical modules include: • Independent Project
HOW WILL THIS COURSE IMPROVE MY EMPLOYABILITY?
• Industry Placement
This course will provide you with the essential skills and knowledge for entry into, and future progress in, positions that involve research for television and radio programmes. It will also enable you to become a news reporter or television news director, or go into news media production work. Alternative careers include sales, scheduling, press and PR.
• Research Methods
WHAT WILL I STUDY? Our modules offer in-depth understanding of the essential elements of contemporary media, including different television genres, popular drama, news, radio, print, public relations, and corporate and educational forms through differing practical approaches. You will learn the essential technical
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• Theory and History/ Industry and Practice • Professional Practice
HOW WILL I BE ASSESSED? There are no exams on this course. Assessment is continuous and takes various written and/ or practice-based forms.
OTHER COURSES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: • MA Popular Culture (School of Humanities) • MA Public Relations and Corporate Communication
START: Semester 1
FILM AND SCREEN MA One of our most popular postgraduate courses, the MA Film and Screen gives you the opportunity to engage in cross-disciplinary investigation of various aspects of cinema and moving image culture, and has diverse routes available via theoretical, vocational and practice-based perspectives to provide a uniquely flexible course. These routes allow you to combine vocational, theoretical and practice-based modules as preferred.
FULL-TIME: 1 year
PART-TIME: 2 years
LOCATION: City Campus
START: Semester 1
WHY WOLVERHAMPTON?
WHAT WILL I STUDY?
Most modules are delivered at the Light House Media Centre which houses two purpose-built cinemas, with other teaching at appropriate venues on City Campus. All teaching on the MA Film and Screen is informed by staff expertise, with their research directly underpinning each module. This expertise is reflected in the significant number of high-quality publications produced by Film and Media staff who contributed successfully to the most recent UK Research Excellence Framework.
Typical modules include:
HOW WILL THIS COURSE IMPROVE MY EMPLOYABILITY?
• Middle Eastern Cinemas
In addition to facilitating competence in a range of intellectual and social skills advantageous to many occupations, the MA in Film and Screen is academically relevant to careers in the arts and media, leading to employment in arts administration, film archiving, filmmaking, film and media research, film journalism, film festival management, lecturing and teaching. A specific and unique advantage of this course is a module enabling new lecturers to deliver Film Studies and Media to AS/A2 level. It also provides suitable grounding for doctoral research in film, television and film history.
• Teaching Film and Media • Screening Horror: Fear, Trauma and Fantasy in Film • Film Festivals • Film Journalism • Becoming an Academic • Screens of Terror Post-9/11, Space, Place and Culture in American Cinema • Picturing Britain • Screening the Holocaust and Beyond • Far Eastern Cinemas • The Practices and Poetics of Polish Cinema • Writing for Film and Television • Experimental Film and Documentary. Students may also take optional modules in Popular Culture.
OTHER COURSES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: • MA Contemporary Media • MA Popular Culture (School of Humanities)
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FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION MA
FULL-TIME: 1 year
PART-TIME: 2 years
LOCATION: City Campus
This course provides the opportunity for you to develop as a thinking practitioner of filmmaking or television programme-making – someone who is able to innovate while questioning and interrogating existing values and traditions. The emphasis is firmly on practical filmmaking and television production work, underpinned with contextual theory throughout, engaging with contemporary issues and emerging trends in film and television production, as well as established film/television theories and practices.
WHY WOLVERHAMPTON?
WHAT WILL I STUDY?
You will work with experienced and professional staff who are active researchers, with backgrounds in different aspects of media production, including documentary, drama, screenwriting and cinematography. You will have the support of expert technicians and a fulltime technical demonstrator.
• Practical filmmaking and television production work, engaging with contemporary issues and emerging trends in film and television production, as well as established film/television theories and practices.
The course is taught in the School of Media, which houses HD production equipment for location and studio work, advanced equipment (including various jibs, dolly & track) for camerawork, lighting and sound, and industrystandard software including Final Cut Pro X and the Adobe Creative Suite.
HOW WILL THIS COURSE IMPROVE MY EMPLOYABILITY? As a student on this course you will develop your film/television “craft skills” – this may include work with camera, lighting, sound, editing, directing and producing – while working on short film/TV projects of your own devising. The course will be useful for anyone seeking to advance their career in media production, arts/media management, or other leadership roles in related creative industries.
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• Developing your skills as an academic researcher by carrying out research which feeds directly into your film projects. • Understanding of the reach, responsibility and influence of content, the means of production, and distribution. • Analysing texts and media texts, essay writing and research, delivering presentations and complex projects. • For your Master’s project (typically a short film or TV programme), you will be the key creative leader of a film or television production, taking on the role of producer or director.
OTHER COURSES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: • MA Animation • MA Film and Screen
START: Semester 1
Studying at the University of Wolverhampton helped me with networking and organisation – especially as filmmakers came to Wolverhampton for Deaffest, the UK’s leading deaf film and arts festival. BRIAN DUFFY, ACTOR, DIRECTOR, AND CREATOR OF TV SERIES SMALL WORLD
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATION MA This course offers a critical examination of the academic theories and contemporary professional practices that shape the communications profession in the 21st century.
WHY WOLVERHAMPTON? Our course is recognised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), and we are a partner university of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA). Students will receive free PRCA Student Membership for the duration of the course. This gives them access to:
1 year
PART-TIME: 2 years
LOCATION: City Campus
START: Semester 1 or Semester 2
CHRA MAJEED, MA PUBLIC RELATIONS AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
may go on to assist human resources departments, activist organisations or public sector institutions with social change/social marketing campaigns.
WHAT WILL I STUDY?
• training discounts
The course revolves around the design and planning of organisational change campaigns, corporate social responsibility strategic activities, and rhetorical and non-rhetorical actions to tackle crises.
• business resources
Typical core modules include:
HOW WILL THIS COURSE IMPROVE MY EMPLOYABILITY?
• Principles of Public Relations and Management
Public relations practitioners are responsible for: internal communications; media relations; public affairs/lobbying; community relations and corporate social responsibility; investor relations or financial public relations; issues and crisis management; business to business relations; and events management. Proficiency in each of these and other new activities such as moderation (of digital communication channels) equips you for potential career opportunities within the public relations industry. As well as these opportunities, public relations graduates
• Qualitative Research Methods
• online resources
FULL-TIME:
I found the course interesting. It was a big challenge and a great experience. It encouraged me to discover new ideas that I did not realise were of interest to me. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in combining ideas from fields such as business, communication and journalism.
• Organisational Communication • Communicating CSR • The PR Agency: Enterprise in Practice • Public Relations and Corporate Communication Dissertation
HOW WILL I BE ASSESSED? Case studies and essays.
OTHER COURSES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: • MA Contemporary Media • MA Popular Culture (School of Humanities) SCHOOL OF MEDIA 7
FULL-TIME:
RESEARCH DEGREES Study with us Our research opportunities in the Faculty of Arts cover a wide range of research areas based on the specialisms of our staff. We structure study in a different way to many universities, which means you won’t find specific course pages, but can look through our research interests and see if your area of study would fit with the expertise of our staff. Once you have found a member of the Faculty you think could potentially supervise your research, please fill in our initial enquiry form and let us know what you would like to research. Our researchers have in-depth knowledge and expertise in digital creativity and audio visual technology. Explorations into both narrative and non-narrative forms in conceptual, immersive and performative spaces combine with research in the areas of discourse, cultural and media studies (including film). Find out more at: wlv.ac.uk/arts
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PhD: Up to 4 years MPhil: Up to 2 years
PART-TIME: PhD: Up to 8 years MPhil: Up to 4 years
LOCATION: City Campus (including Light House Media Centre for Film and Television Studies) and Walsall Campus
START: Any time throughout the year
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CENTRE FOR ART, DESIGN, RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION (CADRE) Established in 2006, CADRE’s overall concern lies in the effect of art and design upon society. The social interaction inherent in new interactive technologies, the theory and practice of cultural agency, and experiments in radical democracy and performative objects remains the hallmark of both the intellectual and practical research in all of our research groups.
The Centre is made up of the following research groups: • Art, Philosophy and Social Practice • Communication and Design • Material and Theoretical Practice
CENTRE FOR FILM, MEDIA, DISCOURSE AND CULTURE The Centre builds on a long tradition of Cultural Studies, embracing both theoretical and practice-based elements of film, media, discourse and culture. An overarching narrative is one engaging the theme of identity in an age of globalisation and how these subjects relate to a sense of self with regard to the individual, the national and the global context. Strands include: • the construction of identities, masculinities and lived experience, particularly of post-communism • scholarship of men’s and fathers’ experiences of mental illness issues of organ and tissue transplantation and psychosis
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• research into representations of trauma and memory • migrant experiences, studies of which focus on Polish postcommunist transformations • media ethics, which has resonances for aspects of child and animal performance in film • the subject of space, which forms the basis for theoretical approaches to the analysis of its social, aesthetic, and cultural aspects.
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School of Media George Wallis Building Molineux Street Wolverhampton WV1 1DT Tel: +44 (0)1902 322 898 arts@wlv.ac.uk @WLV_Arts WLVArts wlv.ac.uk/arts
This Faculty booklet describes in outline the programmes offered by the University of Wolverhampton. These, as well as other details, are correct at the time of going to print. However, programmes and modules can be added or withdrawn without notice. Support offered and other details are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information and list of programmes currently offered, as well as campus tours, student case studies, and lots more useful information, please visit: wlv.ac.uk/postgraduate We regularly review our courses to ensure they reflect the needs of students and employers. Courses advertised ‘subject to approval’ have successfully completed the first stage of the approval process. We welcome applications for these courses. However, their full academic detail is subject to fi nal approval and may change – in rare instances a course may not run. If you have applied for a course that is subject to approval, our Admissions team will keep you informed of any changes to the advertised course. By accepting an offer from the University of Wolverhampton, a legal contract is formed between you and the University. The University’s terms and conditions and the course-specifi c information provided at the time of your offer form the basis of this contract. Admissions terms and conditions (found at: wlv.ac.uk/admissions-terms-and-conditions) contain important information you must carefully read before accepting your offer. The University’s Policies and Regulations webpages at: wlv.ac.uk/polsandregs also contain important information about rights and responsibilities, including complaints procedures.