FdA Media Production

The Conservation and Education Centre at the former Bristol Zoo Gardens site remains open to students.

You will have private access to the zoo grounds during lectures, to carry out your observations and data collection, but as more animals are moved, this will gradually be carried out at the Bristol Zoo Project. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Course Description

Our Foundation Degree in Media Production is designed to develop you into an industry-ready individual with an exceptional understanding of the creative industries. You’ll be challenged to create and academically analyse content using various methods of media, including animation, film, photography, editing, design, website, mobile, radio and graphics, ensuring that you gain a clear understanding of the dynamic state of contemporary media within a local, national and global context, and how media production contributes to the evolution of creative practice.

Find your approach

The flexible study programme, involving workshop and project-based study, will help you to acquire skills that will equip you for a range of employment contexts and enable you to take control of your career choices. Each of the project-based modules is rooted within a live commission or competition and will have a published outcome – one that will invite and encourage dialogue with the local media scene and beyond.

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Study Modules

DM4002

Essential Skills for the Digital Media Practitioner

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This module will introduce you to a set of core digital media skills and technologies, including those in film, sound, VFX, web, games and app design. The emphasis will be on using digital media techniques to solve problems of design and delivery within the broad arena of digital media. The core skillset covered by this module is one which has been identified for us by our industry partners. At its core is a set of skills in lens-based digital media production, including in the set-up and deployment of a range of cameras and their associated accessories. You will also learn how to use studio and location lighting to create cinematic and aesthetically-intelligent effects. Traditional sound recording techniques and technologies will also be taught, in pursuit of moving image and audio-only forms, the latter to include radio and sound installation work. Basic skills will be taught in some of the key media production software applications.

30% Coursework: individual, standard written

70% Coursework: individual, portfolio

DM4003

Questions in Contemporary Creative Practice

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This multi-disciplinary module aims to introduce you to a variety of working practices, skills and processes drawn from the wider creative industries. Working in a variety of studio environments, you will acquire key skills in (for example) graphic design, photography, drawing/fine art and 3D design which will contribute to the enhancement of your creativity and of your understanding of the wider context within which creative practice operates. The skills you acquire during this module will become part of your creative toolkit and could help you produce innovative solutions to media-related problems in the future.

100% Coursework: individual, portfolio

DM4004

The Marketplace for New Media

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For this module you will explore current innovative/emergent practice within the creative industries, including TV, film, radio, sound recording and print/publishing, though with scope allowed for you to explore other types of media practice. You will be asked to consider your own practice and to identify how this keys in to the subjects under investigation, by connecting with one individual (or company) and carrying out a case study of them. You will also enhance your prospects for employment through studying the legal and social context for media workplace, including how to deal with the UK's income tax regime, the different types of employment contract and how to locate and hire a workspace of your own. This module will also study the role of the network in locating and securing employment opportunities. Assessment will be through a journal/blog of typed notes, annotated research, a CV and a business plan for a creative opportunity of your design.

60% Coursework: individual, presentation 10 vlog/podcast segments (30 mins/3000 words equivalence)

40% Coursework: individual portfolio 1500 words

DM4005

New Digital Media in Practice

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This module will develop into production a key area of new media practice and technology identified in DM4004. You will work through the new technological processes and workflows to create a product that engages with and contributes to your chosen specialist area. Drawing on your engagement with real practitioners in the field of focus, you will identify and gain access, wherever possible, to those technologies and other human/physical and knowledge resources that make the new/ emergent field possible. You will then produce a full treatment for a practical product, one that engages with this field. You will work through the relevant production processes, drawing in crew from your creative peers across all disciplines, until a practical outcome is achieved. This will then be evaluated via dialogue with tutors, peers, practitioners and users/consumers.

70% Coursework: individual, portfolio

30% Coursework: individual, presentation

DM4006

Advanced Production Skills

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You will develop your understanding of contemporary approaches and skills through experimentation and engagement with practitioners in the creative industry. You will identify and gain access, wherever possible, to the technologies, techniques and specialists that you are interested in employing in your practice. You will work through the relevant production processes, drawing in crew from your creative peers across all disciplines, until practical outcomes are achieved. This work will then be evaluated via dialogue with tutors, peers, practitioners and users/consumers. You will also enhance your prospects for employment through studying the legal and social context of the workplace and business practices, including UK income tax, the different types of employment contract and how to access the many forms of employment in the creative industries.

Portfolio: 70%

Presentation: 30%

DM5004

Professional Practice

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This module will introduce you to a range of industrial/professional issues for employment in the creative industries through a series of seminar lectures and lectures by visiting professionals. This will include (but not be limited to): professional and environmental ethics, self-employed business practice and legislation and opportunities for employment and potential placement. You will also consider opportunities for educational progression. You will undertake a significant body of research into the industry and into employment practice in order to prepare for work experience. You will document your emerging identity as a creative practitioner and will identify a series of career paths.

Portfolio: 40%

Assignment: 60%

DM5001

Working with a Client

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This module will ask you to engage with professional practice via a live commission. We will work with local creatives in order to foster a context for real work, which will give you a genuine experience of the commissioning process. The central focus of this module is the application of skills and production techniques of a professional standard and the acquisition and practice of those soft skills necessary to operate successfully as a media professional. You will initially work with your tutors and carry out research and make enquiries and contacts that will lead to the identification of a live client. You will then be assigned a mentor who will help to negotiate and support your engagement with your identified client, who will commission you to create a product for them. You will be taught how to present yourself to clients and how to work with them through the commissioning process and the production phases to the delivery of a finished product. You will work with your mentor to produce a treatment that articulates your full vision for the project.

70% Coursework: individual, portfolio

30% Coursework: individual, presentation

DM5003

Contextualising Practice

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This module provides an opportunity for you to develop your understanding and knowledge of the wider issues and debates that surround the creation and consumption of creative artefacts. You will investigate the historical, theoretical and creative contexts in which your practice is located and learn new ways of analysing and relating to it. Core seminar lectures will focus on individual creative practitioners as case studies and will interrogate their practices from various contextual standpoints. Further core sessions will analyse specific creative products in a similar case-study approach.

60% Coursework: individual, standard written

40% Coursework: individual, presentation

DM5002

Business Practice and the Network

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This module will ask you to develop a network of like-minded people with whom you can initiate a digital media project. You will work as a member of this team to develop a finished media product and a set of attached marketing materials. You will build a series of key employability skills for the media industry and will develop an enhanced understanding of your employment prospects. Visiting speakers will talk to you about how they use social media and their network of contacts to create and locate work. Roles will be adopted according to the areas of interest and expertise and the production phases will be worked through to completion, with attention paid to the legal and technical framework for media production.

40% Coursework: individual, standard written

60% Coursework: group, other

Course Video

*This programme is subject to validation and delivery approval by the University of Gloucestershire.

APPLICATIONS FOR SEPT 2024 ENTRY ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS COURSE.APPLY VIA UCAS FOR FULL-TIME STUDY_(FULL-TIME)APPLY ONLINE FOR FULL-TIME STUDY_(FULL-TIME)APPLY ONLINE FOR PART-TIME STUDY_{(PART-TIME ONLY)}

Campus:

University Centre WISE

Level:

Foundation Degree

Full-time Duration:

2 Years

Full-time Fee (Per Year):

£8,500

Part-time Duration:

4 Years

Part-time Fee (Per Year):

£4,250

UCAS Application Code:

3P10

UCAS Entry Tariff:

Entry Requirements

The minimum UCAS tariff entry points from a level 3 qualification, GCSE Maths and English at grade C/4. Please submit a portfolio to be reviewed by Programme Lead. Once your portfolio has been reviewed, you may be invited for an interview. Mature students over 24 without the relevant qualifications will be required to demonstrate previous experience and evidence of academic ability.

CONTACT ADMISSIONS

Awarded by the University of Gloucestershire Awarded by the University of Arts London

Course info last updated:

September 10, 2024

Full-Time

Part-Time

Delivery Format

The delivery format for your degree-level programs is primarily face-to-face and in-person sessions. However, there may be some hybrid sessions offered occasionally, mainly for flexibility purposes, such as tutorials or for larger events like visiting lecturers. Additionally, it's mentioned that all degree programs are well-supported by Virtual Learning Environments, which include Teams or Google Classroom.