MA Media (Full Time)

This Masters degree has been specifically designed to meet the demands of an international market place.

Course overview

If you are a graduate with a media or related degree, are currently working and want to change careers or simply want to upskill to Master Level study and are keen to explore the creative and commercial possibilities of your ideas with the guidance of a widely experienced academic team, you might be interested in our MA in Media.

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The MA Media Scheme includes the following awards:

• MA Film
• MA Media
• MA Popular Music
• MA Television

The qualifications and industry experience of our lecturers include theoretical and practice-based knowledge in digital media, film-making, journalism and publishing, marketing, script-writing for radio, television, film and stage and music theory and performance, amongst other things.  Feedback from our external examiners repeatedly praises our team for their approachability and face to face involvement with the teaching programme and the students.

Added to this is our highly popular series of guest speakers - tailor-made specifically for postgraduate students. Our speakers are professionals with diverse profiles drawn from links with external media bodies, such as Abbey Road Productions, the BBC and the Royal Television Society.

All this, combined with our newly updated digital studio, means you'll have a first-rate environment for research and experimentation.

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Course content

On this degree there are units which are required and units which you can choose from to enable you to build a media degree which relates to your experience and interest.

Core units

Professional Development and Research Skills
This unit will enhance your research skills, and provides the specific terms of reference for the successful completion of your major project. Emphasis is placed on research methods and techniques that can be used in the development of strategies for employment in the Media Industries.

Masters Project
You will design, execute and present an individually demanding piece of work that deploys a systematic and in-depth understanding of the skills and debates relevant to your particular discipline of study. You will be expected to present a Project that critically synthesises approaches and methodologies within the discipline and demonstrates initiative and autonomy in its execution.

Options

Social Media

The unit examines the aspects of social media including: Web 2.0 and the significance of the concept, social networking, productivity networking, user-generated content and political networks. These examinations will be informed by debates around internationalisation.

Identity, Culture and Conflict

This unit explores areas of conflict arising in relation to identity, through the study firstly of gendered and sexed identities and issues of conflict (for example debates about the global HiV/AIDS pandemic) and secondly through exploration of race and ethnicity and the areas of conflict arising from those identities (for example the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and its legacy in the form of ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Diaspora Visions

This unit studies and analyzes the origins and histories of ‘diasporas’ and the effect these have had on world international relations and culture.

There will be an opportunity for students to specialise in a particular Diaspora or to follow a specific subject pathway, for example, literature, politics, art, etc.

Propaganda and Persuasion

The material in this unit will provide an overview of the history of propaganda and ‘persuasive texts’ through asurvey of the history of mass media (fromliterature and the arts to press, radio, TV, film and digital forms) and willanalyse how they are fundamentally linked to propaganda and persuasion acrossthe political, cultural and social domains.

Experimental Film History, Form and Practice

This unit will introduce you to and provide them with a firm understanding of the history, codes, formats and practice of experimental film-making.  The theoretical side of the unit will address aspects of experimental film form including its take on narrative forms, its use of non-diegetic sound and its use of abstractions, alongside elements of history.  Alongside theoretical sessions, the unit will also through practical workshop sessions in camera, lights, sound and digital video editing, which will provide you with the means to successfully make a short experimental film.

Digital Studio

This unit places the processes of digital media production in historical and social contexts. It provides an overview of production development relevant to different digital production formats and opportunities to develop specific skills in one or more of the areas of study, such as studios, on offer.

Documentary History: Form and Practice

As well as providing an overview of the codes and conventions of documentary and of documentary traditions in different places, this unit will also provide students with the means to successfully make a short documentary film. You will study technical and creative aspects of documentary filmmaking and will master the full range of skills in camera, lights, sound and digital video editing.

Contemporary British Film and Television

This unit offers students the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of contemporary British film and television, including current issues in scholarship. It explores the diverse range of national film and television, paying particular attention to the links between British film, television, society and culture.

Script to Screen

This unit will engage you in developing your own original (or adapted) story to create a professional screenplay; this will be in conjunction with creating an industry-standard pre-production package (which may be used for  your final Masters Project in Period 3).

Producing Television

The producer is the recognised head of most productions, being responsible for teambuilding, people-management, brainstorming, format design and audience targeting, delegated research and content gathering, instilling reliability and professional practice, budgetary, ethical and legal issues, through to final delivery of a show or shows for television and, as is most common these days, additional multi-platform distribution. This unit will demonstrate how each area of responsibility can best be handled; how to get the best out of a group or individuals, noting and acting on latest professional theories on understanding group dynamics; communicating the most effective/shortcut ways of developing ideas; running orders and formats, and researching content to enhance entertainment value; and to guide and advise on legal and ethical issues which may arise.

Digital and Multi-platform Storytelling

The unit delivers both a theoretical and practical perspective on the development and possibilities of storytelling in the digital domain. Defined by the use of interactivity, digital narrative has the potential to immerse the audience in stories by engaging in decision-making and the implementation of user skills.

Global Popular Music

This unit investigates a variety of globalised popular musics and the cultural exchanges which occur when music, musicians and record companies operate on a global scale.

Assessment

Assessment ranges from presentations of ideas and concepts through to written essays, project work and exams.

Key career skills

Writing, creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication.

Solent's special features

• Unique programme of study
  As one of the only MA Schemes in the country offering a diverse range of pathways for post-graduates, we attract students with impressive portfolios of skills and interests.  
• Speaker series
  A popular feature of the course which gives you the chance to meet and talk with media professionals from a broad range of media industries.  
• Choice
  Project or Dissertation? Students indicate that the opportunity to choose what they want to do for their final piece, is a feature of the course that appeals to them more than any is often the reason why they chose us over our competitors.   
• Satisfied students
  Previous graduates generate a considerable amount of word-of-mouth publicity by telling others about their positive experiences in studying with us at post-graduate level.  Many remain in contact with us long after they have graduated.   
• Approachable staff
  We see our students as colleagues who teach us as much as we teach them.  In order to keep our fingers 'on-the-pulse' in the fast-paced, rapidly changing media environment, many of us continue to work as freelancers and consultants.  We pride ourselves on the diversity of our Master's scheme and work with you to 'hit the ground running' in the job market. 
• Field trips
  MA study groups have visited London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam and Prague.  The trips are usually organised to coincide with an event such as a documentary film festival or art exhibition.  While you have to cover your own expenses, we have access to low-cost travel companies which provide very reasonable rates for student groups.  

Fees

Fees for the 2011/12 academic year are:

Full-time
UK and EU students: £3,625 pa
Overseas students: £9,400 pa

Part-time
UK and EU students: £1,815 pa
Overseas students: £4,700 pa