BA (Hons) Media Culture and Production (Full Time)

This well-established and highly regarded degree equips students with wide-ranging knowledge and skills in contemporary media and culture.

Course overview

 This stimulating and intellectually challenging course combines the academic study of culture and media in western and non-western contexts with practical work in digital video, interactive media, radio, photography and screenwriting.

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The degree is taught by highly qualified academics together with professional production staff with experience of working in the media industry. You will explore the relationship between cultural theory and practice by feeding these debates into your production work. The balance between academic and practical units is around 50/50, but you can tailor your course through your choice of options in years two and three.

You will have access to professional-standard TV and digital photographic facilities, and our suite of recording and radio studios.

Industrial focus

All students are able to undertake an industrial placement as a course option in Year 3. Frequently, members of the course team also assist students in obtaining further placements. 

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Course content 

Year 1

Five core units:

• Media Production: Photography, Radio and the Moving Image
• Writing Facts and Fictions
• Analysing Media and Culture
• Cultural Revolutions: Key Shifts in British Media and Culture
• Online Media. 

Year 2

Three core units and two options:

• Media Production: Recording Realities and Creating Fictions
• The Shock of the New: Modernity and Modernism
• Cultures of Consumption
• Option 1 or Curriculum Plus
• Option 2 or Curriculum Plus. 

Year 3

Four core modules and one option:

• Dissertation/Major Project
• Global Media Industries
• Culture Wars: Current Debates in Cultural Theory
• Global Media, Local Cultures
• Option 2 or Curriculum Plus.
  Options:
• Genre Study
• Corporate Study
• Area Study
• Identity and Representation
• National Media
• Photography: Photojournalism Realities and Digital Advertising
• Film Production
• Scriptwriting
• Journalism
• Industrial Placement
• Photography: Media Visual Promotion. 

Why choose this course?

• Trips to Prague and New York are regular features of the degree which speak to the programme’s international perspective. The trip to New York involves visits to the Ellis Island Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.
• A range of facilities including three fully equipped television studios, one in the Meridian TV Centre of Excellence, multitrack sound studios, radio studios and film production equipment.
• Graduates have established careers with organisations such as the BBC, Channel Four, Meridian, Reuters, Sky News, MTV UK, Ocean FM, and the British Film Institute.

Assessment

Essays, presentations, portfolios, exams and a range of practical projects.

Key career skills

Writing, IT, presenting and debating ideas, teamwork, research and analysis.

Projects/work experience

The degree maintains a close working relationship with the University’s in-house production company Solent Productions which produces media content both internally for the University and for external clients. Media Culture and Production students have been involved in producing audio-visual content at Glastonbury Music Festival and for the sailing regatta at Cowes Week. 

Student Profile

David Pardoe

“I liked the look of Media Culture and Production because it is broad, covering everything from radio to photography and video. In your second and third years you can specialise by choosing which specialist direction to take, such as radio, video, photography, online media, scriptwriting or cultural studies.

In the current job market it is essential in the media industry to have skills across a wide range of media. Increasingly, employers are looking for additional skills, so although I might be applying for a job in radio, thanks to the other units I have taken, I could, for example, also offer to develop their website or take photos for promotional materials. The variety of units covered will make graduates of the course more attractive, well-rounded candidates when applying for jobs. I particularly like the practical aspects of the course but obviously, there is a substantial academic basis to it, involving more theoretical units, such as Analysis of Media Culture and Cultural Revolutions.

I would particularly recommend this course to anyone who, like me, is really into everything relating to media but hasn't yet decided which area to specialise in. This course gives you a chance to try everything out.”

This course is also available with an International Foundation Year.| Please make sure the correct UCAS code, as listed below, is entered on your UCAS application form.