BA (Hons) Media Production - University of South Wales

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UCAS Code

P301
Start Date

September
Location

Cardiff
Campus Code

B

Fees

Home students

£9,250*
International students

£15,850*
Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Overview
Module Overview
Course Highlights
Entry Requirements
Fees and Funding
How to Apply

Designed with current industry experts, this course gives you the confidence and skills to thrive in today’s ever-evolving media industry.

Career Paths

Script Writer
Production Manager
Lighting Camera Operator
Sound Recordist and Designer
Editor

Skills taught

Scriptwriting and Directing
Production Management
Lighting and Camerawork
Sound Recording and Editing
Film and Live TV Editing

Staff stood in front of red backdrop in a film studio smiling

Course Highlights

You are the focus

The course helps you find your strengths, build your confidence, and thrive individually and within dynamic teams.

Real-world experience

Through placements and live briefs, you’ll become ready to enter the media world as a high-value freelancer.

Originality

Get the confidence to create the exciting, original material that’s key to media products’ success.

Immersed Festival

Play a key role in this showpiece event that draws together USW’s creative courses across one festival. A priceless experience.

Module Overview

We start by giving you the foundational skills and concepts, and helping you discover your strengths and interests. We then support you as you work on real-world projects, and finally prepare you to establish a fulfilling career in the media world.

Year One
Visual Production Techniques 1
Creative Analysis and Development
Sound Design and Audio Production 1
Interactive - Design and Construction
Critical Culture 1

Year Two
Concept and Script Development
Client Brief – Professional Practice
Visual Production Techniques 2
Sound Design and Audio Production 2
Interactive Storytelling
Critical Culture 2

Year Three
Major Project Development Package
Major Media Production Project
Cultural Context – Research Project
Professional Freelance Practice

You’ll get a thorough grounding in all the technical skills, concept and script development, and critical thinking you’ll need later. We also help you identify and develop your interests and strengths so that you can carve out your own niche and make a real impact.

Visual Production Techniques 1
Learn how to tell stories through visual and aural material, and get to grips with high end video cameras, sound recording, lighting equipment and professional practice.

Creative Analysis and Development
Explore ideas, originality and innovation within the design process, balancing problem-solving and creativity, creative expression and audience reception.

Sound Design and Audio Production 1
Understand how sound is used in fictional, factual and entertainment formats across media platforms, using a range of audio equipment.

Interactive - Design and Construction
Explore social and web-based technologies and how they reach out to appropriate audiences, using Adobe and other software to design an interactive narrative.

Critical Culture 1
Engage with current debates around media, understanding its place in modern society and deepening your understanding of how stories are constructed to engage audiences.

Now that you have a better idea of who you are as a media professional, you’ll get the chance to work in production teams across a range of platforms, applying and developing your preferred skills in meaningful ways and tackling real creative challenges.

Concept and Script Development
Explore your creative identity and expand your skills as you craft original ideas and scripts for contemporary formats and platforms in a writer’s workshop context.

Client Brief – Professional Practice
Working in teams with dedicated roles, you’ll deliver a creative output to professional standards, developing your skills, experience and practice.

Visual Production Techniques 2
Take your visual creativity to the next level as you explore documentary and drama styles and refine your visual composition, camera work, lighting, and editing skills.

Sound Design and Audio Production 2
Explore how sound contributes to storytelling across different media as you work with external clients to create podcasts and audio dramas.

Interactive Storytelling
Showcase everything you’ve learned as you collaborate with music and other courses to create and promote the Immersed Festival, working on digital media and live recording.

Critical Culture 2
Discussions and seminars on the current media landscape, looking at trends, technological advances and important issues that dominate the way we consume content.

The final year is all about demonstrating your confidence, creativity and readiness to add value to media productions. You’ll initiate and carry out major production projects that show off your capabilities and build a body of work that helps you secure the career you want.

Major Project Development Package
Discover what it takes to make media projects happen as you manage pre-production and development, including generating pitches, proof of concepts and finding crew.

Major Media Production Project
Showcase your skills as an industry-ready professional as you create a major body of work within your chosen specialism.

Cultural Context – Research Project
An in-depth exploration of a key contemporary issue linked to your practice and area of interest, which can be theoretical or practical.

Professional Freelance Practice
Consolidate your future in media by engaging with industry pros, building your portfolio, and learning how to navigate the business world and promote yourself.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

As the major focus of the media production course is to make you work-ready, the emphasis is on practical development. We approach this in a variety of different ways. We often introduce subjects through lectures, discussions, and seminars, while practical and software workshops are there to embed skills. We support your development through online and in-person tutorials, which are highly interactive and promote problem-solving, creativity and collaboration. We assess in a variety of ways that mirror the world of work, from practical submissions to presentations, essays, and reports. No formal exams, you’ll be pleased to hear.

Teaching staff

We’re proud of our experienced collective of staff who bring a broad and diverse range of expertise. We have commercial directors from the USA, professional photographers and camera operators, people who have done sound production at the BBC, documentary makers and community radio producers. Many are still active in the industry, while others now focus on research. What they all have in common is their dedication to your student experience and career journey. They use their insight to help you identify your strengths, interests and creative identity, navigate the ‘business’ side of the industry and pursue your dreams.

Placements and work experience

Our strong relationships with the industry mean you’ll benefit from real-world media opportunities throughout the course. You’ll regularly work on live briefs set by industry professionals, giving you plenty of opportunities to experience real-world action. You could also have the chance to work on live camera coverage for the Green Man, Hay Literature and our very own Immersed Festival.

Facilities

Our state-of-the-art on campus facilities allow you to develop the skills you’ll need out in the real world. We have a live multi-camera TV studio which you can book outside of taught sessions, as well as a green screen and virtual production room. Our three live radio and sound recording suites are equipped with Foley recording and voiceover facilities. Our dedicated Media Production editing suite includes Mac Edit machines running Adobe Creative, AVID Editing and EP Movie Magic software. You can also take advantage of our vast media loan stock which includes cameras by Sony and Black Magic as well as full lighting and audio equipment.

Equipment

At our Cardiff Campus we have a vast range of equipment that you will be trained to use as part of your course. To help support your studies we have a Media Loans facility that allows you to hire the equipment, at no cost, for you to then use for your assignments and practical work. We have both basic and high-end film and photography cameras, portable lighting and sound equipment as well as a range of professional studio recording microphones, instruments and associated equipment to use in our music studios or on location. The team of technical officers and instructors are also available to help you with any queries and technical issues.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

The current media landscape offers vast and varied possibilities, and over the last five years, many of our students have secured their ideal roles. These include working as a researcher on Top Gear, production assistant at the BBC, Bad Wolf and Urban Myth films, production trainee at Whisper TV, and videographer at Cardiff City and West Ham football clubs. We have graduates who run their own production companies, as well as students working in advertising companies, talent agencies, casting agencies and much more. Our course gives you the adaptability to work across disciplines, applying your skills to a range of creative challenges.

Careers support

The reality of the modern media landscape is that most people work as freelancers. So, we won’t just develop your creative skills, but help you build the professional, ‘soft’ skills that are crucial for maintaining a career too. We also bring in established pros to talk to you about the ‘business’ side of things – taxes, networking, your CV and more. Regular engagement with industry professionals, both on placement and during live projects, gives you insights into the world of work and how people conduct themselves in the industry. You’ll build up a significant body of work which you can use as a portfolio to present to future clients.

Industry partners

With Cardiff being such as significant media hub, and us right at the heart of it, it’s the perfect place to forge connections with industry. We work closely with major production companies like the BBC, CH4 and Netflix, as well as studios such as Bad Wolf and Great Point Studios (formerly Pinewood). Our students are always invited to work on Hay Festival and Green Man, and you’ll get to work with external clients like the WRU and Cardiff Dogs Home. These industry connections enable placement opportunities, live projects on campus and guest lectures, and they help us keep our course as current and relevant as possible.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS Points: 96 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

A Level: CCC (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).
Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).
BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).
Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

How to apply

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

Contextual Admissions Policy

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,250

per year*

International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy. We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

* Obligatory

Cost: £60

Cost: £150 - £500

Cost: £30

Media Loans

You can hire a range of equipment, for your assignments and practical work, for free from our Media Loans facility.

Media Loans

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

MEDIA PRODUCTION AT USW IS FULL OF MANY DIFFERENT OPPORTUNITIES SO TAKE ON AS MANY AS YOU CAN AS YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE IT MAY LEAD. I CHOSE USW BECAUSE IT WAS WELCOMING, GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO PLAY AND MAKE MISTAKES.

Tom Dix

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.