BA (Hons) Creative Media with Foundation

The key to our course design is understanding what the creative industries value, what is attractive to employers and the diverse opportunities of creative media. Being a flexible media maker in a continually-evolving media landscape futureproofs your qualification.

Our graduates are multi-skilled, flexible practitioners fulfilling diverse roles in the global media ecosystem. We are proud of how we equip our students for an everchanging media landscape. You will graduate with:

• confidence in the value of your creative voice
• a fully developed professional profile and portfolio
• industry contacts
• experience working on collaborations beyond the University
• experience pitching ideas, negotiating with clients, branding, marketing and promoting
• experience designing and making for various contexts, from social media campaigns to live events
• knowledge of the social and ethical impact of professional media
• the ability to research and articulate ideas effectively.

Our graduates work as directors, producers, camera crew, editors and sound designers. They set up successful businesses. They become fashion and travel photographers, animators, book illustrators, web designers and curators. They are independent artists, marketing and advertising executives, media strategists, game makers and educators. Others continue into postgraduate study and become academics.

They can be found at the BBC, Disney and Radio One. Their work is found at the BAFTAs, in the National Portrait Gallery, on the cover of Vogue magazine and in the creative offices of Google and Facebook.

Where can you do with a media degree?

• Study a range of media practices, including video, photography, sound, animation and digital media.
  
  
• Enjoy the freedom to experiment: choose to focus on one medium, develop several or integrate across the range to find your creative voice.
  
  
• Develop projects to suit your creative and career ambitions, open doors to your future career by showcasing your work to the public and developing a portfolio of work and enhance your professional profile further by engaging with our live briefs.
  
  
• Advance your technical skills using our outstanding equipment and facilities, including a fully equipped cinema, moving image studio with green screen, photographic and sound studios, computer labs, animation rostrums and much more.
  
  
• Learn from award-winning tutors from industry, arts practice and academic research. Benefit from strong links with the industry such as the BBC, ITV and Royal Television Society along with regional arts and community groups, giving you the opportunity to develop and realise creative collaborations beyond the University.

This course is an integrated part of the BA (Hons) Creative Media degree at the University of Plymouth. Successful completion of your foundation year (Year 0) will not lead to a separate award or qualification in its own right but provides progression onto Year 1 of

• BA (Hons) Creative Media

• Foundation year

• The Foundation pathway provides students with non-standard entry points to progress onto the BA (Hons) course.

  The foundation year allows you to develop skills across a range of media and introduces creative best practice in preparation for the first year of the undergraduate programme. During the foundation year, you will have the opportunity to explore creative processes relevant to visual design, animation, illustration, print-making, fine art and photography. The course is designed to encourage visual exploration and creative discovery within an engaging and vibrant studio setting. Upon successful completion of the Foundation course, you will join the undergraduate BA (Hons) programme equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to successfully complete an undergraduate degree.

  Core modules

  • Materials, Methods and Media (ADA001)

    This module will introduce students to various techniques, materials and mediums through practise-based experiments, play and problem solving. You will be introduced to different creative processes and methods of working that will help you to develop your ideas and engage in critical and reflective practice.

  • Image, Type and Narrative (ADA002)

    Students will experiment with media, photography and typography to explore the relationship between image and word. This module enables students to gain knowledge within subject areas and explore the importance of developing an independent voice. Projects will become increasingly student driven as they develop their ability to propose ideas and solutions through self-directed inquiry, discovery and production.

  • Risk and Resolution (ADA003)

    Students will consolidate their skills, knowledge and understanding in initiating, researching, developing and presenting a final project and exhibition. This module will also enable students to continue to research and develop their strengths as an independent art and design practitioner and prepare them for their next stage of study.

  • Critical Themes in Art & Design (ADA004)

    This module introduces students to transformative phases within the historical and contemporary context of art, design, photography and media. Students will learn to ask critical questions and find answers through information gathering, reading and research. Through articulating responses, students will be introduced to academic conventions in preparation for progression to further Higher Education.

• Year 1

• You will explore what creative media means to you by making a series of short, critically framed, practical projects. You will investigate narrative expression and cultural context in disciplines including still and moving image, sound, interaction and animation. You will also work beyond the University on a live industry brief and public exhibition or screening that will introduce professional working methods and audience reception.
  

  Core modules

  Creative Media Practice (MEDI411)

  This module will provide students with a set of challenges to promote understanding of contemporary Media Arts practices and the context in which these practices sit. It will explore how theory and practice interlink as well as giving the students a grounding in relevant methodology.

  Narratives (MEDI412)

  This module will introduce to students the creative possibilities of working with ideas of narrative and meaning construction in creative media. This is a practice-led module which integrates and examines various theories of and approaches to narrative, storytelling and meaning construction.

  Transmedia Branding (MEDI413)

  This module challenges students to produce a transmedia branding campaign in response to a live brief. Students will explore the techniques of this field and critical responses to the ‘culture industry’; underpin practical skills with creative and theoretical approaches; and be introduced to the roles and responsibilities associated with group working.

  Situating Practice (MEDI414)

  In this module students will be required to critically evaluate the skills and experience gained in previous modules and develop strategies for the future. They will be introduced to key critical approaches to presenting work to the public and engage in practice which explores the dialogue between their work and wider contexts. group working.

  Core modules

  • Creative Media Practice (MEDI411)

    This module will provide students with a set of challenges to promote understanding of contemporary Media Arts practices and the context in which these practices sit. It will explore how theory and practice interlink as well as giving the students a grounding in relevant methodology.

  • Narratives (MEDI412)

    This module will introduce to students the creative possibilities of working with ideas of narrative and meaning construction in creative media. This is a practice-led module which integrates and examines various theories of and approaches to narrative, storytelling and meaning construction.

  • Transmedia Branding (MEDI413)

    This module challenges students to produce a transmedia branding campaign in response to a live brief. Students will explore the techniques of this field and critical responses to the ‘culture industry’; underpin practical skills with creative and theoretical approaches; and be introduced to the roles and responsibilities associated with group working.

  • Situating Practice (MEDI414)

    In this module students will be required to critically evaluate the skills and experience gained in previous modules and develop strategies for the future. They will be introduced to key critical approaches to presenting work to the public and engage in practice which explores the dialogue between their work and wider contexts. This module includes group working.

• Year 2

• You will study advanced media practice and explore critical frameworks for your work. Experimentation and developing your creative voice are at the heart of this part of the course. You will collaborate with industry partners on a socially-engaged media project and gain professional confidence. Study of media theory will enhance your academic skills and media creation process. There is also opportunity to study abroad in stage 2.
  

  Core modules

  Transmedia Storytelling and Branding (MEDI510)

  This module challenges students to produce branding and advertising work in response to live briefs. Students will explore the techniques of this field, as well as critical responses to the culture industry. Students will underpin creative and theoretical approaches with practical skills.

  Critical Dialogues (MEDI513)

  Critical Dialogues mixes contemporary debates and media histories in a lively lecture/seminar programme. The module provides exposure to seminal media arts theory / practice and facilitates students to engage critically with their own work, situated in the context of established practitioners.

  Experiment (MEDI514)

  The module provides the frameworkk for a student lo take creative risks, broaden their practical skills, enhance their confidence and to develop their own creative voice. It provides a framework in which to research and develop one or more large-scale projects built on a sense of personal practice by means of practical experiments, underpinned by workshops, contextual research and ongoing reflection.

  Common Challenge: Social Context (MEDI516)

  This module offers an opportunity for students to work collaboratively on projects that will develop and enhance their professional and creative skills in working towards a collective outcome. It places creativity at the core of collaboration alongside the facilitation of new ideas and practices.

  Core modules

  • Critical Dialogues (MEDI513)

    Critical Dialogues mixes contemporary debates and media histories in a lively lecture/seminar programme. The module provides exposure to seminal media arts theory / practice and facilitates students to engage critically with their own work, situated in the context of established practitioners.

  • Experiment (MEDI514)

    The module provides the framework for a student lo take creative risks, broaden their practical skills, enhance their confidence and to develop their own creative voice. It provides a framework in which to research and develop one or more large-scale projects built on a sense of personal practice by means of practical experiments, underpinned by workshops, contextual research and ongoing reflection.

  • Interactive and Immersive Media (MEDI515)

    Students will experiment with interactive and Immersive media through a range of approaches and software. Iterative project development will be a means to explore theoretical approaches, concepts and practices central to interactive and immersive media. Including: environmental storytelling, non-linear structures, user experiences, mechanics, multimodality, prototyping and playtesting.

  • Common Challenge: Social Context (MEDI516)

    This module offers an opportunity for students to work collaboratively on projects that will develop and enhance their professional and creative skills in working towards a collective outcome. It places creativity at the core of collaboration alongside the facilitation of new ideas and practices.

• Final year

• The final year is about your passions, interests and ambitions. You complete two major self-directed projects in independent practice and collaborative practice. Hone your research skills in a dissertation and prepare for your future career in our professional module. You have the opportunity to showcase your achievements in a substantial public exhibition. We also provide one-to-one mentoring by industry professionals and the opportunity to meet and network with potential employers.
  

  Core modules

  Media Dissertation (MEDI602)

  Students will research a subject area within Media Arts in considerable depth, developing their own methodologies in researching, collating and synthesising data and concepts in order to present arguments clearly and persuasively. The outcome will be a piece of written work with illustrations, bibliography, notes and appendices as appropriate.

  Media Arts Futures (MEDI608)

  This module will support students in their aspirations beyond graduation. Students will identify career/ postgraduate aims and further develop their portfolios and professional profiles to effectively promote themselves and their practice in appropriate contexts.

  Collaborative and Contextual Practice (MEDI609)

  In this module you will undertake a collaborative project, emphasis will be placed on working processes and methodologies, group interaction, the planning and completion of the project within a defined context. This module provides an important critical context arising from issues relating to collaborative practice, working from a research and development stage through to realisation in order to contribute new objects or forms of cultural production.

  Independent Practice (MEDI611)

  Drawing on a growing sense of practice, underpinned by tutorial support, students will develop a large scale project through an application of practical and critical skills.

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:

BA Hons Creative Media with Foundation Programme Specification 2021 22 6797

UCAS tariff

32 - 48

Don’t have 32–48 UCAS tariff points? We will consider ‘non-standard’ applications on a case-by-case basis.

A levels
For Level 3 entry, the tariff points entry level will normally be 32–48 points from A level or equivalent. Non-standard applicants will normally be interviewed.

BTEC National Diploma/QCF Extended
DMM

Irish Leaving Certificate
Irish Highers, H5 in five subjects equivalent to 32–48 points.

International Baccalaureate
24 overall.

T levels
Pass in any subject.

Proficiency in English
Students for whom English is an additional language will need to demonstrate ability in spoken and written English equivalent to an IELTS score of 6.0 and/or successfully complete the University’s special test before entering the foundation year.

We are looking for applicants with good potential, including with non-standard qualifications and backgrounds, so will consider every application on a case-by-case basis. If you have any questions or concerns about meeting the entry requirements listed above, we encourage you to contact the Admissions team on +44 1752 585858 or email admissions@plymouth.ac.uk, and a member of the team will be able to offer you further advice.