BA (Hons) Media Production
Overview
Fees and funding
Entry Requirements
Course details
Contact us
BA (Hons) Media Production
Overview:
If you want a career in the media industries, this hands-on Media Production degree offers the skills and opportunities you need. The course concentrates on the three most important aspects of media production – TV, radio and new media. You’ll begin studying all areas of production, gaining practical skills to produce content across different platforms and media. You can then specialise in TV, radio or new media, with awareness of how they intersect in the modern world.
Students studying the Media Production degree at our Cardiff campus benefit from an expert teaching team, many of whom have professional media industry experience and excellent industry contacts. With Cardiff at the centre of one of the UK’s most dynamic media industries, it’s the perfect place to launch your career.
Our Media Production graduates have gone on to positions in the BBC, ITV, S4C, Made in Wales TV, Boomerang, Indus, Media Wales, Sky Sports and Sky News, alongside many other media outlets and PR companies. USW’s Media Production degree is also part of Film & TV School Wales, which provides students with the skills and opportunities needed to work in today’s exciting TV and Film industry.
BA (Hons) Media Production
Typical A-Level Offer
CCC (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).
Typical Welsh BACC Offer
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).
Typical BTEC Offer
BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).
Typical Access to HE Offer
Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points
Additional Requirements
GCSEs: 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
Online application form
Information requested on this form should be completed in as much detail in order to process your application successfully. All fields marked * must be completed.
Apply Now
Entry Requirements
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. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.
Other qualifications and experience
We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.
To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.
If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here
Applicants in the UK
Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria you may also be required to attend an interview to help us assess your suitability for the course.
WHAT YOU WILL STUDY
The first year of the Media Production degree includes practical production modules focused on concept development and an introduction to script-writing, video, audio / sound design and interactive design and construction, balanced with a theory module to help develop your understanding of the industry. The focus of the first year is to explore and develop your creativity and identify your chosen area of interest within the industry.
During the second year you will begin to specialise further within production teams by developing your skills within your preferred production roles on factual and fiction shorts, commercials, promos and within interactive story-telling. You will also develop your professional practices through working on ‘live’ external client briefs.
In between the second and third years of the Media Production degree, there is an opportunity for students to undertake a year’s work placement, and gain valuable work experience to enhance future employment prospects.
The final year will provide an opportunity for you to set up production teams to complete your Major Projects; your role in a Major Project will be focused on your specific area of interest. The Major Project will be supported by your personal research project, which will provide the basis for your approach and involvement.
Year One – Media Production degree
- Visual Production Techniques – Studio & Location
- Sound Design & Audio Production – 1
- Interactive – Design & Construction
- Critical Culture – One
- Creative Analysis and Development
Year Two – Media Production degree
- Visual Production Techniques – Short Fiction
- Sound Design & Audio Production – 2
- Interactive – Storytelling
- Client Brief – Professional Practice
- Critical Culture – Two
- Concept and Script Development
Year Three – Media Production degree
- Cultural Context Research Project
- Major Media Project – Development Package
- Major Media Project – Production
- Professional Freelance Practice
Teaching
The media production degree is taught through a range of lectures, seminars and practical workshops that reflect the mixture of hands-on work and the thinking that informs the course.
You will have timetabled lectures for three days. However, you are required to undertake self-directed, independent study for the majority of the rest of your week, outside of timetabled sessions.
You will also develop a professional portfolio, show-reel and a social media presence through targeted workshops, along with learning essential skills to prepare you for freelance working in the media industry.
Not forgetting that you would be studying in Cardiff, one of the UK’s major Television and media industry centres, from where dramas such as Sherlock, Dr Who, Casualty, Stella, Gavin & Stacey, Born to Kill, Safe House, Journeys End, Decline and Fall have been produced.
And not only are there the major Bad Wolf, Pinewood, BBC and ITV studios in Cardiff, there is now an independent TV production industry of over 600 firms.
Assessment
Your practical work will be assessed through coursework and assignments, including a mix of group work and individual projects.
COURSE DETAILS
Placements
Working to ‘live’ briefs with external clients, under the supervision of your tutors, is built into a number of your modules across the three years of your course, in order to fully prepare you for working independently, professionally, and intuitively, with clients.
There are also a number of work experience opportunities that are offered to our department by Media Industry employers, and external clients, throughout each year, which we pass on to our students.
These have included working on Dr Who, Sex Education, Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor, The Big Question, X Ray, Crime watch, TedX; at studios like Bad Wolf and Pinewood, for major production companies such as the BBC, Netflix and Channel Four and independent productions for Rhod Gilbert, VOX, Amplified Business Content, Jolene Films, and more.
Facilities
Live Multi-Camera Television Studio
Broadcast standard TV Studio with 4 Pedestal Cameras, Auto Cue, Gallery Control Room, full complement Lighting Gantry, Green-Screen, Talk-Back, Tracking Dollies, Crane Arms and associated equipment.
The TV Studio is used not only in timetabled sessions but is also a bookable facility for students to produce their own TV content which they can stream on their own sites on a regular basis.
Media Production (Course-Specific) Mac Edit Suites
90 x Apple Mac Edit machines in 3 x dedicated Media Production rooms.
Every machine runs: Adobe Creative Suite (inc. Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Muse, Audition, InDesign); AVID Editing and EP Movie Magic (Industry standard Scheduling and Budgeting software).
Live Radio and Sound Recording Suites
3 x Live Streaming radio studios. Foley recording and Voice-Over facilities.
All that you require to develop the skills and confidence to record and mix sound for Live and Pre-Recorded Radio broadcast, Location and Studio sound for Factual and Drama productions including Audio Books, Animation; TV Studio sound sound and foley for Screen Drama, Documentaries, Gameplay and Interactives.
Professional Standard Location Cameras, Lighting, Grip and Sound Recording Equipment
Subject to your level of study and completion of specialist training workshops, you will have access to:
- Blackmagic Cine4K EF cameras
- Sony FS5 cameras
- Sony NX100 Video Camera
- GoPro cameras
- DSLR and 360° cameras
- Sound Recording equipment: AKG, Beyerdynamic, BlackMagic, Sennheiser, Edirol, Marantz and Rode
- Arri, KinoFlo and varied LED lighting kits
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.
CAREERS
Graduates from our Media Production degree have pursued successful careers in film, TV and radio production and presentation, press and public relations, web design and journalism.
Dependent upon their chosen field, our students will graduate with the ability to implement professional working practice, in at least one of the following, at industry required entry level, as –
A Sound Recordist working both independently and within team production scenarios (location and studio) across platforms and genres
A Lighting-Camera Operator working both independently and within team production scenarios (location and studio) across platforms and genres
An Interactive Designer working both independently and within team production scenarios (location and studio) across platforms and genres
An Editor working both independently and within team production scenarios across platforms and genres
A Sound Designer/Editor working both independently and within team production scenarios across media, platforms and genres
A Scriptwriter working both independently and within team production scenarios across media, platforms and genres
A Director working within team production scenarios across media, platforms and genres
A Production Manager working within team production scenarios across media, platforms and genres
Our Careers and Employability Service
As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.
This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the “Ask a Question” service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students, you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.
Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.
Fees
Full time
- 12 to 18 months
Complete your degree in the shortest possible time and study flexibly – when and where suits you!
£7,250
You’ll study 9 modules in total (approx. 37 hrs/week).
Part time option one
- 12 to 18 months
Study for a degree whilst fitting it around your work, care and other life commitments.
£4,250
You’ll study 6 modules per year (approx. 25 hrs/week).
Part time option two
- 12 to 18 months
Take time to study and spread the tuition fees over a longer period – at no extra cost.
£5,500
You’ll study 4–5 modules per year (approx. 19 hrs/week).
Apply now
Have a question about our professional qualifications?
Contact us about our professional qualifications
If you have any questions about our professional qualifications in finance and banking, please contact our customer services team.
Call us
- +44 (0) 203 771 5653
- admissions@westfieldcollege.co.uk
TESTIMONIALS
What Our Students Have To Say
Communication in Health and Social Care.
Great Course. Very Easy to Understand
–Shariq Niazi
Student
Hi, I recently started Access to Higher Education Diploma (Nursing and Midwifery) course with Westfield College.
–Komal Kiran Galaria
Designer
My experience with Westfield College is great. The supervisor and the admin team are proactive and efficient.
–Oluwaseyi Olubasiri
Content Creator