Core modules
Because this course will prepare you for a graduate or freelance career in media, cultural and creative industries in the UK and beyond, it is structured as key steps of development that build upon one another.
Throughout the whole course you will learn how to create value from your ideas; communicate your passion for media and culture; think critically, creatively, ethically and strategically about cultural values within media, creative and communications projects, industries and contexts.
You will develop the ability to use your knowledge and understanding of creative, cultural and media processes as the basis for the examination of policy and ethical issues through critically informed competencies.
You will learn how to experiment, test, plan, research, develop, distribute, produce and commission creative and cultural work through Media Lab work across all three years; as well as understand the industrial, political, technological and social issues that underpin media and creative processes through Placement, Workplace Study or Residency.
With this course you will have the opportunity in each of the three years to select a module from a number of departments at the university, thus expanding your opportunities for learning from other disciplines.
Year One
Media, Creative and Cultural Industries
Together with the year 1 module Thinking Culture and Creativity this module aims to introduce you to key concepts and frameworks which underpin the programme. The primary aim of this module will be to define what we mean by the media, creative and cultural industries, using theories of production and consumption to illuminate emerging practices.
Thinking Culture and Creativity
This module aims to equip the student with a working knowledge of the concepts and theories fundamental to understanding contemporary culture and apply this knowledge in a practical group project. It aims to demonstrate to the student that a historical understanding of culture and creativity can provide a source of creative ideas, inspiration and intellectual material for media and creative production, and that art and intellectual history offer considerable resources for innovation in contemporary media and communication. The module will seek to establish significant intellectual, creative, academic and practical capabilities, all of which are central to playing a transformative role in future global media and creative industries. It will develop a student’s initiative, ability to take risks, experiment and test ideas. The module will aim to dissolve students’ assumptions on the nature of contemporary media content and impact, and through creative thinking processes re-define creative content, communication and engagement, audiences and experience.
Media Lab 1
This module introduces students to the Media Lab experience (a three-year pathway through the course designed to develop skills, experiences and understanding of online/portable media content), and the emergent ideas, techniques and approaches that a contemporary media creative will need. As well as appreciating the role of changing technology in media, creativity and content manipulation through experimenting with different forms and practices, the modules aims to develop media production techniques, a sense of creativity and an appreciation of authorship. Transformations in the production, circulation and consumption of media content mean that the way we make, watch, use and interact with media requires new ways of thinking and application. Thus, students will have new possibilities for aesthetics, forms, content manipulation, distribution, access and participation.
MCI Industry Case Study
This module aims to equip student with a knowledge of the creative, media and cultural sectors with specific reference to the types of entities, the practicalities of working in these organisations and appreciating the challenges faced by them.
The module will take the first step into establishing significant intellectual, creative, and practical capabilities of students related to working within the various sub sectors providing them with an ability to appreciate the nuances of working in these organisations.
Year Two
Media and Cultural Management
This module introduces theories and practices of management in the media, creative and cultural industries. The aim is first to introduce students to management models and tools adapted to the distinctive challenges and conditions of these sectors. The second aim is to have students recognise that the business of cultural and media production depends upon relationships and capabilities beyond the ability to create excellent content.
Cultures of Engagement
This module aims to equip the student with a knowledge of the concepts and theories of communication and representation that pertain to “engagement” (of the public sphere and the public; of markets and consumer groups; of brand and new modes of global identity). The module will attend to theories of groups, classes and collectives and how they emerge and change through industrialisation and post-industrialisation, making institutionalised media and culture politically problematic – from dissent, protest, class-based representation to identity politics and the segmentation (through marketization) of society. The module will allow the student to grapple with the dilemmas of contemporary cultural globalisation. The module facilitates student teams drawing on a range of socio-historic theoretical frameworks in order to assess new communication strategies for pluralist, multicultural and global public of interest groups.
Media Lab 2
Building on Media Lab 1 and the concept and practice of transmedia production and theory, this module aims to take the gamification model of up-levelling student learning to level 2 i.e. ‘habit –building’ by which students undertake a specific practical element of Transmedia Storytelling based on the curiosity they developed in Media Lab 1 and engage an audience in participatory media-making. Working across connected platforms students will create a clearly defined experience and/or piece of content in consultation with an audience. The module aims to develop experimentation and collaboration. Students will also be asked to critically reflect on the processes and outcomes of their work in the light of the latest thinking.
Media and Intellectual Property
The creative and media industries are frequently described as the copyright industries. In this module you will explore the relationship between creative production and IP law and consider IP law’s relevance and application within specific areas of creative practice. It will support and complement your learning on the Media Lab and Media and Creative Industry Residency modules, equipping you with both theoretical and practical understanding of the legal frameworks in which creative and media practitioners operate.
Media and Creative Industry: The Workplace
The principal aim of the module is to test learning from the Year 1 Media and Creative Industries Case Study and the research undertaken to establish a relationship with an industry.
The module includes a placement or work based study of around 160hrs and will be supported by an evaluation of the operation of the creative, cultural or media organisation. It will build on the student knowledge of the creative, media and cultural sectors with specific reference to types of legal entities, the practicalities of working in these organisations and appreciating the challenges faced by them. It also aims to develop the students’ professional skills and confidence honed through practical work experience in an organisation.
Year Three
Leading for Innovation
The module aims to prepare students as leaders of innovative projects in the media, cultural and creative industries, as well as other industries where creativity and media play a strong role. The module aims to help students develop their own value focused model of innovation leadership drawing on theories of leadership and innovation and critical self-reflection.
Creative Producing
This module focuses on digital producers who are responsible for bringing new products, services and experiences to the public. You will learn how to broker the diverse talents of technologists, artists, designers, and audiences to develop projects that contribute to cultural life and address social, cultural, economic and environmental concerns.
Media Lab Major Project
The aim of this module is to build on the gamification levels of Media Lab 1 and Media Lab 2 to the final level of ‘mastery’ so that students will now fully research, test and develop a finished project for showcasing in Term 3, supported by research. Students will be invited to pitch ideas for an individual project during Term 1 and during Terms 2 and 3, students will spend the remainder of the module researching, planning, testing, developing and evaluating (with data) their project and approach to content production. Students will also use the research and critical reflection techniques developed in the course in the planning and development of a clear methodology to inform their project and how to use the data their project produces to inform their approach.
Media and Creative Industries Residency
The principal aim of the module is to gain practical experience in the operation or development of a media, creative, cultural organisation through a residency or extended Workplace Study and critically reflect upon that experience and research in terms of capacity to shape, influence or impact an organisation. The module combines theory and practice (developed in Years 1 and 2) to equip students with an in-depth understanding of the creative, media and cultural sectors and their burgeoning role within them. The module will include a significant element of work experience or workplace study with an organisation in the form of residency or directed client brief which will develop the students’ working knowledge and critical thinking about work practices and challenges of these sectors. It will develop a student’s initiative, ability to take decisions and risks and develop their ambitions. Through their interactions with professionals, the module will aim to dissolve students’ assumptions on the nature of employment within the contemporary creative, cultural and media sectors.
Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Indicative module topics:
- Media histories
- Screenwriting
- Cultural studies
- Gender
- Race
- Audiences
- Marketing
- Animation
- Eco-cinema
- Media ecologies
- Entrepreneurship and climate change (places permitting)
In all years you have the opportunity to select optional modules from related Warwick departments such as Sociology, Creative Writing, Theatre and Performance, Film and Television and the Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning.
