Introduction

The MA Media Production aims to provide students, in a theoretical context, with a comprehensive understanding of media production in one of a variety of media platforms i.e. radio, single or *multi-camera production, screenwriting, photography or design or new media. The course aims to develop students’ understanding of the uses of media technologies in relation to social context; the political-regulatory contexts shaping media and their public and commercial applications; and the importance of media in the formation of national and other identities. It will provide an educational context in which students develop, to an advanced level, the creative, conceptual, critical, analytical, technical, organisational and research skills appropriate to employment in the media industries.

The MA Media Production is distinctive in that it will deliver cutting edge media production skills training alongside core academic components that probe the dynamic context of British media production within its national political, regulatory and socio-cultural context. The Lincoln School of Media has particular strengths and interests, professional, scholarly, academic, in radio, film and television fiction/factual production; screenwriting; photography, design and new media production; radio and television studies; film and cultural theory; sociology of the media; media policy; media ethics; photography and new media theory. The programme will be taught by a core group of Media Production subject staff.
 

Programme Structure

Semester A

Media Technologies and Public Spheres
Media Production (I)
(Radio OR Single OR *Multi Camera Production OR Screenwriting OR Photography OR Design or New Media)
Critical Approaches to Media

Semester B

Media Industries
Project Pre-Production or Dissertation Preparation
Media Production( II)
(Radio OR Single OR *Multi Camera Production OR Screenwriting OR Photography OR Design or New Media
Media Ethics, Law and Regulation

Semester C

Final Project or Dissertation
*Dependent on the numbers of applicants wishing to specialise in this production platform.
 

Detailed Course Content

Media Technologies and Public Spheres
 

The unit will enable students to understand how media technologies are used as the principal public space for organising images and discourses through which people understand their lives and the world around them. The unit is organised around different approaches to mediating technology; media regulation and policy; mediating forms and genres; citizens and consumers; current and future trends in media technology.

Critical Approaches to Media

This unit will offer an overview of key theories and methods which characterise the development of the field of media and cultural studies in order to encourage a critical understanding of the perspectives brought to the media from different intellectual positions. The unit is organised around key concepts which have shaped the fields of media and cultural studies. Through close reading of groundbreaking texts, historical and contemporary, it will identify key issues and debates which characterise the different approaches to media forms, institutions, technologies and users. The Unit will include research skills workshops for those students who wish to produce a scholarly dissertation.

Media Industries

This unit will enable the student to understand the structures of media systems regionally, nationally and globally, with a specific focus on private and public funding sources and the organisation of media production, distribution and exhibition for traditional as well as new media platforms and outlets. The unit will be organised around discussion and examination of: the UK Creative Industries and their relation to global media systems and markets; existing media markets and the identification of future markets; the development of new media technologies and their impact on media markets; normative practices operating in media corporations as well as small and media sized businesses; case studies of innovation and creativity in media production. The course will have contributions from visiting media professionals.

Media Ethics, Law and Regulation

The unit will enable an understanding of the ethical context of media production, media law and regulation in the UK (EU) and the USA. The unit will be organised around discussion and examination of: ethics of media production, rights of free expression, common law of libel, ECHR and HRA, current UK and US communications acts, journalists’ codes of practice and content regulatory codes

Media Production (I)

This unit will enable students to use a chosen medium (radio or single or *multi camera production, or screenwriting, or photography or design or new media) to interpret and execute a predetermined brief. This mainly practical unit will, in an initial project with an assigned theme, enable students to demonstrate technical competence in their chosen specialism. In a second project, students will be enabled to demonstrate ability to use form to interpret and execute a predetermined brief.

Media Production (II)

This unit will enable students to use a chosen medium (radio or single or *multi camera production or screenwriting or photography or design or new media) as a means of personal expression. The unit will be organised around assisting students to further develop technical skills and techniques in their chosen specialism so as to: develop an original concept, undertake appropriate production research, schedule the project, produce the project and edit the project

*Dependent on the numbers of applicants wishing to specialise in this production platform

Project Pre-Production

This unit will enable the student to conduct all research, scripting and/or designing as well as the negotiations necessary to the planning and development of an original idea in their chosen specialism. The student will use an agreed project concept which will be realised as a programme, of between twenty and sixty minutes duration (depending on the medium used and the complexity of the concept), or a script, or an extensive still image or design portfolio, or a new media project of equivalent scope. This project concept will be realised in the following semester as the Final Project. The unit is organised so as to allow the student to apply research and development skills leading to the creation of an imaginative, well presented project proposal that includes considerations of audience, sponsorship, financial, technical and distributive planning.
Dissertation Preparation

This unit will enable the student to conduct all preliminary research necessary to the planning and development of a dissertation. Specifically to formulate a research topic; identify appropriate methodologies and produce a proposal for scholarly discussion. This proposal will be realised during the following semester as the Dissertation. The unit is organised so as to allow the student, with tutorial support, to apply research skills learned in Semester A to the creation of a dissertation plan and preliminary bibliography, which will determine progress to the Dissertation.

Final Project

This unit aims to provide students with the opportunity to realise the project idea which they developed in Project Pre-Production. The project will be, depending on the student’s chosen specialism, a programme, a script, an extensive still image or design portfolio or new media project. It is intended that the project will contribute to the development of the student as someone capable of conceiving and realising a creative project to a professional standard. It will provide students with the opportunity to develop their conceptual, critical, creative, technical and organisational skills to a high order.

Dissertation

This unit aims to provide students with the opportunity to complete an individual piece of research on some aspect of their chosen specialism or on an area of study covered in one of the critical studies units. The student will carry out, by independent study, an individual research study/dissertation. It is intended that this work will contribute to the development of the student as someone capable of sustaining a major enquiry into aspects of the field. It will provide students with the opportunity to develop critical research skills.

Mode of Study and Assessment

The course will be delivered through workshops, study visits, lectures, seminars and self-directed learning. Different units will be assessed through projects, portfolios, case studies, presentations, critical evaluations, production logs and essays.

Facilities

The new integrated digital media production centre at Lincoln stands at the forefront of provision in the UK higher education sector. Its advanced technical capabilities allow: the production and distribution of television and radio programmes; web authored and interactive products. Teaching staff are active in production and come from a range of professional broadcasting and publishing backgrounds.

The University Library provides study and IT facilities, extensive opening hours, access to a growing collection of books and journals relating to media and cultural studies and to a range of online journal indexes and full text journals available on and off campus. The Faculty houses MA programmes in Media & Cultural Studies, Journalism and Historical Studies and seeks to build a strong postgraduate community.

Employment Opportunities

The MA Media Production offers graduates of media studies and media production degrees the opportunity to develop their skills and abilities to a higher level which will be attractive to employers within the creative industries. Creative industries professionals keen to extend practice-based knowledge of British media production within an advanced theoretical and critical context are also welcome to apply. For graduates from outside the matrix of ‘media studies’ this course offers the opportunity to develop new practice and academic skills in preparation for a career in the creative and media industries.
 

Contact details:

Andy McKay
Principal Lecturer
amckay@lincoln.ac.uk