CREATIVE MEDIA PRACTICE at University of West of Scotland

OVERVIEW

Our MA Creative Media Practice is ideal for those from various disciplines as well as industry professionals wishing to broaden their creative skills, knowledge and experience. This is a completely flexible MA suite of modules which will allow you to build up a strong portfolio of high-quality creative work across your chosen areas of practice.

The programme is aimed at graduates and industry professionals wishing to broaden their skills and explore and consolidate their creative identity across film, digital, media, photography, writing and performance.

The master's is delivered by expert practitioners, and will equip you for a creative media career, offering network contacts, the chance to build a portfolio, and essential practical skills. The MA also provides a solid foundation in practice-based research and an effective platform for pursuing further academic study at doctoral level.

Our course structure allows you to gain a personally tailored skill set, a detailed awareness of the fusion of creative, cultural, technological, social and political forces within the creative industries sector and screen and broadcast industries, and a deep understanding of the theories which underpin these areas.

Placement Opportunities

Work-related learning is available either as a placement in the screen and broadcast industries and/or work on a professional project. Students are able to develop their professional practice in modules such as Creative Industries: Professional Practice.

Careers

Graduates in Creative Media Practice have found roles such as independent producer, scriptwriter, TV development producer, documentary-maker, digital media producer/developer, artist filmmaker, motion graphics designer and as media/arts practice teachers and lecturers. 

Our graduates have gained positions with the BBC, independent production companies, Toronto Film Festival, community media organisations, theatre companies (eg Gaiety Theatre, Ayr – learning resource co-ordinator), and with media/arts departments in various universities and colleges. Others have developed successful freelance careers in creative sectors such as photography, media and arts practice, and several have set up creative media businesses.

A number of our MA Creative Media Practice graduates have also succeeded in gaining PhD scholarships.

COURSE DETAILS

This is a completely flexible MA suite of modules which will allow you to build up a strong portfolio of high-quality creative work across your chosen areas of practice.

Depending on your ambitions and needs, you can exit with the Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert), which provides a range of focused modules, which you can select from, tailored to your individual requirements.

Moving on from this, the Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) provides a broader and more detailed set of modules including involvement in an interdisciplinary Collaborative Project and a highly focused and individualized programme of professional development in a range of relevant areas within the module Creative Industries: Professional Practice.

Core modules for the PgDip provide broad and detailed awareness and understanding of the Creative Industries, with embedded creativity and exposure to developing cultures of media convergence. Within the core modules and options students can select specific creative areas such as screenwriting, creative writing, motion graphics and digital filmmaking audio and radio production. Throughout the programme, students select which aspects and areas of their creative identities and skill sets they wish to develop.

For the Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) stage, you will study the following core modules*:

• Applied Creative Contexts (core, 20 credits)
• Creative Skills Development (core, 40 credits)
• Collaborative Project (core, 20 credits)
• Creative Industries: Professional Practice (core, 20 credits)
• Research: Critical Development (core, 20 credits)

Successfully completing the PgDip allows you to proceed to the Master's by completing a sustained piece of professional creative work such as a feature-length screenplay or documentary, a piece of creative writing, a multimedia product, an exhibition or a performance:

• Masters Creative Project (core, 60 credits)

Throughout the course, you will gain the critical awareness, creative focus and contemporary production skills necessary to advance your career. Through a wide range of guest lecturers and industry mentors you will be exposed to experienced Creative Media practitioners and professionals.