Creative Media Arts with Foundation BA Honours

Critical thinking is fundamental to our ability to progress in an increasingly complex and changing world. It is an essential skill across a range of academic and practice-based disciplines.

This module helps you understand the importance and function of critical thinking both at university and beyond. By working in partnership with academic staff and peers, you will explore how critical thinking aligns with disciplinary practices, shapes scholarly knowledge, and addresses inequalities. Through problem-posing education and anti-racist practices, you will engage with real-world problems, fostering the ability to create a more just and sustainable world.

This module provides you with an opportunity to develop a broad understanding of the key working methods, concepts and principles of the Art and Design disciplines within the Foundation course. You will be challenged to complete a sequence of short projects, working across a range of techniques within the subject disciplines. Self- evaluation and documenting your learning are both important elements of this process, and you will be learning by doing.

This Semester 2 module deepens and consolidates the fundamental skills, approaches and processes of Art and Design research and practice developed in Semester 1 through a practical Extended Project. It helps you to develop your creative practice, based on iterative practical, technical and contextual research, and undertaken through a negotiated project. With an overarching theme set across disciplinary pathways, you will work within a chosen discipline, with group and individual tutorial support, to develop a project proposal in response to the initial brief that after approval is realised through a body of work aimed at presentation in a public exhibition.

This Semester 1 module introduces fundamentals of Art and Design practice and research. It helps you to develop your individual creative practice based on an understanding of visual and contextual research processes through structured studio, research and technical activities.

This module introduces you to the key academic, professional, and personal skills essential for success at university. It encourages good practices in writing, presentation, and time management, while also fostering reflection to help you build confidence as you transition to higher education. Open to all students enrolled in courses delivered through Westminster Foundation Pathways, the module provides a creative and supportive environment where you can reflect on and develop their academic and professional journey. You'll work with specialist facilitators who play a crucial role in guiding your academic and professional development.

With a focus on managing academic choices in a higher education setting, the module emphasises the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), using methodologies that prioritise equality, diversity, and inclusion. Through these lenses, you'll explore topics that prepare you to address real-world challenges as highlighted in the SDGs in a socially conscious, inclusive, and responsible manner.

Following the Art and Design modules of Semester 1, this module provides you with the opportunity to engage with some of the key themes and practices of Art and Design disciplines. You will be challenged to complete several projects of approximately one month’s duration, selecting techniques and working methods from the available disciplines. Self-evaluation and documenting your learning continue to be important elements of this process, and you will be learning by doing.

This module provides an induction and understanding of creative and collaborative research practice, assessment processes and group working required in creative practice subjects. The module will introduce you to the University’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).

You'll be challenged to experiment individually, undertaking contextual and practical research, which will contribute to a significant group project where students will be allocated creative roles in groups working collaboratively.

As well as exploring creative processes, the module provides an opportunity for you to gain an understanding of other disciplines, and if you choose, to work with students from other disciplines, or use disciplinary approaches beyond your own course of study. It also introduces you to the wider community of creative practice at the Harrow Campus.

This module further develops the practical skills introduced in Creativity and Collaboration and Storytelling: Photography and Web Media, together with methods for research and conceptual development, in the production of a Space, Place and Experience (SPE) Practical Project (70%). You'll undertake workshops throughout the module to enhance your technical abilities in all media areas. The individual Written Essay (30%) is based on choosing one from a series of set questions and challenges you to critically reflect on the themes addressed in the SPE Project.

This module establishes the interrelationship between media theory and practice by introducing theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin creativity in the contemporary media arts industries. This interconnectedness is reflected in the assessment structure, which comprises an interdisciplinary Storytelling Project (70%) and a Written Essay (30%) to be chosen from a series of questions based on themes and debates addressed throughout the module. As such, the module develops key academic and creative skills for critical research and analysis.

This module allows you to engage with the practices and characteristics of screen-based traditions, typically expanded photography, moving image and animation. The emphasis is on experimental and exploratory approaches, where traditions, ideas and technologies are subject to critical analysis, creative play, mixing/blurring, and realisation/production.

You'll propose a personal project in response to conceptual and theoretical prompts; project development will be supported through negotiation with tutors and peer review.

The module is structured around a series of workshops and tutorials. Workshops typically include analogue processes such as 16mm movie film and black and white photographic darkroom, and digital processes such as still photography and video editing. Assessment is based on a combination of the final project, as presented in an end of module critical review, and supporting documentation of research.

This is a practical module that develops knowledge of production design techniques in terms of practice and concept. The completion of a design handbook will enable a variety of skills from script breakdown to pre-visualisation. There is an emphasis on critical analysis of both your own work and that of professional designers.

This module is designed to meet the growing demand for producing content for moving image in related creative industries. The module focuses on practices, techniques and technologies relating to the areas of moving image, animation and compositing. At the same time, this module looks at the role of visual artists, focusing on developing their understanding and knowledge of the key concepts, principles and tools that promote clear communication of ideas for producing moving image content for digital distribution. Working in small teams or individually, you'll develop single or multiple projects lasting no longer than 3 minutes in total. Projects are then presented for assessment in live presentations.

This module recognises that, from the very opening frames of any screen drama, audience engagement depends on believable performances from actors. Because simply knowing what is wanted from actors on screen does not equip directors to achieve the desired results, students are introduced to the craft of acting along with a range of techniques for effectively working with actors and non-actors in developing characters and scenarios, casting, rehearsals, and directing actors on set.

Media convergence refers to the flow of content across media and active participation by media users and audiences. The creative industries increasingly demand transferable skills and an awareness of the shifting relationships across media practices and platforms in a digital context. You'll develop projects that illustrate this fluidity of content and encourage user participation through a range of media, such as AR, VR, interactive web media and installation-based work. This module also further develops the ability to reflect critically on project development and outcomes through individually produced research documentation.

This module prepares you for undertaking advanced creative and critical research at Level 6, especially the Research Project module. Identifying methods and designs suitable for theory and practice-based research, you are supported in your development of an appropriate topic in the creative media arts.

The frontiers of media practice increasingly disregard the distinctions between traditional media. This module challenges you to explore the boundaries of existing media to develop emergent and transferable skills pertinent to an age of digital distribution. These explorations will be situated in relation to contemporary debates, including sustainability, social, and climate justice. Intermediate and advanced workshops across course media (typically, new media, still and moving image, physical computing, AR/VR) will be provided to support the Media Frontiers Project. Working individually or in a group, you'll be asked to identify your production methods in relation to this spread of media.

This module introduces you to the professional creative industries and provides you with experience of related workplace environments, relevant to the host course, through a range of tailored professional projects, including a work placement (alternatives may include client-set briefs and curated public events). Taught sessions introduce different career possibilities and provide an overview of professional skills, as well as introducing you to relevant support within the University and external professional networks and support services.

This module considers the impact of culture and power on current and future creative media practices. By examining the creative industries from an interdisciplinary perspective, you'll develop informed critical responses to recent social and technological transformations involving creative media. These responses will be assessed in a written essay or a video essay.

This is a practical module in which you'll immerse yourself in the art and craft of Cinematography. Week by week you'll look at camera and lighting skills, combining creative expression with technical expertise. You'll work collaboratively to shoot exercises and investigate a range of industry-standard equipment and techniques. The completion of a ‘camera and lighting scrapbook’ will enable a variety of skills and will allow you to research specific areas of interest within lighting and camera departments – shaping their own visual narrative.

This module takes an intersectional approach to race, ethnicity, gender and class in film and TV. The module will pay attention to the interconnected nature of these identities. You'll look at how you shape lived experiences of people and how moving images participate in this process. You'll explore how film reproduces or subverts existing norms and privileges, and discuss topics such as gender, sexuality, diversity, agency, tokenism, LGBTQI representation, critical race theory and whiteness. These terms will be discussed in relation to each other rather than mutually exclusive debates. You'll also think about the film form during our classes. Examples you'll be looking at will include a variety of approaches to the question of identities but also different genres, including discussion on essay film. Discussions on essay film help you formulate your responses in a video essay format. Our emphasis will be on close textual analysis of films in relation to theoretical debates while paying close attention to social and historical contexts where relevant.

Screen 2: Short Form Film and Video is designed to meet the substantial demand for short form media content which is consumed across multiple personal devices (including desk-top computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones) and distributed across multiple platforms (including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok). The module seeks to arm you with the skillset and confidence to work as an ‘all-rounder creative’ - an individual who generates shortform content without the multi-person crew and high-end equipment used on other BA Film production modules. The ability to work as an independent producer of short form media content increases your employability upon graduation by enabling you to individually create professional-level content using emerging technologies and mainstream equipment.

This module enables you to gain practical experience, along with a critical and conceptual understanding of the processes involved in writing a short script for various media, such as moving image, audio-based or interactive media. The role of the writer and specific writing methodologies are placed within a professional framework of script- and screenwriting, with the specific practices of writing for media differentiated from other forms (eg journalistic or literary forms).

This module addresses a wide range of theories and practices linked to sound design for art and media, including audio spatialisation, multichannel recording and mixing, remix culture and sound for screen. In supporting you to undertake sound and audio-based research relevant to your specific projects, it also encourages exploration of sonic interdisciplinarity across fine art and installation work, film, animation and interactive media, and experimental music composition.

This is the practical research and planning module for the Major Project. It addresses conceptual investigation, feasibility testing, and budgeting for the development of advanced projects across media. You'll learn about relevant contexts and participate in debates based on sustainability, social justice, and climate justice. The module requires you to engage with professional methodologies for developing project proposals, the outcome of which is a body of documentation that establishes the basis for the Major Project.

This module represents the culmination of the course. It is an opportunity for you to bring together all the knowledge, creative and practical skills, and critical abilities you have acquired in the execution of an advanced and ambitious project. A particular emphasis is on projects that explore emergent and interdisciplinary practices.

The Research Project is an extended piece of work, building on a proposal developed at Level 5 in the host course. Through self-initiated research, you'll identify an appropriate topic relevant to your discipline and embark on a process of supervised but independent inquiry. A distinctive feature of this Research Project is that it is a substantial piece of critical academic work, which embeds research and a theoretical framework as appropriate for a dissertation but offers you options in terms of output format. The format might be that of a Dissertation (8,000 words), but alternative forms are also available, to be negotiated and agreed with your project supervisor.

This module supports you in launching yourself in the media industries, or other intended careers. You present and promote yourself and your work to potential employers, with this facilitated through a programme of visiting professionals and workshops. Tasks include the production of a career plan and associated promotional materials, which you show to relevant professionals for advice and feedback.