One of the most valuable aspects of MA Moving Image and Sound is being part of a community of practitioners and researchers with diverse specialisms. Depending on your specialism you may engage with a range of audiovisual methods including: animation (including 2D digital, CGI and stop motion); film and moving image production; motion graphics; scripting and narrative; pre-production and post-production skills and techniques; and sound design. Taught components will enhance your knowledge and understanding of both moving image and sound and you will be encouraged to explore wider historical and cultural contexts for your work.
You will be expected to demonstrate breadth, depth and originality in your experimentation with concepts, issues and materials relating to moving image and/or sound design. Through intensive study and comprehensive technical workshops you will refine the practical and conceptual skills necessary to create original and innovative work, to a high professional standard.
This Creative Skillset accredited programme accelerates individual practices within an inspirational and supportive industry-standard environment.
Creative thinking and innovation are at the core of the MA philosophy and you will engage with students from across the postgraduate community to share opportunities and debate contemporary issues.
We encourage our students to engage in critical discourse through course specific seminars, lectures and critiques; larger NUA symposia such as Dialogues (Fine Art) and Cowbird (Design); and attendance at national and international exhibitions and conferences.
Sound Studio
Sound production/ edit rooms and recording studio equipped with Logic studio software.
Media Lab 1
For digital 3D production. Software includes the ZBrush, Silo, Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite, Corel Painter and Adobe Creative Suite.
Media Labs 2 and 4
For video capture, edit, production and 2D animation: Adobe Premiere Pro, Maya and Adobe Creative Suite.
General Technical Sessions
Optional software inductions available to all students introduce you to a wide range of creative possibilities and output options.
Media Resource Centre
For digital cameras, tripods, 35mm DSLRs, 35mm film cameras and lighting equipment.
NUA Library
The largest specialist are, design and media collection in the East of England including 32,000 books, 1,300 journal subscriptions and 3,000 DVDs.
The offer of entry onto a Masters Degree (MA) is based on an expectation that you have the potential to fulfil the aims of the course of study and achieve the standard required to successfully complete the award. Entrants should normally have achieved a BA (Hons)/BSc Degree of 2:1 or above (or its equivalent), in a subject related to your proposed course of study.
Applicants who hold a Degree from another discipline may also be considered for entry, subject to the submission of a satisfactory portfolio of art, design or media-related work in support of their application.
The majority of applicants to courses at NUA will be invited to attend an interview. This provides an invaluable chance to meet face-to-face and is the major factor in determining the success of your submission. The interview is an opportunity to assess your work and the suitability of your application and also provides you with a chance to assess NUA’s staff, campus and facilities and ask questions. The key focus of your application process is on your portfolio. Some courses may require additional entry requirements or passes in specific subjects.
For further information on this course, please visit our website - MA Moving Image and Sound.
On this course you will experience a broad range of skills and techniques relating to a range of different areas within the animation and digital effects industries before choosing a specific area to specialise in. You then develop your skills and knowledge in that chosen area to become a multi-talented animation and digital effects artist.
You are supported in the production of creatively driven work to a professional standard and encouraged to challenge boundaries and think in original ways. You develop intellectual and critical approaches to creative tasks and production processes in animation and digital effects. The course provides an environment where you are enabled to work flexibly and independently within the diverse media industries.
We have up-to-date industry standard animation and digital compositing software and facilities allowing you to build your professional skill set throughout the course. You develop practical and conceptual skills in animation production through real world scenarios. You make and complete animations and digital effects to a high professional standard and develop a portfolio of work that showcases your skills to future employers.
Postgraduate certificate modules
Postgraduate diploma CORE modules
Postgraduate diploma OPTION modules
Masters modules
Careers exist in filmmaking professions, where everything from set designing to cinematography now involves or is entirely completed by computer-generated images, animation and digital compositing – all techniques you can develop on this course.
Continuing expansion of this area offers exciting and challenging career opportunities in • film and television production • game development • motion graphics • web content creation.
Explore the potential of performance design with this wide-ranging programme.
You’ll develop an awareness of the performance events and experiences that can be created with the aid of lighting, projection, settings and objects, puppetry, props, costume, sound as well as newer technologies such as digital and pervasive media. You’ll have space to experiment and come up with innovative and creative ideas for performance, while learning more about the theories and concepts that are shaping emergent forms of theatre, art and performance practice.
As you build up your MA portfolio you’ll engage with contemporary performance and arts practices – including immersive and participatory forms of performance, as well as those outside of the theatre – while considering the role they play in their wider social, cultural and economic landscape. This is the only research-orientated programme in the UK tailored towards academic and practical engagement with performance design.
You’ll be based in our purpose-built landmark building [email protected], with two professional-standard and publicly licensed theatres that regularly host works by students and visiting theatre companies. One of these is a technically advanced research facility, and both are fully equipped with the latest technology. A dance studio, dressing rooms and box office are also in the building, and our School includes rehearsal rooms, two black-box studios, costume construction and wardrobe stores, a design studio and scenic workshop, video editing and sound recording suits as well as computer aided design.
But our biggest strength is our links with external organisations, which give you the chance to get outside the theatre and explore performance in different environments. Our partners include Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, the National Media Museum, Leeds City Council, Red Ladder Theatre Company, Limehouse Productions, Phoenix Dance Theatre, the National Coal Mining Museum for England, HMP New Hall, Blah BlahBlah Theatre Company, the BBC and HMP Wetherby.
Throughout the programme, you’ll develop an awareness of research methods and approaches in performance and the cultural industries. In Semester One, you’ll also take a core module which introduces you to key concepts, theories and ideas in performance design, exploring ideas such as visuality and the theatre, spectacle, audience experience and multi-sensorial performance.
This foundation will inform the rest of your studies, including your practice. In Semester One you’ll also work with a range of scenographic materials to develop your own creative practice, spending time in practical workshops alongside lectures where you’ll consider current issues and debates in performance design and the role of practice-led research.
In Semester Two you’ll apply all the knowledge and skills you’ve gained to an independent research project, which could be practice-led or a written dissertation on a topic of your choice. You’ll also be able to spend more time on your practice – you’ll have the chance to complete an individual project, or to collaborate with fellow students from across the School, or work on another small-scale research project based on a two-week placement in an external organisation. Alternatively you could choose from optional modules on topics such as audience engagement or debates on culture and place.
If you choose to study part-time, you’ll study over a longer period and take fewer modules in each year.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
We use different teaching and learning methods to help you develop your skills and make the most of our tutors’ expertise, including, practicals, seminars, tutorials, lectures and group learning. Independent study is also integral to the programme, since it helps you to form your own ideas and build skills in research and analysis.
The assessment methods you experience will vary depending on the module. However, to allow you to develop skills in a range of areas they will include essays, performances, visual documentation, verbal presentations, critical evaluations and reports.
This programme will give you the knowledge and skills to become an articulate and creative performance design practitioner. This could include; working as a designer or director in theatre, live performance, festivals or the events industry (either within a company or freelance), creating your own performance events or performance company, or working in community arts.
You’ll also gain a range of transferable skills in research, analysis, interpretation and communication, as well as imagination, independence and cultural awareness. This will equip you to work for a variety of roles across the cultural and creative industries, for example, in administration, marketing and management.
Because of the emphasis on research, it’s also good preparation for PhD-level study and teaching.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Screening / Staging Europe at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).
If you have an interest or wish to develop expertise in drama and /or cinema with a European focus, the Screening / Staging Europe programme could be the degree for you. We have expertise in Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theatre, German Expressionism and French Surrealism, as well as the key auteurs of European cinema. We offer joint supervision with American Studies, Creative Writing, English Literature or Welsh as appropriate and are particularly interested in projects which explore cultural transfer from the European Continent to Wales in particular and the British Isles more broadly. Your project in Screening / Staging Europe may focus on drama or cinema or a combination of the two.
An MA by Research in Screening / Staging Europe gives you the chance to pursue a project based around your own passions and interests, leading to a qualification which can open the door to an academic career or boost employment prospects outside academia (typically in the private sector, the Civil Service, or education).
Features are:
- Dual supervision by experts with matching specialist knowledge of two distinct areas.
- Opportunity to acquire and apply language skills.
- Projects with a focus in the Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish) and drama / cinema associated with them may qualify for a full-fee Maney Bursary.
All research students in Screening / Staging Europe are required to attend skills and training courses at College and Institutional level. They give presentations to other research students and staff at departmental seminars and the annual departmental postgraduate symposium in June and the College of Arts and Humanities conference in October. Advanced research students may have opportunities to teach undergraduate tutorials and seminars. You have a budget (currently £200 per year) to attend conferences outside Swansea.
MA by Research in Screening / Staging degree typically lasts from one year (full-time study) to two years (part-time study).
The MA by Research in Staging / Screening Europe is ideal for those who want:
- an MA qualification in niche areas where taught programmes are not offered;
- the experience of a research degree without committing to a PhD, while retaining the option to upgrade to MPhil or PhD.
As a student of the Screening / Staging research programme you attend a series of training courses and have regular supervisions while you are reading around your topic and / or collecting your data and materials. You will write a 5000-word introductory essay in the first term and have designed an outline and sketched a synopsis by this stage. You will agree a series of milestones and deadlines with your experienced supervisory team who will accompany you each step of the way on your research journey.
Research proposals are invited on any topic in Screening / Staging for which staff can provide supervision. It is advisable to email a member of academic staff in the appropriate area before applying.
For informal enquiries regarding the Screening / Staging programme please contact Professor Julian Preece ([email protected]).
