Department of Media Production

The Department of Media Production is an incredibly collaborative, creative and industry-focused department.

As the UK’s largest centre for professional media in Higher Education, we’re proud to be at the forefront of sustainable media practice, as well as fostering a culture of inclusivity and openness.

The department holds a Bronze Athena Swan Charter award which recognises our gender equality efforts. We are committed to promoting inclusive working practices and to providing an equitable working environment for both students and staff.

We are one of the very few full UK members of CILECT, a global network of the world’s top film and television schools, and as such we pride ourselves on the global outlook of our work with students.

Our courses

Educating media professionals since 1985, our courses enable you to work closely with other students in related disciplines in a way that mirror industry practice.

We’ve specifically designed our courses in collaboration with industry experts to ensure you graduate with all the necessary knowledge and skills required to work in professional Film, TV and other screen-based media.

Undergraduate courses

Our BA (Hons) Film course predominantly focuses on location filmmaking as opposed to studio, and so you’ll often film away from the campus. You’ll use contemporary digital film cameras (such as Canon C300/ Panasonic GH5) and editing programmes (Adobe Premiere and Avid)

BA (Hons) Film (with Foundation Year option)

On this degree, you will be exposed to an exciting range of experiences within film culture, from industry practice through to experimental cinema. During the course you will examine film through a variety of different approaches, building an understanding of filmmaking through both practice and theory. This includes topics such as the distribution, marketing, buying and fundraising for films, alongside film production.

BA (Hons) Television Production (with Foundation Year option)

On this course, you’ll produce your own programmes, fictional as well as factual, both in the studio and on location, giving you crucial hands-on experience.

BA (Hons) Media Production (with Foundation Year option)

This industry-focused course has core disciplines of film, audio production and digital media design, underpinned by scriptwriting.

Image of a camera lens against blurred lights

BA (Hons) Photography (with Foundation Year option)

On this course, you'll explore photography as a craft and a business, through a combination of practical and theoretical approaches.

Postgraduate courses

MA Cinematography for Film and Television

During the course, you will develop key intellectual and practical skills that meet, or challenge and exceed, current industry practice and expectations. It seeks to develop in parallel your artistic eye, your technical skills, your team-working skills as part of camera crews, and your collaborative skills working with directors.

MA Directing Film and Television

This Master’s is designed to build and develop your knowledge in directing, enabling you to step up to the challenge of delivering award-winning productions. It’s a hands-on course which provides many opportunities for practical production across different platforms and genres in both factual and fictional filmmaking.

MA Post Production Editing

Receive industry-standard training in state-of-the-art facilities and turn your ideas into reality. This course provides practical and theoretical opportunities for you to develop your narrative, technical and collaborative skills as an editor.

MA Producing Film and Television

This Master’s is for students who want to complement their ideas and aspirations with the practical skills needed to make film and television programmes, whether you plan to join the production team of a film crew or even run your own independent production company.

MA Scriptwriting

With a uniquely collaborative emphasis, this course offers opportunities for some of the scripts you develop over the course to be produced, through close collaboration with students from MA Producing Film and Television, MA Directing Film and Television and MA Radio Production.

MA Sound Design for Screen

As the first UK university to offer an MA in Sound, you’ll learn how sound design is used in image-based narrative formats such as film, TV or the game sector and be equipped to enter a range of areas such as film, TV, digital, media or games.

Video editors discuss footage they're working on

MA Production Management

Learn to understand and manage the entire production process, from planning and pre-visualisation, through to working on location and overseeing creative post-production work.

MA Film & Television

As screen-based media play a more central role in our lives, this course nurtures an advanced critical understanding, combining rigorous contextual and conceptual interrogation of film and TV with innovative, hands-on engagement with their inner workings.

Student opportunities

Industry links and accreditations

We prepare you for work in the ever-evolving media production sector, with employers valuing the practical approach we take to developing courses that not only reflect the realities of the current media landscape but also help shape the future of Film, TV and screen-based media. We work closely with a number of leading media organisations; find out more about some of our industry links and accreditations.

Our facilities

As a student within the department, you’ll have access to industry-standard facilities including a 200msq soundstage studio, green screen studio and two 4K TV studios. You’ll also have access to radio and foley studios, as well as video and sound post-production facilities and screening theatres. Explore our facilities on Talbot Campus.

The new Poole Gateway Building opened in spring 2020 and provides a range of high-quality technical facilities to support undergraduate and postgraduate courses as well as research. It is used predominantly by students from the Faculty of Science & Technology and the Faculty of Media & Communication, although it’s also open and accessible to students from other faculties.

Filming on a Halloween-themed set in the Poole Gateway Building; the TV studios are equipped with equipped with 4K (Ultra High Definition) cameras

Inside the film studio in the Poole Gateway Building, one of the many professional-standard facilities found within the 5,000 square metres of space in the building

A practical session being delivered in the Poole Gateway Building on Talbot Campus

More about the Media Production Department

Guest speakers

We pride ourselves on our links with industry and our regular guest speakers, providing you with opportunities to learn from real-world professionals, including some of our very own alumni.