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Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies

Core Modules

Year One
Media, Creative and Cultural Industries

Together with the year 1 module Thinking Culture and Creativity this module aims to introduce you to key concepts and frameworks which underpin the programme. The primary aim of this module will be to define what we mean by the media, creative and cultural industries, using theories of production and consumption to illuminate emerging practices.

Thinking Culture and Creativity

In conjunction with Media, Creative and Cultural Industries, this module will enable you to establish significant intellectual, creative, academic and practical capabilities, all of which are central to playing a transformative role in future global media and creative industries. The module will develop your initiative and your ability to take risks, experiment and test ideas.

Media Lab 1

This module will introduce you to the Media Lab experience (a three-year pathway through the course designed to develop skills, experiences and understanding of online/portable media content), and the emergent ideas, techniques and approaches that a contemporary media practitioner will need.

MCI Industry Case Study

In this module you will be introduced to the creative, media and cultural sectors with specific reference to the types of organisations, the challenges that they face and the practicalities of working within them. The module's case study led approach will allow you to explore a specific industry in depth and detail.

Year Two
Media and Cultural Management

This module will introduce you to theories and practices of management in the media, creative and cultural industries. The aim is first to introduce you to management models and tools adapted to the distinctive challenges and conditions of these sectors. The second aim is develop your understanding of how the business of cultural and media production depends upon relationships and capabilities beyond the ability to create excellent content.

Cultures of Engagement

This module will equip you with a knowledge of the concepts and theories of communication and representation that relate to 'engagement'; of the public sphere and the public, of markets and consumer groups, and of brand and new modes of global identity.

Media Lab 2

Building on Media Lab 1 you will work across connected platforms to create a clearly defined experience and/or piece of content in consultation with an audience. The module will enable you to experiment collaboratively with the integration of technologies and platforms in order to produce engaging work. You will also be asked to critically reflect on the processes and outcomes of your work in the light of the latest thinking.

Media and Intellectual Property

The creative and media industries are frequently described as the copyright industries. In this module you will explore the relationship between creative production and IP law and consider IP law’s relevance and application within specific areas of creative practice. It will support and complement your learning on the Media Lab and Media and Creative Industry Residency modules, equipping you with both theoretical and practical understanding of the legal frameworks in which creative and media practitioners operate.

Media and Creative Industry: The Workplace

This module will build your practical knowledge of the creative, media and cultural sectors. It will develop your professional skills and confidence through practical work experience in an organisation.

Year Three
Leading for Innovation

This module will prepare you for leadership of innovative projects in the media, cultural and creative industries, as well as other industries where creativity and media play a strong role. The module will help to develop your own value focused model of innovation leadership drawing on theories of leadership and innovation and critical self-reflection.

Event Production/Creative Producing

This module focuses on digital producers who are responsible for bringing new products, services and experiences to the public. You will learn how to broker the diverse talents of technologists, artists, designers, and audiences to develop projects that contribute to cultural life and address social, cultural, economic and environmental concerns.

Media Lab Major Project

This Media Lab Major Project is the culmination of Media Lab 1 and Media Lab 2 and is self-directed. Your project could be based around a practice, a communication form or a technological innovation that you have experimented with (perhaps in the first two years of study) and that you wish to explore in more depth. Or it could be a combination of elements, technologies and communicative forms. If you wish to take a more theoretical route, you could also opt to write a dissertation as a reflective practitioner.

Media and Creative Industries Residency

The final industry facing module will allow you to gain practical experience in the operation or development of a media, creative, cultural organisation through a residency or extended Workplace Study and critically reflect upon that experience and research in terms of your capacity to shape, influence or impact an organisation. This module will develop your initiative, ability to take decisions and risks and develop your ambitions. Through your interactions with professionals, we aim to dissolve your assumptions and develop your insight into the nature of employment within the contemporary creative, cultural and media sectors.

Three Strands

Theory, Practice, Industry

You will learn how to experiment, test, plan, research, develop, distribute, produce and commission creative and cultural work through Media Lab modules across all three years; as well as understand the industrial, political, technological and social issues that underpin media and creative processes through the Placement, Workplace Study and Residency modules. With this course you will have the opportunity in each of the three years to select a module from a number of departments at the university, thus expanding your opportunities for learning from other disciplines.

Your Media Lab

You will study in a well-equipped Media Lab and project/seminar space with ready access to your tutors and support staff. The dedicated Media Lab and project/seminar space will be your personal and professional base for the course, kitted out with state of the art powerful desktop computers for creative design work, iPad pros, iPhones, green screen, HD cameras, binaural sound equipment, VR headsets and games consoles. You may choose option modules that bring you into the theatre spaces or screening theatre, and you will have ready access to Warwick Arts Centre. You will also have access to a range of cameras, location recording equipment and edit suites.

Our Industry Connections

Engagement with the creative and media industries, and the not for profit cultural sector, is fundamental to how courses in the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies are designed and taught. This engagement ranges from seminars, workshops, modules and site visits led by industry professionals, to the facilitation of placements, residencies and consultancy projects. Centre staff are pro-active in brokering industry connections through their research and teaching and regularly involve our global network of alumni whose diverse careers reflect every possible role across the creative, media and cultural industries.