We are born to communicate. Through objects and images, sounds and words, we declare our passions, entertain each other and influence the world around us. Cultural, Media and Visual Studies examines and makes sense of all this activity.
Through a range of practical workshops, group projects, lectures, seminars and field trips, you’ll develop critical thinking skills and hands-on experience that give you the versatility to adapt in an ever-changing landscape of media, communication and cultural sectors. Here’s a taste of what you can expect from our modules.
I developed the idea for a supernatural drama and chose to hypothetically pitch it to HBO. In a pitch you have to be able to communicate clearly what the show is about and why it’s going to stand out. You need to be able address key themes such as globalisation and ethics but also demonstrate that you understand the practicalities of costs. It was stressful putting everything together but it was worth it in the end as I got a first!
Aiesha
Film and Television (now Film and Screen Studies) BA
Studio Project
Throughout your degree you will undertake a number of studio project modules which will help you recognise your status as a trainee researcher and encourage you to devise your own creative output around a topic of your choice.
You’ll work on a different studio project each term, starting with the foundations for university-level research and getting you familiar with cultures of familiar life through group projects. Based on the research and project management skills you develop during years one and two, you'll work on an independent research project in your final year. The topic and format of your final project is entirely up to you, whether it’s a podcast series on gaming, a video essay on the history of pop art, or a project plan for your own documentary on how social media has changed the way we interact with other cultures.
We went out into the streets and produced a portfolio of sounds and pictures annotated to demonstrate how everyday life affects us. It was quite a philosophical module, and we used concepts such as Rhythmanalysis to analysis our findings. The theoretical knowledge definitely helped me when producing the practical work.
Pablo
Spanish and International Media and Communications Studies BA
Institutions and Practices
This module is an introduction to the practical workings of media, creative and cultural sectors. You’ll examine the production, distribution, and exhibition of media, art, screen, and creative texts, and how access, ownership and power works within a political economy. You’ll analyse established hierarchies and practices of institutions, markets, and organisations, as well as the tensions between individuals and wider structures.
Leora Hadas discusses Institutions and Practices
Ways of Seeing, Hearing and Reading
This module introduces you to the analysis of visual, auditory, audio-visual, and textual representation across media, art and screen cultures. You’ll explore themes such as misrepresentation, narrative, and persuasive forms of content and storytelling. You’ll learn a range of analytical skills and terminology to help you understand how meaning is produced in different contexts and the instability of a single reading.
Global Media and Cultural Flows
What is communication? How is it shaped by culture? In this module, you’ll look at production, ownership, circulation and consumption of media, art and screen culture beyond White, Anglophone and Western contexts. You'll learn how cultures intersect and how this helps us understand the nature of national, regional, and global media and industries. You can expect to become familiar with how culture changes in a globalised world, as well as how cultural contexts influence media institutions.
Encountering Culture: Media, Art and Screen Experiences
How does your social and cultural position affect the impact and value you perceive from media, art, and screen culture? Learn how experiences are shaped by factors such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability, and how this influence can change over time. You'll be introduced to the history and critical theories of cultural experience and reception and discuss questions of interpretation and meaning.
Objects and Technologies
This module explores the historical development of media technologies, objects and experiences. You’ll interrogate the concepts of ‘technology’ and ‘object’ as well as take part in debates about the role of technology in shaping media and the impacts of technologies and objects on the wider community. You’ll look at case studies revolving around technologies and objects from the printing press, paints, and paper to the internet, smartphones and automated systems such as algorithms and AI.
The course taught me to understand ambiguities and that things aren’t all black and white. I think sometimes people think studying history of art is all looking at Renaissance paintings and finding the secrets – like the Da Vinci Code! Sometimes, very rarely, it’s like that, but really it’s about understanding the intricacies of a social and political landscape through its visual culture. The course definitely taught me to understand complex ideas and taught me how to write, which has been very useful.
Chloe Austin
Exhibitions and Research Manager at Maximillian William, London, BA History of Art (now Art History and Visual Culture) graduate
Alex Simcock discusses Studio Project 1A
Alex Simcock discusses Studio Project 1B
I have a passion for film critique and textual analysis. Before my course, I always just talked about what I’d seen in film, I’d never looked at what others were writing. With the course, I understood it’s important to read about others and see how we change and develop, how we can take from the past and implement it in the present. I expanded my knowledge in reading articles and I’ve got a better understanding of the industry now – where it’s been, where it is, and where it might be in the future.
Melania Burlacu
BA Film and Television Studies (Now Film and Screen Studies) graduate
