Media Studies BA(Hons)

How this course is delivered

COVID-19 has changed everything. We’ve made some changes to the way our courses are taught to keep everyone safe and that will help you stay connected and involved in university life.

From the start of term in September, you’ll learn through a blend of on-campus and digitally enabled remote learning that will provide lots of opportunities to interact and engage. Together with carefully managed access to libraries, labs, workshops and studios this means your studies are as collaborative, practical and flexible as possible.

Year 1 

This year lays the foundations for your study, introducing ways of understanding and theorising the media and the social, cultural, economic, political and technological changes associated with their development. 

Modules

Core modules

• Critical Approaches to Media 1

  This module will introduce you to a range of critical academic approaches to media. It tackles the most cutting-edge topics in media studies and introduces canonical approaches used in their analysis. An introduction to these approaches will enable you to understand the workings of media audiences, industries and texts. The module will focus on media experiences that are relevant to your everyday life, ensuring that as well as academic development, the module will give you the tools to analyse your own engagement with, and consumption of, the media.

• Critical Approaches to Media 2

  This module introduces key media studies theories and concepts and applies them to the analysis of real-world issues. You will develop skills and techniques to critique media representations, showing the importance of media analysis in everyday life. By analysing media technologies, you will engage with the most innovative media content, forms and practices of the day. By questioning mediation, the module will bring to life the role of media in society and enable you to critique the media in terms of culture, politics, innovation and environment.

Options*

• Digital Media, Data and Society

  This module will introduce you to the study of digital media technologies, cultural and social change, and encourages a reflective approach to your own experience of using the media. You will explore the increasing number of networked devices and internet connectivity alongside the explosion of data collected, analysed and used. You will critically examine the role of data and networked media in shaping social interactions of a private and public nature, and implications for individuals and communities at home and globally.

• Video Production 1

  This module will equip you with the essential skills and practical experience required to create short-form non-fictional audio-visual content, suitable in form to contemporary web-based - as well as more traditional - delivery platforms and audiences. It covers all three stages of video production: pre-production research and planning, production and post-production, including editing. It will introduce the fundamentals of video and sound-recording techniques as well as give you the skills required for successfully engaging with contributors/participants.

• Photographic Practice 1

  In this module you will explore the role and use of photography in visual media. You will engage with various aspects of the language and production of promotional and editorial photography. You will respond to set briefs and create your own website that includes an online portfolio as well as learn the core skills in which to consider, articulate and document reflections on your practice.

• Business, Creative/Digital Industries and Innovation

  On this module you will develop a sense of commercial awareness, including key entrepreneurial skills and knowledge required to engage with innovation in the creative and digital industries. You will work as a part of a team to recognise trends and opportunities and then develop your ideas into a business plan. You will reflect on your ideas, considering issues around collaboration, innovation, sustainability and intellectual property.

• Creative Industries and Promotional Cultures

  This module will introduce you to the creative and promotional industries such as advertising, public relations, marketing and branding. It offers a historical overview of and contemporary perspectives on their development and change. You will engage critically with questions surrounding the political economy of the cultural industries, new consumer practices and the politics of consumption, and will develop an understanding of a range of mainstream practices as well as critical interventions in the language and dynamics of promotional cultures.

• Understanding Audiences: Theory and Context

  In this module you will examine the role and characteristics of media consumption in the C21st and the relationship that exists between audiences, texts and technologies of production, distribution and reception. You will encounter a range of theories and research methods through study of a range of real-world media organisations and their respective audiences, and as a practical exercise, will design a cross-media campaign for a targeted audience demographic.

• Understanding Television

  This module will develop your critical understanding of television as a social and cultural form by placing emphasis upon developing your understanding of television through both an introduction of key moments of its history, and by developing theoretical frameworks, which will enable you to approach an understanding of television as a particular social pleasure.

• Media and Popular Culture

  This module will introduce you to the concept of popular culture through the perspectives of media studies. You will critically engage with, explore and critique a range of popular cultural forms and practices. You will explore a range of current as well as historical examples of film, TV, music, and online popular culture through analysis of both the conditions of production - the entertainment industry - and audiences’ engagement with these texts.

• Community Media for Social Action

  Tools, spaces and processes of community communications form the basis of inquiry into community media and social action. You will engage with theories of empowerment and voice as well as engaging in introductory practices of community media for social action. Your outputs from the practice component will be presented in class before being archived on the student learning space. You will also learn to reflect critically on your experiences and the processes of contextualised content generation through online communicative learning.

• Global Political Communication

  This module will introduce you to key concepts and thinkers in political communication and will enable you to critically explore the relationship between national, international and global political communication, as well as questions of media representation, forms of governance and democracy thus situating journalism practice in its critical context.

• Producing and Consuming Social Media

  This module explores your critical understanding of consuming and producing social media in  personal and professional settings.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Jasmin Boorman, Media Studies BA(Hons) student, talks about why she chose her course at Brighton and the wide variety of modules that have helped her find her niche in TV production.

Year 2 

In year 2 you will focus on an industry placement and research methods and methodology. The industry placement will give you invaluable insight into how media works in the real world and the opportunity to relate this practice to the theory you have been studying.

Familiarity with research methods and methodology will equip you with the knowledge and skills to execute independent research as part of your final-year studies. 

Modules

• Research Methods and Methodology
• Media Placement

Options*

• Video Production 2
• Photographic Practices 2
• Social Media Applications in Activism, Business and Life
• Media and Political Engagement in the Post-truth Era
• Community Radio
• Brands and Branding
• Visual Media Cultures
• Media Project Management
• Media and Public Relations
• Journalism
• Film Studies
• Popular Music
• Mobile Media Cultures
• Media Ethics
• Videogames Cultures
• Cooking, Dining and the Screen
• Memory, History and Trauma Onscreen
• Philosophy on Screen
• Critical Perspectives on Media Work

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

In your final year you will produce a dissertation or production-based dissertation, under the guidance of an experienced supervisor. You will research this major project independently, giving you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to draw together the knowledge you have gained over the course in a sustained piece of writing or the production of an artefact and critical reflection.

Modules

• Media Dissertation

Options*

• Audiovisual Professional Practice
• National and Global Media Studies
• Media Policy
• Mediating Science and Technology
• Critical Approaches to the Videogame
• Celebrity Media
• Sustainability and Innovation in Digital Culture
• Digital Media Marketing and Innovation
• Critical Issues in Political Communication
• Communication for International Development
• Community Project
• Genre and Film 
• Inclusive Media Practice
• Framing Women: The ‘female’ in popular screen culture
• The Cultural Politics of Screening Race
• Screen Comedy
• Children’s Screen Cultures
• Screening the Unreal: Science fiction, horror, fantasy
• British Television Drama
• Exploring Animation
• Television Production

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year work by Willis Annison – five amateur dancers worked in partnership with Willis to produce images that counteract homogenising representations of emotions.

Placements 

During the second year of study you will undertake a professional work placement in a media-related organisation. Placements are usually unpaid. You will receive guidance to help you focus your search from a dedicated placement team who will support you with writing your CV and cover letter, making online applications, setting up a portfolio and managing your online presence.

Placements are usually around four weeks and are academically assessed. Your degree award will reflect your industry experience.

For examples of places where students have undertaken please see the careers section below.

Hear from a placement student

Holly Smith Media Studies BA (Hons)

Holly spent her four week placement at EspressoTV, an international documentary distribution company:

"As it was a very small company, I was trusted with a lot of responsibility and this really helped me see how this part of the media industry works. I would advise anyone searching for a placement to open their minds to smaller local media companies and not just the larger ones in London because smaller companies often use the help you are offering them to the full and you have a higher chance of getting really stuck in with the work you are doing.

"It is a very scary thing to embark upon, but you have to remember that you are not alone in this experience, so use the help from the university and your classmates as much as you can. I am so happy that I completed the four week placement and it really is one of the most valuable experiences I have had in my educational life thus far."

Facilities 

• Digital and analogue stills equipment, including DSLRs and a range of lenses plus an offsite darkroom
• Video recording equipment, from Canon DSLRs to Blackmagic cameras, in a dedicated TV studio
• Audio recording kit and facilities, including bookable sound/radio booths
• Dedicated video editing suites including Mac and PC computers with specialist software.

Meet the team

Dr Theodore Koulouris, course leader 

Theodore Koulouris leads the Media Studies degree programme in our School of Media. He teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum, specialising in media and literary theory, media ethics, the politics of mourning, political communication, and national and European politics. His teaching benefits from his ability to link theory with practice by continuously highlighting to students the relevance and urgency of media studies to developments in the arts, politics, the economy and, in general, to contemporary culture. An internationally known specialist in the work of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, his overall output addresses the reception of the classics in post-1850s British culture, feminism and feminist activism in the digital era, and the intersections of classical literature and contemporary politics. Since 2012, he has been twice nominated by his students for the Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning Award.

Read Theo's full academic profile. 

Paula Hearsum, Aristea Fotopoulou, Irmi Karl, Peter Day, Julia Winckler, Patricia Prietro Blanco, Julien Doyle, Lance Dann, Ryan Burns, Frauke Behrendt, Maria Short, Martin de Saulles, Iestyn George and Paul Ryan.

Podcast: listen to a podcast with Senior Lecturer Iestyn George where he talks about his work in journalism and marketing, why he believes media is the most important subject to study at university and the future of magazines.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies, although we have tried to keep this to a minimum. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Media are listed here.

• There will be opportunities to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but you can budget approximately £30–£700 for these. The nature of the costs vary from provisions for a packed-lunch to flight and accommodation costs for international field trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
• Typically, practice-based courses incur more costs than text-based subjects. These costs are normally associated with specialist equipment and materials for making work and for the public presentation of work.
• Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning. Students may choose to buy their own specialist equipment, these may include cameras, or computers and software. Budgets can range from £50–£2,000. Buying specialist equipment is best undertaken in consultation with our academic and technical staff. This expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £200 for printing and publishing. Photography courses may incur higher costs (£500–£2,000) when printing and framing images of professional standard for public presentation.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £150 for stationery.
• Final-year graduation shows are opportunities to present your final, independent project work to the public. Practice-based courses will typically incur higher costs. Depending on the specific nature of your final project you will need to budget between £20–£2,500. 

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

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