This pathway is for those interested in careers in creative broadcast programme and media making for television, radio, journalism, podcasts and other new and emerging digital media platforms. This degree aims to introduce you to the widest possible experience of modern broadcasting combined with critical thinking and excellent online skills. Whether it is programme making for online or traditional broadcast, live or on location, in front or behind the camera or microphone, you will gain substantial practical skills supported by the kind of theoretical and critical skills employers tell us they want in new entrants to the Creative Industries.
Media & Broadcast Production is one of the most practical and vocationally biased television, radio, podcast and online content creation degrees offered at any Russell Group University in the UK.
Media and Broadcast Production highlights
World Class Facilities
Access to a television and radio studio with broadcast quality LED lighting and green screen facilities; off-line and on-line editing suites, utilising industry software such as Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Avid Pro Tools; access to the Sonic Arts Research Centre for audio training and industry standard audio recording and post production equipment; full high-definition cameras are available as are substantial lighting and sound kits for location work. We also have a substantial amount of equipment for use in the creation of virtual reality content such as HTC Vives, Oculus Go and Insta360 Pro VR cameras with ambisonic microphones for full 360 sound recording.
Industry Links
It is an exciting time to get involved in broadcasting. Northern Ireland has one of the fastest growing creative sectors in the UK economy. Broadcast programme making for entertainment, news,
documentary, current affairs and online is a huge part of the industry here. The work placement module at Level 3 provides students with the opportunity to connect with many of the local production companies.
Career Development
This highly practical course allows students to build up a portfolio of outputs to share with potential employers. The new skillsets developed such as building digital content for online distribution and social media are highly sought after by employers and provide an excellent background for work in the creative industries and broadcasting.
Further Study Opportunities
Further study is also an option - the School offers a Masters (MA) in Media and Broadcast Production. Based within the same department, those students who wish to continue their studies into a fourth year in this subject area can take a one year full-time
taught Masters or two years part-time. See the School website for further information.
Student Experience
We are an Avid Authorised Learning Partner for Media Composer and Pro Tools, offering certified industry-approved training as part of the degree. Broadcast Production benefits from close relationships with BBC NI, UTV, Northern Ireland Screen and the Belfast Media Festival with industry professionals connecting to teaching right across the programme from many of the production companies in Northern Ireland.
Global Opportunities
As well as having the opportunity to apply for study abroad for a semester or academic year through student exchange in Europe or North America, this degree will give students a highly portable set of practical and critical skills that will be recognised by and applicable to broadcast sectors globally.
Industry Links
Queen’s has a collaborative agreement with BBC Northern Ireland, to promote opportunities for placements for our students and research/training between both organisations. Broadcast Production at QUB has direct links with the Belfast Media Festival, The Belfast Film Festival and the Digital Cities Belfast initiative.
The BA in Media & Broadcast Production is taught through an equal mix of hands-on production modules and critical theory modules, with increasing flexibility at levels 2 and 3.
Stage 1
In their first year students will undertake 6 compulsory modules, covering a range of the theory and skills required to succeed in this career.
Stage 2
Four compulsory modules at stage 2 develop the skills and knowledge that students gained at stage 1, and practise the application of those skills to the various popular genres within broadcast media.
Students can then choose a further two optional modules, exploring aspects of broadcast media in further detail.
Stage 3 Modules
In the final year, students will plan and develop a broadcast media project for 50% of their time. Many students also choose to take a work-based learning module, working in an external broadcasting agency and developing their skills for application in the workplace. There is a range of further modules for year 3 students to select from, which will develop their knowledge and awareness of issues faced by today's broadcast media.
Arts, English and Languages Frank Delaney is an award-winning national and international television and radio producer, director, writer, editor, sound designer and composer. He has produced work for BBC, Channel 4, RTE, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, MTV, CNN and PBS USA among many others. His work has been seen on most European channels and has been broadcast across the globe. Frank still produces leading work alongside his teaching at Queen’s University Belfast and maintains his contacts and connections to industry. This ensures that he and the team of industry focused lecturers keeps the course at Queen’s progressive and at the leading edge of current industry standards, practices and technologies. Frank is dedicated to making sure that the BA Media & Broadcast Production provides a complete training at practical and academic levels that keeps it industry and academically relevant.
Contact Teaching Hours
Large Group Teaching
6 (hours maximum) 6 hours of lectures
Small Group Teaching/Personal Tutorial
2 (hours maximum) 2 hours of tutorials (or later, project supervision) each week.
Personal Study
24 (hours maximum) 22–24 hours studying and revising in your own time each week, including some guided study using handouts, online activities, etc.
Medium Group Teaching
6 (hours maximum) 6 hours of practical classes, workshops or seminars each week
Learning and Teaching
On the BA Media & Broadcast Production programme we provide a range of learning experiences which enable our students to engage with subject experts, develop attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society and make use of innovative technologies and a world class library that enhances their development as independent, lifelong learners. The degree also offers significant opportunities for cross disciplinary and multi-disciplinary learning experiences.
E-learning technologies
Information associated with lectures and assignments is often communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Canvas. A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree through, and could include, for example: interactive group workshops in a flexible learning space; podcasts and interactive web-based learning activities; opportunities to use IT programmes associated with design in practical workshops and project-based work etc.
Lectures
Introduce basic information about new topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. Lectures also provide opportunities to ask questions, gain some feedback and advice on assessments (normally delivered in large groups to year group peers).
Practicals and workshops
Where you will have opportunities to develop technical skills and apply theoretical principles to practical broadcast industry contexts.
Self-directed study
This is a vital part of life as a Queen’s student when important private reading, engagement with e-learning resources, reflection on feedback to date and assignment research and preparation work is carried out.
Seminars and tutorials
Significant amounts of teaching are carried out in small groups (typically 10-15 students). These provide the opportunity for students to engage with academic staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions of them and to assess their own progress and understanding with the support of peers. You should also expect to make presentations and other contributions to these groups.
Supervised projects
In final year, all students take a double module which provides the opportunity to specialise in a chosen area such as virtual reality, television, radio or documentary production and work collaboratively on a broadcast media project, to be screened publicly at the end of the semester and online. You will receive support from a supervisor who will guide you and provide feedback whilst being taught the skills you need in class.
Assessment
The teaching will be carried out by academics and practising programme makers, journalists, theorists, and industry mentors. This degree will prepare students for either successful careers in the television and broadcasting industries, or to continue their study at MA and PhD level, all in the context of a Russell Group University.
Students will create an extensive portfolio of work during their degree, all of which will be assessed on an ongoing basis.
Feedback
As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module co-ordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study and peer review processes. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work.
Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:
• Feedback provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that you, as an individual or as part of a group, have submitted.
• Face to face comment. This may include occasions when you make use of the lecturers’ advertised “guidance and feedback hours” to help you to address a specific query.
• Placement employer comments or references.
• Online or emailed comment.
• General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
• Pre-submission advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which you can review in your own time.
• Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
• Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as, Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.
Once you have reviewed your feedback, you will be encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of your work.
Facilities
World class facilities are available to students studying Media & Broadcast Production at QUB. The school is an Avid Learning Partner and as such offers industry standard teaching built in to specialist modules across the programme. Students can, if they choose to do so, study for a qualification as an Avid Certified Professional in Media Composer for editing film and television and/or Pro Tools for postproduction sound. These qualifications are highly sought after and run alongside the delivery of the degree. http://www.sarc.qub.ac.uk/
A television studio with industry standard LED lighting is available, online and offline editing suites, radio studios, sound post production and mixing facilities and of course green screen are all available. Substantial equipment needed for the creation of virtual reality content is also available such as HTC Vive, Oculus Go and Insta360 Pro Vr cameras. These resources are located on campus around University Square and in the world renowned Sonic Arts Research Centre.
What our academics say
"A graduate from this course will attain the wide
range of critical, academic and practical skills to help
them successfully transition into a career in the
broadcasting and/or media production industries.
Students will experience a wide range of production
techniques, skills and styles including still and
moving image photography, TV studio and location
camera and lighting skills, editing for still and moving
image, sound recording and audio post production
skills. All students will be skilled at researching,
developing, presenting and writing story and
programme ideas and then getting these stories
published online utilising new and emerging digital
platforms. Media & Broadcast students will also have a
profound understanding of how to create content for
online distribution and develop important new digital
literacy skills that employers are telling us, are much
needed by broadcasters both now and in the future.”
Frank Delaney, Subject Lead (Media & Broadcast Production)
The information below is intended as an example only, featuring module details for the current year of study (2025/26). Modules are reviewed on an annual basis and may be subject to future changes – revised details will be published through Programme Specifications ahead of each academic year.
Developing a greater understanding of formats and the broadcasting context, this module leads out of Broadcast Production Skills and into Broadcast Journalism. It builds on the practical skills acquired so far by the students, who will begin to think more carefully about narrative in broadcast media, in order to produce longer audio and/or visual packages. The course’s practical assignments will include advanced interviewing techniques, recording for broadcast formats and bringing together a number of skillsets to generate creative media outputs connected to factual programme making. The use of enhanced broadcast production skills acquired in Semester 1 will be encouraged, leading to more sophisticated media productions. Students will be made more acutely aware of existing ethical frameworks circumscribing broadcast production and the impact of their work in the public arena. Students will also be introduced to the regulatory and legal framework around broadcasting.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to produce new, original narrative creative outputs using pictures and/or sound. They should be able to identify the restrictions on what can or cannot be broadcast in the UK and Ireland, appropriate to stage. They should be able to write for broadcast, and combine a script, sound clips or effects, and/or moving images into their produced output effectively. They should be reflect on and show how broadcasting regulations apply to their practical work. In addition, they should be able to reflect on and evaluate their own work, and how it fits into the broadcast landscape.
Skills
1. Effective pitching of broadcast stories
2. Effective gathering of material and writing of scripts in audio and/or visual formats
3. Editing skills and craft (appropriate to level) of broadcast story outputs in audio and/or visual formats
4. Advanced interviewing skills.
5. Advanced approach to editorial practices and ethical frameworks.
This module introduces students to a range of methods and approaches used in analysing broadcasting and broadcast texts. It also covers a range of key study skills for the degree. Students will consider core issues, methods and contexts for analysing media, as well as developing a broader awareness of broadcast texts, familiar and unfamiliar, and a deeper engagement with the students’ own viewing and listening practices. The academic material and the contextual material will also be of use to students in their reflective essays for practical modules.
Learning Outcomes
On completing this module, students should be able to:
• Place broadcast texts into a range of appropriate contexts.
• Understand and use key theoretical concepts in the analysis of broadcasting, both in broad terms and in relation to specific texts.
• Demonstrate core study skills such as performing research and presenting writing at an appropriate level.
Skills
• Textual analysis of audio-visual material.
• Applying critical concepts to texts.
• Critiquing critical concepts.
• Oral communication and argumentation (seminars).
• Written communication (assessed work).
• Time management.
• Independent research.
• Group work (seminars)
As an introduction to the basic technical skills required in broadcast media production, students in this module will conceive, research, develop and produce a number of small media projects as directed by the tutor. Each project should be seen as an initial foray into particularly important skillsets required for good visual storytelling in the broadcast arena supported by reference to cognate work and production theory. Beginning with the still image, students will learn key techniques involved in digital imaging in the context of photojournalism. Following on from this, students will be introduced to moving images practices through camera, lighting and video editing skills workshops. Finally, in the context of communication design this module will introduce new, disruptive technologies for the dissemination of stories online that combine media formats such as the still and moving image.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Conceive, research, develop, design and execute a medium-specific creative project
2. Demonstrate an enhanced understanding of the digital image making process
3. Demonstrate a proficient and competent use of production technology appropriate to stage
4. Articulate their own creative practices through an engagement with the parlance of production
5. Demonstrate an appreciation of the intersection between theory and practice as essential to an informed practitioner.
Skills
1. Photography skills to an intermediate level included limited post production techniques for enhancement.
2. Video Camera and moving image acquisition to a level appropriate to stage
3. Enhanced understanding of the production processes and technical skills required in the broadcasting industry
4. A greater awareness of best current industry practices
An introduction to the fundamental principles and critical approaches of editing for screen. The course seeks to give students the necessary core skills to develop both their technical ability in non-linear editing and their critical approach to theorising film practice.
The course is designed to develop skills in digital postproduction techniques and critical approaches to picture and story editing and provides a springboard for more advanced practical projects at levels 2 & 3.
The course builds a solid foundation for those interested in film or video editing careers and an appreciation of what it takes to create good work in the edit suite and the effect editing has on story telling. This course builds on the historical and critical understanding of the craft to help inform the creation and analysis of new work.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate a fluency in the terminology/parlance of film post-production and an ability to use a range of specialised communication skills in support of established practices within film and video production
2. Engage critically and practically with approaches to editing/montage and their effect on ‘meaning’.
3. Produce work that demonstrates a strong working knowledge of editing techniques for film and television.
4. Demonstrate the intelligent creation, manipulation and theorisation of the moving image.
5. Work in a flexible, creative and independent environment, showing self-discipline, self-direction, good communication and good team working skills.
6. Demonstrate intermediate knowledge of post-production workflows and digital file handling using Avid Media Composer.
Skills
Significant new skills students will acquire include:
1. Proficiency at nonlinear film and television editing
2. Intermediate knowledge of codecs, acquisition formats and broadcast delivery
3. A greater understanding of the parlance used for film production
4. Familiarisation with multiplatform delivery of visual content
5. An enhanced critical understanding of montage and film editing
This module will provide an introduction to the nature of sound, its properties and propagation and the tools used to professionally record sound and edit the resulting audio signals. Students will learn about the nature of sound, representation of sound as analogue and digital audio signals; microphone design and usage; the lines and interconnections used for distributing audio signals; and basic timbral and dynamic signal processing. Students will also gain practical experience of using professional microphones and portable recorders to make interior and exterior source recordings, and digital audio workstations for audio editing and balancing.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students will be able:
(i) To operate a portable audio recording device and audio recording hardware in a studio context
(ii) To record speech and musical sound sources monophonically to broadcast quality standard
(iii) To edit speech and musical content in a digital audio workstation environment
(iv) To successfully troubleshoot issues with audio signal flow
Skills
(i) Numeracy and information and communication technology.
(ii) Creative thinking and problem solving.
(iii) Operation of hardware and software for creative studio applications.
(iv) Identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action.
(v) Work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgement).
(vi) Apply subject knowledge and understanding from the degree pathway.
(vii) Possess high level transferable key skills such as the ability to work with others in a team, to communicate (both orally and in writing), influence, negotiate and resolve conflict.
(viii) Have the ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self-awareness and performance, to uphold the values of lifelong learning and demonstrate emotional intelligence.
(ix) Demonstrate confidence and motivation to start and to finish the job, adaptability / flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership, decision-making, negotiating and the ability to cope with stress.
(x) Demonstrate the knowledge and experience of working with relevant modern technology.
(xi) Apply and exploit information technology.
Building on the material covered in Broadcast Analysis 1, this module continues to develop the foundation of academic analytical skills and contextual knowledge for the BA in Broadcast Production. It covers further methods of analysing broadcasting and broadcast texts and their role in society, in cultural life, and for the individual. This provides the student with a range of avenues for developing their own future research as well as understanding academic material. It also continues to expand the student’s contextual understanding of the broadcast industries and a range of historical and contemporary broadcast texts, factual and fictional, radio and television, domestic and international.
Learning Outcomes
On completing this module, students should be able to:
• Understand key elements of the history of broadcasting and place broadcast texts and developments into this context
• Understand key concepts regarding the industrial and regulatory frameworks of broadcasting
• Understand and use key theoretical concepts in the analysis of broadcasting, both in broad terms and in relation to specific texts
Skills
• Textual analysis of audio-visual material.
• Applying critical concepts to texts.
• Critiquing critical concepts.
• Oral communication and argumentation (seminars).
• Written communication (assessed work).
• Time management.
• Independent research.
• Group work (seminars)
This module introduces students to a multi camera studio based television production. Combining skills acquired to date students will work alone and in groups to conceive, design, develop and produce a 30-minute magazine style programme for television. This programme will be the culmination of significant edited and packaged stories students will make during the semester, combined with an in studio discussion and presenter on camera. Exploring a range of story ideas, themes and post-production devices, this module brings together skills in writing for factual based television programmes, presentation skills, editing, audio and cameras skills. Further instruction will be given in studio lighting and the production processes associated with live television programme making for online broadcast working to strict editorial guidelines. Examples of existing formats and working with local industry professionals will enhance the delivery of the module. The finished programme is intended for public release and will consider copyright and editorial best practice in this regard.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module students will be able to:
1. Research, design, develop and conceive a live television production from inception to delivery
2. Crew and deliver a multi camera studio recording for a live broadcast
3. Engage with technology required to create and deliver a live broadcast
4. Have a greater understanding of how to write and commission a television programme
5. Identify key roles in television production and gain a deeper understanding of their contribution to programme making
Skills
1. Multi camera studio operation
2. Sound engineering a live broadcast
3. Lighting a studio for live broadcast
4. Enhanced writing for broadcast skills
5. Experience of creating and editing their own packaged contribution to the programme
6. Experienced the production cycle of a live TV programme
This module presents key theories and concepts in the study and analysis of popular genres in the media. Students will examine a range of factual and fictional genres, interrogating the ways that they have been defined, interpreted and used by producers, broadcasters and distributors, audiences and academics.
This will support students in developing their skills in analysing media productions, as well as when taking genre into consideration for their own practical work in other modules.
Learning Outcomes
On completing this module, students should be able to:
• Identify popular genres
• Understand and apply the basic concepts of genre analysis
• Understand key interpretations of popular broadcast genres
• Assess, interrogate and challenge such interpretations in relation to specific texts and / or groups of texts
• Analyse broadcast texts through the lens of genre theory
Skills
• Textual analysis of audio-visual material.
• Applying critical concepts to texts.
• Critiquing critical concepts.
• Oral communication and argumentation (seminars).
• Written communication (assessed work).
• Time management.
• Independent research.
• Group work (seminars).
This module will develop technical and editorial skills in radio and podcast production. Students will explore the contexts of public service broadcasting formats (such as those offered by BBC) as well as the podcast landscape and commercial and community radio platforms.
This module will introduce varying genres of radio broadcasting and podcasting - feature documentary genre, speech based discussion formats, radio drama and other non-fiction based programme making idioms.
Through a series of practical activities, this module will explore a range of skills involved in radio and podcast production including writing, using the voice, show-producing and audio engineering.
Opportunities to develop an original programme or podcast idea will culminate in a group radio project conducted in a live studio setting. Students will be encouraged to engage with local communities to generate ideas that connect with their audience and the wider world around them.
Learning Outcomes
1. Prepare and present a pitch for a radio programme or a podcast.
2. Conceive, develop and design a radio programme or podcast for delivery.
3. Produce a live radio broadcast featuring in-studio discussion or an equivalent podcast.
4. Effectively use the voice in a radio/podcast presentation context.
5. Use audio equipment to effectively record content for radio/audio podcast and engineer audio for a live broadcast.
6. Acquire advanced knowledge of radio and audio production techniques and the ability to create compelling radio and podcast segments.
Skills
1. Advancing audio production and post production skills
2. Live radio studio and podcast engineering skills
3. Enhanced writing skills for radio and podcast
4. Live radio and podcast production experience
5. A greater appreciate of the various roles of industry professionals
6. An enhanced knowledge of radio and audio formats and their impact on society
This course aims to introduce students to the theories around producing professional broadcast factual stories, both for television and radio. It will build on the practical skills students have already acquired to develop professional storytelling skills for journalism, content creation, factual or documentary work.
Students will refine their editorial decision-making and incorporate rigorous considerations into their work at every level. It will examine the differences between styles and genres and commercial and public service broadcasters. It will introduce students to the law and broadcasting codes as they apply to journalistic and factual programme making. The practical skills will give students a deeper ability to research, develop, write and create structured and creative stories in video format, for TV or for radio.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module students will be able to identify what makes successful factual or documentary content for broadcast and identify a target audience for their piece. They will demonstrate how to write for broadcast, and how to combine a script, sound clips, effects, and/or moving images into their story effectively. They will show a competence in audio and video recording, story for broadcast and project management from concept to final delivery.
Skills
Devise, research, write and produce a factual or documentary story for TV or radio.
Includes: Carrying out a broadcast interview; recording with audio or video recording equipment; writing for broadcast; structuring a factual or documentary story for broadcast; audio and or video editing; reflecting on your own work.
This module introduces key themes in music psychology. These include models and experimental data relating to music cognition and perceptual processing; auditory neuroscience and the neuropsychology of music; developmental music psychology; empirical and experimental studies regarding the function and role of emotion in music; and applications of music in therapeutic, medical and commercial contexts. Additionally the module provides an introduction to psychological research methodology and the critical-analytical thinking employed in the behavioural sciences.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to demonstrate a critical appreciation of the existing theoretical accounts of musical perception, processing and action. Students will be able to apply psychological methods to novel music-related questions. Students will understand the relationship between published science and how it is presented in the media. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of psychological concepts applied to music and bring psychological, critical thinking to bear on issues relevant to music production and creative technologies.
Skills
(i) Develop facility to review, critically evaluate and synthesise a body of psychological knowledge related to music and sonic arts.
(ii) Engage in processes of reflective scientific, psychological thinking.
(iii) Writing and communication skills related to production of an assignment which evidences ability to engage in critical analysis of relevant literature.
(iv) Identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action.
(v) Work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgement).
(vi) Possess high level transferable key skills such as the ability to work with others in a team, to communicate (both orally and in writing), influence, negotiate and resolve conflict.
(vii) Have the ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self-awareness and performance, to uphold the values of lifelong learning and demonstrate emotional intelligence.
(viii) Demonstrate confidence and motivation to start and to finish the job, adaptability / flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership, decision-making, negotiating and the ability to cope with stress.
This module is aimed at students who want to develop core skills in sound manipulation and composition practice. The module will examine a range of issues in order to provide a grounding in electroacoustic music.
The module takes a practice-based approach embedded in workshop sessions introducing students to repertoire, techniques and strategies related to the two assessed practical projects and a student led seminar presentation.
During the module students will be introduced to techniques and strategies for manipulating sound both off-line and in real-time in the Max/MSP environment. Other software packages (Pro Tools, Soundhack, AudioSculpt/Spear) will be used for editing, mixing and processing as appropriate. Students will also be working with bespoke recording techniques, microphones and loudspeaker setups.
Learning Outcomes
You'll learn how to process and develop musical materials and address aspects of language and structure in your composition work and at the end of the module you will have 1) developed key skills for abstracting and developing new sounds from source materials, 2) developed and enhanced your approach to problem-solving, 3) expanded your understanding and appreciation of electroacoustic music, 4) developed your approach to electroacoustic composition, 5) developed a language and body of references for the discussion of electroacoustic music.
Skills
(i) Criticise and analyse your own composition and the work of others.
(ii) Creatively approach issues of structure, transformation and musical development.
(iii) Present your ideas and thoughts in front of others.
(iv) Identify technical problems in a sound processing technique.
(v) Identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action.
(vi) Work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgment).
(vii) Apply subject knowledge and understanding from the degree pathway.
(viii) Possess high level transferable key skills such as the ability to work with others in a team, to communicate (both orally and in writing), influence, negotiate and resolve conflict.
(ix) Have the ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self-awareness and performance, to uphold the values of lifelong learning and demonstrate emotional intelligence.
(x) Demonstrate confidence and motivation to start and to finish the job, adaptability / flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership, decision-making, negotiating and the ability to cope with stress.
This module will explore the relationships between film and sound, examining how the aesthetic, historical and cultural significance of film sound practices have been understood in the context of evolving technologies.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the of module, students should be able to demonstrate:
1) The ability to undertake the close critical analysis of sound in film.
2) The ability to link sound practice to sound theory.
3) An understanding of the ways in which sound technology affects film aesthetics.
4) An awareness of the social and cultural significance of sound in film.
Skills
1) Critical thinking skills
2) Analytical skills
3) Skills of rhetoric and argumentation
4) Presentation skills
5) Written, verbal, and visual communication skills
Principles of Business in Arts, Cultural and Creative Industries
Overview
This course is designed for Stage 2 students in all Creative Arts disciplines (Drama, Film & Broadcast, Music & Sonic Arts) to introduce and explore key elements in the ‘business’ of creative work: the planning, management and delivery of cultural and creative projects, events and/or activities. As part of an interdisciplinary class and with elements of independent group work throughout, students will share their knowledge from their own programmes and gain new insights to the crossover of skills and opportunities and the benefits of multidisciplinary teams.
The course runs in two parts. The first half of the course will introduce students to the unique planning and delivery challenges of cultural and creative work with students’ active engagement in observing or putting the theory into real-life practice. In the second half, students will work through one of two options (subject to availability): to work in teams to enhance, deliver and evaluate a programmed event or activity with a cultural business; or to undertake independent field research in the development of an event or activity proposal for a cultural business.
Assessment will be principally based on reflexive journaling and some practical assessment of their participation (the production of a short-form report or plan).
Part 1 will be delivered mainly through classroom lectures, seminars and discussions on the different functions of management and planning in the arts, cultural and creative industries.
Part 2
Subject to availability in any given year, students will choose one of two strands for Part 2 of the programme. Activities offered in these strands each year will be selected in discussion between Subject Leads of Creative Arts and relevant staff in creative centres on campus, enabling students to access contemporary events and knowledge relevant to their studies.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:
1. Recognise common features and approaches to planning and delivery of arts, cultural and creative activities, events or projects
2. Express improved understanding of the industry context of their chosen discipline, recognising influences, norms and constraints on creative and cultural business
3. Articulate how increased understanding of creative business might influence their own creative or industry practice, their future study and professional development.
4. Understand the collaborative and team-based nature of arts, cultural and creative industries planning and delivery.
Skills
The completion of this course will support the following skills:
• Reflective & reflexive thinking
• Evaluation and observation
• Report and/or proposal writing
• Practical skills in event/project management/planning
• Teamwork and collaborative working
This module engages students with the multiple ways society and academic study use, understand and interpret the past. With contributions primarily from the disciplines of Anthropology, English, History, Philosophy, Politics, and Sociology, this module will, in part, capitalise upon debates concerning legacy issues and the aftermath of conflict that form central co-ordinates of contemporary Northern Irish political and social debate. it will also provide students subject-specific expertise in relation to how we understand the past and its importance in the development of historical, literary, and philosophical interpretation.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students will:
(i) understand the multiple ways we can use and interpret the past;
(ii) demonstrate a range of discipline-centred conceptions of the past;
(iii) explore ways in which the module’s concerns relate to their degree pathway;
(iv) engage with material, oral, textual and visual versions of the past;
(v) differentiate between discipline-specific approaches to the subject.
Skills
(i) understanding a range of critical thinking approaches
(ii) incorporating learning into discussion of issues and texts;
(iii) comparing different disciplinary approaches to the question of the past;
(iv) engaging in classroom debate and fostering a stimulating intellectual environment;
(v) producing engaged critical responses to the issues raised on the module;
(vi) connecting the module’s multi-disciplinary focus to the concerns of their degree pathway;
(vii) self-reflection on the learning process.
In this module we cover several perspectives pertaining to deeply divided societies and the unique challenges such conflicts face. We discuss, compare, and contrast cases such as Northern Ireland, South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel-Palestine while also discussing other cases from around the globe. Understanding deeply divided societies’ internal and external dynamics and effects is at the core of this module. It covers domestic causes and effects of identity-based conflicts, their regional embeddedness, and their effects on global politics.
Throughout the semester, students will learn to appreciate a range of dimensions throughout the conflict cycle, from claim making (violence, political competition), through strategies for conflict mitigation (institutional reform, societal cohesion, international involvement) and opportunities for conflict management (power-sharing, secession).
More specifically, we will investigate the challenges of reforming state institutions, their relationship with the governed, and international recognition of domestic claims to power and regime legitimacy.
Learning Outcomes
• Identify and explain the phenomenon and unique features of deeply divided societies
• Applying theoretical arguments related to such key features and the different processes deeply divided societies go through to both historical and contemporary cases
• Evaluate debates amongst scholars who represent different theoretical perspectives
• Comparing and contrasting cases of deeply divided societies from other types of conflicted societies
• Comparing and contrasting between cases of deeply divided societies
• Acquire a deeper and complex understanding of key topics in the study of deeply divided societies (T, P, A)
• Attain a better understanding of several theoretical traditions in International relations and comparative politics and the way they help us identify, examine, and understand deeply divided societies (T, P, A)
• Have the ability to critically analyse and formulate view on central debates and controversies in the study of deeply divided societies (T, P, A)
• Have the ability to compare and contrast between historical and contemporary cases of deeply divided societies (T, P, A)
Cognitive:
• Develop analytical thinking (P, A)
• Develop critical thinking (P, A)
• Apply theoretical concepts to real-life events (P, A)
• Synthesise information from various sources (P, A).
• Collect, sort, criticise, and analyse data (T, P, A)
Transferable:
• Communicate clearly both orally and in writing (P, A)
• Construct evidence-based arguments (P, A)
• Display originality of thought and argument (P, A)
This module introduces sound design in the context of audio-visual production. Students will be exposed to both theoretical and practical aspects of design and audio-vision. Lectures will introduce concepts to be applied in the analysis of sound design in film and animation works. Students will be asked to develop critical strategies for analysis and to produce a soundtrack for a given film/video excerpt.
Learning Outcomes
Students should be able:
(i) To appreciate and understand sound design.
(ii) To gain insight into editing strategies used in filmmaking.
(iii) To expand on our understanding of the soundscape.
(iv) To develop a language and body of references for the discussion of sound design.
Skills
(i) Creative thinking and problem solving.
(ii) Familiarisation with theories of design.
(iii) Understanding of basic sound design terminology and strategies.
(iv) Development of a vocabulary for audio-visual analysis.
(v) Sophisticated understanding of the role of sound in film.
(vi) Identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action.
(vii) Work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgement).
(viii) Apply subject knowledge and understanding from the degree pathway.
(ix) Possess high level transferable key skills such as the ability to work with others in a team, to communicate (both orally and in writing), influence, negotiate and resolve conflict.
(x) Have the ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self-awareness and performance, to uphold the values of lifelong learning and demonstrate emotional intelligence.
(xi) Demonstrate confidence and motivation to start and to finish the job, adaptability / flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership, decision-making, negotiating and the ability to cope with stress.
(xii) Demonstrate critical evaluation of the outcomes of professional practice.
Liberal values in Europe, as elsewhere, are coming under serious threat, driven by identity politics designed to exploit societal divisions. The historical link between liberalism and diversity in Europe, and the extent to which one can negotiate and accommodate, if not facilitate the other, holds the key to sustainable, coherent and peaceful societies. The module provides an overview and critical analysis of minority protection offering engagement with issues underpinning national politics, law and societal processes in Europe. Using a critical approach to contemporary politics, this module provides:
- a historical analysis of state formation and nation building in Europe with context of religious wars and political revolutions, including the (re-)conceptualisation of basic concepts and terms such as territoriality, sovereignty, state, nation and citizenship;
- reassesses primordial views on ethnicity/nationality and language & religious identities and provides a sociologically informed political lens to reconcile the requirements for political unity, obligations to international law and ensure social cohesion for the culturally diverse society;
- examines the liberal and national ideological framings of equality protection in liberal-democratic regimes and the number of mechanisms from voting rights to proportional representation in state bodies, forms of cultural and territorial autonomy and federalism to engage with the challenges of the ongoing re-nationalisation in all parts of Europe.
This module will help students interested in European politics, human and minority rights, governance and nationalism, and politics of diverse societies to understand the origins of and anticipate political developments of their increasingly diverse societies.
Learning Outcomes
- Place issues of governance in diverse societies in the context of domestic and European political and legal obligations to ensure equality of all citizens;
- Contrast the differential impact nation-state building had in different parts of Europe on diverse resident populations and reflect on the role of European integration on political process;
- Ascertain importance of diversity and equality as guarantee for societal stability and peace in and around Europe
- Understand and be able to reflect critically on the impact accommodation and support for minorities has on the likelihood of conflict in contemporary Europe
- Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in written form on issues relating to equality and diversity in contemporary Europe
- Pursue intellectual questions in an academic manner, using analytical skills and critical thinking to develop transferrable skills
Skills
Intellectual skills
- Managing & Prioritizing Knowledge: identify relevant and subject-specific knowledge, sources and data; manage such information in an independent manner
- Critical & Independent Thinking: ability to think critically and construct one’s own position in relation to existing and ongoing debates in the field
Professional and career development skills
- Communication Skills: ability to communicate clearly with others, both orally and in writing
- Teamwork: ability to work with others in a team, negotiate conflicts and recognize different ways of learning
- Self-Reflexivity: ability to reflect on one’s own progress and identify and act upon ones own development needs with respect to life-long learning and career development
- Time Management: ability to negotiate diverse and competing pressures; cope with stress; and achieve a work / life balance
Technical and practical skills
- Information Technology: demonstrate the knowledge and ability to use contemporary and relevant ICT Organizational skills
- Efficient and effective work practice: demonstrate ability to work efficiently to deadlines
- Clear organisation of information: show efficiency in the organisation of large amounts of complex information and the ability to identify, describe and analyse the key features of the information
- Organisation and communication: demonstrate ability to use evidence to develop logical and clear argument; show aptitude for the effective use of information in a direct and appropriate way
Gender, Culture, and Representation – Backwards & in Heels
Overview
This interdisciplinary module introduces students to the central ideas of gender theory and to a wide variety of representations of gender across a range of media, including theatre, performance, literature, visual art, film and television. Using key texts and cultural works students are encouraged to examine critically the representation of gender across media, and the political, legal, and ethical dimensions of gender within our culture. The module involves a critical engagement with the relationship between identity, representation and culture and explores theories concerning the social construction of the masculine and feminine body. The module engages with several key issues, including the representation of femininity and masculinity, gender in the literary and theatrical canon of Western culture, the spatiality and temporality of gender, and its intersections with issues of race/ethnicity, class, and labour. Students will be asked to think about these issues and ideas across disciplines but also within their areas of study through seminars.
Learning Outcomes
Having completed this module, you should:
* have engaged with a variety of representations of gender, the body and sexual identities within socio-historical, theoretical and representational frameworks and across multiple forms of media,
* have cultivated an understanding of the theoretical and practical movements that have shaped the construction and representation of gender, sexuality and the body in culture,
* have developed a critical understanding of the relationship between representation and identity.
Skills
Having completed this module, you should:
* have developed reflexive thinking and independent critical and analytical skills.
* have developed imaginative and communicative skills based on the application of reading materials to class presentations
The Politics of the Planetary Crisis: power, people and place
Overview
We live in a time of climate and ecological crisis. Both globally and locally evidence of the negative impacts of a destabilised climate, extreme weather events and impacts of declining biodiversity and ecosystem health are resulting in impacts on human health and safety, food production, forcing people to migrate as well as having significant economic impacts. At the same time we see a variety of political and social responses to the ‘polycrisis’, ranging from political parties and governments developing climate and ecological policies, the rise in direct action climate and ecological justice movements such as Fridays for Future, Just Stop Oil, calls for universities to change what they teach and research so as to be ‘fit for future purpose’, as well as local communities responding in imaginative ways to the dangers and transformative opportunities presented by this crisis.
A unique feature of this module will be that which the first 10 lectures will be chosen by the academic teaching team, the last 10 will be chosen by students.
This module introduces students to the causes, consequences and solutions to the planetary crisis and how it intersects with existing forms of injustices, tensions and conflicts, as well as creating new ones. It explores the variety of ways communities, social movements businesses, political parties and states have, or have not, responding to the crisis. Questions considered will include.
1. What are the variety of explanations for or approaches to understanding the causes, consequences and solutions to the planetary crisis?
2. How and in what ways is decarbonisation connected to democratisation?
3. How are both the above connected to decolonisation?
4. Why, despite the decades of climate and ecological science indicating that humanity is facing a planetary crisis, have governments done so little?
5. Why, when governments ‘listened to the science’ in relation to shaping responses to the Covid 19 pandemic, they are not implementing the transformations in economies, societies and livelihoods demanded by the climate and ecological science?
6. How and in what ways have citizens, communities, movements and interest groups responding both to the planetary crisis and the perceived lack of government action in addressing it?
7. How have difference political ideologies responded to the planetary crisis – liberalism, capitalism, green politics, socialism, feminism, nationalism, fundamentalism, Marxist, right wing populism/fascism?
8. Is non-violent direct action justified, legitimate and/or effective as a political response to failures by governments to do what is necessary to protect a ‘habitable world’ and the life-supporting systems of the planet?
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will:
1. Be familiar with the main stakeholders/actors necessary to understand the planetary crisis;
2. Understand the range of explanations for the causes of the climate and ecological crisis and their intersection with class, race, colonial and gender injustice and politics
3. An awareness of the intersection between ‘facts/science/empirical realities’ and value based/ideological responses to these in policy and politics, and how there are multiple ways of responding to the same scientific evidence.
4. Awareness of the tension and computability between political ideologies and political/policy and economic responses to the polycrisis
5. Be able to identify the ideological and value-based dimensions of how both the understanding of the planetary crisis and responses to it are framed within the media, popular discourse and from different political perspectives
Skills
1. An understanding of the range of perspectives and knowledge-bases necessary to comprehend the dynamics shaping world that is now unfolding and within which students will have jobs, careers and families
2. Awareness of the necessity of an interdisciplinary understanding of the policy crisis
3. Group work, negotiation, planning and time management; in small groups of students develop their own research project, developing their independent research skills.
4. Independent thinking and initiative in both developing their group project ideas, choosing the last 10 lectures and associated resources, as well as individual self-reflection and applying the learning on the module to their lived experience in relation to the academic diary.
This module offers an opportunity to dive into the captivating realm of the most contemporary understanding of media audiences. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach to understanding media audience participation and perceptions, this module brings socio-anthropological and cultural studies theories and contexts to discover how to lead and manage a more audience-centred approach to media production. Using a diverse set of case studies, this module explores the identity formations and power dynamics embedded in media consumption; dissects the cultural nuances affecting audience reception; and navigates the diverse landscapes of audiencehood.
You will explore various dimensions of both the traditional and transformative nature of the media audiences by looking at the audience as objects; as institutions; and as producers. By unveiling the intricate tapestry of human engagement with media landscapes and related socio-cultural influences that shape perceptions and behaviours of audiences, students will analyse and critique the multifaceted relationships between media, audience and culture and gain valuable insights into the complexities of contemporary society's engagement with various forms of communications.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the media audiences and related socio-cultural complexities.
Apply theoretically informed understandings of audiences to independent and collaborative projects across a range of media.
Identify and offer a critical evaluation of the key academic discourse in the area of media audiences.
Assess various roles of media audiences and their impact on media production and policy developments.
Able to apply a wide range of audience analysis methods and techniques to measure the consumption patterns and responses of different audience groups.
The Creative Industries are an increasingly important contributor to not only the Northern Irish cultural and economic landscape, but the global economy more generally. This interdisciplinary, school wide module introduces you to the practicalities of engaging with creative enterprise and developing ‘real world’ transferrable skills by taking you through the process of creating, running and growing a creative company. Aligned with the QUB Innovation Centre Project and Enterprise SU, it draws on the Qubis Customer Discovery Methodology to help you to identify potential customers, partners and mentors industry, and build your business model around conversations with them. It also provides you with the skills to undertake a critical evaluation of the Creative Industries in the UK and Ireland.
The module will be taught through seminars, workshops and field work. Students create their own business idea in groups and undergo a Customer Discovery process which involves conversations with people who are key to their creative business area. Further to this, students produce a business portfolio, develop a group pitch, and written or video essay as part of their module assessment.
Indicative Syllabus:
1. Creating a USP and business plan
2. Understanding your place in the market
3. Incorporating a business with Companies House
4. Drafting shareholders agreements
5. Budgeting, cashflows and accounts
6. Hiring and managing staff
7. Creating storyboards, proposals, scripts and prototypes with a development team
8. Applying for start up and growth funding
9. Pitching for business in the creative industries
10. Selling or winding up a company
Learning Outcomes
On Completion of this module, the learner will be able to:
1. Identify, analyse and evaluate the landscape of creative companies in the UK and Ireland including TV and film production companies, virtual and augmented reality production companies and digital agencies;
2. Compare and contrast the functionality of different industry departments and how they interact to enable the production of film slates characteristics of the various technologies underpinning these changes;
3. Demonstrate methodologies for applying creative enterprise knowledge to develop their career and make independent films;
4. Conceptualise and pitch ideas, and understand the business side of film, TV and digital production;
5. Distinguish between the various roles within a film, screen and digital media team;
6. Demonstrate enhanced skills in verbal and written communication.
Skills
In taking this module, the learner will acquire and enhance their skills in:
1. Networking, team-building and team-working
2. Entrepreneurship and commercial/business management
3. Verbal and oral communication and presentation
This module engages with social class as it is manifested in behaviour on stage, screen, and in everyday life over the course of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, and into the early 21st Century.
We will look at how class has changed over time in terms of social evolution and the relationships between people of different classes and their respective lifestyles. Special attention will be paid to the issue of emotion as a sociological phenomenon, for example how resentment is manifest by social groups variously in terms of violence, insurrection, voting tendencies, and cultural expression such as music, theatre, and film. We will consider how class can be understood not merely as an economic category as it is traditionally conceived, but as material performance – as something we do – rather than as an abstract identity.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
demonstrate an informed awareness of class as performance on stage, screen, and in everyday life, by engaging with the tasks set by the convenor for presentation and discussion in seminars, and by submitting an essay that answers one of the questions set by the convenor for written assessment;
deliver presentations in seminars that meet the requirements of the respective tasks set each week by the module convenor by working with fellow students in their assigned groups to research, rehearse and prepare ahead of the related seminar;
prepare questions ahead of seminars to ask students whose group is presenting in the respective week;
research, write and submit by the deadline an essay that answers one of the questions set by the convenor for written assessment.
Skills
Subject-specific skills:
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
• engage creatively and critically in appropriate independent research, whether investigating past or present performances or as part of the process of creating new performance;
• identify and interpret the cultural frameworks that surround performance events and their specific relation to social and historical contexts.
Generic and graduate skills:
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
• have critical and analytical skills in developing ideas and constructing arguments and the capacity to evaluate and present them in a range of ways;
• work productively, creatively and imaginatively as part of a group and have the creative skills needed for the realisation of practice-based work;
• manage personal workloads efficiently and effectively, meet deadlines, and negotiate and successfully pursue goals with others.
This module follows on from the project development module in semester 1. Students taking this module will produce a number of pre-selected student projects from semester 1. These projects can be radio, television or online/interactive in design exclusively, though interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. Students are offered the opportunity to develop specialist craft skills, in a range of disciplines and work in a structured way with industry professionals to enhance their own skillset and experience. The work will be completed to broadcast ready standard and will be exhibited publicly. Through the study of cognate work and production theory, students will also learn to reflect on their own creative practice and articulate their work in the context of contemporary broadcasting practices.
Learning Outcomes
1. Develop and complete a full production cycle for their selected medium
2. Create and exhibit creative media projects to a high technical standard
3. Demonstrate newly acquired creative and technical skills to an advanced level appropriate to stage.
4. Demonstrate and understanding of critical approaches to the study the broadcast media sector.
5. Have the ability to write reflectively on their own creative practice with reference to cognate work and production theory.
This module considers how music and image interact in film, and the social and cultural aspects of these associations. Students will be introduced to a range of key theories, in particular those surrounding music in classical cinema, and will obtain a precise understanding of the ways in which music ‘works’ in film, achieved via the close analysis of a range of filmic texts.
The module also considers ways of discussing film music in non-specialist terms, and as such no formal training in music is required to enrol on this module.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate:
1) the ability to analyse the associations between music and film in a sophisticated manner
2) a broad understanding of the various critical and theoretical approaches to film music
3) an understanding of scoring practices in film, including how they have developed over time
4) an understanding of the sociological and cultural aspects of film music
Skills
1) Critical thinking skills
2) Analytical skills
3) Skills of rhetoric and argumentation
4) Presentation skills
5) Written, verbal, and visual communication skills
This module provides an opportunity for student to utilise disciplinary skills in a work-based environment within the context of reflective practice. Students will negotiate suitable placements in consultation with their academic supervisor and participate in a programme of related classes and events. Simulated work-based projects in which students work in groups with the support of the university’s Enterprise Unit in the Students’ Union are also possible.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should have:
Increased ability to relate academic theory to the work environment
A developed understanding of the organisational culture, policies and processes
The ability to reflexively and critically evaluate their own learning from the placement
An appreciation of enterprise and innnovation
Enhanced career knowledge
Skills
Employability skills, including effective communication, teamworking and problem-solving.
The module explores cinema’s relationship with the environment. It introduces students to how film cultures from different parts of the world engage with issues regarding ecology, sustainability, human-animal relationships, the natural world, and climate change. It considers a range of film forms and genres, such as non-fiction, art cinema and popular cinema, and how they articulate the aforementioned topics in terms of narration, aesthetics, and representation. The module draws from interdisciplinary literature, integrating eco-criticism, environmental humanities, and film studies. Indicative topics are landscapes in film, animal representation in cinema, cinema in the age of Anthropocene, planetary cinema and global consciousness, interspecies relations and post-humanism in cinema, disaster cinema, eco-cinema, extractive reason and activist cinema.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a systematic understanding of key interdisciplinary concepts, scholarship and methodologies as pertaining to cinema, the environment, and co-related concepts.
Demonstrate a critical ability to formulate arguments, appreciate the ambiguity of knowledge, and apply concepts to analyse a range of moving image forms and genres.
Communicate ideas and concepts through written form and/or a creative use of videographic criticism.
Exhibit the ability to manage their own learning and to make use of appropriate scholarly material.
Skills
Critical thinking
Advanced research and argumentation skills
Writing skills
Ability to explore interdisciplinary conceptual debates
This module engages students with critical theories and contemporary questions around the issues of misinformation in the media landscape from various interdisciplinary perspectives and contexts. This module meticulously intertwines perspectives from the global north and the global south research directions. It delves into the intricate web of misinformation and information vulnerabilities through the lens of socio-cultural and political scholarship.
This course goes beyond borders, dissecting traditional and advanced media landscapes to unravel the multifaceted nature of misinformation. By juxtaposing diverse global perspectives, students gain a nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding misinformation. From analysing the socio-cultural implications to navigating the political undercurrents, this course equips learners to critically engage with and navigate the evolving terrain of misinformation in an increasingly digitally interconnected world.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Critically examine misinformation, emerging media and critical media literacy across various cultures, disciplines and contexts.
Develop a heightened awareness of the ethical responsibilities inherent in media production and promotion.
Utilise theoretical frameworks to navigate the ethical complexities surrounding misinformation, fostering a more conscientious media environment.
Apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, identify and assess socio-cultural and political implications of misinformation, and propose strategies for mitigating its impact.
Demonstrate an ability to synthesise diverse perspectives, integrating global north and south viewpoints, to comprehend the intricate dynamics of misinformation in media landscapes.
Politics in Popular Song from the French Revolution to Punk
Overview
This module will look at how music and song have functioned as vehicles for promoting political ideas or as reflectors of cultural philosophies or developments. Themes include: The expression of democracy in the Enlightenment; “Utility songs” in 19th-century revolutionary movements; Berlin Cabaret communication techniques; Eisler’s political song theory; song in Opera of our Time and Epic Theatre; American Civil Rights protest song; politics of folk; the 1960s, youth and counter culture; postmodernism, gender-crossing and pop as artifice; late-1970s punk rock; protest pop in the Thatcher years; techno from Kraftwerk to the Love Parade; 1990s hedonism and rejection of ideology.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students will acquire:
• knowledge and understanding of musical and performance techniques used by popular song in the communication of ideas to an audience;
• knowledge and understanding of theories regarding the relationship between politics and music
• knowledge and understanding of the political and historical background to trends and developments in popular music.
Skills
On successful completion of this module, students
will have acquired the skills to investigate and understand issues to do with the relationship between politics and popular music;
will have increased their skills in reading secondary literature and applying knowledge of it in their research for the assigned work;
will have acquired skills in developing ideas, applying theoretical concepts, constructing arguments and showing the capacity to present them in appropriate ways.
Will have developed communication skills in a variety of oral, written and visual media.
This course aims to explore the writing and culture of the working class, to ask how socio-economic distinctions inflect judgements of ‘taste’, and to develop an understanding of the historical role of class in shaping identities across ethno-nationalist lines. A good deal of scholarship in recent decades has signalled a growing awareness of British working-class writing, though Irish Studies, by comparison, has tended to neglect issues of social class. We will therefore engage the more substantial body of scholarship on British working-class literature to inform our discussion of Irish working-class writers, signalling new and exciting possibilities for future scholarship.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, students will have refined their broad critical understanding of key thinkers in cultural materialist and left-wing literary theory. They will have applied this understanding to over a dozen key texts (including films), engaging a range of historical and social contexts across twentieth-century British and Irish writing, analysing the recurrence of key themes and ideas in working-class writing. Students will also have related these readings to developments in postcolonial, postmodern and feminist theories, where applicable, drawing on a broad range of cultural and intellectual perspectives.
Skills
During this module, students will have the opportunity to practise the following skills:
- Critical analysis of key debates in literary and cultural theory;
- Engagement with interdisciplinary debates regarding historiography and the sociology of culture;
- Application of learning to key texts in working-class writing;
- Comparative analysis of literary and filmic representations and conventions;
- Writing critically and reflectively;
- Presentation skills.
The role of the arts and the humanities in the twenty-first century, and how they are intrinsic to the shaping of society, are the central concerns of this module. It examines the multiple historical, practical, and theoretical applications of the arts and humanities disciplines in a range of public fora. Practitioners from relevant arts sector institutions (e.g. the Ulster Museum, the Ulster Hall, the Arts Council) will share theory and praxis experience in their current roles while creative practitioners (e.g. artists, broadcasters, musicians, photographers, writers) will also contribute to the students’ developing conceptions of the public roles of their disciplines. Students will debate questions such as the value of the arts and of the humanities, social, economic and personal benefit, the importance of outreach activities, civic responsibility and citizenship, and the increasing role of impact in terms of a University’s research and education agendas.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students will:
(i) have a developed awareness of the multiple public roles of the arts and humanities;
(ii) demonstrate critical understanding of how their discipline contributes to the contemporary world;
(iii) be able to advocate for the arts and humanities as key components of any society;
(iv) understand the challenges facing and opportunities for the arts and humanities in the twenty-first century;
(v) gain practical as well as theoretical insight into the how arts and humanities disciplines engage with and facilitate the local arts sector and the wider knowledge economy.
Skills
(i) develop awareness of the roles that arts and humanities subjects play in the wider world;
(ii) practical skills relevant to degree discipline and future career planning;
(iii) effective communication and group work skills;
(iv) examine the contribution of student’s degree pathway to wider society;
(v) ability to apply theoretical concepts of study to workplace scenarios;
(vi) articulation of the value of the arts and humanities in society.
From national anthems to Hip-Hop, and from K-Pop to the Proms, music is a means of performing and contesting power. Drawing on perspectives from ethnomusicology, sound studies, and the anthropology of music, this module provides students with the opportunity to work intensively on a series of topics related to music, power, and conflict in both historical and contemporary contexts. We will explore a range of key themes, including sounds of protest and resistance; music, conflict, and reconciliation; and the performance of race and gender. This will be carried out through interactive class sessions and innovative assignments, as well as listening to and reflecting upon music itself. As anthropologists, we are less concerned about the ‘notes on the page’. Instead, we will focus on music as a social and cultural practice, as a site of contestation, and a source for ways of (re)imagining, (re)conceptualising and (re)organising society.
In this module, we will use music as a window into the lives of others (and ourselves), which will help us understand different social, cultural, and political agendas and the issues that matter most to people in society. In so doing, we will grapple with a range of questions, including: how does music reflect the cultures that produce it? How is music used to represent a nation or group of people? Can music play a role in conflict transformation? How does musical performance intersect with identity? Can music be used as a tool for social justice? Should some music be banned? Does music need to be decolonised? Our classes will engage with diverse case studies such as: western classical music and the legacy of white supremacy; musical populism in Latin America; nationalism and identity politics in the Eurovision song contest; soundscapes of torture and detainment; and rap, drill, and moral panic.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students will:
• understand anthropological and ethnomusicological theory associated with the study of music and humanly organised sound(s)
• be able to identify and critically assess a variety of music and sound cultures
• understand how performance and aesthetics impacts the construction of sociocultural identities and political circumstances
• have written critical texts engaging with academic and popular debates about diverse music and sound scenes
present work in a variety of formats, including a synthesis of class readings and discussions, oral presentations, and a well-crafted research paper that demonstrates a firm understanding of the connections between music, power, and conflict.
Skills
By the end of the module, students should have developed the following key skills:
Generic
• Effective presentation of written work at a level appropriate to the year of studies.
• Competency in presenting orally findings from readings and primary research.
• The ability to research both independently and as part of groups.
Module-Specific
• have created and curated a digital playlist on a topic related to music, power, and conflict
• have written an ethnographic vignette on the use of sound as a creative practice
• have written critical texts engaging with academic and popular debates about diverse music and sound scenes
This module focuses on the methods required to answer novel questions about the perception of sound, using specialised experiment design and literature-based scholarship. The module explores key topics in auditory perception (how our senses work, pitch, loudness, timbre, spatialisation, auditory scene analysis, masking, speech perception and deafness) with an emphasis on how we know what we know about auditory perception in order to tackle psychoacoustical questions that have not yet been answered.
Learning Outcomes
i) Outline a specialist psychoacoustics topic in some depth
ii) Draw on general knowledge of auditory perception and digital-signal processing
iii) Use a programming language to generate psychoacoustics-grade auditory stimuli
iv) Solve key problems in digital signal processing
Skills
i) Mathematical manipulation
ii) Identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action
iii) Work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgement)
iv) Apply subject knowledge and understanding from the degree pathway
v) Have the ability and desire to learn for oneself and improve one's self-awareness and performance, to uphold the values of lifelong learning and demonstrate emotional intelligence
vi) Demonstrate confidence and motivation to start and to finish the job, adaptability/flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership, decision-making, negotiating and the ability to cope with stress
vii) Demonstrate the knowledge and experience of working with relevant modern technology
viii) Apply and exploit information technology
ix) Demonstrate critical evaluation of the outcomes of professional practice
x) Reflect on and evaluate their own practice
The media are time-based; they have a narrative flow from line to line and scene to scene and episode to episode, with each programme fitting into the wider flow of its schedule or platform, and into the wider schedule of the audience’s day and life. The media are also key mechanisms for communicating ideas and information about history and about potential futures, through fact and fiction. This module explores the ways that the media engage with time, drawing mainly on television. This will include the presentation of history and possible futures through both fact and fiction, including consideration of the political and cultural role of history and historical drama. It will include engagement with key concepts such as heritage drama, nostalgia and authenticity. It will also include consideration of the temporal nature of the media themselves, such as in their narrative construction and scheduling, and how that plays into the lives of the audience.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
Analyse media texts in relation to key ideas relating to time, history, memory and nostalgia;
Analyse the social and cultural role of history as related through the media;
Analyse media narratives in relation to their temporal construction.
Skills
Students will practice and develop core academic skills of research, analysis and communication through class work, independent research and assessed work.
Analysis and interpretation of media texts in relation to specific theoretical concepts.
Understanding of the social and cultural significance of the representation of history and potential futures in the media.
This module aims to raise questions about the relation between works of fiction set in the Victorian period, and made-for-TV reappropriations of these texts. It considers the way that we ‘read’ the Victorian period through visual image, and the impact of technologies of the visual on the written word. It introduces different theoretical approaches to film, and explains, by means of example, the differences between cinema and television. It explores connection between cinematic practice (montage, the shot, editing, sound, space and mise-en-scène) and notions of writing. It will ask questions about the nature of genre, spectatorship, and issues of ideology and effect. The module will concentrate on identifying the range of different resources required to understand the flow of images on the TV screen, and will examine how ‘adaptation’ is conceptualised, particularly the ways in which the comparison of book and film is haunted by notions of faithfulness and the ‘original’ primacy of the literary work.
Learning Outcomes
Having completed this module, you should have refined your ability to analyse literary texts sensitively in relation to films made for TV. You should have developed your skills in constructing written and spoken analyses and arguments, based on assembling appropriate primary and secondary evidence from textual and visual media. You should have developed an ability to conceptualise adaptations, to speak in a theoretically informed manner about reappropriations of works set in the Victorian period, to distinguish between film and television as visual media, and to read visual images in such a way as to appreciate how literature and film work together to produce cultural artefacts.
Skills
This module should enable you to build upon and substantially enhance the skills that you have already acquired during the course of your degree, and in particular should allow you to acquire and demonstrate the following: broad comprehension of modern scholarly debates concerning adaptations; understanding of how Victorian social and cultural contexts are translated or interpreted for the modern age; understanding of the fundamentals of film and television art; the ability to analyse critically the interrelation between works of fiction and their made for tv counterparts, in the process identifying their complexities and contradictions; effective oral and written communication skills.
The late twentieth century has seen a proliferation of Shakespeare on screen. This module investigates the phenomenon through the cinematic history of four plays - Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello. It looks at the work of directors such as Laurence Olivier, Franco Zeffirelli, Orson Welles, Kenneth Branagh, Baz Luhrmann, Oliver Parker and Michael Almereyda. Debate will focus upon the following areas; the relationship between the playtext and the film; the malleability of Shakespeare as a cultural icon; the relevance of Shakespeare to a modern audience; the shifting status of Shakespeare as a signifier of gender, race, technology and politics.
Learning Outcomes
This module aims to inculcate an in-depth knowledge of the multifarious ways in which Shakespeare is appropriated in late twentieth-century cinema; to enable students to discriminate between various filmic versions of a play; to gain the confidence and capability to deploy critical and theoretical tools to talk about film constructively; and to reflect upon connections between Shakespearean production and the preoccupations of a particular historical moment.
Skills
Having successfully completed this module, you should have become familiar with a range of ways in which Shakespeare is appropriated in the cinema; you should have learned how to utilise a theoretical filmic vocabulary in the interests of larger analyses; you should be able to discriminate between various filmic versions of a play and to identify some of their cultural and intertextual influences; you should have further honed your presentational skills and, through regular teamwork, learned the value of collaborative practice.
A maximum of one BTEC/OCR Single Award or AQA Extended Certificate will be accepted as part of an applicant's portfolio of qualifications with a Distinction* being equated to a grade A at A-level and a Distinction being equated to a grade B at A-level.
Irish leaving certificate requirements
H3H3H3H3H3H3/H2H3H3H3H3
Access Course
Successful completion of Access Course with an average of 70%.
International Baccalaureate Diploma
33 points overall including 6,5,5 at Higher Level.
BTEC Level 3 Extended/National Extended Diploma
QCF BTEC Extended Diploma (180 credits at Level 3) with overall grades D*DD
RQF BTEC National Extended Diploma (1080 GLH at Level 3) with overall grades D*DD
Graduate
A minimum of a 2:2 Honours Degree.
All applicants
There are no specific subject requirements to study Broadcast Production.
Note
All applicants must have GCSE English Language grade C/4 or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University.
How we choose our students
Applications are dealt with centrally by the Admissions and Access Service rather than by individual University Schools. Once your on-line form has been processed by UCAS and forwarded to Queen's, an acknowledgement is normally sent within two weeks of its receipt at the University.
Selection is on the basis of the information provided on your UCAS form. Decisions are made on an ongoing basis and will be notified to you via UCAS.
For last year's intake, applicants for this BA programme offering A-level/BTEC qualifications must have had, or been able to achieve, a minimum of five GCSE passes at grade C/4 or better (to include English Language). Performance in any AS or A-level examinations already completed would also have been taken into account and the Selector checks that any specific entry requirements in terms of GCSE and/or A-level subjects can be fulfilled.
For applicants offering Irish Leaving Certificate, please note that performance at Irish Junior Certificate (IJC) is taken into account. For last year’s entry applicants for this degree must have had, a minimum of 5 IJC grades C/Merit. The Selector also checks that any specific entry requirements in terms of Leaving Certificate subjects can be satisfied.
Offers are normally made on the basis of three A-levels. Two subjects at A-level plus two at AS would also be considered. The offer for repeat candidates is set in terms of three A-levels and may be one grade higher than for first time applicants. Grades may be held from the previous year.
Applicants offering two A-levels and one BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/National Extended Certificate (or equivalent qualification), or one A-level and a BTEC Diploma/National Diploma (or equivalent qualification) will also be considered. Offers will be made in terms of the overall BTEC grade(s) awarded. Please note that a maximum of one BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/National Extended Certificate (or equivalent) will be counted as part of an applicant’s portfolio of qualifications. The normal GCSE profile will be expected.
Applicants offering other qualifications, such as Higher National Certificates and Diplomas, will also be considered.
For applicants offering a HNC, the current requirements are successful completion of the HNC with 2 Distinctions and remainder Merits. For those offering a Higher National Diploma, some flexibility may be allowed in terms of GCSE profile but, to be eligible for an offer, the grades obtained in the first year of the HND must allow the overall offer to be achievable. The current entrance requirements are successful completion of the HND with 2 Distinctions, 10 Merits and 4 Passes overall. Any consideration would be for Stage 1 entry only.
The information provided in the personal statement section and the academic reference together with predicted grades are noted but, in the case of BA degrees, these are not the final deciding factors in whether or not a conditional offer can be made. However, they may be reconsidered in a tie break situation in August.
A-level General Studies and A-level Critical Thinking would not normally be considered as part of a three A-level offer and, although they may be excluded where an applicant is taking four A-level subjects, the grade achieved could be taken into account if necessary in August/September.
Candidates are not normally asked to attend for interview.
If you are made an offer then you may be invited to a Faculty/School Visit Day, which is usually held in the second semester. This will allow you the opportunity to visit the University and to find out more about the degree programme of your choice and the facilities on offer. It also gives you a flavour of the academic and social life at Queen's.
If you cannot find the information you need here, please contact the University Admissions Service (admissions@qub.ac.uk), giving full details of your qualifications and educational background.
International Students
Our country/region pages include information on entry requirements, tuition fees, scholarships, student profiles, upcoming events and contacts for your country/region. Use the dropdown list below for specific information for your country/region.
English Language Requirements
An IELTS score of 6.5 with a minimum of 5.5 in each test component or an equivalent acceptable qualification, details of which are available at: http://go.qub.ac.uk/EnglishLanguageReqs
If you need to improve your English language skills before you enter this degree programme, Queen's University Belfast International Study Centre offers a range of English language courses. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for admission to this degree.
Academic English: an intensive English language and study skills course for successful university study at degree level
Pre-sessional English: a short intensive academic English course for students starting a degree programme at Queen's University Belfast and who need to improve their English.
International Students - Foundation and International Year One Programmes
Queen's University Belfast International Study Centre offers a range of academic and English language programmes to help prepare international students for undergraduate study at Queen's University. You will learn from experienced teachers in a dedicated international study centre on campus, and will have full access to the University's world-class facilities.
These programmes are designed for international students who do not meet the required academic and English language requirements for direct entry.
A degree in Media & Broadcast Production will give students a distinct advantage as they enter the workplace. This highly practical course will allow you to build up a portfolio of work for you to share with potential employers. The new skillsets students develop such as building digital content for online distribution and social media are highly sought after by employers and provide an excellent background and future proofing for work in the Creative Industries and broadcasting sectors. Graduates in related areas of the School have gone into a diverse range of careers with a particular emphasis on the Creative Industries - a huge growth area for Northern Ireland and the UK.
Employment after the Course
This course is designed for those interested in factual programme making for television, radio, journalism and online media content creation. Many of the skills acquired are transferable across different disciplines but primarily this highly practical course will most appeal to those seeking employment in the creative industries.
Employment Links
The course has already built strong links with local broadcasters, such as BBC Northern Ireland and other relevant organisations, such as Northern Ireland Screen. Many of these organisations help to provide work placement and other learning opportunities throughout the duration of the degree.
Alumni Success
The first cohort of students on this programme graduated in July 2020. Graduates from this programme
have gone into a diverse range of careers, across the media and broadcast industry both within Northern Ireland and beyond. http://www.prospects.ac.uk
What employers say
"When people come to a newsroom now, they are expected to master a whole load of disciplines. We multi skill, we get people to do a bit of everything, that really works for us as a model and means that people are really empowered to take ownership of their videos, this course will be fantastic at encouraging this.”
Every second year we award the Anjool Malde award for Broadcast Journalism.
There is an award for the highest marks overall in each year of the programme
We offer the Jonny Bramley Award to the best Level 3 Broadcast Media Project submission
Degree Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Degree Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.
1EU citizens in the EU Settlement Scheme, with settled status, will be charged the NI or GB tuition fee based on where they are ordinarily resident. Students who are ROI nationals resident in GB will be charged the GB fee.
2 EU students who are ROI nationals resident in ROI are eligible for NI tuition fees.
3 EU Other students (excludes Republic of Ireland nationals living in GB, NI or ROI) are charged tuition fees in line with international fees.
All tuition fees will be subject to an annual inflationary increase in each year of the course. Fees quoted relate to a single year of study unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Tuition fee rates are calculated based on a student’s tuition fee status and generally increase annually by inflation. How tuition fees are determined is set out in the Student Finance Framework.
Additional course costs
An Avid Authorised Training Manual for Media Composer is required at level 1 at a cost of approximately £45. Broadcast Production will provide all of the film, sound, media equipment and editing suites needed.
Students are not expected to purchase their own camera, microphones, laptop or editing software. Students are required to purchase a USB 3 hard drive at a cost of approximately £90 for personal use.
The internationally recognised ‘Avid Certified User: Media Composer’ and ‘Avid Certified
User / Operator: Pro Tools’ certifications are available to students on this pathway.
All Students
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs which are not covered by tuition fees, which students will need to consider when planning their studies.
Students can borrow books and access online learning resources from any Queen's library. If students wish to purchase recommended texts, rather than borrow them from the University Library, prices per text can range from £30 to £100. Students should also budget between £30 to £75 per year for photocopying, memory sticks and printing charges.
Students undertaking a period of work placement or study abroad, as either a compulsory or optional part of their programme, should be aware that they will have to fund additional travel and living costs.
If a programme includes a major project or dissertation, there may be costs associated with transport, accommodation and/or materials. The amount will depend on the project chosen. There may also be additional costs for printing and binding.
Students may wish to consider purchasing an electronic device; costs will vary depending on the specification of the model chosen.
There are also additional charges for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.
How do I fund my study?
There are different tuition fee and student financial support arrangements for students from Northern Ireland, those from England, Scotland and Wales (Great Britain), and those from the rest of the European Union.
Application for admission to full-time undergraduate and sandwich courses at the University should normally be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Full information can be obtained from the UCAS website at:www.ucas.com/students.
When to Apply
UCAS will start processing applications for entry in autumn 2025 from early September 2024.
The advisory closing date for the receipt of applications for entry in 2025 is still to be confirmed by UCAS but is normally in late January (18:00). This is the 'equal consideration' deadline for this course.
Applications fromUK and EU (Republic of Ireland)students after this date are, in practice, considered by Queen’s for entry to this course throughout the remainder of the application cycle (30 June 2025) subject to the availability of places. If you apply for 2025 entry after this deadline, you will automatically be entered into Clearing.
Applications fromInternational and EU (Other) studentsare normally considered by Queen's for entry to this course until 30 June 2025. If you apply for 2025 entry after this deadline, you will automatically be entered into Clearing.
Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as is consistent with having made a careful and considered choice of institutions and courses.
The Institution code name for Queen's is QBELF and the institution code is Q75.
Additional Information for International (non-EU) Students
Applying through UCAS Most students make their applications throughUCAS(Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) for full-time undergraduate degree programmes at Queen's. The UCAS application deadline for international students is 30 June 2025.
Applying direct The Direct Entry Application form is to be used by international applicants who wish to apply directly, and only, to Queen's or who have been asked to provide information in advance of submitting a formal UCAS application.Find out more.
Applying through agents and partners The University’s in-country representatives can assist you to submit a UCAS application or a direct application. Please consult theAgent Listto find an agent in your country who will help you with your application to Queen’s University.
