Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year BA (Hons)

This is a four-year version of our popular BA (Hons) Media Production course, with an integrated foundation year. Get practical training in TV and radio. Pitch to industry professionals and go live on air in our award-winning radio station. Join a course which best prepares you for a career in the industry.

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Overview

There’s never been a better time to get into content creation – we’re watching, listening, making and broadcasting more media than ever before. This course will give you the practical skills to join this expanding industry and make engaging content for TV, radio, podcasts, social and online.

Taught by experienced experts, using fantastic facilities, you’ll develop and pitch ideas to industry practitioners and undertake placements to build your network. Our students have taken advantage of our relationships with BBC, Capital FM, Sunderland AFC, Tyne Tees Television, Made in Tyne and Wear, and various production companies as well as our very own internationally award-winning Spark Sunderland.

Graduate with a degree that shows off your specialism. In your final year you can choose from: BA (Hons) Media Production, BA (Hons) Media Production (TV) or BA (Hons) Media Production (Radio).

Why us?

Acclaimed independent production company Fulwell 73 – makers of Netflix show ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’ – has launched a new regional office in our David Puttnam Media Centre. Get direct experience and insight into a leading production company and how it operates. Read more about Fulwell 73's new regional office, Fulwell North.
Our Media and Film Studies courses are 11th in the UK (Guardian University Guide, 2023)
Inspirational graduate stories including BAFTA winners and Royal Television Society award-winners; Amazon Prime Original producers, E4 voice talent and BBC Radio 1 presenters, including Jordan North
Get involved with our internationally award-winning community radio station Spark Sunderland, which broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Access to our equipment store where you can borrow industry-standard technology throughout your course, and even after you graduate, to help you get your feet off the ground
Gain an industry standard certificate to speed your way into work with the BECTU Creative Industries Safety Passport confirming you have undertaken health and safety training and are safe to work on set
Paid work placements available with ITV and Lime Pictures

Course structure

This is a practical based course with a 70/30 split. The majority of teaching and assessment is based on skills, coursework and content creation, often in groups. The rest may be presentations, essays, critical evaluations, self-review and reports.

The first year is all about building your skills. You’ll be introduced to the studios, the equipment, relevant software and the various roles within TV and radio. This prepares you to concentrate on content creation in the second year, while you explore roles and specialisms. By your final year, you’re ready to delve into the discipline you love, take on your preferred role, pitching and developing proposals and delivering a finished piece to professional standards.

Work experience is an integral part of the course, and throughout your time with us, you'll be encouraged to continuously liaise with the TV and radio industry with work experience placements and industry-ran masterclasses.

Part-time study

If you study this course on a part-time basis, you will typically complete 40-80 credits in a year, rather than the 120 credits of full-time students. All modules are taught during the daytime and you will be studying alongside full-time students.

Foundation Year

The Creative Industries: Arts, Design, Performance, Media Production Integrated Foundation Year includes five modules:

Foundations of Art, Design, Performance and Media Production (40 credits)
Essential Study Skills (20 credits)
Foundation Project (20 credits)
Practical Numeracy Skills (20 credits)
Introduction to Creative Practice (20 credits)

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Year 1 (national level 4):

Core modules:

Studio Practice: TV and Virtual Production (20 credits)

Focus on the basic concepts, procedures and techniques employed in a modern television studio. Gain and introduction to a wide variety of production roles (vision mixer, floor manager, camera operator, director, lighting director, etc.), and produce a short multi-camera studio programme for a specific audience. Discover new and exciting virtual production techniques and explore how this can be used in real-time to fundamentally transform traditional production methods, from planning to the production itself.

Narrative Scriptwriting (20 credits)

Learn the key skills of storytelling through workshops on narratives and formats and use those skills to inform your work and your professional development. Work on the production of an independently written short script as well as a treatment and pitch. Learn how to develop an idea through to treatment stage, and finally into scripts suitable for short films, TV/streaming service, radio, or podcast. Cover genre, narrative structure, plot lines and character development and learn how to format a script for various forms. Develop your critical awareness in relation to your own work and that of others and develop your analytical skills and understanding of conceptual issues in relation to scriptwriting and the finished product.

Single Camera Production (20 credits)

Gain an introduction to the procedures and techniques of single camera video production. Learn the technical practices and creative skills required to produce a video. Originate, develop, script, shoot and edit a production of three minutes in length, working in a production crew.

Sound: Recording and Mixing (20 credits)

Develop the skills needed to competently record and mix audio with the appropriate hardware and software. Consider how sound operates as a standalone element, how it affects the listener and how it interacts and informs other types of media such as film and television and online. Evaluate the roles of practitioners within the industry.

Sounds and Visions: Broadcasting Histories, Texts and Contexts (20 credits)

Trace the evolution of broadcasting from its technological beginnings in the nineteenth century through its institutional birth in 1922. Explore significant historical, regulatory and institutional developments in relation to radio and television. Look at various broadcasting contexts, from the creation of public service models of broadcasting through to the arrival of commercial competitors, and at the relationship between various mediums and platforms and their respective audiences.

Introduction to Radio and Podcast Production (20 credits)

Produce a range of work that introduces you to the core skills of radio and podcast production. Develop a range of skills including studio operation and playout software, podcast production, interviewing, and scripting for live radio. Build up a portfolio of work, which will feature the production of a podcast and a live radio programme on our community radio station. Work with others as well as independently to help you develop confidence and skills in the fast-moving and expanding industry.

Year 2 (national level 5):

Core modules:

Documentary Production (20 credits)

Devise, develop and deliver a short documentary in groups. Analyse the documentary form and further develop production skills such as planning, organisation, production management, camera, lighting, sound, digital workflow, and post-production techniques.

Employment in Screen and Audio Industries (20 credits)

Develop contextual, practical and critical skills you’ll need to survive in the screen and audio industries. Focus on mapping your employment journey through different industry sectors and make media content about this via a podcast and digital content. Set up work placements and make professional contacts in the creative industries. Learn about essential legal, ethical, compliance and diversity issues. Meet key industry and University services such as BBC Careers Hub; ScreenSkills, mandy (and other directories and agencies), North East Screen; the University’s Enterprise Centre, Sunderland Futures, the Digital Incubator and Faculty initiatives Media Hub, Spark platforms and the Sunderland Creatives Agency.

Interrogating Factual Media (20 credits)

Develop a critical understanding of the role and importance of fact-based media output across multiple platforms, from broadcast content to diverse internet-based publishers. Gain analytical and evaluative skills through analyses of media discourses impacting upon public knowledge and the effective functioning of democracy while exploring a range of relevant contemporary topics and theories. Complete the module with a robust understanding of the interplay between the construction of media messaging, their communicative value and effectiveness, and the public’s response.

Audio Stories (20 credits)

Learn about the power of telling stories in sound, producing two creative audio productions – a documentary and an audio drama. Research ideas, record interviews and sound effects, and produce soundscapes and creative sound design for documentary and podcast production. Explore the inherent creativity of audio/radio drama production from script to final mix studying the use of dialogue, acoustics, music, sound effects and sound design.

Spark TV (20 credits)

Develop concepts and techniques used in multi-camera studio production and gain an introduction to live video streaming and social formats. Work as a part of a team to produce a live studio-based production based on a genre of your choice (chat, quiz, debate, magazine, children’s show, arts programme, current affairs, music programme, etc.) Research, devise plan, script and broadcast this 10-minute programme live via video streaming at a pre-determined time. Learn more advanced techniques in studio lighting, multi camera production, studio sound and lighting. Produce an individual treatment and proposal for an original TV format of your choice.

Optional modules (choose one):

Post Production (20 credits)

Expand the post-production knowledge and skills that you have acquired at Stage 1 with a primary focus on Avid’s Media Composer, Pro Tools and Adobe’s After Effects. Develop an understanding of visual editing, motion graphics/video effects and audio from a dramatic/artistic perspective and then focus your skill sets on crafting a fully realised video project. Finish, check and deliver a project after critically assessing its strengths and weakness.

The Moving Camera (20 credits)

Develop your understanding of moving cameras, their images and the impact of those images on screen. Explore and learn to control moving camera equipment including Steadicams, Track and Dollies, Jib-arm, and sliders in order to create professional moving compositions.

Podcasting (20 credits)

Explore the key ideas behind the medium of podcasting and develop the practical and professional skills needed to produce your own podcast series.

Final year (national level 6):

Core modules:

Media and Society (20 credits)

Develop a critical understanding of the industrial links between Advertising and Branding and Quality Television Drama (and many other types of media) in terms of their historical development and production. Gain analytical and evaluative skills by examining the current issues and debates about the impact of media on society. Finish the module with a robust knowledge of the intertwined concerns of creating content, creating profit and the necessity for analysis of media output and industrial systems to maintain a healthy, democratic society.

Major Projects in Media Production (40 credits)

Produce a major piece of work across the academic year, bringing together all of the skills you’ve developed so far. Work individually or in groups to produce a piece of work that demonstrates your skills, ideas and ambitions. Produce a factual entertainment documentary for a television audience, a series of videos for social media, drama, podcasts, or a radio documentary. Pitch any idea you like before working with tutors to develop your ideas through to production.

Screen and Audio Industries (20 credits)

Develop skills and knowledge to prepare you for working in the screen and audio industries. Produce work that responds to live brief in film, video, podcast, or radio. Conduct some research work into the media industries to help you explore and evaluate the opportunities for finding work.

Optional modules (choose two):

High End Video Project (20 credits)

Work in small groups and find a client to create a high-end corporate video project. Demonstrate your technical ability in creating professional visuals effective audio levels/mixing/score, and professional editing/grade. Produce a video that showcases your development over the three years of your studies. Create a video showreel of your best work from this module and upload it to an online platform, highlighting your professionalism and technical ability.

Narrative Documentary Podcasting (20 credits)

Build and develop the key skills used in the production of a narrative podcast documentary. Learn you the skills needed to record interviews, prepare scripts, and mix a documentary podcast of up to 15 minutes.

Audio Drama (20 credits)

Explore one of the major growth areas in media production – audio drama. Listen to audio drama podcasts and radio dramas before you letting your own imagination take over as you begin to explore the unique world of audio drama by making your own production. Learn about audience for audio drama, distribution platforms as well as practically studying scriptwriting for audio drama, the creative use of acoustics, how to direct a cast and performance techniques, sound effects recording, sound design and mixing.

Factual Entertainment (20 credits)

Focus on the genre of Factual Entertainment, one of the most widely consumed formats of television production today, and which encompasses several types of non-scripted non-fiction programming via a variety of popular and accessible formats. Develop the skills you need to produce your own contribution to this hugely popular genre and working in small groups you will produce either a 10-minute documentary of your choice, or you can work on a live industry brief to create a pilot (or taster tape) for an original factual entertainment format of your own devising.

More about BA (Hons) Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year at Sunderland

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Develop your skills in one of our 70 workstations with state-of-the-art HD Edit systems, including Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Premier Pro and Adobe Creative Cloud suite. You'll also use DaVinci Resolve for colour correction.

You’ll also access our digital audio postproduction area with voiceover booths.
Digital editing
The library is your gateway to information resources and services both on and off campus, all through a single search box. We have digital resources and support tailored for your course including Box of Broadcasts (BoB) an on-demand TV and radio streaming service; Kanopy to access films; and a collection of DVDs for you to borrow, you're welcome to film in the library too. See the media key resources for more information.

Access 1400 study places, including quiet and silent zones, 300+ PCs, group work hubs, online module reading lists and study skills support, all in our quality learning environments. You’ll have full use of two libraries, both with extensive opening hours. And ‘Live Chat’ enables you to access library support and help, from anywhere, 24/7.

We’re much more than a library, the University Library and Study Skills team are on hand to guide you throughout your studies on and off campus from embedded skills sessions, digital skills support to one-to-one and drop-in advice on research and academic skills.
Library support for Media
Learn in our 200 seat cinema and 7.1 surround sound facility. Get hands-on in our two broadcast-quality production studios complete with green room and changing facilities. Access four Steadicam rigs plus dolly, track and mini crane. Our field camera systems, comprises Blackmagic Ursa, Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro, Blackmagic 4K Production Camera and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, with associated location kits, lighting, field monitors and audio mixers.

Get experience with Made in Tyne & Wear, based in the Media Centre providing placements to students and jobs to several of our graduates.

Go on-air in one of five radio studios, including a larger radio drama studio and a transmission suite for Spark, our award winning student-run community radio station. Spark has a target audience of 15 to 24 year-olds and broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Develop your skills in our digital audio post-production area with voice-over booths and 70 workstations with state-of-the-art HD Edit systems, including Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer and Premier Pro. You'll also use DaVinci Resolve for colour correction.
TV and radio studios
TV Studio 360
TV Studio Gallery 360
Map and directions

Facilities

The David Puttnam Media Centre is a thriving place to study and experience media. Rub shoulders with BBC Newcastle and Tyne & Wear TV, who are both based in the building. Volunteer with award-winning Spark Sunderland, write for one of our suite of websites, or edit Spark Magazine in our mediaHUB. Get hands-on in TV and Radio Studios, Journalism and Digital editing suites. Learn from experts in this centre of excellence for training.

Entry requirements

We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.

Entry requirements are provided for guidance only and we may offer you an entrance interview which will help us determine your eligibility for your chosen degree. This enables us to consider making you an offer if you are perhaps a mature student who has been out of education for a period of time, or you have gained significant knowledge and skills through employment rather than traditional education.

Eligible entry qualifications:

1. Normally a minimum of three Level 2 qualifications (NVQ, GCSE or equivalent), including Maths and English at grade C or above** and a minimum of 40 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A or AS Levels, T Levels, BTEC certificates/diplomas, access courses or equivalent)
OR
2. Demonstrable evidence of appropriate knowledge and skills acquired from at least three years of post-school work experience.

If you are unsure of whether you think you might be suitable for the course, please contact us!

** If you have studied for a GCSE which has a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above. Equivalent alternative qualifications are also accepted, such as Level 2 Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number. If you have not achieved a grade C in Maths and English we may be able to work with you to ensure that you are able to gain these in the first year of the course, depending on your experience.

If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

The annual fee for this course is £9,250 if you are from the UK/Ireland/EU settled/pre-settled.

If you are a full-time UK/Irish/EU settled/EU pre-settled student you may be eligible to receive financial support to cover your fees for the full four years. UK and EU settled students may also be eligible to receive a maintenance loan.

Please note, this course is not available to international students.

Learn more about settled status, pre-settled status, special discounts, visa requirements and Common Travel Area (CTA) agreements for the Republic of Ireland applicants in our Help and Advice article.

Take a look at the Your Finances section to find out about the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's by night

Career ready

This degree prepares you for careers in TV, radio, video and new media industries. Your training in communication, teamwork and creativity will be highly relevant to roles in many different businesses and in the public sector.

Career destinations

Recent graduates from Sunderland have gained jobs with employers such as the BBC, Channel 4, Sky TV, Capital North East, I Daniel Blake, MTV and professional production companies.

You could also choose to continue your studies with a Masters degree at the University of Sunderland, such as MA Radio, Audio and Podcasting or MA Media Production (Film and Television).

Work experience

We actively encourage you to gain relevant work experience while at university. In every year of your course, you'll be guided and encouraged to gain meaningful experience that will fit around your studies.

You'll undertake a number of practice modules throughout your course, which can include live briefs from clients from outside the University. Get the opportunity to gain production experience with independent production company Fulwell 73 and build up a portfolio of work to show future employers.

External links

We frequently invite guest speakers to run workshops and master classes, allowing you to relate your learning to real-life experience.

We encourage you to take part in competitions; our students have won awards from organisations such as the Royal Television Society.

Throughout your studies, you’ll be guided and supported by our experts. All of whom are working or researching in media. You’ll study alongside scriptwriters, film makers, radio producers, presenters and independent film producers who will share their experience and encourage you to build your network.

Join our award winners

Our staff and students consistently win big at the Royal Television Awards.

RTS winners 2020

Comedy and Entertainment: 72
Drama: Quite By Chance
Factual: Two Monkeys
Craft - Production Design: Quite by Chance
Craft - Camera: 72
Craft - Editing: Freedom

RTS winners 2019

Comedy and Entertainment: Rebel Rebel
Factual: NEPK – North East Parkour
Craft - Editing: NEPK – North East Parkour

Creative Industries Week

Creative Industries Week gives everyone in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries the opportunity to participate in a range of projects, workshops, talks, industry visits and career events. This exciting week encourages interdisciplinary working, broadens your experience to build your confidence and helps develop your career path.

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries.

Page last updated: 07 February 2023

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Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Overview

Why us?

Course structure

Foundation Year

Year 1 (national level 4):

Core modules:

Year 2 (national level 5):

Core modules:

Optional modules (choose one):

Final year (national level 6):

Core modules:

Optional modules (choose two):

More about BA (Hons) Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year at Sunderland

Careers in the creative industries

Five tips to triumph at the Royal Television Awards

Radio in a crisis

Facilities

Entry requirements

Fees and finance

Career ready

Career destinations

Work experience

External links

Join our award winners

Creative Industries Week

Meet the team — BA (Hons) Media Production with Integrated Foundation Year

Related courses

Contact

Sign up to receive more information