MA Special Effects MA

About the course

On the MA Special Effects degree, the primary concern is with the physical (rather than digital) real-world technologies at the forefront of commercial special effects practice, which you will use to create something that is believable within its context. We have settled on a broad definition of a Special Effect as being 'a model that does something' and see Special Effects as a design discipline which also encompasses mechanics and electronics. Students are encouraged to experiment with the concepts, techniques, materials and methodologies of working in three dimensions, providing them with the skills necessary to further their career as a practitioner. This course prepares students for work in the areas of Film, Theatre, Exhibition, Product Development and Art Projects.

The focus of this postgraduate award is on the technical skills, knowledge and critical discernment you will need to exploit and realise the full potential of Special Effects. It encompasses theoretical and pragmatic considerations, including the use of appropriate technologies, an engagement with entrepreneurial activities, exploration of the historical contexts of the field, and examination of the evolution of the area as a distinct set of contemporary practices.

Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. This structure promotes cross-discipline discussion and maintains the enthusiasm and focus of discipline specialists. It enables you to develop the key transferable skills of postgraduate study grounded in activities that have currency, relevance and application for your future career and for further academic study.

Senior research staff and internationally renowned professionals work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work. Your study will include ways of thinking about the cultural resonance of your work and about the audiences it is made for, about the nature of creativity, and the role of the Cultural Industries in a modern knowledge economy. Through your study you will develop a range of project management skills, and an ability to identify and manage your own learning. You will consider the role of enterprise opportunities in commercial, professional and social environments. Enquiry, research and clear communication underpin work throughout the programme. As well as specialist modules in your chosen discipline area the programme includes modules that are shared with other postgraduate awards in the School of Creative Arts.

Why choose this course?

• This MA Special Effects degree allows you to develop your physical Special Effects skills and knowledge to a more advanced level.
• You will develop a personal portfolio which, in approach, style and vision, looks to the forefront of current commercial practices.
• On this programme you will extend your theoretical and contextual understanding of Special Effects, its audiences and culture.
• Develop professional-level enquiry, research, creative invention, project planning and management practices.
• You will experience a multi-disciplinary environment of discussion and exploration of ideas.

Study routes

• Part Time, 2 Years
• Full Time, 1 Years

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

Particular emphasis is given to providing you with the skills necessary to further your career as a Special Effects practitioner. The course is designed to help you understand and work within the contemporary media environment. Particular attention is given to helping you acquire enquiry and information handling skills, enterprise skills in the development and presentation of ideas, in communicating in the spoken and written word, and addressing particular audiences.

Teaching methods

On this programme, teaching and learning emphasises enquiry led project work, developing the kind of independence and autonomy that is appropriate for postgraduate education. Lectures, seminars and other discussions bring students together in multi-disciplinary groups where ideas are shared, challenged, developed. Workshops and other activities develop specific discipline centered skills and understandings while tutorials develop individual study trajectories and responses to assignment tasks and briefs. Much of the time students are engaged in self-managed independent study, undertaking enquiries and research, developing skills, inventing and developing ideas, realizing project outcomes, exploring the cultural resonance of their work.

All students on the PG Media programme engage in an interdisciplinary project as a part of their MA study, giving them an opportunity to work with students from other disciplines in an experimental and creative way.

Work Placement

There are work related learning opportunities on this course.

Professional Accreditations

Skillset Media Academy

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• Creative Enterprise and Context

  This module emphasises the professional contexts of the student's work both in terms of its content and in terms of the kind of outcomes used for assessment. A series of lectures present ideas about key issues in the Creative Industries and Health and Social sectors. The lectures provide a broad context for ideas about the emergence and future of the Creative Industries and Health and Social sectors about Intellectual Property Rights, about the social conditions of the workplace and about the planning and management of projects. 'Break out' seminars lead to the student producing a piece of work that explores topics relevant to their award of study. Alongside these is the development of professional 'presentation of self' skills appropriate for the student's aspirations. This includes the development of portfolios, showreels and other material and skills in preparing and delivering a pitch or bid for funding as if for a Creative Industries or in the Health and Social sectors.

• Discourse / Reflection: Media Discourses

  The learning activities fall into two phases. The first reviews and introduces a range of critical and theoretical methodologies through which the experience of media artefacts may be examined and discussed; this phase coincides with the second half of Semester A. During the second phase which takes place during Semester B, the student follows a line of personal enquiry in which they deploy and apply a chosen approach to examine artefacts, techniques and processes in their own discipline area to discuss the ways in which meaning is made. The outcome of this enquiry includes a text equivalent to around 4,000 words which may take the form of an academic journal paper, a web site, a spoken word or video recording of a scripted or extemporised talk or a live performance, or a similarly demanding production of the student's devising. Along with this there are two other staged submissions which structure the beginning stages of the enquiry and a requirement that students use an open blog or wiki type environment to log and record their enquiry.

• Major Study: Special Effects

  In this module students undertake a project in the field of Special Effects. As part of the project students document in visual and verbal materials the processes of research, enquiry and design they deploy and give an account of the design decision making process involved in creating things which are believable in context. There is a strong emphasis on the role of Special Effects within the broader narrative, and understanding the traditions and the visual, sonic and other languages of effects in context and on the knowledge and critical discernment needed to convey emotions of awe and wonder, the mundane and quotidian, illusion and spectacle.

• Practice 1: Media

  The student develops their knowledge and understanding of current processes, techniques and the scope of their chosen award field in this module. They become aware of contemporary activities and of the forefront in terms of artefacts, figures, debates, technologies and ideas. The student develops the kind of self-managed autonomy that characterises post-graduate work in their field through a series of projects which develop their own voice or style, exploring the particular issues, processes and ideas that interest them.

• Practice 2: Media

  In this module students are required to relate their own practice and learning to developments and emergent activities in their chosen field. In particular, students are asked to challenge their preconceptions of what the field is about and to work innovatively in the field. The portfolio of projects used for assessment includes a 1000 word evaluative commentary which discusses how the student's work relates to the forefront of their field in terms of subject knowledge, the application of technology, or in terms of current enterprise activities and opportunities. This is likely to include such things as new artistic practices, emergent genre forms, alternative culture formations, the appropriation of technologies for unexpected ends, the furthering of existing knowledge structures, the reapplication of established processes to novel and inventive ends, the subversion of norms, expectations and conventions, popular culture trends in the consumption of media artefacts and funding council and other government initiatives.

• Research and Enquiry

  This module aims to provide students with a range of research skills suitable for postgraduate level study in art, art therapy, design, film, media and music. The module helps students locate their work within contemporary advance-level practice in their disciplines and to make a critical evaluation of the bodies of ideas that sustain them. Key skills addressed include those of data management, critical evaluation, communication skills, notions of creativity and a range of modes of contextual analysis. The skills gleaned on this module will provide students with a platform for research for the remainder of the programme and in their future careers.

Optional

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £6,700 for the 2013 academic year

International Students

Full time: £11,000 for the 2013 academic year

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply