Creative Industries

MA

Start dates: September 2024 / September 2025

Full time: 1 year September - September

Part time: 2 years September - September

Location: Headington

Department(s): School of Arts

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Overview

Considering a career in the creative industries? There’s never been a better time, with this sector contributing over £13 million to the UK’s economy every hour.

Whether your interest is in film, music or digital media production, our MA Creative Industries course is designed to meet the high demand for those with specialist creative skills. We even have our very own student-led creative agency, Brookes Creative, where you can gain invaluable hands-on experience.

But applying your expertise to real challenges doesn’t end there. In the Optional Work Placement module, you could work on a real assignment for a local business or organisation. For example, creating public awareness videos for Thames Valley Police, or making publicity films and social media for our local independent cinema.

One in eight UK businesses are in the creative industries, which means there are endless career opportunities. Throughout the course you’ll be building on your interests and strengths, while discovering what it takes to stand out from the crowd and impress potential employers after you graduate.

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Student Performing

Why Oxford Brookes University?

  • Geared towards industry needs

    We’ve designed this practical course to meet the growing demands for specialist skills in the creative industries.

  • Leading academics

    Our tutors and lecturers are experts in their specialist fields, researching and publishing in subjects such as film music, sound art, film audiences and immersive documentary.

  • Our own agency

    Brookes Creative, our student-led agency, brings like-minded creatives together to bring their projects to life.

  • Creative partnerships

    It’s a collaborative environment at Oxford Brookes. Film students get together with music students to complete their final project, forging partnerships that reflect the real world.

  • Links with local businesses

    Thanks to our partnerships with local organisations like Oxford Contemporary Music and The Ultimate Picture Palace, you’ll have great opportunities to work on real-life projects.

Course details

Course structure

On this course, you’ll specialise in either film, music or digital media production.

Focusing on film, you’ll study how contemporary and classic feature films are produced and consumed. You’ll learn also how to unpick their meaning and understand them in their historical context.

If you choose music, you’ll look at the way creating music has changed over the decades. We’ll also show you how to research music distribution and audiences.

With digital media production, you’ll examine documentaries, shorts and television shows, then you’ll have a go. You’ll research and produce your own short film based on what you’ve learnt.

Whichever route you pick, you’ll also develop skills in research and critical practice. You might compose a piece of film music or make a video. This is where you’ll have the chance to collaborate with students in different fields.

You’ll complete your course with your dissertation or your final creative project. Some students do a written dissertation or video essay, while others focus on a creative project such as a short documentary or video installation.

Two students filming

Learning and teaching

The MA in Creative Industries is taught through a mixture of class-based activities (e.g. seminars, guest speakers), experiential learning (e.g. live projects) and independent study supported by expert supervision (e.g. dissertation or creative project).

Assessment

Assessment tasks may include written research assignments, video essays, group projects and reflective logbooks of experiential learning. Feedback is crucial for students development and most assignments build in opportunities for you to discuss your work (e.g. research seminars, proposals, idea pitching sessions).

Field Trips

MA students in the School of Arts have recently been on field trips to overseas locations including Rome and Milan.

Study modules

Film students will focus on the production and consumption of narrative feature films in both contemporary and historical periods. You will learn how to analyse recent and classic films in their industrial context, to engage with film curatorship and festival programming, and to as consider the rich microhistories of cinemagoing and spectatorship.

Music students will investigate how and where music is produced and the ways that it is consumed. You will analyse a range of venues.The ways that music is consumed have radically changed in recent decades, and you will therefore learn tools to research all the contemporary facets of music distribution, music gatekeepers and music audiences.

Digital Media Production students will examine a range of media including documentary feature films, shorts and television shows. You will have the opportunity to approach the documentary form both in terms of theory and practice, by researching and producing a short film taken from real life. 

Taught modules

Compulsory modules

  • Dissertation or Creative Project (30 credits)

    Your final project may be either a written dissertation, a video essay or a creative
    project (e.g. short documentary, artists video installation).

  • Professional Experience (30 credits)

    This module gives you the opportunity to plan and carry out a work placement or live
    project in the creative industries.

  • Research Skills & Methods

    This module gives you the vital skills in research which you will need for all other assignments.

Optional modules

Digital Media Production

Digital Transformations in Film, Media & Media Journalism (30 credits)

You will trace the development of media journalism through recent decades of digital
transformation and develop skills in feature writing, web journalism and podcasting.


Cultures of Documentary Production (30 credits)

You will have the opportunity to approach the documentary form both in terms of theory
and practice, by researching and producing a short film taken from real life.

Film

Modes of Film Production (30 credits)

You will focus on the production of narrative feature films in both contemporary and
historical periods, and learn how to analyse recent and classic films in their industrial
context.


Film Exhibition, Programming and Audiences (30 credits)

You will engage with film curatorship and festival programming, and consider the rich
microhistories of cinemagoing and spectatorship.

Music

Sites of Music Production (30 credits)

You will investigate how and where music is produced by learning how to analyse a
range of different music venues.


Modes of Music Consumption (30 credits)

You will learn tools to research all the contemporary facets of music distribution, music
gatekeepers and music audiences.

Work placement

Optional modules

Professional Experience

This module gives you the opportunity to plan and carry out a work placement or live project in the creative industries.

Final project

Compulsory modules

  • Dissertation or Creative Project

    Your final project may be either a written dissertation, a video essay or a creative project (e.g. short documentary, artists video installation).

Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.

Research

Academics in the School of Arts are part of The Creative Industries Research and Innovation Network which brings together researchers, professionals, and local communities to share expertise and build social change.

All School of Arts staff are active researchers publishing widely on subjects such as:

  • Film music
  • Opera
  • Sound Art
  • Film audiences
  • Immersive Documentary
  • Queer Theory.

Careers

After you’ve completed your MA in Creative industries, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to work and progress in one of the many creative and media industries.

You could pursue a career in cinema programming or marketing, for example, or film making or animation. Or if you want to gain your PhD, our research training means you’ll be ready for further study and an academic career.

Our creative agency has great links with local creative businesses, and the work you do in your final live project could help you make the decision on your future direction. It could be in:

  • media production
  • arts administration
  • teaching and research
  • digital marketing
  • publishing and journalism.

Our Staff

Dr Alexandra Trott

Alexandra teaches topics on art theory and practice, covering Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary art.

Read more about Alexandra

Dr James Cateridge

I teach undergraduate modules on the film industry, national cinemas and film festivals and exhibition. My postgraduate teaching is in industrial studies and film cultures.

Read more about James

Entry requirements

International qualifications and equivalences

How to apply

Application process

Tuition fees

Please see the fees note
Home (UK) full time
£9,150

Home (UK) part time
£4,575

International full time
£17,350

Home (UK) full time
£9,700

Home (UK) part time
£4,850

International full time
£18,350

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

Tuition fees

2024 / 25
Home (UK) full time
£9,150

Home (UK) part time
£4,575

International full time
£17,350

2025 / 26
Home (UK) full time
£9,700

Home (UK) part time
£4,850

International full time
£18,350

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

+44 (0)1865 534400

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Fees quoted are for the first year only. If you are studying a course that lasts longer than one year, your fees will increase each year.

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

  • For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
  • For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page

Financial support and scholarships

Self-funded, postgraduate loans.

For general sources of financial support, see our Fees and funding pages.

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published on the website. For more information, please visit our changes to programmes page.