Critical and Textual Studies
Media and Performance
Salford School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
Full-time
Three year
September 2023
In a nutshell
Do you dream of working with actors, screenwriters and directors to bring a production to life? Or perhaps you’re looking to star in your own radio show? Whatever your professional media goals, our performance and media degree is designed to give you the tools you need to achieve them.
As you progress through your studies, you’ll have the chance to explore performance and media within a unique range of contexts, from radio production and performance, to scriptwriting, directing, producing and screen acting. You’ll also take part in video and drama projects led by professional directors and industry leaders.
What’s more, your final year project will give you the opportunity to specialise in the area of media or performance that interests you most. So, whether your interests lie behind the camera or in front of the microphone, you’ll be creating cutting-edge media and live performance while building a portfolio of work to establish yourself as a professional.
Take a look at some of the work our final year students have produced on this course.
You will:
- Study with highly skilled professional practitioners to create cutting-edge media and live performance in a vibrant city with a fantastic theatre, arts and music scene
- Study a course which has produced household names such as Jason Manford, Steve Edge, Emma Atkins, Warren Brown, Erin Shannagher and Peter Kay
- Have the opportunity to engage with the industry through networking, masterclasses and a suite of professional development opportunities
students accepted
This is for you if...
You dream of performing in front of the camera, microphone, or directing from behind it.
You have a passion for media and are keen to explore live and recorded performance in a range of contexts to improve your knowledge of the industry.
You want to launch a professional career as a creative practitioner.
All about the course
Do you have a passion for storytelling? Are you interested in how different platforms can be used to engage different audiences? At Salford, you’ll be given the chance to study a variety of modules that examine the development of performance in the context of television and radio drama. You’ll also gain an awareness of the technical aspects of media production, including camera work, editing, lighting and sound.
In the first year of your studies, you’ll cover the fundamentals of media and performance, from acting for TV and radio to production skills. As your media and performance course progresses, you’ll choose from a variety of optional modules that will allow you to tailor your Performance and Media degree programme to your interests. For example, our Acting for the Camera course will give you the experience of working with ex-broadcast drama scripts which you will rehearse and record for camera under conditions mirroring industry practice.
You’ll learn through a mixture of lectures, seminars, workshop and performance projects, led by industry professionals with a wealth of past and current experience working in media. Your assessments will include essays, presentations and practical projects, all designed to enable you to develop a strong portfolio of work in your chosen area.
Want to find out more? Read our course breakdown to learn what you’ll be exploring in each module.
This lecture and seminar based module focuses on textual analysis and critical approaches to live and mediated performance texts. It also considers key theories and practitioners who influenced the development of particular disciplines within performance.
Performance in Context
Provides the historical framework to examine the development of performance from the late 19th century onward. Movements like Realism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Dada are examined in relation to other movements and across performance disciplines. Small group seminars will support the lectures.
Acting for Recorded Media
This module will acquaint you with the range and scope of television and radio drama and involves an exploration of a range of techniques for performing on camera or for the microphone, as well as providing knowledge of fundamental procedures and skills of studio operation.
Acting Methods 1
This primarily practical module focuses on the creative practices essential to build characterisations for live performance in a naturalistic context, drawing on Stanislavsky's System.
Production Skills
The module combines both technical and creative aspects of media production as you develop a broad awareness of the range of skills required for video production, including camera, lighting, editing and sound – imperative to contemporary theatre technology.
Production Workshop
You will learn how to produce from script to screen a short video drama. Working to health and safety guidelines, students develop group-working skills appropriate to a professional drama production.
Performance Studies
In lectures, screenings and seminars the approaches to textual critical analysis introduced in the first year are further developed, as are your academic writing skills.
A range of optional modules are offered, including:
Radio Performance and Production
This module enables you to work on a range of exercises designed to develop your characterisation, vocal expression and tonal variety in performing audio drama. You are introduced to studio equipment for recording and editing and contribute to studio management for the assignment. You are assessed on the performance and production of a recorded radio drama script.
Directing and Producing
Emphasises the aesthetic aspects of directing for screen along with the practical decision-making and problem-solving aspects of camera and lighting, sound recording, video editing, artistic resources and time management. You will be introduced to the role of the producer with regard to budgeting, scheduling and contingency planning.
Integrated Production Skills
This module develops the skills and approaches introduced in first year production modules, offering the opportunity to further explore camera, editing, lighting and sound recording.
Programme Production Techniques
This offers you the chance to explore the practical and creative challenges in planning and producing a studio-based TV show. This module is one of two that are based in our professional quality TV studio on our MediaCityUK campus.
Presenting
You will explore performing pieces to camera, engaging with the audience, interview technique, the importance of asking pertinent questions, listening and putting an interviewee at ease, working with green screen, autocue and using studio talkback, the importance of performing with energy, clarity and correct intonation. You will produce a showreel containing an intro, a walk and talk piece to camera, practical exercise or short demonstration, autocue read and a vlog, targeted at a specific audience and presented in an appropriate style.
Comedy Writing and Performance
The module explores the writing and devising of comedy. You will watch, listen to and discuss examples of a range of online, radio and TV comedy before working in small groups to create an original comedy sketch idea and to develop your own script and characters within it. You will be encouraged to develop range and flexibility in your vocal, facial and physical skills in order to produce a range of comic personas. The module also examines aspects of storytelling – theme, narrative structure, character development, comic types, the relationship of character to plot, use of subplots - in relation to the writing of comedy drama and situation comedy. In the second half of the module you will create your solo performance: a piece of Stand Up of comic monologue.
Acting for the Camera
The aims of the module are to develop practical skills with a range of technical exercises such as hitting marks, cheating eye-lines and body angles; regulating movement in relation to the camera; avoiding dialogue overlaps., and to further awareness and interpretative skills in translating textual and sub-textual elements into effective performance to camera.
Voice and Text
Through exercises and analysis you will develop safe vocal and physical technique related to the free, relaxed, aligned body and learn to apply interpretative skills to the speaking of verse, dramatic text and heightened prose. Workshops will also explore the free and flexible use of your home accent as well as the foundations and principles of adopting other accents, including Neutral Standard English.
Comedy Improvisation Techniques
You will work on improvisation techniques in order to create longer scenes and stories. We will primarily be focusing on Longform Improvisation, and look at many of the different formats that can support a 30 minute piece of improvised theatre/comedy.
You will focus on story telling listening skills, object work, character evolution, scene editing and improvising stories.
Introduction to Screenwriting
On this module, you will develop your own original idea for a screenplay across the semester, moving from a one-line pitch to a treatment and scene-by-scene breakdown to, ultimately, a script. The script can be for any platform or audience, with no limitations to cast size or location. The module examines the fundamental aspects of storytelling for screen: character, story, structure, and dialogue. You will learn how to format your documents to a professional standard.
Playwriting
Playwriting offers you the chance to experiment with a variety of theatre writing styles and forms. We will cover the craft of playwriting, studying character, dialogue, narrative, form, and stagecraft. We will also look at the business of playwriting, exploring the many professional opportunities and routes open to playwrights.
Shakespeare In Performance
This module examines developments in the staging of Shakespeare from Elizabethan times to the 21st century. 20th/21st century developments in approaches to and presentation of Shakespeare texts will encompass both live and recorded performance. As the module progresses you will be encouraged to address particular approaches to the presentation of Shakespeare presentation (e.g. political, feminist, intercultural) by exploring the work of for example; RSC, Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and Kenneth Branagh). A range of plays are studied, with one or two plays as ‘core’ texts – one of these will usually be a text with local stage performance.
Introduction to Multimedia Performance
This module is delivered as part of the BA (Hons) Media and Performance degree.
This module is designed to develop skills in and approaches to the making of multimedia performance, through practical workshops, which are underpinned by reference to key theories and practitioners in the field. You will focus on a number of different aspects of multimedia performance and in sessions, will develop skills in these areas, through practical experimentation and collaborative creative work. Sessions will also offer examples of practices and concepts relevant to each area, which will be discussed in relation to your developing work.
Theatre and Communities
The module provides students with a practical knowledge and theoretical understanding of the uses, applications and value of drama and theatre as an aspect of social engagement and personal empowerment outside of the conventional theatre environment. The module explores the history of the 'form', and key practitioners and areas of contemporary practice. Practitioners/companies may include Cardboard Citizens, 7.84, TiPP, Geese Theatre UK, and Clean Break
Introduction to Theatre Directing
This module is delivered as part of the BA (Hons) Media and Performance programme.
In the first part of the module, a series of workshop and inputs will introduce you to the role of the director, using a small selection of play texts, all of which have different directorial challenges. We will explore how the director approaches a text, researches it, and develops a vision for their production.
The second stage of the module looks at working with actors and text. They provide the director with a toolkit of techniques to use with actors. How does a director get actors to understand the play and their characters? How are scenes broken down? How do actors understand what the director wants them to do to change their performance?
You will have the opportunity to lead small group work as a director exploring and experimenting with a range of directorial approaches to scripts. Consideration will also be given to the relationship between the director and other key members of the production team (e.g. set designer, lighting & sound designers and stage manager).
The final workshops comprise of student-led project work (with tutor guidance) focusing upon moving beyond the text and into performance -based work. You will be working as a director, leading exercises with other group members, receiving live feedback and developing your directorial practice.
You will also choose either a Video Project or a Radio Comedy Project:
Video Project
The aims of the module are to enable students to expand their knowledge and creativity in crewing roles and performing for camera; to enable students to further develop the use of video and post-production techniques to create original 15 minute dramas with a view to public exhibition and festival submission. The module is run as a professional simulation.
Radio Comedy Project
This project is led by a member of staff and/or a visiting practitioner. You will work in an ensemble to create original comedy sketch ideas and develop your own characters within them. This will culminate in a 45 minute long show, performed and recorded live, then edited into a 30 minute programme. The performance, recording and editing of selected sketches before a live studio audience constitutes the practical element of the assessment. Students will also have a technical role in order to complete the project to a professional standard. The module is run as a professional simulation and you will be expected to be available from 10am to 5pm for three weeks at the end of Trimester two.
Performance Research Project
n this module you will undertake an individually tailored project building out from all you have learned on your degree programme with support from staff. You will research relevant materials and current industry trends around your project area. This will lead into the delivery of the project itself, which will follow one of three pathways:
Practical Project: this can be a live performance or a recorded performance (screen or audio) or a script (screen, stage or audio).
Dissertation: this will be a written submission taking the form of a long essay.
Industry Project: this can be a work placement, an organisation study or planning and running a workshop.
Video Project
The aims of the module are to enable students to expand their knowledge and creativity in crewing roles and performing for camera; to enable students to further develop the use of video and post-production techniques to create original 15 minute dramas with a view to public exhibition and festival submission. The module is run as a professional simulation.
Careers and Professional Pathways
Students will engage with a range of industry-led masterclasses and workshops, which are designed to equip them with the knowledge of industry practices that will benefit their employment endeavours. The sessions will also guide the students in the production of specific materials, some of which may be used directly in applying for employment opportunities.
You will choose two of the following options:
Scriptwriting for TV and Film
Through a professionally geared script development programme, you will create a premise, a treatment, a step outline, and a first draft of a complete screenplay of at least fifty minutes. In seminars, you will discuss ideas for story, character, and theme within the group. Treatments, step outlines, and the first draft are developed in one-to-one tutorials.
Creative Techniques for Video Drama Production
You will examine specific approaches and processes in direction and production for professional broadcast media. This includes pre-production planning, directing actors, and effective decision-making to ensure fluidity and continuity in editing. You will then develop your knowledge and skills as director, lighting camera-operator/director of cinematography, sound recordist or editor.
Gender and Sexuality in Performance
The module examines the importance of gender and sexuality in the development of contemporary drama and performance in the UK and USA from the turn of the twentieth century to the global streaming platforms of today.
Gender and sexuality are examined through a series of play texts and screenplays and contextualised in the dominant discourses about both in each period. Seminar sessions will function as forums for debate about evolving and competing theories, whilst practice workshops will explore the texts through readings, improvisations, and appropriations.
New Trends in Theatre and Performance
The module explores the spectrum of new trends in performance. Practices may include Live Art, multimedia/digital performance; immersive theatre; headphone performance; pervasive gaming; one-to-one performance; You will examine the work of current practitioners and will focus on how relations of space and place and audience and performer are being reconfigured and redefined in the 21st century. You will then choose an area of practice to explore through the creation of a solo or collaborative performance piece.
Programme Production
The module builds on the skills gained at level 5 and is focused upon the production of a cultural review magazine programme of broadcast standard. Students will undertake appropriate roles in production, operational and research capacities and will provide the necessary support for a broadcast ready TV production.
This module runs at MediaCity and utilises the factual programme studio facilities there.
Radio Acting
This module is designed to develop acting skills for radio drama to a professional standard. Principally working from professional scripts, you will work on vocal control, microphone technique, spatial awareness and ‘lifting the text off the page’. You will have the opportunity to direct each other and feed back to each other, as well as listening to and critiquing some notable radio drama already broadcast with a view to appreciating the breadth of style and content available in the medium. As part of this, you will be encouraged to keep a ‘listening journal’, in which you can critique both broadcast audio dramas and your own vocal performances in class.
This module aims to acquaint you with the range and scope of audio drama, including related audio performance opportunities such as voiceovers, voicing animations and accents, as well as developing the basic skills of fundamental procedures of studio operation.
Renaissance Theatre Acting
This module is designed to develop acting skills for Renaissance theatre. Working principally with the plays of Shakespeare, you will work on vocal control and performance skills intended to embody the text in a manner that is psychologically believable within the conventions of dramatic verse and heightened prose. You will be encouraged to thoroughly research the context informing your chosen pieces and to apply analytical skill in decoding the complexities of Renaissance English, of metaphor and of poetic techniques of rhythm, alliteration and rhyme.
Stand-up Comedy
Through class interaction, individual research, and tutor supervision, you are encouraged to develop your own comic voice and persona and to devise and write original ideas toward solo live performance. A visiting professional comedian will be invited in to give feedback on the work before it is performed and/or recorded.
TV Acting
You will analyse, research, rehearse and perform a number of television drama scripts – and work in depth on a specific character from one of them. Rehearsals of the extracts are recorded and critically reviewed in seminar sessions. Particular attention is paid to the layering of subtext, psychological detail and technical skills.
TV Comedy: Writing and Performance
On this module you will develop one of both areas of knowledge - comedy writing and comedy performance. You will also learn about sitcom making for broadcast.
Documentary to Mockumentary
This module aims to investigate the historical, social and industrial changes in Documentary production. The module is concerned with the development of competing theories around documentary. It will address conflicting definitions of documentary and mockumentary within a global marketplace and will compare and contrast the range of production strategies adopted within mainstream TV and cinematic documentary modes. It will build on the existing production skills from your second year, providing students with the opportunity to produce and direct a short documentary or mockumentary film.
Theatre Directing
This module begins with series of classes exploring the role of the director in relation to a range of contemporary and historical scripts. Under close tutor guidance, you will then consider and apply appropriate theatrical methodologies in order to develop your own directorial approach. All students will be given the opportunity to lead small group work in terms of exploring and experimenting with a range of directorial approaches to both script and to performers.
Making Performance for Social Media
This module will explore the importance of the emerging performance and technologies associated with social media content creation. This is an area that uses a lot of similar skills and theories that students may already have learned in level’s 4 and 5 in modules such as: Acting for Camera, Presenting, Comedy Improvisation, Multimedia Performance, Integrated Production Skills, Programme Production.
The outline for the module will be divided into three sections: content and persona creation, marketing and promotion, and production techniques. These sections will culminate in the students creating their own ‘channel’ in their chosen social media platform.
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
BE A PART OF A CREATIVE, SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
All our Performance courses are delivered by the Salford School of Arts, Media, and Creative Technology. Our focus is to ensure that you have the skills you need to pursue your dreams, and we encourage our students, past and present, to collaborate with each other and achieve great things.
Each year - through the Create Student Awards – our School rewards the incredible achievements and successes of our final year and postgraduate students.
Whatever you choose to study with us, you’ll be mentored and supported by experts. And once you graduate, it won’t end there. You’ll join a thriving alumni network across Greater Manchester and beyond, meaning you’ll be supported professionally and personally whenever you need it..
PERFORMANCE FACILITIES
This Media and Performance degree is based at our £55 million New Adelphi building, the home of performance and creativity on campus.
Our range of performance facilities include:
New Adelphi Theatre – this 350-seat venue provides an opportunity for you to stage shows in front of live audiences. It also regularly hosts professionals shows and performances.
Studio theatre - this classic black-box performance space offers a more intimate venue than the New Adelphi Theatre. It features flexible seating and staging, so you can shape the space to meet your creative needs.
Voice acting studio - from podcasting and video game dialogue to radio drama and foley sound effects, this facility gives you the flexibility to produce a range of audio for your projects.
Screen acting studio – are you passionate about a career on the screen? You’ll learn to hone new skills using our two-screen acting studios. featuring fixed and flexible sets,
Explore our Performance facilities at the University of Salford or take a 360 tour of our New Adelphi building.
MEET THE PERFORMANCE TEACHING STAFF
Looking to learn more about the background of our Performance tutors and technical demonstrators or put a face to a name?
Find out who'll work with you throughout your academic journey at the University of Salford.
Explore the Performance faculty at the University of Salford
What about after uni?
Employment
With the increasing popularity of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon and the rise of podcasting platforms like Spotify, there’s never been a better time to study Performance and Media. As people are watching, listening, making and broadcasting media in more ways than ever before, there’s never been more appetite and opportunity for new productions.
Many of our graduates have progressed to employment in an impressive range of arts, entertainment and media organisations, working as writers, researchers, production managers, producers, directors, actors and presenters. And with our reputation for providing the industry with highly skilled and dynamic graduates, you’ll also be equipped to secure roles in teaching, community work or as creative workshop leaders.
Further study
Graduates showing strong academic and research skills can pursue a further postgraduate path through our Postgraduate programmes on a full-time or part-time basis subject to a satisfactory proposal.
Career Links
As part of your media and performance degree course, you’ll learn from practitioners who have worked with, and have active links to, leading film and TV companies, including BBC TV and Radio Drama, ITV, Channel 4 and Red Productions.
Our performance teaching staff have also worked with traditional and experimental theatre companies of many kinds including the Royal Exchange, the Young Vic, the UK's leading contemporary performance companies Blast Theory, Imitating the Dog, Plane Performance and Reckless Sleepers.
What you need to know
APPLICANT PROFILE
To gain a place on this media and performance degree, you will have to submit a personal statement and meet our entry requirements when you apply.
Within your personal statement (up to 500 words) we will want to understand:
- what motivates you and what current experiences do you have in terms of media and performance?
- have you had active involvement in the arts and what did you do?
- what creators, practitioners and performers inspire you?
- why do you want to work in the media and performance sector?
- and why the University of Salford and this media and performance degree is the right choice for your future goals.
Applicants may be asked to attend an audition workshop and provide an example of their writing. If that's the case we will provide all the information you need to prepare.
Once you’ve made your application to study with us, we’ll contact you and let you know the next steps.
GCSE
English Language at grade C/level 4 or above (or equivalent). Maths at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent) is preferred but not essential.
You must fulfil our GCSE entry requirements as well as one of the requirements listed below.
UCAS tariff points
104-112 points.
A level
104-112 points.
T level
Merit
BTEC National Diploma
DMM including Performing Arts or similar subject
Access to HE
112 UCAS Tariff Points from a Level 3 QAA approved Access programme. Must include Media/Performance.
Scottish Highers
104-112 points including Performing Arts or similar subject
Irish Leaving Certificate
104-112 points including Performing Arts or similar subject
International Baccalaureate
29 points, 5 or 6 (Higher level) in a relevant subject
European Baccalaureate
Pass Diploma with 72% overall
International students
We accept qualifications from all around the world. Find your country to see a full list of entry requirements.
If you are an international student and not from a majority English speaking country, you will need IELTS 6.0 with no element below 5.5.
We also accept a range of other English language qualifications. If you do not have the English language requirements, you could take the Pre-Sessional English course to gain entry onto this degree.
Salford Alternative Entry Scheme (SAES)
We welcome applications from students who may not meet the stated entry criteria but who can demonstrate their ability to pursue the course successfully. Once we have received your application we will assess it and recommend it for SAES if you are an eligible candidate.
There are two different routes through the Salford Alternative Entry Scheme and applicants will be directed to the one appropriate for their course. Assessment will either be through a review of prior learning or through a formal test.
How much?
Type of study | Year | Fees |
---|---|---|
Full-time home | 2023/24 | £9,250per year |
Full-time international | 2023/24 | £16,380per year |
Full-time home | 2024/25 | £9,250per year |
Full-time international | 2024/25 | £17,040per year |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
Scholarships for International Students
If you are a high-achieving international student, you may be eligible for one of our scholarships. Explore our international scholarships.