School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies

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The School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies brings together investigative rigour with creative storytelling and communication to make positive changes to the world and how we think. We work in the real and imaginary worlds to produce skilled graduates, quality research and compelling stories through innovative technology. Our goal is to challenge and disrupt the way people relate to and communicate with each other through creative practice and the development of innovative technologies.

We seek to change the world one story at a time. Our storytelling has many formats, whether reporting breaking news, writing myths, or producing visually impactful documentary films, TV and books.

Our research is focused on collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects that improve our quality of life and rethink how we interact with each other and our environment. We deliver outstanding research in VR and its applications to healthcare, computer games, and visual computing in image analysis and big data representation. We've also overhauled the management of digital archives and promoted new approaches to storytelling in video games.

Many of our staff have industry experience and links with the creative industries, and bring this experience to their teaching. Jared Embley worked as a creature effects artist on Game of Thrones, Niki Wakefield was a compositor for the Harry Potter films and Space Jam, and Gavin Wade has worked on over 50 published titles in the games industry.

Teaching

We mix creative practice with critical understanding to offer our students an engaging and socially and culturally relevant learning environment. We have a mixture of talented staff with international reputations for their work and research, and their expertise feeds into our globally minded, practically focused approach to teaching.

Students use industry-standard technology, including games console dev kits, VR and Motion Capture (MOCAP) labs, AR and VR headsets, and our music studios with an SSL desk and Buchla synth. They're encouraged to learn new software and hardware, and apply what they learn in practical settings and through project based work with our staff supporting their individual creative approaches.

Our students also get involved with CCI TV, our student-led TV channel. Students work collaboratively in a fully equipped broadcast studio, streaming their content live for YouTube, social media and the Big Screen in Guildhall Square.

Our strong links with employers offer students varied placement year opportunities. Past placement students have worked at Sony, BluePrint Media, EA, Disney, ASOS, Framestore, Intel, Sega and the BBC. Many of our graduates go on to work with professionals they've met in their placement year.

All our undergraduate courses include the opportunity for students to set up their own business or go on a one year placement. Past students have worked for companies such as Walt Disney, NBC Discovery UK, Sky, BBC, Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, Vogue, The Daily Telegraph.

Our courses are recognised and accredited by various bodies: 

• Our BA (Hons) Journalism course is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). Students taking this course are automatically entered for the NTCJ Diploma in Journalism examination, and can graduate ready to work as a qualified journalist.
• Our BA (Hons) Film Production and BA (Hons) Television Production courses are ScreenSkills-accredited, a key signpost for employers looking to hire industry ready graduates.
• Our BA (Hons) Animation, BSc (Hons) Computer Animation and Visual Effects and BSc Music Technology courses are Joint Audio Media Education Services (JAMES) accredited, which assures employers that graduates have the relevant skills and abilities needed to work in the animation industry.
• Our BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology and BSc (Hons) Computer Games Production courses are accredited by The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA). All TIGA Accredited courses teach skills required by the games industry.

Partners

We've developed teaching and research partnerships with King's College London, Star & Crescent, University of Brighton, Cardiff University, University of Porto, Foundation for Science and Technology, Limerick School of Art and Design, University of Hertfordshire, University of Lincoln, Portsmouth City Council, University of West England and University of South Wales.

Outreach

Our School is also active in the Portsmouth community, hosting and working with locally based events including:

• Portsmouth ComicCon — We've been organising events and planning panels at this celebration of popular culture since 2018
• Portsmouth Book Fest — We're been building on our city's strong literary heritage with local organisations to run an annual book and author festival and year round literary events
• Darkfest — Inspired by the Supernatural Cities project, we've been running this annual celebration of spooky, gothic and horror cultural production from 2016

Research

Our research has considerable impact. We contributed impact case studies to several units of assessment in the Research Excellence Framework 2021. Because of REF 2021, 64% of our research outputs in Music, Drama, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies, 73.9% of our research in Area Studies, and 54.4% of our research in English Language and Literature were rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. 

We've carried out collaborative research with partners including Doye Mosse Productions, Emteq, Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Research, Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, RSK ADAS UK, Greenyard, Cato Engineering, Research Centre Hoogstraten, NIAB EMR, National Institute for Astrophysics, The Geological Society, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Paris Institute of Earth Physics, Fugro Geoconsulting, OASP Earthquake Planning Protection Organisation and the Hellenic Oceanographers Association.

We've collaborated with other universities on multiple projects, including Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Lille 1 University of Science and Technology, University College London, Brunel University, University of Kent, Aberystwyth University, Buckingham New University, University of Milano-Bicocca, University of Clermont Auvergne, University of Athens and Óbuda University.

We've received research funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund, Interreg, British Academy, Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Council, American Society for Theatre Research, the Leverhulme Trustm, Innovate UK, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Interreg, Natural Environment Research Council, A2C Services, Erasmus Plus, Bounce Foods, Xim Ltd., Royal Academy of Engineering, University of Southampton, Department of Education, Arts and Humanities Research Council, European Commission, Technology Strategy Board, National Institute for Astrophysics, Parkinson's UK, Solent Innovation and Growth Network, Joint Information Systems Committee, and UK Council for International Student Affairs.

Our research groups

Much of our exceptional research takes place within the following cross-disciplinary research group – find out more below.

Our staff

View all our staff