Student Profiles
Student Interviews
Student Profiles
Jason Ashman Bsc (Hons) Broadcast Media, 2007-2010
Studying Bsc (Hons) Broadcast Media (Design and Technology) at Brunel University gave me the opportunity to chase my dream of working in the television industry. The course provided a well-balanced curriculum with both practical and theoretical teachings; a significant advantage over other university media courses.
The course provided me with an array of technical and design skills required to succeed in the industry with; 3D, motion graphics, video and green screen production and SFX amongst other production and post-production skills. Having lecturers with previous industry experience proved fundamental in my development as they were enthusiastic, proficient and could give constructive feedback on my work. Furthermore, the course provided up to date industry software, equipment and trends, whilst always looking forward.
All the teachings that I obtained from this course enabled me to land my first job as a creative intern at MTV Networks Europe. I came across the job on the MTV website and after matching the criteria I immediately applied for the position. After doing my research and successfully passing two stages of interviews I was offered the job. They were impressed by my attention to detail, depth of knowledge and personality that my university experience helped me build upon.
In my final year, my dissertation was on 3D animation. I decided to choose this area of study because it had long been of interest to me and an area that I am still passionate about. My final artefact was created using 3Ds Max, Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I strongly believe that without my degree I would not be where I am today.
I would strongly recommend this course to anyone who is creative, hands-on, hardworking and serious about wanting to work within the media industry.
Tom Gentry graduated in Broadcast Media Design and Technology in 2009
"When searching for the degree course I would undertake, the first thing that struck me about Broadcast Media Design and Technology at Brunel was how much of a forward-thinking course it was, and how its content was not only varied, creative and interesting, but also how the course is designed to stay up to date with the advances in the broadcasting and media industries. The latter quality I deem essential, in order to become a successful graduate in an industry where the design and technological climates are progressing so rapidly.
Having now graduated from the course, I am working for a company called NMR (new media research) as a junior support engineer. NMR is a consultant reseller in the broadcast, film and tele-visual media industries and provides solutions and systems integration for production companies, animation houses, educational facilities and broadcasters. I strongly believe that Broadcast Media Design and Technology gave me the upper hand in becoming employed in this company, because I was taught subjects that are essential in the modern media industries that are often over looked by other courses. It is vital to stay abreast of technology in order to stay up to date with an industry that is developing so rapidly, and the Broadcast Media course really gives you a wide and in depth knowledge of technological subjects as well as design principles.
The media and broadcasting industries are notoriously very tough to get established in, however Broadcast Media Design and Technology is a course which gives you a wide skill set that can be applied to many of the different sectors of this industry. There is enough scope within the course to enter into production, animation, technology and design upon graduation. This is a vital characteristic for graduates in these areas, having such a widespread knowledge base across a variety of different subjects makes for a more employable graduate compared to a graduate with very specific skills.
The facilities available to you on this course are second to none. The equipment available in the broadcast media studio often far exceeds the equipment kept in house, by some of the larger production companies that I have seen since starting my job at NMR. This prepares under-graduates to really have a knowledge base that far exceeds that of many other courses available, and means you and your creativity are not held back by the short fallings of the technology you will be using. Furthermore, the teaching staff at Brunel are not only friendly, enthusiastic and helpful but they have a vast collective wealth of knowledge amongst them that covers all areas of the subjects they teach.
The course is not only very stimulating on an intellectual level, but also fun and exciting. On the course, you are allowed masses of creative freedom and the only limitation to most projects is your own imagination. Broadcast Media Design and Technology is a course which truly allows you to visualise, communicate and make real the ideas that you create yourself.
The Brunel campus is a diverse, exciting and an interesting place to live and study. There is always something interesting happening on campus with which to get involved. The food halls and bars are a great place to socialise and meet new people as well as the academy, (in which I spent many a night!). The halls of accommodation are within a very short distance of all the places you visit regularly, including Uxbridge high street, which boasts two shopping centres, a cinema, bars and restaurants. The local transport is very efficient, with Central London being only a 40 minute tube ride away.
The experience of taking a degree should be intellectually, creatively and socially stimulating, and I believe that Brunel gave me all of these opportunities and is an institution I would gladly recommend to anyone."
Louise DeCourcey-Dawe is a final year student on the BSc Broadcast Media Design and Technology course
"I come from Barbados and having completed a media course at home I was seeking further studies in this field, but I felt that the facilities in the UK were much better than in Barbados. So I chose an advertising and marketing course at Bournemouth. After a while I discovered Bournemouth’s course heavily emphasised theory when I really was looking for a more hands on programme. Searching other Universities I discovered the Broadcast Media Design and Technology course at Brunel and became really interested. Having visited Brunel I was hooked! Brunel’s course complemented the associate degree I had undertaken in Barbados where I studied Mass Communication involving lots of TV production, photography and video.
My decision to come to Brunel was helped by several visits to friends who were studying at Brunel. On these visits I liked the many diverse cultures I saw and there was an atmosphere of many cultures intermixing which, being an international student was very appealing.
The course is brilliant! It is the only course that I found that merges 3D graphics with real life video. The course teaches cultural aesthetics and lots of software e.g. Adobe, After Affects, Photoshop and Shake, the latter is used for editing and depositing video footage or images. We also use 3D Max to create 3D videos. Students learn skills and knowledge relevant to the broadcast industry e.g. film, broadcasting for live TV, making short advertisements for feature films, and even creating a show reel. We are also taught history of art providing a foundation of TV history, so students have an idea where TV began and where it is going. In the TV industry you can expect to work with many different people and there are specific modules which involve students working in groups learning team management and leadership.
Brunel’s facilities are excellent and the Department has the highest standards of cameras equipment – equipment is phenomenal - every software is the latest package. What is essentially on offer for students is real TV standard facilities. Use of the large green screen features as a major part of our course facilities. We have probably one of the largest green screens of all UK universities. The green room has tons of lights in the studio used for creating a particular mood or giving a sense of realism to whatever piece of work you are creating. The green screen is used for chroma keying. Keying is a technique used to mix two images together by removing, in some cases, a colour or unwanted area of the footage.
In essence, students capture footage of the subject using the green screen and then we transmit this footage to the editing suites were we combine the captured footage with previously created elements. The latter could be an actual 3D set or footage taken from a different location. After we combine the two we then edit it and manipulate it to whatever we choose, including creating our music and sound effects in the music labs to add to the mise-en-scene. Before any work is created or footage is captured there is a pre-production phase involving research e.g. storyboards and brainstorming ideas on what you are going to create. The whole process is logical: pre-production (research), production (shooting on the set) postproduction – editing and creating sound effects or visual effects.
As this course emphasises a hands on approach to producing TV content, initially students receive a lot of help from tutors to master the skills and techniques. The tutors interact a lot with students and often communicate on a one on one basis. The lecturers are really nice people and if you become stuck on a particular aspect, they are always there to help or accessible by e-mail and get back to you very quickly.
I lived on campus in year 1, and the good thing is that everything is in one location as it is an integrated campus. As a result, I found that I met a lot of different people from different backgrounds, interests and other degree programmes. It was really great that you experienced different people giving insights in to their cultures and customs and, believe me, there are lots of different cultures at Brunel. On campus there are shops and a bank, several different cafes and restaurants, a library, sports facilities, new gyms and million dollar running tracks, the best I have seen on a University campus, there are also lots of sports clubs and other clubs and societies that students can join e.g. the ACS – African Caribbean Society. Brunel also offers students the opportunity to participate in other additional activities like pottery, singing, drama, dancing (with approximately 20 different dance groups e.g. salsa), and you can even learn to play a musical instrument in the Arts Centre. There is so much that students can do it is very difficult to pick out one particular area.
When I graduate I aim to work for a big company like MTV or BBC on the production side of things, specifically, creating TV footage on location. I am very interested in films and would love to see how all the visual effects and stunts are created, also, what goes on, not only in front of camera, but behind the scenes. One day I have an ambition to become a film director or producer. I would like to produce my own film or be part of the production.
Why would I recommend Brunel and the course? – because it is a whole life experience, and students will take away with them not just skills from the course, but knowledge learnt by being with many different people. Brunel will open your mind to a lot of things. Students will leave Brunel with a degree and importantly, not just an art based degree, but a technical degree, so you will have both creative and technical skills. Most courses focus on purely film, editing or 3D, but Broadcast Media at Brunel merges them all in to one and you come away with knowledge of all three."
