Key information
Duration: 3 years full time
UCAS code: P300
Institution code: R72
Campus: Egham
The course
Digital Media Culture and Technology BA (BA)
The BA Digital Media Culture and Technology blends creative practice, technical skills, and media theory at Royal Holloway's Media Arts department. You can learn to code, create websites, apps, games, 3D models, digital narratives, and work with AI. All while exploring the social, cultural, political, ethical, and other implications of digital technologies.
This degree will ensure you can navigate a fast changing technological world, while providing essential skills to shape what happens next. Worlds of social media, gaming, media streaming, digital art, big data, and government are shaped by computer networks, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and technological standards are all driving a technological revolution while redefining what it means to be human.
This degree helps you to excel in digital production within a broad range of industries, across a fast changing technological domain. Our graduates have gone on to work with Google, TikTok, and BBC Radio 1, the Labour Party, Joe Media, Capgemini, KPMG, and social media fame. As a member of our academic community, you can use our vast network of connections after you leave. Also, our emphasis on project-based learning means you will make connections with many other students.
The possibilities for graduates of DMCT are vast. The UK's creative industries are its fastest-growing economic sector with an annual economic contribution of £124.6bn, according to official UK government figures. By 2030, this industry is estimated to grow by 50% and add a million new jobs. This degree will prepare you for an exciting new career in that lucrative world.
We offer a wide range of core and optional modules to tailor your degree to your interests. In the first year, you'll study the history of digital media, creative coding, web and game design, and media theory. In the second year, you'll work on a data visualisation project, explore narrative structures in screen-based media, produce a three-day digital festival, and learn about digital aesthetics and software politics. In the third year, you will be supported to produce an advanced digital media project or dissertation, with optional modules that expand possibilities for your career.
- Emphasis on project-based learning.
- Study how digital media works on both aesthetic and technical levels.
- Industry involvement from our outstanding networks.
- Immersion in 24-7 state-of-the-art media arts facilities.
From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
Course structure
Core Modules
Year 1
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The module introduces students to coding and the creation of artistic and experimental digital projects. The first part of the course involves analysis and critique of existing projects and practices. Under the umbrella of creative code and digital art, students create an online digital media project, learning all the stages from design to delivery, while acquiring advanced coding skills that will enable them to create ambitious and innovative practice work in years two and three.
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This module provides a history of the innovations in digital storytelling that have developed over the last several decades, and teaches you the technical skills to produce your own innovative digital stories. From hypertext novels to contemporary video games, we look at how storytelling has changed since the invention of the internet. Then, we learn the skills needed to produce several forms of digital narratives including text-based games, interactive video, location-based experiences and social media storytelling. Students develop a portfolio of both creative and written work.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of digital narratives and cultures with an emphasis on audiovisual storytelling. You will learn skills in the creative practice of audiovisual media for digital platforms, producing a three to five minute short film. You will work iteratively and gain weekly feedback on your ideas and work-in-progress. You will learn how to shoot stories on mobile phones and lightweight cameras, how to edit these on Final Cut Pro, and key sound design skills.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of interactive digital projects and reflect on them in the context of digital media culture, history and theory. You will develop the ability to work iteratively between coding and critical understanding of digital culture. Lectures and practical sessions will revolve around key concepts and practices to obtain a sound understanding of the basics of digital media culture and technology.
Year 2
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In this module you will learn the theoretical and practical skills to create content for a range of digital and social media, combining the ability to respond to a series of briefs with skills in working as a team to execute an online media project. You will be required to reflect on, and offer a critical analysis of the project and your own contribution to it. You will produce a social/digital media campaign demonstrating an awareness of the aesthetic cultural and practical possibilities of non-linear narrative forms. You will examine the digital culture and consider the socio-economic, cultural and regulatory forces that shape online experiences.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of the core concepts of the digital age, looking at how today's computer networks, devices and infrastructure underpin nearly all forms of aesthetic, cultural social and political life. You will consider the concepts of technicity, affective turn, digital subjectivity and extended mind, creative expression and participation in the digital era, amateur production, free software, fun and politics, self-organisation, media archaeology and sonic architectures. You will examine the systematic challenges brought about by digital change and critically interpret and analyse digital phenomena.
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This module explores the aesthetics, function, and politics of ‘data’ as used in news media through the development of an original creative data journalism and visualisation project. During the early phase of the module, you will develop an understanding of selected key figures and projects in the practice and theory of information visualisation, and their respective relationships with their social, cultural, and political contexts. You will also examine contemporary data journalism and related artworks, learning about the frameworks and tools used in their prototyping and developmental processes, and present examples for discussion in class. The second phase of the module focuses closely on the initial design, prototyping, and development of an original web-based data journalism project, organised around a series of technical workshops in mapping, moving image, text, and interactive graphics tools. You will draw on a combination of the coding, design, and presentation skills attained earlier in your studies, while learning new processes and more advanced techniques for information visualisation, with a particular focus on how to publish projects online.
You will take one from the following:
- Creative Interactive Media
- Creative Digital Arts
- Animation and Visual Effects
- Creative Social Media
Year 3
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This module aims to give you as real an understanding and experience of working in the digital industries as is possible within the context of a university. This module will help you to gain an understanding of digital business modelling; from both a value building perspective, and also a relationship building perspective which is vital to your ongoing success.
You must choose one of the following modules:
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A dissertation can be a sustained piece of writing about a single subject, person, theoretical field, or group of texts The dissertation is based primarily on students’ own course of independent study so will be a product of negotiation between the student and supervisor and will depend on the topic of research.
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In this module you will design, develop and execute a substantial original piece of digital media, combining still and moving image, sound, text and code. You will prepare and write a project proposal and budget and present your ideas in public. You will reflect on and critically analyse your work, showing an advanced understanding of the aesthetic ethical and technical issues involved in digital and social media. Here it is your chance to pursue your own passions and our students produce everything from digital magazines, interactive films, 2D and 3D animations, music videos, interactive and immersive websites, digital art installations and curations and augmented and virtual reality.
Optional Modules
There are a number of optional course modules available during your degree studies. The following is a selection of optional course modules that are likely to be available. Please note that although the College will keep changes to a minimum, new modules may be offered or existing modules may be withdrawn, for example, in response to a change in staff. Applicants will be informed if any significant changes need to be made.
Year 1
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All modules are core
Year 2
- Directing Screen Fiction
- Screen Documentary
- Cinematography
- Animation and Visual Effects
- Screenwriting
- Producing Film and Television
- Creative Digital Arts
- Creative Post Production
- Film Theory: Hitchcock and Point of View
- Post-Classical Hollywood
- Television Histories
- Modern European Cinema
- Contemporary Chinese Cinemas
- Exotic Cinema: Encounters with Cultural Difference
- Modernism and Avant Garde Film
- Beyond Bollywood: Indian Cinema in a Transitional Frame
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In this module you will develop an understanding of the core concepts of the digital age, looking at how today's computer networks, devices and infrastructure underpin nearly all forms of aesthetic, cultural social and political life. You will consider the concepts of technicity, affective turn, digital subjectivity and extended mind, creative expression and participation in the digital era, amateur production, free software, fun and politics, self-organisation, media archaeology and sonic architectures. You will examine the systematic challenges brought about by digital change and critically interpret and analyse digital phenomena.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of how creativity is constrained and enabled by the industrial logics of the creative industries. You will focus on film, television and digital media, exploring issues such as economics and financing, pitching and commissioning, policy and regulation, copyright, formats and global trade, ratings and audience measurement, branding and marketing, digital production logics, and production cultures. You will also consider a number of important industry-oriented research skills, such as interviewing, market/demographic analysis, locating and interpreting legal documents, and archival research.
Year 3
- Directing Screen Fiction
- Screen Documentary
- Advanced Screenplay- Major Project
- Producing Film and TV
- Cinematography
- Transmedia
- Creative Digital Arts
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This module will examine, through the employment of practical methodologies, the work of significant avant-garde sound/noise practitioners throughout the 20th century analogue and digital eras. It will examine the relationship between significant artworks and the technology of the era. For example, in the acoustic era of music capture, before the electrification of the signal in 1925 that allowed electro-magnetic microphones and soundboard input mixing, the capture of sound was facilitated through a static condensing horn. In order to create a mix balance, the musicians would physically move closer or further away from the horn. We call this kinetic mixing. One of the first exercises will be to recreate this process and then develop the concept digitally, within an installation paradigm, employing a multichannel sound source and a range of Bluetooth speakers, allowing the different sounds to be physically moved within a defined space – 21st Century kinetic mixing.
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This module aims to give you as real an understanding and experience of working in the digital industries as is possible within the context of a university. This module will help you to gain an understanding of digital business modelling; from both a value building perspective, and also a relationship building perspective which is vital to your ongoing success.
- Contemporary British Cinema 1
- Television and Digital Cultures
- Film Aesthetics 1: Issues of Interpretation and Evaluation
- Psychoanalysis and Cinema
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In this module you will develop an understanding of how the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 has been represented and responded to across a range of both fictional and non-fictional media. You will look at the specific theoretical debates surrounding how the Holocaust can or should (or should not) be represented in art and popular culture. You will consider the role of mass media in constructing both popular and elite relationships to historical experience, and in documenting history.
- Media Technologies
- See This Sound - Audiovisuology
- Cinephilia
- 360º Cinema
- Political Cinema: From Eisenstein to Youtube
- The Poetics of Contemporary Television
- Contemporary British Cinema 2
- Film Aesthetics 2
Teaching & assessment
You will learn through a mix of lectures, seminars, small-group tutorials, screenings, and workshops. You will also get the opportunity to explore live media practice. This includes work in London. It also includes the use of our Virtual Production Volumetric Wall and many Computer labs.
You will also do group work and guided research and study. Private study and prep are key to your success. Through our world-class library, you will have access to many online resources and our e-learning site platforms. You will also be assigned a personal tutor to support you throughout your studies.
DMCT doesn't assess using exams. Assessment is dynamic and innovative. It tests your creative and critical skills across various platforms. These include blogging, short films, programming, PR tasks, and responding to live briefs. It also covers traditional assignments. These include essays, scripts, production papers, coursework, and a practical portfolio.
Beyond curriculum tasks, you have full access to use our facilities 24/7 allowing you to build your creative portfolio for the future.
Entry requirements
A Levels: ABB-BBB
Required subjects:
- At least five GCSE passes at grade A*-C or 9-4, including English and Mathematics.
Where an applicant is taking the EPQ alongside A-levels, the EPQ will be taken into consideration and result in lower A-level grades being required. For students who are from backgrounds or personal circumstances that mean they are generally less likely to go to university, you may be eligible for an alternative lower offer. Follow the link to learn more about our contextual offers.
T-levels
We accept T-levels for admission to our undergraduate courses, with the following grades regarded as equivalent to our standard A-level requirements:
- AAA* – Distinction (A* on the core and distinction in the occupational specialism)
- AAA – Distinction
- BBB – Merit
- CCC – Pass (C or above on the core)
- DDD – Pass (D or E on the core)
Where a course specifies subject-specific requirements at A-level, T-level applicants are likely to be asked to offer this A-level alongside their T-level studies.
English language requirements
All teaching at Royal Holloway is in English. You will therefore need to have good enough written and spoken English to cope with your studies right from the start.
The scores we require
- IELTS: 6.5 overall. Writing 7.0. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
- Pearson Test of English: 61 overall. Writing 69. No other subscore lower than 51.
- Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE): ISE III.
- Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) grade C.
Country-specific requirements
For more information about country-specific entry requirements for your country please visit here.
Undergraduate preparation programme
For international students who do not meet the direct entry requirements, for this undergraduate degree, the Royal Holloway International Study Centre offers an International Foundation Year programme designed to develop your academic and English language skills.
Upon successful completion, you can progress to this degree at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Your future career
By the time you graduate you will be able to walk into an interview with a thorough grounding in the history and theory of digital media – invaluable for companies who look ahead to future trends – along with expertise in programming, analytics and data visualisation. You will also have a portfolio of creative work and transferrable skills such as written communication, presentation, time management, teamwork, research, problem solving, critical analysis and advanced IT skills.
Throughout your studies you will hear from practising professionals in lectures, and to have the opportunity to make connections through our staff and alumni industry networks. We also run a micro work placement scheme, where you can gain first-hand experience in the world of work and learn about what employers are looking for, before you apply for a job.
Open doors to a wide range of exciting job opportunities in digital media and the creative industries more broadly. Graduates from our Media Arts department can be found in almost every area of the media industries, from TV production to directing, writing, shooting and starring in films, software engineering, PR and brand management, through to games development and web design. With a BA degree you will be particularly well prepared for more creative career paths.
Fees, funding & scholarships
Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £9,250
EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £25,900
Other essential costs***: There are no single associated costs greater than £50 per item on this course.
How do I pay for it? Find out more about funding options, including loans, scholarships and bursaries. UK students who have already taken out a tuition fee loan for undergraduate study should check their eligibility for additional funding directly with the relevant awards body.
*The tuition fee for UK undergraduates is controlled by Government regulations. The fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £9,250 and is provided here as a guide. The fee for UK undergraduates starting in 2025/26 has not yet been set, but will be advertised here once confirmed.
**This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2025/26.
Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase tuition fees annually for overseas fee-paying students. The increase for continuing students who start their degree in 2025/26 will be 5%. For further information see fees and funding and the terms and conditions.
*** These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2025/26 academic year and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.
