2024/25 entry

MA Immersive Media

Start date(s):
September
Study mode:
Full-time
Course duration:
1 year

Tuition fees

Home fee
£8,540
International fee
£17,750
General enquiries:
0151 231 5090
courses@ljmu.ac.uk
International admissions
international@ljmu.ac.uk

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About this course

Exploring, experimenting and creating experiences and applications in augmented, extended, mixed and virtual realities, installation, performance, and sensor-based media.

  • This Immersive Media postgraduate course will explore storytelling, experience design and development with immersive and creative technology
  • Taught in a city with a long history of innovation across games, film and creative technology (Immersive Economy Report, 2019)
  • Dedicated lab spaces and access to a range of production facilities across the Screen School and the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Including a range of specialist VR, AR and MR development and display (headsets, spectacles, projection) technologies
  • Software workshops include, Unreal, Unity, Blender, Gravity Sketch, Isadora, TouchDesigner and Adobe Creative Suite... though we are software agnostic and story first
  • A Collaborative Project run in partnership with industry partners in the creative media sector, to develop real world projects
  • Looking at the application of immersive content and technology across a range of sectors

"Immersive experiences require novel narrative mechanisms and new language of production... The best technology will not produce the change needed without equal excellence in content production and understanding of immersion as a narrative form."

-Creative Industries Review, 2017

In 2019, a research symposium at the Redmonds Building, home of Liverpool Screen School and the MA Immersive Media programme, explored how researchers, developers and practitioners are approaching the emerging mediums of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality for storytelling. The day included eight panels exploring the diverse ways in which people are engaging with new technologies and speakers included creative writers, theatre makers, game developers, filmmakers, artists, creative coders and a range of disciplines to discuss the immersive storytelling experiences research symposium.

Companies included Marshmallow Laser Feast, Draw and Code, Limbik Theatre, Pilot Theatre, Boom Clap Play, Kinicho, Production Park and Charisma.ai.

"We are the last generation to know a blank space."

-Dave Lorenzini (Draw & Code), talking to students about the future of XR, 2022.

Fees and funding

There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students

Fees

The fees quoted at the top of this page cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as:

  • library membership with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources
  • access to programme-appropriate software
  • library and student IT support
  • free on-campus wifi via eduroam

Additional costs

Although not all of the following are compulsory/relevant, you should keep in mind the costs of:

  • accommodation and living expenditure
  • books (should you wish to have your own copies)
  • printing, photocopying and stationery
  • PC/laptop (should you prefer to purchase your own for independent study and online learning activities)
  • mobile phone/tablet (to access online services)
  • field trips (travel and activity costs)
  • placements (travel expenses and living costs)
  • student visas (international students only)
  • study abroad opportunities (travel costs, accommodation, visas and immunisations)
  • academic conferences (travel costs)
  • professional-body membership
  • graduation (gown hire etc)

Funding

There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students. From loans to International Scholarships and subject-specific funding, you’ll find all of the information you need on our specialist postgraduate funding pages.

Please be aware that the UK’s departure from the EU may affect your tuition fees. Learn more about your fee status and which tuition fees are relevant to you.

Employability

Further your career prospects

LJMU has an excellent employability record with 96% (HESA 2018) of our postgraduates in work or further study six months after graduation. Our applied learning techniques and strong industry connections ensure our students are fully prepared for the workplace on graduation and understand how to apply their knowledge in a real world context.

This degree is aimed at preparing graduates for creative and technical roles in games, marketing, film, design and the arts sector. Successful and motivated graduates of the programme will also receive opportunities to progress to PhD study to develop new and exciting technologies.

The student experience

Discover life as a postgraduate student at LJMU.

Course modules

Discover the building blocks of your programme

This course is currently undergoing its scheduled programme review, which may impact the advertised modules. Programme review is a standard part of the University’s approach to quality assurance and enhancement, enabling us to ensure that our courses remain up to date and maintain their high standard and relevancy.

Once the review is completed, this course website page will be updated to reflect any approved changes to the advertised course. These approved changes will also be communicated to those who apply for the course to ensure they wish to proceed with their application.

Your programme is made up of a number of core modules which are part of the course framework. Some programmes also have optional modules that can be selected to enhance your learning in certain areas and many feature a dissertation, extended report or research project to demonstrate your advanced learning.

Core modules

Immersive Storytelling
30 credits

Introducing key theories and practices of immersive storytelling and experience design, drawing upon interdisciplinary fields of research and practice across art, design, performance and technology area. The module explores core concepts, practices and perspectives related to narrative development of immersive experiences and presents a series of theoretical, creative and industry focused lectures, debates, workshops and seminars.

Immersive Media Lab
30 credits

This module will allow you to explore the creative potential of specialised hardware and software in immersive technology. You will be to apply techniques for the manipulation and distribution of immersive technology content and design. This will help you to understand the creative potential of these technologies in context of a chosen area of practice.

Research and Proposal
30 credits

This module develops students understanding of practice-based and theoretical research methods in Immersive Media, leading to the development of conceptual and critical proposal for an Immersive Media project.

Immersive Media Project
60 credits

This module will enable you to produce an immersive media project based on original in-depth research, for delivery on a platform and context of choice. This will provide you the opportunity to demonstrate, through the completion of an extended project, a range of skills and practices in creative invention and in planning and management. Within the module you will be required to demonstrate technical competencies in all practical aspects of production.

Optional Modules

Interactive Story
30 credits

You will explore aspects of multimedia practice and engage in the creation of an interactive narrative artefact.

Collaborative Project
30 credits

This module offers an opportunity for students to work collaboratively, in cross-disciplinary teams, on an industry focused project or challenge with an external organisation.

Teaching

An insight into teaching on your course

Study hours

Full time students will have a learning commitment of approximately 35 hours a week with two full teaching days based at the Screen School and School of Art and Design's Mount Pleasant campus.

Teaching methods

You will be taught using a variety of methods, including: workshops, creative lab sessions, tutorials, seminars, visiting speakers and collaborative projects.

Applied learning

Immersive Media students will have access to dedicated lab spaces and access to a range of production facilities across the Screen School and School of Art and Design. Your final research project will enable you to innovate, develop and exhibit, a substantial immersive experience, using this range of fantastic facilities.

Assessment

How learning is monitored on your programme

To cater for the wide-ranging content of our courses and the varied learning preferences of our students, we offer a range of assessment methods on each programme.

Assessments on the programme will be conducted using a variety of methods including: proposals, essays, prototypes and creative installations.

Course tutors

Our staff are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning

Mark Smith

Mark Smith

Programme leader

Mark Smith

Programme leader

I have been at LJMU since 2000, when I arrived to develop and then lead an MA in New Media Production. More lately I have run an MRes in Screen and Interactive Media but the bulk of my time is concerned with teaching on the, BA Media Production here at the Liverpool Screen School.Before returning to academia, I was involved in more commercial endeavors. After a period involved in theatre, BFI funded short film-making, video installation and live video performance and lighting design at, The Haienda, I set up an independent production company with offices in both Manchester and on Tin Pan Alley in London. We created documentaries and music videos for a number of recording artists; from the sublime, A guy called Gerald and the Jesus and Mary Chain, to the ridiculous, Wet Wet Wet and Bob Geldof. Additionally, I was involved in creating video and light installations, which were exhibited in a number of locations including the, ICA in London and venues in Paris, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Manchester.Currently, my interests lie in storytelling, the enquiry into new narrative structures, whether passive or interactive for new audience contexts.

It's a really exciting time to be working at the intersection of creativity, storytelling and technology. Students on this course will be inventing new ways to engage audiences in immersive experiences, learning about the emerging business models of the growing immersive content sector and coming up with new ideas for experiences and applications of immersive storytelling.

School facilities

What you can expect from your School

Liverpool Screen School is based in the Redmonds Building, in the heart of the bustling Mount Pleasant Campus and Liverpool's growing Knowledge Quarter. Redmonds is shared by two Schools within the Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies Liverpool Screen School and the School of Law - and Liverpool Business School, making for a rich blend of student learning experiences. The building is home to high quality lecture theatres and seminar rooms, broadcast studios, news rooms, media production suites, social spaces and a cafe. Liverpool School of Art and Design is housed in the RIBA award winning John Lennon Art and Design Building in the Mount Pleasant Campus and offers extensive studio spaces, lecture theatres and a dedicated public exhibition space. Both teaching buildings are only a short walk from LJMUs Aldham Robarts Library, which contains all the resources you will require for your studies.

Entry requirements

You will need:

Qualification requirements

Undergraduate degree

  • Hons degree 2:2 or above (from art, media, animation, digital design, computer science, performing arts, graphic design, games, UX)
  • an academic reference

Applicants who demonstrate professional skills and evidence of achievement in a related area without formal qualifications may also be considered. A CV should be provided at the point of application.

International requirements

  • IELTS

    • IELTS English language requirement: 6.5 (minimum 6.0 in each component)

Further information

  • Extra Requirements
    • applicants are required to submit a sample digital portfolio at the point of application
  • RPL

    • RPL is accepted on this programme

Application and selection

Securing your place at LJMU

To apply for this programme, you are required to complete an LJMU online application form. You will need to provide details of previous qualifications and a personal statement outlining why you wish to study this programme.

The University reserves the right to withdraw or make alterations to a course and facilities if necessary; this may be because such changes are deemed to be beneficial to students, are minor in nature and unlikely to impact negatively upon students or become necessary due to circumstances beyond the control of the University. Where this does happen, the University operates a policy of consultation, advice and support to all enrolled students affected by the proposed change to their course or module.

Further information on the terms and conditions of any offer made, our admissions policy and the complaints and appeals process.