Master of Fine Arts in Computational Arts

at Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom

This Masters, a pathway of the MA Filmmaking, will encourage your understanding of the politics, aesthetics and ethics of documentary production, and the nature and diversity of documentary practice in contemporary society.

What we offer

• The programme is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the-art teaching spaces including a range of digital cameras, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Film Editing suites, Animation, Digital Special Effects, Pro Tools Audio Postproduction suites.
• You will be able to make your own documentaries, learning and refining research, interviewing, self-shooting and editing techniques – but also have the unique opportunity to be part of a programme that includes specialised producers, cinematographers, editors, sound recordists and sound designers, so that you can develop the scope and range of your filmmaking by collaborating with them.
• You work on at least two films during the year, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. In addition you can attend classes in related disciplines such as Cinematography and Editing and may collaborate with students across other specialisations on film projects. This framework is designed to provide you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in your chosen filmmaking discipline.

The MA encourages you to develop

• An awareness of documentary production techniques, ethics and aesthetics
• Specific filmmaking and production management skills
• Technical skills (including camera, lighting and sound editing)
• An understanding of the workings of the media and their broad cultural and social impacts

This MA draws on urban sociology to explore the meaning of cities, urban life and culture.

The programme covers topics including the politics of gentrification, urban community, infrastructure and the intricacies of urban culture, alongside lectures on urban policy, food politics, poverty and migration.
You will also zoom out to consider the broader meaning of urban sociology and its ongoing contribution to social science. With over two-thirds of the global population destined to live in cities by 2050, there has never been a more important time to research and understand urban life.

Why study MA Sociology (Urban Studies) at Goldsmiths?
Critically engage with urban work

• The degree brings together social analysis, activism, and inventive research methods to critically engage with various dimensions of urban work – from policy-making, research and cultural interventions, to the management of social programmes and institutions.

Take a multi-disciplinary approach

• The MA is distinguished by a focus on experimental empirical research and covers the following disciplines: sociology, geography, anthropology, architecture, cultural studies, history, fine arts, media and communications.

Experience research-led teaching

• We use research-led teaching to explore the importance of sociological knowledge in understanding cities, urban economies, culture, politics and social justice.

Analyse and explore spaces and places

• You’ll analyse the organisation of contemporary cities, including the built environment, commerce, housing, culture, political and social infrastructures. You'll also explore how distributions of wealth, power and culture in spaces and places are constituted through political, material and social processes.

This programme introduces you to recent debates on gender in the disciplines of sociology and media, as well as to the interdisciplinary domains of feminist social and cultural theory. There are a range of topic choices available, including: embodiment, feminist methods, media and sexuality, and postcolonialism.

Why study MA Gender, Media and Culture at Goldsmiths?

• You'll be taught by experts in the Department of Sociology and Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, as well as the Centre for Feminist Research (CFR).
• You’ll develop cutting-edge critical skills in relation to cultural approaches to gender formation and gender theory.
• The degree will provide you with a solid understanding of the importance of epistemology and methodology for the evaluation of empirical investigations of gender formations.
• You’ll be introduced to, and trained in, the key socio-cultural methods for the study of gender in the contemporary world, including methods for the study of visual culture, the body and affect, and memory.
• You’ll benefit from tailored supervision in the development of a research project on a specific topic.
• As an interdisciplinary degree, this programme draws from a range of areas, including sociology, media and communications, humanities, science and technology studies, and philosophy.
• You’ll become part of a lively research environment in a politically active university.

This degree provides a grounding in some of the major aspects of politics and international relations. You'll learn about international systems and global governance political theory, UK, European and US politics, international political economy and undertake area-based studies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Why study BA Politics with International Relations at Goldsmiths?

• We offer a distinctive approach that combines the study of politics and international relations, giving you the opportunity to gain broad knowledge and experience of both disciplines.
• The Department of Politics and International Relations provides a lively interdisciplinary environment, specialising in the study of institutions and conflicts in a way that crosses boundaries between traditional understandings of political phenomena.
• You’ll be able to choose from an unusually wide range of module options which explore the aesthetics of terrorism, critical approaches to security, the politics of development, US politics and foreign policy, the geopolitics of the Middle East, and contemporary movements from the Arab Spring to ISIS. We offer a range of area-based modules covering the Middle East, China and East Asia, Africa and Latin America.
• We have a lively events programme that attracts renowned speakers, meaning that you'll have the opportunity to hear the latest political arguments, theories and ideas.
• Our unique work placement module gives you the opportunity to gain work experience relevant to the degree and we also give you the opportunity to study abroad.

Why study MA Black British Literature at Goldsmiths?

• This degree is a world first. There’s nowhere else you can study black British writing in such an in-depth way – in the actual country where the writing is produced. We trace diasporic and aesthetic routes and draw upon the expertise of literary and drama specialists.
• You’ll analyse an extremely diverse range of texts from novelists, poets, short story writers, essayists, life-writers and playwrights. You’ll also locate these writers in their historical context, gaining an understanding of the history of black people in Britain through how they are represented in literature.

Taught jointly by the Departments of Anthropology and Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies, this MA offers a stimulating synthesis of theory and practice. In short, it is at the heart of what Goldsmiths is all about.

This MA, launched in 2015, is the third of three related pathways. The first, the MA Applied Anthropology and Community and Youth Work, was started in 1992 and is aimed at students who wish to pursue a career in youth and community work and who need a professional qualification.

A second pathway, the MA Applied Anthropology and Community Development, was launched in 2012 as an option for international or home students who do not need an NYA qualification and for those who want to specialise in community development.

This third pathway has been created in response to a growing number of applicants with an arts background and arts interests, and is aimed at students who wish to work in community arts. The three pathways entail different placements but are taught together, providing many opportunities for exchange of ideas and collaboration amongst students.

The MA History is innovative, creative, free-thinking, stimulating, diverse and challenging – everything that is distinctive about history at Goldsmiths.

Why study MA History at Goldsmiths?

• The Department of History’s approach is thematic and interdisciplinary, with staff expertise spanning the histories of Britain, East and West Europe, South Asia and Africa.
• We are on the cutting-edge of our fields and the student-teacher ratio allows us to devote an unmatched amount of time to individual supervision.
• Our focus is primary research and we'll encourage you to follow your own historical interests. You'll be able to develop your specific subject interests through a range of option modules and the dissertation.
• You'll develop your research skills and your understanding of key debates and methods in historiography.
• In addition to the compulsory module (Explorations and Debates) and the Research Skills modules, you'll choose two options, one of which, if you wish, can be from another department at Goldsmiths or from the wide-ranging intercollegiate list (a list of MA modules available at other colleges of the University of London).
• You'll end the programme by writing a 15,000-word dissertation on a topic of your own choice, based on primary research. The process of writing the dissertation includes participating in, organising, and presenting at, the department's dissertation conference.

Our MA Culture Industry will allow you to explore the interface between contemporary economics and culture, from the scale of a start-up or artwork, to that of governmental policy, a city, or the global marketplace. It will also provide the approaches in critical and theoretical analysis that will enable you to conduct further academic research in areas ranging from art history, to urban studies and critical theory.

In distinction from postgraduate programmes in the Cultural and Creative Industries, this Master’s programme focuses on the paradoxes and potentials of the relationship between culture and capitalism evoked by the term ‘culture industry’.

Taking full advantage of the UK’s leading role in the creative industries, and London’s status as a world city, this course creates opportunities for you to:

• Make projects
• Go on field trips
• Do placements
• Carry out academic learning and research
• Meet diverse creative practitioners and theorists

This will give you first-hand experience of the fast moving creative economy, as well as giving you indispensable skills in understanding that economy from a cultural, philosophical and political standpoint. By combining theoretical and practical approaches to study, the course will not only help you to prepare for a career in the cultural sector, but also to engage with it imaginatively, critically and tactically.

The academic study of children’s literature has developed over the past 30 years, and is now a recognised multidisciplinary field of enquiry. This programme will enable you to explore the relationship between reader, writer, text and context, and consider the critical perspectives that underpin those interactions.

Why study MA Childrens Literature at Goldsmiths?

• This course will deepen your familiarity with a range of children's literature, from 'classic' works, to contemporary texts. Through this, you'll develop a detailed knowledge of the issues and debates in the field, analysing children's literature using theories from education, cultural studies, literary theory, psychology, sociology, history and philosophy.
• We foster a critical stance towards children's literature, academic reading, and ideological underpinning. All of our staff are actively involved in research in the fields of education and children's literature. Award-winning author Michael Rosen is part of the leading team on this programme.
• The programme aims to incorporate and respond to your unique background as an individual. we encourage you to use this to address the challenging issues of representation and diversity in children's literature. You may come from a publishing background or work in education or children's media. If you have a passion for children's literature then this is the course for you.

If you are passionate about pursuing a career as a cinematographer in an environment that promotes innovative filmmaking, this programme is for you. With its unique blend of hands-on workshops, studio and location filming exercises, and high production value collaborative film projects, the MA Filmmaking (Cinematography) elevates your skills as a moving-image storyteller to the level of Director of Photography.

What we offer

• The MA Filmmaking (Cinematography) is a pathway of the Goldsmiths MA Filmmaking. It is housed in a new purpose-built media facility with state-of-the-art teaching spaces including film and photography studios equipped with Arri cameras and lighting.
• You'll learn sophisticated camera, lighting and gripping techniques, and will perform all camera department roles from Director of Photography to Camera Operator, Focus-puller, Gaffer, Camera Assistant, Spark and Grip. You’ll work on a number of exercises and films per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major film production towards the end of the degree. Throughout the degree, you’ll also gain parallel experience in related cine roles by crewing for your fellow cinematographer classmates.
• In addition to developing professional-level skills in your specialist craft area, you’ll attend classes in related disciplines such as Directing and Editing and advance your collaborative skills by working with students across all specialisations, including writers, producers and sound designers. The horizontal framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by introducing you to a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise as an accomplished cinematographer.