Media, Performance and Communication

Our Media, Performance and Communication degrees are practically led, so you’ll connect with professional standard equipment and get hands-on from day one of your studies.

We continually invest in the latest equipment and specialist technology to enable you to gain the technical skills you need to create the next showstopper, bestseller, blockbuster and storytelling masterpiece. This includes our £11.5m Cadman Studios, which features live studios and control rooms, motion capture studios, Mac labs and HDTV centre. There’s also our broadcast newsroom and fully-equipped radio studio, as well as our drama studios and performance centre, housing a professional lighting rig, green room, props workshop and costume store.

NEW Facility for 2023 - Virtual Production Suite

Our new Virtual Production Suite combines the latest digital innovations in VFX, CGI and gaming technology with traditional film and video production techniques. Large LED panels 'project' realistic, accurately tracked, digitally animated landscapes into a live production environment where they interact with the live-action and camera movements in real-time to blend physical and digital worlds seamlessly together.

The facilities are what originally drew me to the course. I've completed the majority of my coursework in the Mac Labs, I've used the TV studio to film various projects, including music videos for external clients and I’ve also been able to book out a wide variety of camera equipment, such as different lenses and the Sony FS5.

Amelia Jones

Film and Media

Facilities

TV Studio

Our three-camera TV Studio is equipped with broadcast standard technology, green room, lighting rig, AV gallery and a comprehensive racks room for both live and pre-recorded productions. The studio floor also includes tiered audience seating.

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Virtual Production Studio

The Virtual Production Studio allows the combination of real-time games graphics with traditional film and video production techniques.

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Cadman Music Studios

The recording studio complex features six control rooms containing a variety of analogue, digital and hybrid mixing consoles as well as a Foley pit, and four live rooms hosting a selection of industry-standard amplifiers, microphones and instruments.

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Flaxman Radio Studios

The Flaxman Radio Studios, located within The Broadcast Newsroom, consist of three individual studios and a studio monitoring area, housing a range of specialist news production and music scheduling software and professional hardware.

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Henrion Post Production Labs

These facilities consist of three open-plan multi-seat Mac labs housing 51 professional edit suites, each with a primary and secondary monitor and specialist production software. 37 suites incorporate Apple Mac Pros and 14 include 27" 5K iMacs.

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Motion Capture Studio

Realistically capture multiple human movements simultaneously for the creation of high-quality games, animation and VFX sequences. Our industry standard facility features a 24-camera rig, Vicon hardware and Cara facial performance capture headset.

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Performance Centre

Our Performance Centre has four rehearsal studios, two workshops, props and costume stores and a green room. We also occasionally use external venues for rehearsals, presentations and productions.

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Henrion Resource Stores

Home to over 2,500 individual items of portable production equipment and peripherals, available for students to hire; ranging from basic DSLR cameras and Wacom pens to 4K digital cinema production kits and fully rigged DJ production decks.

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Henrion Shoot Studio

A multi-purpose configurable production space for learning about film and cinematography production equipment. It features a range of rig-mounted creative LED studio lights, controlled via a mixing desk.

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Cadman Post Production Labs

Two open-plan multi-seat labs (one Mac-based, one PC-based), featuring 45 professional editing suites with a range of specialist AV production software to perfect the edit, colour and sound mixes on media productions.

Flaxman TV News Set

Compact three-camera studio broadcasting facility, located within the Broadcast Newsroom, suitable for a variety of news, sports and current affairs requirements. It also includes a green screen and an open plan audio visual production gallery.

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MoJo Kits

Our MoJo kits work with smartphones to allow our students to report 'on the go'. This encourages students to consider how they can compile and tell a story in a fast paced, continually moving environment.

Green Screen

You'll have access to a large dedicated green screen compositing studio, a 3D motion-capture studio and a large post-production edit facility.

VR, AR and Mixed Reality Lab

The VR, AR and Mixed Reality Lab (VAX Reality Lab) is equipped with a number of HTC Vive Virtual Reality headsets and a dedicated development area to create, develop and test VR solutions.

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Expertise

As well as access to the latest facilities, you’ll learn from highly qualified staff with active and prominent roles in both industry and research. Alongside industry guest speakers, they’ll bring your learning to life with the latest knowledge, research, skills and technologies, as well as network connections - valuable insights that you need to get an edge over the competition when you graduate.

Our staff

Dr Robert Marsden

Head Of Department- Media And Perf

Dr Robert Marsden is Head of Department for Media, Performance and Communication and a professional theatre director. He has also published on directing, pantomime and rehearsal studies and teaches across drama, film and English/Creative Writing.

Robert's profile

Stephen Griffiths

Course Director

Stephen's teaching centres on broadcast programme histories and media performance, especially acting on television. His research interests include broadcast light entertainment and comedy, television drama, and children's programming.

Stephen's profile

Dr Mark Brown

Course Director

As well as being Course Leader for English and Creative Writing, Mark teaches on First Year core modules and American literature modules on Crime Fiction, the Contemporary, Modernism and Beat Writing. He also supervises MA and PhD students.

Mark's profile

Dr Dave Payling

Associate Professor

Dave is an audio-visual artist who holds a PhD in composition. His sonification composition, Listen (Awakening) was performed at the Sydney Opera House in 2004. He is section editor for Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture.

Dave's profile

The amount of editing suites is amazing!

The amount of equipment and facilities that were here were what attracted me to my course. A really impressive industry camera that I never thought I'd ever get the chance to use, was one of the first cameras we were trained on. The amount of editing suites is amazing! The camera and filming equipment is really impressive.

Chloe Bray

Film and Media

Got a question about Media, Performance and Communication?

Our friendly enquiries team are on hand to answer any questions you may have about your course, life at Staffordshire University and much more.