COLLABORATIVE PROJECT(S) - 2026/7

Module Overview

Consolidating existing skills and knowledge in practical production, your coursework for assessment will consist of one or more group projects requiring collaboration both inside and outside of the MA FADA cohort. Where possible, projects developed will make use of the latest contemporary media production technologies. This could include (as a non-exhaustive and indicative list) 4k or 8k filming, virtual production, real-time rendering, interactive video or virtual character creation. You will join a collaborative team consisting of both your own cohort members and, possibly, other courses as appropriate. The skills applied to this module will be drawn both from your existing skills-base and from those developed in Creative Media Practices (1).

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

WEINBREN Jon (Music & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 20

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

• Creating a collective collaborative response to a brief.
• Workshop sessions to aid ideas generation and collaboration.
• Collaborative and interdisciplinary working methods.
• Engaging with different subject specialisms and practitioners.
• Current versions of creative and practical media production tools and techniques.
• Tools, technologies and techniques for teamwork and collaborative production.
• Working towards the realisation of negotiated practical outcomes.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

This would very rarely come into play. However, if it is needed we will have a range of collaborative possibilities for students to be part of ongoing research and production activities involving extensive collaboration and teamwork, for which we can readily assess the student’s performance. These can be projects within the Centre for Creative Arts and Technologies based here at Surrey and part of our research and production portfolio; or undertaken with external partners if appropriate

Assessment Strategy

You will be asked to:

• generate ideas, concepts and proposals in response to a creative brief;
• work towards a collaborative and interdisciplinary realisation of the proposal;
• evidence the process behind this process;
• manage the interaction of this process in relation to the means available.

• Collaborative Project Portfolio 

Submission Components:

• Group presentation
• Project output (audiovisual artefact)
• Reflective commentary
• Self/group/peer appraisal

This summative mark and feedback will come to you after your project is submitted. Much of this will be about working practice and collaboration: you are not expected to produce a fine, fully-finished film at this stage.

will be given to you first at the proposal stage of the project, when each group submits a project proposal and group/peer/self-assessments as commentary on the progress of themselves and their team. Specific feedback is offered at this stage so that teams can incorporate this into their ongoing work. In addition, proposals are presented in class to solicit tutor and peer feedback. Later, you will receive formative feedback as your project takes shape.

Module aims

• Establish sound methods of creative collaboration and practical teamwork.
• Develop fluency in collaboration tools, techniques and technologies.
• Develop successful techniques for collaborative project proposal development based on shared ideas and effective teamwork.
• Develop successful techniques for joint creative project production and realisation.
• Develop constructive approaches to group critiques and appropriate reflective skills.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

In this module, you'll learn to apply technical skills and subject knowledge in ways that facilitate collaboration and excellence in developing artistic content. 

Teaching will focus upon the development of practical skills necessary for professionally orientated collaborative and interdisciplinary work; and on the development of research skills necessary for creative practice.

Module content will be delivered through a combination of

• Short Screenings, Demos ('Lectures')
• Group Presentations, Critiques and Seminars ('Seminars')
• Creative Exercises and Software Workshops ('Workshops')
• Tutorials

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: DMAM003

Other information

Embedded alongside the specific knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences facilitated by this module are more general attributes which the university has identified as an ambition to develop in all students across all subjects and disciplines on offer. These are:

• Employability
• Resourcefulness and Resilience
• Digital Capabilities
• Sustainability
• Global and Cultural Capabilities

The following is an account of how this module addresses these pillars.

Employability

Because this module is delivered by tutors and specialists with significant industry experience and contacts, it boosts your employability, raises the level at which you can gain positions and roles within the industry on graduation, and addresses well documented industry skills gaps. The module develops a range of proficiencies appropriate to live action film, animation, games, and other associated areas of the media industries, by providing up-to-the-minute knowledge and understanding of tools and techniques used every day in these fields at professional level. Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of personability: so that employers, collaborators, funders and commissioners want to work with you. We develop this by enabling you to work collaboratively and collegiately, in a supportive studio-like environment in which we all work together to realise creative goals. 

Resourcefulness and Resilience

As you encounter new and unfamiliar working practices along with robust, fair and helpful criticism, you will develop inventiveness and flexibility to cope with these elements of your course, including the ability to research your own solutions to given problems. We encourage you to pool knowledge and work collaboratively to come up with innovative methods to achieve a particular creative or technical goal. The studio environment and unfettered access to facilities and software facilitates this. As you cooperate with other students across this module, you will learn ways to be useful and helpful within a crew situation, and also learn better how to cope with criticism and encouragement. At all times, you will have access to experienced tutors to advise you.

Digital Capabilities

The FADA programme is built on current or very recent techniques and technologies available to mainstream studios and animators. In this way, digital capabilities are an integrated part of what you learn. Contemporary media production is an inherently digital affair but we include more traditional techniques such as drawn animation, and drawing practice, as part of the offering.

Sustainability

By offering you digital equipment made to the most recent energy-saving standards throughout your research for this module, we will enable you to use best practices to minimise pollution and waste. We also work closely with the University of Surrey's Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. You are shown best practices such as LED-based lighting, virtual production technologies to minimise crew and talent travel, recycling of sets and other materials, better transport choices, minimising of waste, and awareness of environmental and social effects on local communities and landscapes. These are embedded in various current industry initiatives such as BAFTA 'Albert', the 'Screen New Deal' production sustainability plan, and others. Furthermore, from a content viewpoint, many of the creative projects you develop on the programme address environment and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. 

Global and Cultural Capabilities

Film-making is inherently an international pursuit, crossing not only national boundaries but also, very importantly, cultural boundaries. Your colleagues among students will be from many nationals and cultures, whose expertise and enthusiasms will naturally encompass broad ranges of international and intercultural influences. Your tutors will welcome your embrace of cultures outside your own, especially regarding experimental, contemporary and historical contexts. For example, you will be encouraged to explore the many cross-cultural opportunities that this university's student union societies celebrate. 

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.