Please note that this degree is now closed for 2023 entry. Please see our alternative Producing Film and Television.
Key information
Duration: 1 year full time or 2 years part time
Institution code: R72
Campus: Egham
UK fees*: £12,200
International/EU fees**: £20,000
The course
Immersive Storytelling (MA)
This Masters focusses on immersive technologies and developing your creative storytelling practice. You will develop an entrepreneurial and critical understanding of the creative industries and the place of immersive technologies within these.
You will look at a variety of storytelling techniques and processes for immersive projects and consider the traditions of relevant screen media, including film, television and video games. You will examine the emerging UK immersive economy within the global context, and become familiar with the research and development and business model challenges in the sector, key institutions, and working practices.
You will develop a broad understanding of the group nature of immersive experience creation and how the roles played by the various parties, such as engineer, producer, writer, performer, subject and director shape and influence the screenplay.
You will learn how to undertake routine and adaptive work in hardware and software that responds to demands of sound, vision and perception in creative contexts, and how to write, pitch and present ideas in a range of formats. You will develop proof of concept, prototype, pilot and short form immersive experiences and recognise the potential for re-imagining existing story forms, structures and intellectual property.
Course structure
Core Modules
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In this module you will develop an understanding of the industrial and working practices of UK creative industries in a global context, with a particular focus on the immersive, interactive and creative technologies sectors. You will look at the role of business models, funding sources, financing, regulation and policy in the digital creative industries and consider how these shape creative decision making. You will analyse specific digital creative industry case studies and examine how business models, funding sources, financing, regulation, policy and industry practices impact production.
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In this module you will demonstrate your creative, technical and collaborative working skills to produce a short immersive project. You will work to a professional standard of creative practice, including developing and keeping to schedule, budget and collaborative agreements. You will apply entrepreneurial skills in fund-raising and financing, talent and subject recruitment and consider how to respond to user testing and audience feedback in developing creative work in a commercial context. You will also respond to peer review, including dialogue with other disciplines, to create collaborative productions.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of the process of writing, developing and storyboarding for immersive productions within the context of technological and budgetary constraints. You will debate, critique and contextualise approaches to immersive narrative against traditions in film, television, games and interactive media. You will provide professional, actionable and clear feedback on story propositions for immersive experiences, and translate stories and story form from other media to immersive.
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In this module you will develop an understanding of the the process of writing, developing and storyboarding for immersive productions within the context of technological and budgetary constraints. You will debate, critique and contextualise approaches to immersive narrative against traditions in film, television, games and interactive media. You will focus on interactive and non-linear storytelling for immersive environments examining user-testing and audience use-case development of creative works. You will provide professional, actionable and clear feedback on story propositions for immersive, and translate stories and story form from other media to immersive.
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This module will give you an introduction to a range of immersive technology. You will learn the basics of 360 filming and editing, immersive sound production, game engine technology and 3D object and human capture. You will acquire skills enabling you to produce a basic proof-of-concept application covering one or several learning outcomes at the end of the term. The technical level of the application will be adjusted to your technical level, and can range from building a simple 3D game to understanding how to communicate and work with technologists. The aim is for you be given a solid grounding in immersive technology, enabling you to work with technology in your future career.
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This module will cover core areas of immersive technologies: 360 filming and editing, immersive sound production, game engine technology and 3D object, 3D human capture, exploring how to use these technologies for both augmented and virtual reality. This Applied Immersive Technologies module will dig deeper into the various technologies, advancing your knowledge and skills so that you not only learn the advanced possibilities of immersive technology, but you put these new skills to practice in your proof of concept at the end of term.
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This module focuses on user-centred design aspects and challenges in interactive traditional, augmented and virtual reality contexts, and addresses the approaches that can be used to create displays and interfaces to enhance user experience.
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This module will describe the key principles of academic integrity, focusing on university assignments. Plagiarism, collusion and commissioning will be described as activities that undermine academic integrity, and the possible consequences of engaging in such activities will be described. Activities, with feedback, will provide you with opportunities to reflect and develop your understanding of academic integrity principles.
Optional Modules
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All modules are core
Teaching & assessment
You will be taught through a mixture of hands-on workshops, experimental labs, lectures, seminars, group and individual exercises as well as one-to-one supervision for your final project.
Experimental labs will enable you to work alongside MSc Immersive Technologies students to adapt and adopt technologies to creative demands, as well as work in commercial environments with partner business.
You will typically be assessed through creative exercises (written, visual and experimental), oral presentations and pitch documentation, project plans and the final Immersive Storytelling project.
Entry requirements
2:2
Preferred subjects: Media, Drama, English, Video Games, Digital Media, Film, Photography, History or Music.
UK 2:2 (Honours) or equivalent in one of the following: subjects, Media, Drama, English, Video Games, Digital Media, Film, Photography, History or Music. You are likely to be invited for an interview to assess your motivation for the subject.
International & EU requirements
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 6.5. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
- Pearson Test of English: 61 overall. Writing 61. 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 see here.
Your future career
Graduates from Media Arts postgraduate programmes have successfully progressed into a wide range of professions including advertising and marketing, the creative industry, the public sector, and teaching. For other graduates, completing an MA is the precursor to embarking on research, and may ultimately lead to a PhD.
Fees, funding & scholarships
Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £12,200
EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £20,000
Other essential costs***: TBC
How do I pay for it? Find out more about funding options, including loans, grants, scholarships and bursaries.
* and ** These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis. Students studying on the standard part-time course structure over two years are charged 50% of the full-time applicable fee for each study year.
All postgraduate fees are subject to inflationary increases. This means that the overall cost of studying the course via part-time mode is slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year. Royal Holloway's policy is that any increases in fees will not exceed 5% for continuing students. For further information, please see our terms and conditions. Please note that for research courses, we adopt the minimum fee level recommended by the UK Research Councils for the Home tuition fee. Each year, the fee level is adjusted in line with inflation (currently, the measure used is the Treasury GDP deflator). Fees displayed here are therefore subject to change and are usually confirmed in the spring of the year of entry. For more information on the Research Council Indicative Fee please see the RCUK website.
** The UK Government has confirmed that EU nationals are no longer eligible to pay the same fees as UK students, nor be eligible for funding from the Student Loans Company. This means you will be classified as an international student. At Royal Holloway, we wish to support those students affected by this change in status through this transition. For eligible EU students starting their course with us during the academic year 2023/24, we will award a fee reduction scholarship equivalent to 30% of the difference between the UK and international fee for your course. This will apply for the duration of your course. Find out more
*** These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2022/23 academic year, and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.
