About MA Creative Media Practices in Aberystwyth University

Creative Media Practice have found roles such as independent producer, scriptwriter, TV development producer, documentary-maker, digital media producer/developer, artist filmmaker, motion graphics designer and as media/arts practice teachers and lecturers.

Some examples of work by Creative Media

The range of media available to you has expanded enormously as information technology and the Internet has developed and grown. But as the choices have expanded, it has become harder to choose how to get your message out there.

This is where Creative Media can help you. Paddy is interested in and works with many forms of media and technologies and can suggest ways of communicating using any or all of them. His contacts with experts and specialists in many fields mean that just about anything is possible…

Web

Paddy designs sites that contain the right content and look attractive, but that also work in older browsers, download quickly and can be viewed on phones and tablets.

He can use responsive techniques to make your site look attractive on large and small screens, and be accessible to people with disabilities.

He can link your site to a database or to social media and build tools to make updates and complex features quick and easy to do.

Copy

Copy is there for a purpose, not to fill a space. Make your message clear and quick. Don’t waste your audience’s time or confuse them. When text is on a web site, most people find it harder to read than printed text, so it’s even more important for it to be written well.

Paddy has written reports, posters, slogans, articles, reviews, editorials, poetry, song lyrics… His communication is inspired by Quaker ideas of “plain speech” and the “SMOG” readability test. Copy that is riddled with flowery phrases, long sentences and jargon is not going to get your message across.

All the copy on this site is written by Paddy, so if you like what you see…

Photography/retouching

Paddy has been taking pictures since the early 1980s and his repertoire includes weddings, gigs, portraits, pets, product photography, abstracts, nature and landscape photography. He uses digital SLRs with good lenses, so pictures are of a high quality. He has been using Photoshop for many years, digitally “repairing” scans of damaged pictures and making digital photographs look their best.

Illustration

Paddy’s illustrations tend toward the cartoonish, but he’s always willing to have a go at something different. His abilities in Photoshop and other image software offer a lot of versatility with mixing scanned and photographed images with typography and computer effects.

Print design

Paddy’s interest in design began in DTP and graphics. He has designed logos, newsheets, magazines and prepared photographs for printing.

He brings his enthusiasm for branding, message and elegant copy into the mix to ensure your printed materials do what they’re meant to.

Video/editing/DVD authoring/motion graphics and effects

Paddy has filmed and edited short films, interviews and talks, music videos and more, both with single cameras and multi-camera setups. He works with Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro to create films for DVD or for online delivery. His extensive experience in audio and recording means that the soundtrack of film is given the importance it deserves: good video with bad sound can be worse than no video at all. He can also add some digital effects magic.

Music/sound

Paddy has been a musician all his life, playing strings, woodwind, guitar and keyboard. He has been working with music technology since the late 1980s and has wide experience of writing music, and recording/editing sound. He can advise on scripting for podcasts, create original electronic and acoustic music and record live/studio music and voice-overs.

Creative Media branding and ideas

Paddy is famous for novel and innovative ideas - a fascination with language and wordplay combined with an obsession for efficiency and preservation of natural resources lead to novel, innovative but effective ideas, rather than following trends.

• “Art and Ride” branding for Art+Power’s “art on the buses” awareness campaign, Bristol.
• Concept and branding for “Trancendal” youth outreach event
• Logo design for Sustainable Bishopston campaign
• Cardboard DVD packaging for BristolStories.org: extra branding and a saving on postage!
• CD demo packaging for band Taradiddle, Plymouth.
• Workshop space redesign - Watershed Media Centre
• Office space redesign - Akousis counselling centre

Training/consultancy

Paddy is experienced in web design, desktop publishing, photography and video, image retouching, sound recording and editing and event planning. He also has experience of a wide range of computer technology and software. He’s happy to share his knowledge in a workshop setting, and can create learning materials and documentation.

• Photoshop workshop - BristolStories.org
• Podcasting workshop - Watershed Media Centre
• Audio soundscape workshop - BristolStories.org

Video

• Videoing and editing many talks for the Festival of Ideas, Architecture Centre and Watershed Media Centre
• Live music video and audio
• Ident clips - Watershed Media Centre
• Anti-supermarket campaign video - BristolStories/BOGOFS
• Music videos
• Promo/documentary material for artist Stanza
• Experience of monetising videos on YouTube.com, and uploading to vimeo, blip, etc

Music

• Soundtrack for Midsummer Night’s Dream - Sterts Moorland Theatre
• Music for contemporary dance tour - Attic Dance
• Looped audio for multimedia CD - Plymouth College of Art and Design
• Trailer music for ElectricDecember.org and incidental/outro music for “The Box” and “Ghostwatch”
• Sound effects, available from my samples page and freesound.org, which have been downloaded and used in thousands of projects around the world
• Remixes for Lawrence Made Me Cry and Jacques, a Robin

PA Hire / live audio mixing

Paddy concentrates on getting the sound right with a minimum of fuss, so you can concentrate on the performance. His two 450W cabs can provide good sound in small or medium venues, mics and stands are provided, and monitoring and vocal effects are available.

• Watershed Media Centre outdoor poetry reading.
• Live PA and mixing for Jules Olsen jazz performance at Hatters Café, Gloucester Road.
• PA for carol concert in the Unitarian Church
• PA for gigs at Halo, Café Delight and Café Kino and more
• Birthdays, weddings, etc

Academic qualification equivalents:

• We normally accept a minimum of 55% or GCPA 6.0 in a relevant Bachelors degree from a recognised institution. Non-graduates with at least 2 years of relevant full-time work experience are welcome to apply. In this case your application will be assessed on an individual basis.

English language requirements (one of the below):

• IELTS          :         6.5 with minimum 5.5 in each component 
• TOEFL         :         93 with minimum component scores:Reading 18, Listening 17, Speaking 20, Writing 17.
• PTE             :          62 with minimum scores of 51 in each component 

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