Our MA Creative Media Practice is ideal for those from various disciplines as well as industry professionals wishing to broaden their creative skills, knowledge and experience. This is a completely flexible MA suite of modules which will allow you to build up a strong portfolio of high-quality creative work across your chosen areas of practice. Students apply their skills to many areas from creative writing and screenwriting to documentary and artist's film. You can find a recent sample of some student work below:

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VLD - Sizzle Reel

VERY LATE DIAGNOSIS

HollY DIGNARD

Masters Creative Project - Holly Dignard's documentary project is a reflexive exploration of the emerging phenomenon of very late diagnosis of autism in women like Holly herself diagnosed at the age of 40. The film features a series interviews with global experts and fellow VLD (Very Late Diagnosis) women, exploring how they have been forced to develop masking and coping mechanisms to allow them to function effectively in society and examining whether there is a gender-bias behind these late diagnoses which if available earlier in their lives could have helped them significantly.

Bandcamp - New Single 'American Man'

AMERICAN MAN -

BRYAN STAGGERS

Masters Creative Project - Bryan Staggers is a student from the successful partnership with Shepherd University in West Virginia and this project explores notions of masculinity and American Culture rooted in his background in Appalachia combining writing for the stage and songwriting. His one-man gig-theatre show, American Man was staged and performed by Bryan at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2023 and subsequently at Shepherd University with future performances scheduled in Los Angeles.

THE ART of Walking

AS A MECHANISM FOR EXPLORATION

ANNA JAnTOS

Masters Creative Project -

Anna Jantos's environmental art work engages with the practice of walking and as well as making her own pieces her portfolio included workshops she prepared and undertook with others including some recently arrived from a war zone.

TRAILER FOR SHOWREEL- MONIKA DEUPALA.mp4

Brown and Baltersan

MONIKA DEUPALA

Masters Creative Project - Monika Deupala from Nepal who is a journalist and photographer has made a fascinating portrait documentary. It centres on the long term vision and quest of James Brown who bought Baltersan Castle, a ruined tower house in Ayrshire, and as worked towards it restoration for over three decades.

CATVENTURES

SNEHA SHAKYA

Masters Creative Project - This short and striking animation by Sneha Shakya am. artist and animator from Nepal, sets out to bring forward the ways in which anxiety and depression can undermine our sense of well being and disconnect us. Soundtrack produced by MA Music: Sound Production student Amith Anilkumar.

CREATING CONNECTION

DENISE McDONALD

MASTERS CREATIVE PROJECT - Photographer Denise McDonald sought to engage with artists and craftspeople in Renfrewshire to create a series of photographs capturing their creative processes and personalities. An initial exhibition was held in Paisley.

Project Link

SCENES FROM STRATHCLYDE - DAVID ALLAN

MASTERS CREATIVE PROJECT - David Allan's project combines analogue and didgtal technologies of photography and sound recordng to explore and encapsulate the former region of Strathclyde, a local authority which had a population of almost 2.5 million and stretched from Coll and Tiree to Ayrshire and which harking back to the former Kingdom of Strathclyde, retains an almost spectral presence in Scotland's present.

OUR RUIN

KATIE McGOWAN

Masters Creative Project - A new collection of poetry exploring Scotland's history of persecuting women as witches. Featuring poems developed from specific locations associated with witch trials such as North Berwick and Paisley with some associated photography.

FINNS and THE SEA - JULIA TIRKKONEN

Masters Creative Project - Julia Tirkkonen's photography project celebrates her native Finland's long and complex relationship with the Baltic Sea - from its frozen winter to beautiful summer sailing in its archipelago. Julia was invited to hold an exhibition at the Turku Jazz Sea Festival and you can find her website here Julia Tirkkonen Photography with a link to her on-line exhibition here: Finns by the Sea - Online 3D

THE STREETS - BIJENDRA BANTAWA RAI

Masters Creative Project - Bijendra Bantawa Rai is a photographer from Nepal who turned his lens on to life in the streets of Scotland's two major cities Edinburgh and Glasgow, to produce a fascinating collection of photography. Bijendra's project and further work can be found here: The Streets

WANDERER- SAVANNAH CROSBY

Masters Creative Project - Wanderer by Savannah Crosby is a hand-on exploration of photography, walking in nature and well being. The images capture Savannah's walks through Galloway where she lives. An on-line exhibition was complemented by a physical exhibition in Stranraer's Millenium Centre. Her project which includes a short film can be found here: Wanderer Exhibition . Savannah has recently been announced by South-west Scotland's arts organisation Upland as one of two "Emerge" artists for 2022. Recipients receive mentorship from experienced artists / makers along with a bursary of £1000 to create and present new work.

BLOOD & BREATH - LAUREN RANKIN

A Victorian crime thriller which sets out to subverts conventional gender and genre expectations. A new female centred narrative set in Edinburgh's streets.

A novelization of an original idea for television.

Prologue

The rain fell silently, gleaming pearls suspended against a midnight sky.

She could feel them. Watch them floating past her face. Wind whistled in her ears, deafening, muffled, while each second brought the ground racing up to meet her, and all the while the only sound was her breathing.

The fall didn’t frighten her. She didn’t care that her good dress wasn’t made to survive such exertion; that her hair was an unrestrained mess currently billowing around her; and that being discovered alone, broken, sprawled on the ground in the middle of the night, would be scandalous behaviour for a lady.

Let them remember her this way.

There was no point in fighting the inevitable. She wasn’t even afraid. And when wet, shiny cobbles faded into sight below, when the once stunning emerald moth’s wings faded into dust on her back, she smiled.

For she was finally free. She was free.

The SAFE HOUSE - Bobby Wells

Masters Creative Project - The Safe House by Bobby Wells is a fantasy novella where spells, witches and wraiths interact with the everyday world of modern Britain. Mason is the house father of a safe house protecting witches in need from their adversaries. One of these is Hannah, except she’s a waitress in a seaside town and has no idea that she’s a witch! The project also encompassed a script for screen adapation of the story. Here's an extract from the opening chapter:

Mason appeared in a small storm of orange sparks and stepped out on the beach, the café was sitting a little way off, doors locked and a small flickering bug light still alight in the window. The growing weather threw the sea into unrest and forced him to the twinkling lights of a nearby town. The streets were empty, the pubs and bars closed, and only a small 24-hour supermarket showed that this wasn’t a ghost town. Mason kept his hand around his wand, feeling safe to hold it in the open, darting his gaze through side streets and alleyways.

The streets were a winding nest of cobbled lines and Mason could barely find his way in the dark. As he got closer to town and a few more people were in the streets, he stowed his wand in his pocket but didn’t release his grip on it. The town centre was a mass of restaurants, and bars, that still had people inside. The muffled sounds of clinking glasses and dull music came through the open doors.

He leaned against the shopfront and watched the patrons milling around. The various businesses were starting to close now and in the distance the town clock struck eleven pm. Mason was starting to worry he was running out of time, when something caught his eye. The something in question was a pair of waitresses that locked up a small Italian eatery. They were both still wearing white shirts and with black aprons tied around their waist. The pair walked off down the street, but the reason that Mason knew they were different was the shadow creeping along behind them.

A wraith was crawling over the buildings a little behind them. Almost indistinguishable in the darkness it was given away by two shining white eyes. Its long limbs clutched onto railings and windowsills, and Mason could’ve sworn he heard it take a long deep sniff, as though it were hunting the waitress’s scent.

The two women turned down a side street and disappeared from view. Mason jogged across the road and watched as the women turned to each other and said goodbye, before parting ways. The taller of the two walked left and the shorter right. Mason was panicking a little, he couldn’t follow both people at once, but the wraith proved to be an unlikely help.

It was crawling along the walls of the narrow street above him, completely oblivious to Mason’s presence but focussed on his quarry at the other end. It reached the exit of the street and paused. Mason watched it look both ways, before taking a long drag of air in a grunting snuffle. It turned right. He ran after it, his footsteps echoing off the walls before falling out of the street exit. The waitress was unlocking a car a few metres away, and the wraith had climbed the building to get a bird’s eye view no doubt.

Mason crossed over, and in his haste propped his hand on the waitress’s shoulder.

The woman turned and let out a short yelp, grabbing herself back from the stranger. ‘Shit, sorry, sorry’ Mason backed away a little, holding his hands up. The woman saw the wand in his hand, but the dark street cast a shadow over it that made it look like a knife. She backed into a storefront window, and held out her bag

‘I-I don’t have any money on me, please just take this.’ Her voice was clear but terrified.

‘Oh god’ Mason breathed ‘no no no-’ he stowed the wand in his pocket ‘that’s not, I’m not’ he was stammering now, and backing away a little further. ‘I was looking for someone, I thought it was you, but maybe it’s not you, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.’

The woman slowly lowered her bag, but didn’t move, her eyes fixed on something behind Mason. He turned, half-hoping that he was wrong, the wraith was indeed lowering itself down onto the street.

‘Well, that’s not good.’ Mason muttered, and he heard the woman take gasping breaths, he held out an arm against her and whispered ‘If you can see that, then tap my arm,’ tap tap ‘right, you are who I’m looking for then.’ Mason’s voice was steady, although he could feel his jaw quivering.

‘Move slowly to your left, and down to the end of the alley.’ The woman tapped his arm again, and Mason took that to mean she understood.

DEADLINE - Richard Walker

Scripts and "Bible" for a hard-hitting Television Drama series combining kidnapping, journalism and Scotland's links with slavery and contemporaray realities of human trafficking. Richard describes his project below:

My Masters project is designed to examine the perilous state of the Scottish press as the country struggles to come to terms with a darkness in its past. The medium I’ve used to explore these issues is a nine-part television drama series mainly set in contemporary times.

Deadline focuses on a fictitious new Scottish newspaper and tells its story by concentrating on a different character on separate episodes which drive forward the over-arching narrative.

When I began my studies for a Masters Degree in Creative Media in 2018 I had recently stepped down as editor of the Sunday Herald and The National newspapers after a 40-year career in Scottish journalism. I thought then that the time was ripe for a drama which investigated the difficulties faced by the Scottish press.

My project is akin to journalism in that its task is not just to create a television drama but to find ‘something out’ and articulate it within that drama.

That ‘something’ in this instance is an exploration of journalism’s ability to survive in a robust enough state to tell a country the truth about itself.

It was important to me to try to find a way to reference some of the challenges modern journalism faces in Scotland in a way that contributed to the narrative. The kidnapped reporter represented journalism being held to ransom by business pressures while its very function was being questioned in an age when the internet is encouraging the mass adoption of fake news. In Deadline journalism lives to fight another day but its mortal enemies gain more and more power.

THE DILIGENT FOX - CALLUM J BROWN

This novella combines elements of fantasy, social realism and the religious parable and koan. We follow the progress of a the growing fox cub Pict and his family in a harsh world where animals speak - but with a strong West of Scotland accent! Here's an extract from the opening chapter:

Midge and Kipper had finally noticed the black and white figures hopping around in their play area. The cubs charged at the birds with joyous cries. Raspy chatter filled the air as the magpies took to the air and scattered. Pict bowed his head and looked at the ground. What he had seen had overwhelmed his mind. What a nasty thing, he thought, the life of a worm must be sad. Is life always like that?

Pict wondered what happened when a creature entered another’s stomach. Where they gone

forever? He knew to be afraid of being eaten. Being crushed by jaws and then swallowed surely caused immense pain and suffering. Whatever followed could not be good even if it was a mystery to the little fox cub. Pict’s mind came to standstill as he reflected on the slaughter his siblings had unknowingly caused and halted. He held a concentration never before obtained in his short life. All at once did the mental intoxications of self leave his mind. Like a dimming light, the questions of

origin and fate faded away. Pride, age and strength had no meaning. He was free in silent bliss under the decaying arch of colour.

A dead rat fell to Pict’s feet from on high. He shot to his feet with a piercing yelp. His trance was abruptly ended. A loud voice, utterly different to the deathly tranquility from before, called out.

“Whit ye daein, ya dreamer? Aren’t ye supposed tae be watching? Ah could ‘ave been anybody.”

Pict turned around and looked up. Before him stood Fritter, a mangy vixen. Her fur was a weak orange, that of a fading ember losing its heat. Bald patches of cracked scar tissue dotted around her body. Fritter looked sternly at Pict. Her frown was highlighted by the slight bend in the scar which

trailed down her right eye. With a squealing voice Pict scrambled together his courage.

“Mammy, I was watching,” he said.

“Naw, ye were daydreaming. No the same ‘hing,” Fritter exclaimed.

Her frown moved towards Midge and Kipper who had not noticed the arrival of their mother.

“Oi, whit ‘ave ah telt youse? Never leave the shelter and stop messing around when am no here.”

“He likes it, mammy,” exclaimed Midge as she pinned Kipper to the ground.

“Well ah don’t an’ that’s that. Get over here now. Swear, youse all drive me insane.”

Midge released Kipper and the two cubs padded over to their mother. Pict stared at the ground as his siblings approached. He could sense a rising tension within Fritter’s belly but if Kipper had noticed his mother’s annoyance he did not care.

“Ew, whit’s that rat? We had it jist yesterday,” Kipper complained.

Fritter jabbed her front right paw hard into Kipper’s side. Pict winched at the sound of his brother’s whelp. Fritter then shoved Kipper’s snout into the soil, pressing down with her paw. Her teeth were bared and her furious voice lashed right beside his ear as she forced him further down into the muck.

“If ah hear another complaint outta ye, ye wee mutt!”

Fritter released Kipper. His head sprang out of the soil and he gasped as though he had been submerged in water. His mother ignored his discomfort and strode over to the end of the fallen tree. She urinated on the rotten wall of wood. The aroma gradually defused throughout the oasis. A warning to others that Fritter was present. Midge sat and looked down on the dead rat. She ignored her brother’s pain and pretended to wait patiently. Pict’s instinct was to help Kipper as he watched

him cough and splatter the mud off his snout but he knew not to interfere in his mother’s chastisement.

The three cubs dismembered the dead rat in silence. Goo-like blood oozed out of its corpse. It was an odd sight which Pict could not understand. Blood was meant to flow hot and free, not cold and sluggish. They devoured the carcass under Fritter’s watchful gaze. They knew not to leave scraps

or complain. Every drop of nourishing blood had to be licked up. Fritter did not like wasting food. The worm like tail slithered down Pict’s throat and the rat was finally gone. He thought again of the earth worms and felt a terrible sense of loss.

The night was still warm. There was a notable breeze as though the earth was snoring, no longer able to control its breathing. It irritated Fritter. The lukewarm wind against the back of her neck reminded her of the hot breath of past foes as they bit and slashed her vulnerable spots. The trio of cubs nestled against Fritter. Her bushy tail sheltered them from the occasional breeze as it curled around their nimble bodies. But Pict could not sleep. His mind pondered over the misery of the past

day. He felt the sting of guilt. So many creatures endured the obvious pain of being devoured and yet only now had Pict realised the closeness of suffering. Midge and Kipper’s breathing was slow and relaxed as they slumbered. Fritter could feel their little furry tummies gently rising up and then

down. She felt that Pict’s tummy was more conscious and rapid in its movement. She knew her son

was awake.

“Whit’s keeping ye awake, son?” Fritter asked in a unusually gentle whisper.

“Sorry, mammy,” said Pict “I was just thinking about something.”

Pict shifted his head and looked at his mother. The bleakness of the summer night concealed her tormented figure. She looked almost peaceful. Pict could tell his mother was not looking at him. Her eyes looked upon the same spot where he had witnessed the massacre of the worms.

“Of the same stuff ye were day dreaming aboot, aye?” She asked.

“Yes. Mammy, what happens after you get eaten?”

Fritter squirmed as though an unwelcome insect had ticked her paw. She scratched her ear, clearly uncomfortable and then shook her head hoping to wipe away the tingling sensation that had begun to scuttle across her fur.

Pict waited patiently for his mother to answer. His innocent, open-mouthed face never shifted away from her. Fritter looked ahead as if something had startled her. After a while she spoke.

“Ye know whit yer problem is, Pict? Ye ‘hink tae much.”

Fritter only allowed herself to snooze after she saw Pict’s little head flop down on her hip as he fell asleep.

MA Creative Media Practice

Sample for UWS Arts and Media Showcase

EALA: UWS and University of Lapland OER applied learning project working

Scotland and Arctic Contexts and Commons task working for Applied Creative Contexts module. Dr Kathryn A Burnett (UWS) with Professor Timo Jokela (ULapland)

EALA project Logo by Bingrui Sui CC-BY-2.0

Coastal Margins: Applied Creative Contexts

Applied Creative Contexts SDG Climate Action -

Polar Bear Riverside - UWS Ayr Campus by Zihan Lin for EalaCreative (CC-BY-SA-2.0)

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