Year 1
In the current media technology landscape, the production of audiovisual content has been democratised. The consumers became the producers. All over the world, countless examples of fortuitous soundbites and YouTube© clips are making the headlines in major media publishers. Nonetheless, to achieve a professional standard quality, it is important to master media-specific practices, techniques and workflows, which go beyond the mere technological proficiency.
The goal of this module is to introduce students to standard audiovisual production techniques, from preproduction to post-production stages, covering photography, film and audio production.
The module embraces two important areas: Marketing and Corporate Communication. Firstly, in relation to Marketing, the programme analyses and discusses the role of marketing strategically, and also in terms of advertising, communicating and creating customer satisfaction, retention and ultimately sustains sales. Besides, it discusses the importance of market segmentation, targeting and positioning, starting from understanding customer needs and its hierarchy, and translating these into perceived value, quality and service for the target market, in face of objectives, metrics and marketing plans. Secondly, regarding to Corporate Communication will be analysed and discussed, following an integrative approach with first topic, by considering the relevance of corporations’ efforts to lead, motivate, persuade and inform its key stakeholders, which include consumers, clients, investors, suppliers, partners, employees, community and the media, throughout an ecosystem, in order to achieve specific and concrete corporate goals and plans. Both Marketing and Corporate Communication will be studied and discussed in what regards to its strategic and source of competitive advantage views throughout global markets and contemporary societies.
This module provides an overview of Digital Technology, its trends, promises and opportunities for innovation, in relation to Systematic Creativity tools/methodologies, that converges into Business Models, which can be validated by potential real world clients.
Business Models describe the way of how an organization create, deliver and capture value. They are at the core of any Entrepreneurship project and are enhanced by Creativity and Innovation.
This Module proposes different approaches to promote Creativity, adding value to the process of Business Models Generation.
Technology Innovation will be presented as a stronger driver for changes in the markets and to be the basis of powerful Business Models.
The subject will address topics dealing with the interrelationship among media, cultures and different forms of social organizations. Although not limited to, the syllabus will deal with issues such as media and cultural production; media systems in different cultural enviornments; media and technology; and the relationship and articulation between mass media and mass-self communication.
This course specializes in multimedia solutions (video, sound, 2D and 3D graphics, interactivity, etc.) and provides students with a strong education in visual communication, a distinct and marketable skill set and a well-rounded liberal arts general education. The Infographics and Multimedia Design course provides students with in-depth, hands-on experience in the design and authoring of original multimedia works. Students will have the opportunity to study graphic design and interactive design, emphasizing both technological proficiency and visual literacy.
By having a firm grasp on the visual, creative and technological components of multimedia and motion graphics, the student will be ready to apply this expertise to a design job in the graphic design, advertising and marketing professions. Furthermore, this programme aims to develop learners in knowledge understanding and skills in graphic communication and multimedia through studio-based assignments. The contemporary context of Graphic Design will be investigated.
From start to finish, students will learn the core elements of motion graphic design and multimedia design. This course will explore several areas:
• Elements of design
• Principles of design
• Visual communication
• Digital typography
• Motion and infographics
• Multimedia design
The role and functions of Public Relations in an industrialized society; the historical evolution of Public Relations, career opportunities in the
field, and professional/ethical/legal responsibilities; the basic process of Public Relations— (R.A.C.E) Research, Action (Planning), Communication, Evaluation—and the use of communications strategies to achieve organizational goals; concepts of Public Relations, audience analyses, and persuasion; practical guidelines for utilizing written, spoken, and visual techniques to reach selected audience and for executing a complete Public Relations Plan or Campaign.
This course will also explore the researching, planning, coordinating, marketing,
management and evaluation of events; will provide a conceptual overview and a systematic study of event programming, management, and marketing, and practical applications; management to the special needs of event organizations; foster professionalism in event management, covering the knowledge base, theory, methodologies and ethics.
This module reflects on the relevance of values, morality and ethics for responsible human decisions and actions on the individual, communal, societal, and global levels. Ethical and moral systems are critically evaluated as how they help to find orientation in preparing, making, and communicating responsible moral and ethical decision as global citizens and professionals. Special insights are drawn from the rich philosophical, ethical, and moral tradition of the catholic tradition in view of fostering human dignity, freedom, communication, personal and community growth in a more and more globally connected world. Considering right and wrong conduct, just and unjust individual and collective behaviour, the module encompasses inquiry into what constitutes “the good life” or happiness and fulfilment in view of the ultimate meaning of life.
I – What is Visual Culture and what do images want?
1.. Visual Culture, visuality and visibility.
2. What is visual literacy?
II – Literacy, Modernity and Visuality.
1. Urban culture and modern visuality
2. Making the modern in the age of reproduction: film and photography.
3. Panoptical modernity and the perverse gaze.
4. From modernity to post-modernity: pastiche, bricolage and the virtual world.
III – The Power of Images
1. The image system: production, selection, framing, distribution, reception
2. Emotion and cognition: what images do.
3. Visuality and desire.
IV – The Visual Construction of Otherness.
4. The visual invention of the East.
5. Imperial images and post-colonial visions.
6. Visual identities (gender, race, class).
7. Images in the global diaspora flow.
Year 2
This curricular unit main objective is to pass on to students the necessary knowledge and skills to develop a scientific research in the field of communication sciences, namely regarding the construction of a scientific object and the definition of an adequate methodology aiming its empirical validation. Under that major umbrella, this curricular unit has also the following objectives:
- to transmit the necessary criteria to make informed decisions in each step of the scientific method, thus enhancing the students’ progressive autonomy;
- to promote contact with already existing communication sciences’ knowledge (theories, concepts), to which student can relate their own empirical research;
- to encourage the development of both a way of thinking and a language, specific of communication sciences.
In this module, students are required to prepare and present a portfolio of their work in media publishing. A Portfolio is a collection of student works (mostly electronic) representing students’ performance. There are products (artifacts that the student selects to incorporate into the portfolio), and the processes that the student must develop, use and implement in preparing the portfolio. It is reflective of the competencies that the student is required to demonstrate as part of the collect, select, and reflect process as well as usage of desktop and social media publishing tools. Students may attend coaching sessions during their studies to assist them in the preparation of their portfolios.
Dissertation is the culmination of the work developed through the first year of studies, where students acquired expertise in multiple advanced areas within the field of Communication and Media. In this module, students are asked to conduct a research work on a relevant topic within the main scientific field, focusing on surveying and identifying a specific issue or novelty. The outcome is comprised of a written dissertation following the best practices in research methodology and scientific writing.
