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MA Creative AI for Screen

Why choose Herts?

  • Excellent reputation: Best Creative School in the UK, Best 2D Animation School in Europe and number two in the world and Best VFX School in the UK (The Rookies Top Global Creative Schools, 2024)
  • First of its kind: The UK's first Master of Arts course focused on exploring generative AI for creatives
  • Industry connections: One of the few universities that are members of Access:VFX
  • Entry requirements and key information

    A degree, ideally in a relevant subject (2.2 minimum), plus a portfolio demonstrating recent engagement and creative activities in your intended study area. Accreditation of professional experience may be possible for practitioners without a first degree.  

    A minimum IELTS score of 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in any component (or equivalent) is required for those whose first language is not English.  

    For country specific qualifications, please visit our your country page.  

    If you do not have the required level of English for entry, our academic English courses can help you to achieve this level. 

    A selection of your portfolio/reel/previous coursework or self-initiated art. We’re looking for potential to succeed in your chosen field, good ideas that have been developed (they don’t necessarily have to be complete!) and a flair and openness toward the challenge of a master’s degree. We recommend you visit to see if we are right for you - we hold open days where you can often meet relevant staff and view the facilities.  

    A personal statement outlining why you want to pursue your chosen master's course at the University of Hertfordshire, reflecting on your current skills and experience, and detailing your ambitions for your future career.

    Institution code

    		 H36

    School of study

    		 School of Creative Arts

    Course length
  • Full Time, 1 Years
  • Part Time, 2 Years
    		•

    Location
  • University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield
    		•
  • Employability

    Careers

    With an MA Creative AI and Screen degree you’ll be well-equipped to start your career in media companies that require your expertise, whether that’s commercials and marketing, design, animation, film, games or publishing. You can also undertake roles as a junior or senior artist or designer, VFX and games technician or work in production.. Alternatively, you can take your skills into virtual production, pre-visualisation, automotive or scientific visualisation and AR/VR.  

    The increased demand for generativeAI has expanded existing roles across screen industries, augmenting human roles in creative direction, production supervision and virtual production, ensuring further growth and efficiency. The development of the technology has also created new roles such as AI input/output manager, deep learning director, generative design specialist and AI trainer. Graduates have previously undertaken roles at ILM, Weta, DNEG, Framestore, Disney, Aardman, Sony Pictures and 350+ companies around the world.  

Professional Accreditations

The University of Hertfordshire is a member of Access:VFX the international organisation pursuing inclusion, diversity, awareness and opportunity in the VFX & Animation industries. The program leader is a member of the honorary Visual Effects Society (VES) and UK SIGGRAPH, the worldwide computer graphics association. 

Herts is also a Rookies certified school as well as a Houdini certified school.

Being a member of industry professional bodies means Herts has the first sight of new developments in the field as well as opportunities to attend screenings and conferences. 

About the course

The MA Creative AI and Screen course will enable you to: 

  • study a modular structure that has produced professionals across creative AI the screen industries
  • create and own new workflows and processes; you will learn how to augment AI into your own creative practice
  • learn new ways of working with generative AI for multitude of screens whether that is for entertainment, bio-simulation, education or art installation 
  • focus on the forefront of developments in technology and exploring a range of processes
  • take advantage of new roles and employment in the growth area of generative AI 
  • have the opportunity for unique collaboration with students on other pathways and work with animators, games artists, concept artists and digital comics illustrators. 

Why choose this course?

Throughout the course you will be exposed to new ways of working with generative AI, ensuring your creative control is driving new visual and auditory outputs that seek an audience. You will also build on your knowledge with answering questions of ethics, control and social impact, and learn from a range of contemporary artists and designers already incorporating AI. 

You will investigate and experience key components of this new industrial revolution such as using language models, neural networks and general adversarial networks as well as learn how to train AI on your own work, examine and assess hallucinations and ground truth. You will also learn how to build up artistic resilience and continuously improve your own projects and resources.  

Our campuses are on the doorstep of one of the biggest AI industries in Europe. London is a major player in the global AI landscape, and the UK AI market is valued at over $21 billion. The city's AI ecosystem is thriving, and the UK AI market is projected to grow to over $1 trillion by 2035, meaning exposure to a range of industry companies and artists is available. 

You can also increase your earning potential with an MA Creative AI and Screen degree; the average pay in VFX at all ages exceeds the overall UK average as well as exceeding the average pay for the creative industries by a good margin find out more about the UK’s VFX workforce. 83% of the VFX industry and 93% of the animation industry are graduates, with a higher than average proportion of postgraduates. 

University of Hertfordshire has strong links with the VFX, film, games and animation industries and has first-hand experience of how generative AI is being utilised and embedded in software and workflow processes within these industries. The course has been designed using emerging industry practice as the guide. Our driving philosophy at Herts is that future development of generative AI shouldn’t be left to Silicon Valley or tech developers but needs to be in the hands of creatives who can help us create future art that expresses what it is to be human. Join us!

What will I study?

The MA Creative AI and Screen degree starts by introducing a flurry of short projects to build up resilience and skills. You will have the opportunity to look at a range of available tools and assess limitations and bias. You will broaden your creativity with a series of projects around text and image, helping you connect your skillsets with this new area. In the first semester you will also look at current debates and how critical media theory maps onto generative AI and the importance of workflows and pipelines to achieve project goals. 

In the second semester, with the development of your skills and knowledge, you will engage with an interdisciplinary project with animators, VFX and games students and start to prepare for the major study in the third semester. You’ll work on a unique interdisciplinary project and a live brief to push your skills and collaborative abilities. The major study will allow you to target the practice towards your own preferred career outcome.  

You will have the opportunity to show your progress each week to your tutor and peers, and sometimes to industry too. You will learn to present progress and develop ideas incrementally through extensive collaboration, while also building essential team skills. 

  • Level 7
    ModuleCreditsCompulsory/optional
    Practice 1: Developing Skills30 CreditsCompulsory
    Digital Media: Sources and Significance30 CreditsCompulsory
    Practice 2: Creative Project Development30 CreditsCompulsory
    Exploring Professional Practice30 CreditsCompulsory
    Major Study: Creative AI for Screen60 CreditsCompulsory

    • Further course information

    Course fact sheets
    MA Creative AI for Screen Download
    Programme specifications
    MA Creative AI for Screen Download
    Additional information

    Sandwich placement or study abroad year

    n/a

    Applications open to international and EU students

    		 Yes

    Student experience

    At the University of Hertfordshire, we want to make sure your time studying with us is as stress-free and rewarding as possible. We offer a range of support services including; student wellbeing, academic support, accommodation and childcare to ensure that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying and having fun.

    You’ll study in the award-winning FMM (Film, Music and Media) building on the College Lane campus with high spec computer labs. You’ll also have access to the software and hardware of the Learning Resource Centre. If you are a home student, you’ll be able to access the course remotely. It is a prerequisite of your visa for overseas students to study on campus, but all students are welcome on campus 5 days a week.

    Find out about how we support our students

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