Courses - Faculty of Arts
Screen Production
Postgraduate 700 Level Courses
Screenwriting Project
Considers the short film script with a focus on the practice and principles of dramatic screenwriting, including industry format and narrative structure. By developing a script for a 5-8 minute film in stages, students will practice creative writing, script development, and pitching while also learning skills related to production management, proposal writing, and preparing and scheduling a low-budget production.
Restriction: SCREEN 702, 705
Introduction to Directing
Provides students with a practical overview of the drama and documentary production process from a director's point of view. Students are taken through pre-production, production and post-production on a series of group projects, as well as their own 2-minute short film. Emphasises the importance of directing style, character and story alongside acquiring practical skills. Students are encouraged to critique their own work as well as the work of their classmates.
Advanced Drama Directing
Focuses on the directing of actors for screen, and the relationship between this and blocking for camera. Students direct in front of the class and create a short piece of work as a group using improvisation. Students first focus on directing and presenting a 10-minute excerpt from a play and then direct and edit an original dramatic short film of 8-10 minutes. Crewing on fellow students' projects is a compulsory requirement.
Prerequisite: SCREEN 701
Advanced Documentary Directing
Students complete a major treatment/script, an interview exercise, an editing exercise, and a completed documentary of 10-12 minutes. For the latter project, the course convener functions like an executive producer, overseeing and critiquing the documentaries as they progress. Emphasis is placed on aesthetic and formal approaches to the documentary and the class will draw extensively on documentary history.
Restriction: COMMS 713
Screenplay Writing and Development
A practical course in which students work on original features and analyse the work of writers. Students develop a better sense of structure, plot, characters, dialogue, genre and understand the dynamics of constructive feedback and rewriting, known in the screen industry as the ‘development process.’ Combines lectures and workshops and builds upon SCREEN 700.
Prerequisite: SCREEN 700 or 705 or approval of Programme Director
Production Project - Level 9
The production of a substantial project in which the student specialises as director, writer, or producer completing either a documentary (approximately 30 minutes), a short dramatic film (approximately 10-15 minutes) or a feature length screenplay (80-110 pages). Students are required to attend a seminar series conducted by academic staff and industry practitioners in Semester One. Crewing on fellow students' projects is also required.
Prerequisite: Approval of Academic Head or nominee
To complete this course students must enrol in SCREEN 797 A and B