Recommended Study Sequence

Approaches to Communications offers a wide range overview of major theories and models in communication and embraces a series of selected case studies of the emergence, impact and social shaping of different communication and media technologies through history and into the future.

This unit introduces students to writing processes in a variety of communication contexts. Through the elaboration of writing apprenticeships, it develops understandings of the position of writer as well as the construction of reader in written texts with emphasis on aspects of creative, rhetorical, and technical communication.

Screen Media is a unit conceived to strengthen preparation for the Media Arts Production major. The Media arts production major intends to impart creative strategies and technical skills as baseline goals. These would be inadequate, however, without the fostering of well founded, fresh ideas that enable media arts production graduates to make relevant and original contributions to culture and industry. This introductory unit takes a wide-ranging theoretical and historical approach to Media Arts Production with an interest in conceptual as well as contemporary issues in society, culture and art. It is also informed by new developments in media technologies that include video, film and computer-based media practices.

In this unit students gain a grounding in the key areas of advertising and the steps in the advertising process, viz. research, strategy, creative (copywriting & art direction), production, account service, media planning and marketing communication. Students are also introduced to the issues surrounding advertising and its role in society.

This unit introduces students to processes of design. It examines how knowledges may be formed through visual design processes and how visual design reveals knowledges. It also introduces students to basic visual literacies, current design applications and production processes.

This unit aims to introduce the underlying rationale of the modern research process in professional communication settings including electronic database searches, critically reviewing research literature, data collection and analysis, writing the research report, and research ethics.

Introduction to public relations: provides students with a broad overview of the socio-political institutions that comprise the public sphere. All aspects of public relations are introduced including media relations, corporate relations, community relations and government relations.

The unit introduces students to the field of journalism, the concept of news, the role of the journalist and the professional skills of news gathering and news writing. The unit also considers the legal and ethical obstacles and obligations faced by journalists.

This unit gives students a thorough understanding of the legal framework in which the communication industries operate and the ethical context of decision-making in the media professions. It covers the basics of contempt and defamation law; copyright; advertising; promotions and public relations; the legal framework for electronic communication using the internet and email; issues in the regulation and control of print, broadcast and electronic media and the professional codes of ethics that apply in all fields of communication practice.

This unit maps contemporary communications media industries, institutions, government regulatory agencies and policy contexts. Through case studies of existing and emerging communications media industry forms and practices, (including cinema, radio, television, the internet and mobile telephony) the unit critically examines the wider communication environment, and its processes of production, distribution and consumption. The unit analyses transformations in contemporary communications, including key trends: digitalisation and new media technologies; industry, product and service, and regulatory convergence; deregulation/marketization, transforming industry structures and global patterns in media ownership.

This unit explores visual thinking in communications and design contexts, including the persuasive and expressive uses of visual design and media images. It draws upon design theory and media analysis to explore visualisation and to build a multimodal view of mediated communications in the light of new converged visual forms of digital media. The unit explores the move for communications from critique to design, from critical scrutiny of media texts to the design tasks of setting future aims and uncovering the means and resources for achieving them. The unit will foster an applied understanding of how multiple representational forms can be combined and remade to generate new forms of meaning.

The study of audiences is the study of people in interaction with media technologies. The term 'audience research' came into vogue at the dawn of the era of broadcasting, when it was used to refer to research designed to reveal the 'invisible' audience clustered by the domestic radio set. This unit tells the ongoing story of our developing understanding of audiences, the research strategies and methods used to reveal their 'hidden' activities, and the part they play in a continuously evolving democratic process. The unit documents the shift from broadcast to interactive media and the new approaches to research that are designed to address audience interactivity in increasingly complex media and urban environments.

For most of the twentieth century it was accepted that the Arts and associated creative practices should be publicly funded while the entertainment and information industries would be commercially funded through sponsorships, bequests or advertising. Since the mid 1970s, however, the assumption that the Arts pursue 'quality' while the commercial media are pitched at the lowest common denominator has been strongly challenged. This unit charts the cultural practices that characterised this division and the impact on them of Creative Industries policies that seek to minimise public investment in the Arts while promoting the benefits of a digital media based knowledge economy. The unit maps the terrain of the creative industries as they adjust to expectations that they maximise collective (as opposed to individual) creative potential though interactivity, networking, customisation and the establishment of collaborative enterprises.

This unit is intended to provide students with an opportunity to reflectively consider a conceptual position for their work, and to articulate this in a professional and contemporary context. Students reflect backwards through a mini exegesis that locates their work in theory and contemporary practice, and reflect forwards through a Exegesis for their future professional conduct.

This unit introduces communication and design students to working professionally and creatively with a 'client' or agency. Various processes and methods of working are explored through workshops, discussions, and project work. Students are introduced to the 'brief' as a tool in project development. Students work with guest clients and professionals, and explore a variety of approaches to developing project outcomes.

Students will develop supervised self-directed project work. Students typically develop their own brief/project from proposal to production over two semesters. Students will work in teams and link up with an external mentor. These teams are intended to provide a supportive peer environment for each student.

This unit introduces communication and design students to working professionally and creatively with a 'client' or agency. Various processes and methods of working are explored through workshops, discussions, and project work. Students are introduced to the 'brief' as a tool in project development. Students work with guest clients and professionals, and explore a variety of approaches to developing project outcomes.

Students will develop supervised self-directed project work. Students typically develop their own brief/project from proposal to production over two semesters. Students will work in teams and link up with an external mentor. These teams are intended to provide a supportive peer environment for each student.

Research in communication arts utilises a range of investigative procedures appropriate to the theory and practice of each creative discipline. This unit will introduce fundamental research languages, methods and outcomes relevant to the communication arts disciplines, and encourage students to develop approaches best suited to their theory and practice. Students will write and defend a research proposal and paper for a research program; the unit will enable students to apply a rigorous research framework to their work. Students will engage with a range of significant and critical texts which address broad implications of practices and theories in creative disciplines.

This unit provides training in practical applications of research in the communication arts. Students delineate project-based research topics in their fields. Students may produce research papers, or focus on projects involving creative practical works with accompanying documentation. Students will work in class and with their supervisor, to propose and create an artistic presentation with comprehensive documentation (including theoretical underpinnings), or propose and submit a research paper. These will include literature surveys or works reviews that demonstrate the students' knowledge of their areas of specialisation. Participation in Research Seminars will give students an opportunity to present work for feedback and critique.

These are major projects undertaken by fourth-year Honours students in the School of Communication Arts. They are substantial projects of individual research, in theoretical and/or practical areas, with topics decided in consultation with Supervisors and the Honours Course Advisor. The major projects provide opportunities for students to undertake research projects under academic supervision. Students develop detailed and sophisticated understandings, knowledge of research skills, writing practices, and analysis through production of original work. Major research projects in Communication Arts take two forms: 1) an academic research paper (thesis), 2) a substantial body of creative practical work with accompanying exegesis and documentation.