Course Title: Story and Place in Media

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Story and Place in Media

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

COMM2810

City Campus

Undergraduate

345H Media and Communication

Face-to-Face

Sem 2 2021,
Sem 2 2022,
Sem 2 2023

Course Coordinator: Dr Liam Ward

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 3742

Course Coordinator Email: liam.ward2@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Online


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study Successful completion of COMM2624 Media 1 or equivalent
OR
Assumed Knowledge  Alternatively you may be able to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge before you start this course. This course assumes that you understand basic advertising communication principles and the strategic and creative process involved in developing advertising campaigns. You should have the skills to develop a conceptual idea and creative executions from a client brief. Contact your course coordinator if you think you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning. Further information: Apply for Credit


Course Description

Story and Place in Media follows COMM2624 Media 1 in developing your familiarity with key aspects of professional media production. The course focuses on telling stories and producing media, with a particular emphasis on exploring issues of identity and place, taking the context of Indigenous Australia as a starting point towards how we imagine our shared futures.  You will develop your media production skills in areas such as pre-production, screenwriting, research, camera operation, sound recording, and post-production. You will also develop a richer understanding of the potential for notions of identity and meanings of place to shape and inflect the ways we tell stories through our media production practice.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes
In this course you will develop the following program learning outcomes:

  • Initiate, produce and evaluate media projects and be able to adapt your practice in a complex and changing world
  • Identify, evaluate and critically analyse cultural, historical and theoretical practices which contextualise



Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • articulate some ways in which questions of identity and place shape your approach to storytelling and your media practice [CLO1]
  • explore ideas creatively and collaboratively using professional media equipment, including video cameras, sound recorders, and editing equipment to produce short media artefacts [CLO2]
  • analyse and reflect on what story is, what story does and what story might be, through media practice [CLO3]


Overview of Learning Activities

Learning activities will involve:

  • lectures discussing key aspects of the theory and process of documentary media production, with reference to relevant case-studies, and introducing material related to questions of identity and place
  • workshops led by teaching staff involving discussion, analysis and creative production exercises linking aspects of documentary practice with the theme of identity and place
  • reading, research and reflection around documentary media production, using prescribed and available texts, critical viewing of relevant programs, discussion in class, individual journal/blog entries and interactive blog discussion.
In addition, production works-in-progress will be viewed and discussed and feedback provided in class throughout the semester.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems. A list of recommended learning resources will be provided by your lecturer, including books, journal articles and web resources. You will also be expected to seek further resources relevant to the focus of your own learning. The University Library has extensive resources for [discipline] students. The Library has produced a subject guide that includes quality online and print resources for your studies http://rmit.libguides.com/media-and-communication. The Library provides guides on academic referencing: http://www1.rmit.edu.au/library/referencing and subject specialist help via your Liaison Librarian.


Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program learning outcomes.

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks.

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or the Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

Assignment 1: Small video (20%) 

Consider notions of place as discussed in the first few weeks of semester. Make a personal place video portrait, articulating some ways in which questions of identity and place shape your approach to storytelling and your media practice.

This assignment addresses following course learning outcomes: CLO1, CLO2, CLO3.


Assignment 2: Proposal (40%) 

Individually, you are to prepare a detailed proposal for a story exploring notions of identity and place in terms of how we arrived here.

In groups, you will develop one of the selected proposals into a media production, delving deeper into the history and artefacts of that place.

This assignment addresses following course learning outcomes: CLO1, CLO2, CLO3.


Assignment 3:  Presentation (30%)

Present a piece of media, which may incorporate samples from the work produced in this class, and which reflects on the potential for notions of identity and meanings of place to shape and inflect the ways we tell stories in our media production practice.

This assignment addresses following course learning outcomes: CLO1, CLO2, CLO3.


Assignment 4: Reflective blog (10%)

This assignment addresses the following course learning outcomes: CLO1, CLO3.