Current students

Course search

Bachelor of Contemporary Arts - Media Arts

Course summary for current students

Award granted Bachelor of Contemporary Arts
Duration3 years full-time or part-time equivalent
CRICOS course code
Deakin course codeA358
Offered to continuing students only

Course sub-headings

Course overview

The Bachelor of Contemporary Arts builds on the strengths of specialist disciplines, but allows collaboration between art forms. Students explore the arts in theory, in practice and in collaboration with others. A range of expertise from Australia's leading practitioners is used in dance, drama, media arts and visual arts


The Bachelor of Contemporary Arts will give students a range of skills in one discipline (be it dance, drama, media or visual arts), systematic exposure to collaborative possibilities between various art forms, the experience of bringing art forms together in major projects, training in professional arts practice and a grounding in the academic knowledge necessary to understand the arts and to create new forms of art.

Back to top


Structuring the course
In general, students at level 1 select two applied disciplines along with units in contemporary arts theory and electives from a variety of fields. At level 2 students focus on their specialist discipline or disciplines and continue their studies in contemporary arts theory. At level 3 students complete their disciplinary major and choose from a number of units which involve collaboration across art forms, completing a major project in their final trimester. Students normally undertake the unit in Professional Arts Practice in their final year.

Transition to University study
The faculty offers two units ASC160 Introduction to University Study and ALW117 Writing for Professional Practice which are specifically designed to ease the transition into university study. New students are encouraged to enrol in one or both of these units in their first year.

Prerequisites
Because a number of disciplinary studies are cumulative in knowledge, technical competencies and/or study and research skills there are prerequisites which direct students to take some units before others. Students must seek advice from a course adviser before enrolling in units for which they do not have prerequisite or recommended units.

Assessment
Assessment within the award of Bachelor of Contemporary Arts varies from written assignments and/or examination to practical and technical exercises and performance. In some units assessment may also include class participation, online exercises, workshop exercises and tests.

Cross-institutional arrangements
Continuing Deakin students may apply to study units offered by another Australian tertiary institution and have them credited to their Deakin University degree. Further information is available from Arts Student Support.

Back to top

Fees and charges

Unit fees can be viewed within individual unit descriptions. You can search for a unit using the Unit Search.

 

Please be aware:

  • Fees are calculated on a per unit basis
  • Fees charged will depend on the individual units chosen
  • Fees per unit/credit point may increase annually due to rises in the cost of course delivery and services

Back to top

Course rules

To qualify for the Bachelor of Contemporary Arts a student must complete 24 credit points including:

  • compulsory core unit Freelancing in the Arts Practice ACC301
  • at least 2 credit points of ACT-coded Contemporary Arts Theory units including compulsory core unit ACT102 Criticism, Narrative and Contexts
  • 3 credit point of ACC-coded Collaborative Arts Practicum at level 3, including one unit of 1 credit point value and compulsory core unit ACC316 of 2 credit point value
  • no more than 8 credit points taken outside the course-grouped units for the BA (in effect this means that up to 8 credit points may be taken outside the recognised Faculty of Arts and Education major sequences)
  • no more than 10 credit points at level 1
  • a minimum of 6 credit points at level 3
  • a major sequence of 8 credit points in Dance (A356), Drama (A357), Media Arts (A358), Visual Arts (A359)

Back to top

Major sequences

Animation and Digital Culture
Film and Video
Photography

Back to top

Course structure

Contemporary Arts Theory

Core unit

Trimester 2

ACT102 Criticism, Narrative and Contexts   *


Select 1 credit point from:

Trimester 1
ACT203/ACT303 Art and the Politics of Censorship   **


Trimester 2
ACT104 Art and Technology (B, S)  



The elective below may be taken in addition to but not instead of the compulsory core units.
ALW227 Script Writing: Focus On Fiction (B, G)  


Professional Arts Practice

Core unit

Trimester 1
ACC301 Freelancing in the Arts   **


Collaborative Arts Practicum

Compulsory core unit


ACC316 Collaborative Major Creative Project (B, S)  (2 credit points)


Select 1 credit point from:

ACC307 Developing a Project: Ideas to Scripts (B)  

ACC308 New Worlds: Intersections of Art and Science (B)  

 

* ACT102 not offered 2013, re-offered 2014 subject to approval.
** ACT203/ACT303 and ACC301 are not offered 2014, reoffered 2015 subject to approval.

Back to top

Details of major sequences

Media Arts

Students enrolled in course A358 Bachelor of Contemporary Arts with a major sequence in Media Arts must choose at least one major sequence from the following
  • Animation and Digital Culture
  • Film and Video
  • Photography
Note: From 2005, Media Arts Stream A: The Contemporary Image, has been retitled as the major sequence in Photography. Similarly, Media Arts Stream B: Screen Studies, has been retitled as the major sequence, Film and Video.
Animation and Digital Culture is a new major sequence introduced in 2005 and is available only to students enrolled in A358 and A328 Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communication).

Animation and Digital Culture

The Animation and Digital Culture major sequence offers the opportunity to develop a moving image, graphic and animation practice within the expanding digital domain. Students will explore digital animation production and publication options that include web, CD and DVD publication possibilities, and develop the skills to work with and manage such technologies effectively. Students are encouraged to develop skills in all aspects and types of animation production and learn to write and think analytically about such creative work.

On completion of the Animation and Digital Culture major sequence students should have the following skills:

  • an ability to implement and manage all stages of production of a professional digital animation project.
  • an ability to develop a unique production path for a digital project for a variety of publication platforms.
  • an ability to think and write effectively about innovative moving image animation work and digital culture.
  • an ability to use advanced digital image production technologies.
  • an ability to work in collaborative and team settings on graphic moving image tasks.
  • an ability to work efficiently to deadlines in an industrial setting.

Level 1

Trimester 1

ACM132 Introduction to Animation (B)  

 

Trimester 2

ACM133 Animation Principles and Practices (B)  

 

Level 2

 

Trimester 1

ACM225 Effects, Graphics and Compositing (B)  


Trimester 2

ACM226 Internet Arts (B)  

ACM239 Digital Animation (B)  

 

Level 3

 

Trimester 1

ACM327 Advanced Animation (B)  

 

Trimester 2

ACM308 Delivering Moving Images (B)  


Trimester 1, trimester 2 or trimester 3
ALX321 Creative Industries Internship (B, G, W, X)  *


* ALX321 - Internship units are normally undertaken in third level (or equivalent) and are subject to completion of specified prerequisite units and special application requirements. Interested students should contact Arts Student Support on their campus for further information.

Film and Video

The Film and Video major sequence aims to develop students' creative and critical thinking, while providing them with a practical and theoretical grounding in the production and application of film, video and television. The sequence puts these mediums in the historical and social context of the institutions, technologies and artistic and personal forces from which they have emerged.

In level 1, students learn formal and theoretical concepts through analysis of case studies and a series of projects which demand individual input, team collaboration, as well as recording, filming, direction, and post-production techniques. Collaborative skills are extended in level 2 through investigation of team management, narrative, representation, editing, and audiences, as well as the relationship between the actor, director, producer and exhibitor. Students also undertake case studies in genre and the creative practices and aesthetic approaches of significant practitioners or movements. The final level provides opportunities for students to develop unique and individual creative practices through units including the Research in Production: Documentary, which explores the use of actuality in narrative as well as Independent Production Practice, that explores non-representational, contemplative and oppositional structures, together with strategies that rework or synthesis conventional forms.

Level 1

Trimester 2

ACM111 Sound, Light, Motion (B)  

ACM116 Screen Practices (B)  


Select 6 credit points, including at least 2 credit points at level 3 from the following:

Level 2

Trimester 1 or trimester 2

ACM213 Genre Form and Structure (B)  

ACM237 TV Studio Production (B)  

 

Trimester 2

ACM236 Mindscreen: Cinema, Psychology and Psychoanalysis (B)  


Level 3

Trimester 1 or trimester 2
ACM318 Independent Production Practice (B)  

 

Trimester 1, trimester 2 or trimester 3

ALX321 Creative Industries Internship (B, G, W, X)  *


* ALX321 - Internship units are normally undertaken in third level (or equivalent) and are subject to completion of specified prerequisite units and special application requirements. Interested students should contact Arts and Education Student Support and Enrolment Enquiries on their campus for further information

Photography

The Photography major sequence is based around creative, critical and professional practice. Students can choose to develop their artistic, academic or professional aspirations.

Level 1 introduces students to the basics of photographic techniques and practice and to the history of photography with respect to Australian and international artists. Using analog and digital technologies, students explore the uses of referent-based and non-referent bases images as social and cultural artefacts.

Level 2 introduces a range of professional analog and digital photographic formats, darkroom and studio environments as well as the application of photographic imagery in virtual and collaborative environments at a global level. Students also engage in the discourse that surrounds contemporary photographic practice.

Level 3 introduces students to a range of alternative analog and digital photographic formats and their application in creative practice. Students are strongly encouraged to experiment, research and develop their own conceptual and aesthetic sensibilities. The work undertaken at this level is applicable to exhibition, installation, multimedia, and collaborative productions and provides a strong basis for further postgraduate studies and professional practice.


Level 1

Trimester 1 or Trimester 2

ACM101 Still Images (B, S)  

ACM102 Pixel to Print: Digital Imaging 1 (B, S)  


Level 2

Trimester 1 or Trimester 2
ACM203 Photographic Practice (B, S)  

ACM204 Contemporary Photography (B)  

ACM207 Advanced Imaging (B)  


Trimester 1, Trimester 2 or Trimester 3

ACM202 Advanced Digital Imaging (B, S)  

 

Level 3

Select 2 credit points from the following:

Trimester 1

ACM328 Shifting Focus: Experimental Photography and Creative Practice (B)  

 

Trimester 1, Trimester 2 or Trimester 3

ALX321 Creative Industries Internship (B, G, W, X)  *

 

Trimester 2

ACM335 Studio and Professional Photography (B)  

 

Students who have completed ACM235 must complete ACM307. Please contact Arts and Education Student Support and Enrolments Enquiries.

* ALX321 - Internship units are normally undertaken in third level (or equivalent) and are subject to completion of specified prerequisite units and special application requirements. Interested students should contact Arts and Education Student Support and Enrolments Enquiries on their campus for further information.

 

Deakin University acknowledges the traditional land owners of present campus sites.

8th June 2007