MEDA102 - Multiplatform Storytelling

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Media trends are constantly developing. Media students need to be prepared to respond to these trends and have the skills to write for a range of media platforms. This unit will introduce students to a range of storytelling forms for digital media applications. Emphasis will be on the multiplatform nature of media production. Genres will include, short films, web-based drama series, transmedia, YouTube clips, feature film etc. concentrating on their form and relationship in story creation. The unit aims to equip students with the skills to write at an introductory level for a range of Media platforms

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Understand and recognize the storytelling forms across a range of digital platforms (GA4, GA8)

LO2 - Understand the nature of multiplatform storytelling (GA4, GA9, GA10)

LO3 - Demonstrate an ability to write a concept that tells a story across multiple platforms (GA4, GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10)

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Students will view and analyse a range of digital media storytelling platforms. They will investigate the meaning and function of multiplatform storytelling and apply this knowledge to produce conceptual designs for storytelling.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

MEDA102 is an introductory media writing unit in the ACU media sequence. We assume that you will be active consumers and producers of media products and platforms, but we do not assume prior knowledge of writing for multiplatforms. MEDA102 will introduce the students to the concepts of multiplatform storytelling and will provide them with the opportunity to create and write for such platforms. ACU media graduates have gone on to complete higher degree film and television studies, and many find employment within the corporate and not-for-profit sectors in a content creation or advisory capacity. With this in mind, MEDA102 prioritises skills  that can be applied in the media workplace.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In MEDA102, students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding of the concept of multiplatform storytelling by preparing assessment tasks appropriate to their year level. A range of assessment procedures will be used that combine to meet the learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit, consistent with University assessment requirements.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Alexander, B 2017, The New Digital Storytelling: creative narratives with new media, Praeger, California.

Bernardo, N 2011, The Producers Guide to Transmedia: How to Develop, Fund, Produce and Distribute Compelling Stories Across Multiple Platforms, beActive Books, London.

Freeman, M., & Gambarato, R.R. (2018). The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351054904

Hancox,D (2021) The Revolution in Transmedia Storytelling through Place: Pervasive, Ambient and Situated, Routledge, UK.Jenkins, H 2016, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, New York.

Pratten, R 2015, Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling: A Practical Guide for Beginners, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.