MEDA222 - Studio Production

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

MEDA100 - Making Digital Movies or MEDA103 Introduction to Screen and Sound Production

Incompatible

MEDA204 - Media Production and the Community, MEDA206 - Radio Production, MEDA303 - Media Production and the Community

Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit introduces students to the principles and practices of screen and sound production in studio settings. Students will develop a production suitable for radio, TV or webcast that draws together pre-recorded and live elements. By examining contemporary production practices, students will develop understandings of the formats and creative possibilities associated with a variety studio production genre including podcasts, web series and television programs.

The unit speaks directly to the live streaming and broadcast media industries, and its aim is to build skills in studio production that are transferable and scalable to a variety of settings. ACU graduates may well find themselves working in a variety of commercial and not-for-profit sectors that require studio production.

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 - Contextualise and analyse a range of radio, TV and web series formats taking into account Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols (GA4, GA5, GA8)

LO2 - Develop scripts suitable for production in a radio, TV or web series (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9)

LO3 - Produce and post-produce a pre-recorded segment suitable for inclusion in a studio-based podcast, television radio series (GA4, GA5, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10)

LO4 - Produce and post produce a radio, TV or web series (GA4, GA5, 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 

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

Topics will include:

• Research and scriptwriting for agreed studio production genre
• Studio production techniques (e.g. multi-camera shooting, audio recording and editing when appropriate)
• Audio and/or video post-production techniques (e.g. multi-camera editing, when appropriate)
• Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Global First Nations’ voices, experiences, and approaches to content creation as well as intellectual and cultural property. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is realised via 3-hour workshops that are based upon authentic (Ashford-Rowe et.al. 2014, p207) production practices in the contemporary radio and/or television industry. The flexibility of the 3-hour workshop format means that where a lecture-style is appropriate, this can be accommodated, but so can practical demonstrations and exercises in the TV studio, radio studios and editing suites.

You will be asked to work with standardised equipment (e.g. radio consoles, vision switches, scheduling software, etc.) that is known within the industry, and should therefore be able to use the successful completion of this unit as evidence to a prospective employer of practical studio skills.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In this unit, students will be asked to demonstrate an engagement with studio production techniques at an intermediate level.

Assessment tasks will mimic, as closely as is practical, the linear production narrative commonly found in the radio and television industries. However, care is taken to scaffold the tasks with increasing degrees of complexity and difficulty, something not always found in a strict industry-based model of assessment. You will be invited to research and plan a major creative output, and develop pre-recorded elements before finalising any live studio-based components.

In order to pass this unit, you are required to achieve a final grade of 50% or better as an aggregate of all points from assessment tasks completed in this unit.

A range of assessment procedures will be used that combine to meet the learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit, consistent with the University assessment requirements.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Cultural Protocols

Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Cultural Protocols for Indigenous Reporting in the Media https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/tk/en/databases/creative_heritage/docs/abc_cultural_protocol.pdf

Australia Council, Protocols for Using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts, https://australiacouncil.gov.au/investment-and-development/protocols-and-resources/protocols-for-using-first-nations-cultural-and-intellectual-property-in-the-arts/

Terri Janke, Pathways and Protocols: A Filmmaker’s guide to Working With Indigenous People, Culture and Concepts, Screen Australia, https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/16e5ade3-bbca-4db2-a433-94bcd4c45434/Pathways-and-Protocols.pdf

REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS AND REFERENCES

Braverman, B 2014, Video Shooter: Mastering Storytelling Techniques, 3rd ed, Focal Press, Burlington.

Connelly, S 2017, Digital Radio Production, 3rd ed, Waveland Press, Long Grove.

Doyle, G, Paterson, R & Barr, K 2021, Television Production in Transition, Palgrave.

Grove, E 2014, Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking, 2th edn, Focal Press, Burlington.

Braverman, B 2014, Video Shooter: Mastering Storytelling Techniques, 3rd ed, Focal Press, Burlington.

Connelly, S 2017, Digital Radio Production, 3rd ed, Waveland Press, Long Grove.

Doyle, G, Paterson, R & Barr, K 2021, Television Production in Transition, Palgrave.

Grove, E 2014, Raindance Producers' Lab Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking, 2th edn, Focal Press, Burlington.

Hausman, C, Messere, F, Benoit, P & O’Donnell, L 2016, Modern Radio Production: Production, Programming, and Performance, 10th edn., Cengage Learning, Boston.

Owens, J 2016, Television Production, 16th edn., Focal Press, New York.

Millerson, G & Owens, J 2012, Video Production Handbook, 5th edn, Focal Press, London.

Musburger, R 2014, Single Camera Video Production, 6th edn, Focal Press, Burlington.

Wilcox, J 2014, Voiceovers: Techniques and Tactics for Success, 2nd edn, Skyhorse Publishing.

Zettl, H, 2015 Television Production Handbook, 12th edn, CENGAGE, Stamford.