Redesigning screen production pedagogy for hybrid learning models

ABSTRACT

The Bachelor of Digital Media at Central Queensland University has a policy of offering all units on-campus and online. The introduction of screen production to the degree introduces a unique opportunity to interrogate best practice for delivering production units in this hybrid context. Despite widespread interest in hybrid delivery models due to COVID-19 restrictions, there has been little research into the possibilities of online screen production curriculum beyond the pandemic. In this paper, we interrogate the challenges and opportunities of a hybrid online/on-campus delivery model, arguing that this research is urgently needed to address gaps in access to training and resources for regional and remote practitioners. We outline our contextualised, student-oriented approach to screen production pedagogy, which focuses on designing scalable, equipment agnostic curriculum that encourages a ‘total filmmaker’ approach; building community and collaboration through online tools; creating robust online unit resources; and providing opportunities for small-group face-to-face activities. Our pedagogical approach challenges the screen production industry’s structural barriers and hierarchies, building the capacity of communities to tell their own stories and enabling new voices to emerge.

KEYWORDS:

• Online learning
• screen production
• regional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew James Couzens

Andrew James Couzens teaches screen production in the Bachelor of Digital Media at Central Queensland University Brisbane campus. Andrew studied film production, specialising in screenwriting and sound design. He worked as a programming assistant at the Brisbane International Film Festival and coordinated the Queensland Emerging Screen Talent conference as part of the 2018 and 2019 Brisbane International Film Festival. He is the author of A Cultural History of the Bushranger Legend in Theatres and Cinemas, 1828–2017. In 2019, Andrew co-produced the satirical web series pilot F Off We’re Full, which was self-distributed on Facebook and YouTube. Andrew’s research interests include Australian cinema history, genre, and screen production pedagogy.

Jan Cattoni

Jan Cattoni teaches screen production in the Bachelor of Digital Media at Central Queensland University in Cairns. Jan has an arts health background and has taught and mentored screen production in many contexts including Pacific Island nations’ cultural agencies and remote Indigenous media organisations. Jan has enjoyed a career as an independent filmmaker in documentary, scripted content and animation and is currently a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery project ‘Future Stories: creating virtual worlds with young people in hospital’. Jan’s research interests include collaborative scripting, participative filmmaking, consent, and gender equity in the filmmaking industry.