Building quality production outcomes in undergraduate screen media group production courses: a case study

Undergraduate university productions in screen media have consistently proved problematic in achieving quality production outcomes, particularly in group production courses. Historically most universities and film schools have long debated the question of what quality to expect from student productions and how to best assess their work at this level. This paper provides a case study account of the authors’ efforts to improve the standard of third year student productions in the Bachelor of Creative Arts (BCA) at the University of Southern Queensland. During the creation of two films Emerge (Hetherington, et al., 2016) and City Fragments Toowoomba (Hetherington, et al., 2016) the authors focused on production quality, the student experience of industry practice, and working collaboratively. These efforts were underpinned by the belief that time management needed to reflect industry practice, rather than academic constraints and an un-interrogated valuing of collaboration. As well as providing creative skill development, this research found that improving time management strategies and working collaboratively provides for a more realistic experiential learning atmosphere.