Writing: Inside and Outside the Text

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

96 Hours

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and the Disability Liaison Unit: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject focuses on the writing of texts for performance and exhibition. This includes scripts for theatre, film or TV, libretti for opera and musical theatre, texts for performance art, film and TV treatments and short stories, as well as visual texts for exhibition and text based installation. A considerable part of the course will focus on dialogue writing via a process that utilises dramatic action.
The course also focuses on writing and editing short stories as the basis of film treatments, theatre synopses or as literary works. We will analyse a range of classic short stories. Students will be encouraged to cut to the chase, express their ideas with optimal economy, and find the specificity and clarity necessary to take the reader/viewer on a profound and engaging journey.
We will also examine the creation of visual or audio texts for exhibition. Visual and sound poetry has a long and profound history, and since the advent of digital technology has seen it’s influence spread far afield. The relationship between writing and its visual or audio presentation will be explored through transnational text-based art.

This subject provides students with excellent communication and writing skills within a range of genres that hold currency in contemporary arts practice and discourse. This experimental subject develops each student’s unique capacity for expression in text, building upon discipline specific skills that will place each student at the forefront of dynamic developments in contemporary art media and performance.

5000 words or equivalent written and practical project, developed in conjunction with supervisor with feedback throughout the semester (100%).

Subject Reader

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completing this subject students will have:

• the ability to communicate, cooperate and collaborate in a range of cultural contexts internationally;
• a deep awareness of and respect for cultural differences, protocols and aspirations;
• the ability to generate and promote intercultural dialogue through the arts;
• an ability to initiate research projects and develop highly innovative and experimental modes of representation and communication;
• a high level of understanding and appreciation of transnational practices across the art form;
• the capacity to interpret and translate into clear English a range of discipline-specific vocabularies and languages ;
• a capacity for innovative and original thinking marked by well-developed and flexible problem-solving abilities;
• the capacity to clearly communicate the results of research and scholarship by oral and written communication;
• a profound respect for truth and intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of research and scholarship;
• a capacity to cooperate and collaborate with people across all national, social and cultural divides.