Course Description

This course is an introduction to the concept of "performing arts" broadly construed to include not only performance for theater, film, television, dance, and musical performance, but also performance as a practice of self-presentation, social rituals and interactions, in bodily and speech acts; and in linguistic, visual, and other modes of communication.

 

The concept of the course is mainly guided by Richard Schechner, one of the founders of the field of performance studies. His rich and rewarding guide to performance, Performance Studies: An Introduction, provides a provocative guide to questions that arise when 47 performance is approached in a global perspective, students will be able to identify linkages of broad ideas to specific contexts, particular thinkers, and precise examples from performance traditions.

 

By putting students in the interactive dialogue with the most important events, people, theories, questions of the dynamic and emerging field of performance, the course aims to encourage students to consider the social significance of performance, and how it structures our perceptions and social lives. Weekly lectures provide an interdisciplinary overview of particular issues and methodological questions to logically explore the territories of performing arts, embedded with clips and images of many different kinds of performances. Besides Schechner, students will also study foundational texts by major figures in the field, analyze the works of them in the form of presentation/performance to illustrate what they learn, and expand the boundaries of understanding performance.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. Each lecture will make specific critical demands on the student, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding. As a result, the journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

 

Guided group discussions as well as a practical project will involve students in participatory activities when they start at the programme, enable them to express themselves and apply the methodologies they study, and eventually let students go beyond their opinions by critically analyzing the esoteric issues in the field. Students are thus expected to figure out how to "do" performance studies on their own.

Fundamentals of acting are rooted in Konstantin Stanislavski. This course will introduce the key elements based on the "Stanislavski System" in order to provide basic knowledge and a beginning understanding of the components of acting. The course is being created for an exploration of students' acting instrument and its use. In this sense, it is also a practical course focusing on individual development. Thus, students will constantly be up on feet acting in exercises and watching classmates and will come to understand acting being both analytical and expressive process.

 

Most lectures will include class discussions, exercises, performances, and in-class critiques of performances. In order to register any improvement, students are expected to work consistently, in class and out of class.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. Each lecture will make specific critical demands on the student, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the lectures and readings. As a result, the journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

 

The course creates opportunities to systematically demonstrate acquisition of acting competencies by applying the theoretical concepts and skills in the process. Students will present one monologue in this course. Rehearsal and performance of the monologue with an intensive inner emotional life concentrating on subtext and actor vulnerability is expected. The monologue is chosen by individual students who can choose text from their cultural origin while the performance should be translated in English when necessary. Introduction of the text and the context of the piece should be presented by the student before the monologue. Students will also present one open scene with other students later in the course. Rehearsal and performance of some scene selected with the concentration on the analysis of text and process of characterization. As a result of these activities, students will develop an individual process and the ability to listen, receive, process and respond to instructors and other students.

 

Students will be equipped with craft fundamentals in preparation for scene studies by finishing typed analyses, with a score of physical action, objectives, obstacles, beat work, intentions and subtext for the assignments by the instructor..

This course is designed to give students an overview of the voice and speech issues and some training on fundamental skills required for the development of an actor/actress. Students will engage in exercises and explorations to develop their vocal production by releasing tension, connecting to the breath, and opening their natural resonance. With continued release work on the body, coupled with a larger array of vocal skills and increased imaginative capacity, students will have access to their expansive selves which can serve the characters in different plays. In addition, students will also learn about vocal health, the anatomy related to voice and speech and phonetics, and a variety of methodologies and extended vocal techniques, which can be applied to resonance, range, and vocal extremes.

 

Students will be instructed to the way of working on their vocal skills into a dynamic use of language in vocal production. They will increase their proficiency in sight reading and the imaginative use of language and text for the building of a foundation for the acting career. This course will also focus on applying voice into classical texts. Students will develop increased strength, flexibility and range through their exercises and work in accents, classical poetic text, heightened text, singing, and play, with the implied goal of empowering students to trust their voice, follow their imagination, and bring life to language.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. Each lecture will make specific critical demands on the student, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the lectures, readings, and exercises. As a result, the journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

 

The progression of in-class exercises/experiences, with two presentations on working with different texts, is designed to further liberate students' natural voice and thereby develop a better vocal technique that finally serves the freedom of students' expression. In this part, students should reflect on and present a voice performance that is a tradition in their cultural origin and see if they are under the influences. And the course will culminate in a play on stage, which is expected to be the outcome of a smooth transition into performance by consolidating, defined and expanding the vocal skills and knowledge accumulated in the course.

The goal of this course is to bring awareness and responsiveness to the body as an essential part of the actor's training through, mainly, Anne Bogart's Viewpoints method of physical training. This awareness begins to create students who will be easeful and empowered in their body and can recognize and make choices about the information their body brings on stage and screen. Students' training would be continued by focusing on the ability to make physically specific choices in order to convey character through an introduction to the basic principles of Laban Movement Analysis and further work in the Viewpoints Method of actor training. Students will work with scripted material and apply the physical training to character and scene work and staging. Theories of acting and body movement discussed in non-Western contexts will also be reviewed and discussed.

 

Students will undertake warm-up that draws from Yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais and breath, body and voice work that are widely adapted in different cultures. Throughout the semester, they will experience the principles of ensemble building and rigorous actor training through the Viewpoints Method. Following this foundation, the training and creative exercises by other significant movement artists and from other cultures will be examined as well. Students' engagement includes the composition of solo, duo and group movement pieces, which will allow them to uncover bodily expressions and to develop more techniques in free styles and disciplines.

 

To begin with, students are expected to develop general body awareness, release unnecessary tension, and create strength and mobility from the movement training in the course. With various exercises on stage and movement improvisation, students will be receptive to the different surrounding environments and immediate moments, to listen with the whole body, make a spontaneous offer with confidence, reconnect to the imagination and to identify emotional states.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. Each lecture will make specific and progressive critical demands, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the lectures, readings, and exercises. As a result, the journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection, development changes and self/peer appraisal.

The course is designed to teach the essentials of both playmaking and filmmaking from the perspective of the director, covering all phases of preproduction and production. It aims to guide the students to professional standards of expression and control and to go to the heart of what makes a director for play and screenplay.

 

The first 1/3 of the semester will be an introduction to the collaborative art form and fundamentals of directing for the theatre. The lectures will provide working techniques needed for the play script analysis, the directing scenes, and communication with actors and designers. The intent of the teaching on play directing is not only to outline basic principles but also stimulate the students to understand and appreciate the art of directing onstage.

 

The left 2/3 of the semester will be instructions focusing on the basic building blocks of narrative filmmaking. The objective is to enable students to make informed decisions for communicating the themes, moods, styles, and story arcs that they envisioned for films. Through lectures, readings, and out-of-class shooting exercises, students will make the steps to understand the practical and conceptual notions of visual storytelling. They will then explore key aspects of visual expression through the use of composition, shot progression, POV, texture and color, rhythm, sound design, and editing. Students will complete a short film using a video camera, and the work will be screened and critiqued by the instructor and peers in the last class of the semester. The goal of this creative process is to let students become acquainted with the role of visual language in the process of acting for a film.

This course continues the students' training in voice, speech and text from the work begun in Voice & Speech I. With continued exercises on the body, coupled with a larger array of vocal skills and increased imaginative capacity, students will have access to their expansive selves to serve the characters in plays. Students will also learn a variety of methodologies and extended vocal techniques, which can be applied to resonance, range, and vocal extremes.

 

This course will focus rigorously on applying voice into representative performance texts. Students will develop increased strength, flexibility and range through their exercises and work in accents, classical poetic text, heightened text, singing, and play, with the implied goal of empowering students to trust and apply their voice, follow their imagination, and bring life to language.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. The progressive learning will create specific critical demands on learning, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the lectures, readings, and exercises. The journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, enhancement of personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

 

The progression of in-class exercises/experiences, with two presentations on working with texts, a speech and a poet collage, is designed to further liberate students' natural voice and develop a better vocal technique that finally serves the freedom of students' expression. And the course will culminate in a play on stage, which is expected to be the outcome of a smooth transition into performance by consolidating, defining and expanding the vocal skills and knowledge accumulated in this advanced course.

This course enhances students' training in Movement I by focusing on students' ability to make specific physical construction to convey characters in acting. It continues the study of Laban Movement Analysis and further work out the Viewpoints Method of actor training. Teachings on global practices are involved. For example, students will apply the Lecoq training to Chinese traditional musical theatres and reflect on the attempt.

 

Like the preparation of body basics in Movement I, students will draw techniques and exercises from Yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais and other practices on breath, body and voice. Students' engagement includes the composition of solo, duo and group movement pieces, which will allow the student to uncover all that is emotional in body and develop more techniques to free them from physical limitations. Students will work with scripted materials and apply the physical training started in Movement I to character, scene work and staging.

 

With various exercises on movement improvisation, students will be receptive to different surrounding environments and immediate moments, they shall listen with the whole body and make spontaneous offers with confidence, and be connected to imagination and are able to identify emotional states.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. They are expected to form judgments and enhance their understanding of acting texts and exercises. The journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

This course enhances students' training in Movement I by focusing on students' ability to make specific physical construction to convey characters in acting. It continues the study of Laban Movement Analysis and further work out the Viewpoints Method of actor training. Teachings on global practices are involved. For example, students will apply the Lecoq training to Chinese traditional musical theatres and reflect on the attempt.

 

Like the preparation of body basics in Movement I, students will draw techniques and exercises from Yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais and other practices on breath, body and voice. Students' engagement includes the composition of solo, duo and group movement pieces, which will allow the student to uncover all that is emotional in body and develop more techniques to free them from physical limitations. Students will work with scripted materials and apply the physical training started in Movement I to character, scene work and staging.

 

With various exercises on movement improvisation, students will be receptive to different surrounding environments and immediate moments, they shall listen with the whole body and make spontaneous offers with confidence, and be connected to imagination and are able to identify emotional states.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. They are expected to form judgments and enhance their understanding of acting texts and exercises. The journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal.

The course is designed to teach the technical and theoretical skills of script analysis for both play and screenplay. It offers general guidelines for reading and thinking about plays and screenplays so that the basic components of the characters and the relationship among them can be understood.

 

The first half of the semester will focus on two selected plays by formalist approach. Students will learn how to search for playable dramatic values that reveal a central unifying pattern, which informs or shapes a play from the inside and coordinates all of its parts. With script analysis in practice, students will find the approach feasible in analyzing its structure and key twists, and the themes and story developments and how the roles should be acted for the story telling.

 

The second half of the course will focus on adaptation into a screenplay. Students will practice reading the screenplay through the eyes of the screenwriter, the director, the actors, the crew players, and the scholars/critics. The screenplay will be suggested as a narrative text, with script analysis in practice, students will explore its creative and dramatic underpinnings, from which directors and actors should develop and exercise creative grasps for shot design and performance.

 

The selected play and screened play should be from two different cultural domains and eras.

This course will introduce and analyze the theories, performances and productions of the impressive line-up of American, British, and European theatre practitioners - Stella Adler, Eugenio Barba, Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, Joseph Chaikin, Michael Chekhov, Jacques Copeau, Jerzy Grotowski, Joan Littlewood, Sanford Meisner, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Wlodzimierz Staniewski, Konstantin Stanislavski, and Lee Strasberg. It aims to provide students a theoretical and historical map of the performance practices of these renowned directors and practitioners of acting on stage, and thus to form a seminal guide for students who want to investigate acting processes for stage with a diversity of approaches.

 

This course is lecture and theory-oriented, offers students a comprehensive assessment, from basic principles of performance to exploration through practices, and finally to practice in stage production. Lectures will focus on practitioners whose work is widely recognized with acting analysis and/or screening of audio-visual resources.

 

Students will do a theory presentation on a topic introduced in class. They will report their readings and critical analysis with relevant materials and lead the discussion in class. For the Acting project, students will create or pick a written scene to act on stage, illustrate one of the theories they learned in class, make an in-depth study led practice to systematically reflect on the subject and produce a stage performance. After performance discussion will also be assessed.

With the concepts and skills learned from the course "Fundamentals of Acting," this course, which is one-third theory, two-thirds practice, is to prepare students for the particular demands and challenges of acting on screen and with technology. First, it will focus on the exposure to and hands-on experience in the technical aspects of working process in capturing actors on- camera performance. Course components include teaching the principles of acting in front of the camera, a guide to the process and techniques of shooting a film or television scene/show, performance adaptation for the camera, monologue and scene rehearsal and production, and creation of an acting reel demo scene. With the conduction of this variety of works in class, students will define and identify on-camera acting techniques and skills and expand their range of emotional, intellectual, physical, and vocal expressiveness for the on-camera performance. On the technical front, with the teaching on working with the camera, the student will also participate in various production crew positions in support of the on-camera exercises and scenes done in the class, with exposure to camera operating, blocking and other positions, as well as the terminology, vocabulary and etiquette required in studio production. Students will also develop a basic understanding of the on-camera production process.

 

With the continuing growth and development of technology, e.g., 3D scanning and motion capture, new technologies alter so fundamentally the relationship between the actor and the character/performance. A provocative exploration of technology has become a global force for connection and disconnection. The course explores: what are the specific conditions that technologies impose on the actor? In what ways might performance pedagogy respond to such developments? This course will also attempt to address these questions and provide the basis for a systematic approach to twenty-first-century screen actor training working with technologies. By introducing basic knowledge on the emerging technologies adopted in screen performances and the new possibilities and challenges they are posing for actors, the course will let students understand that technological transformations offer not only new obstacles but new opportunities for expression. It will stretch into a systematic approach to performance training including theories and principles of acting with technologies. Notable performances will be screened during lectures. The course treasures opportunities to systematically demonstrate acquisition of acting competencies by applying the concepts and skills in the process.

The body remains one of the most significant sites for the enactment of social power relations and artistic politics. It is hence a vital site for art production, transformation, and critique. Because of the theoretical discussion in psychoanalysis, phenomenology and cognitive science, we have opened up new and old interest in the body in all its concreteness and symbolic values, for example, the studies of performance art and media art in particular.

 

By acknowledging the multiplicity to the body and embodiment in performance studies, this course begins with the seemingly simple question, "What is a Body?" and introduces reflections on human bodies and their situated cultures as the base of Humanities. It starts from the Chinese and the Western traditional discourses of the body and ends in the examination of the development of these discourses related to contemporary society and cultures. It enhances the understanding of the social significance of the body by examining why human body is essential for social life and interaction. Important and representative body theories will be studied and analyzed. Students are directed to review critically these discourses and relate them to everyday lives.

 

This course considers the body in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural manners, so as to enhance understanding of human bodies in relation to their cultural contexts. It also reflects on body as media represented in particular racial, gendered and sexualized practices that would affect acting performance and its perception. In the light of body theories, the course will work closely with the cases drawn from various traditions and their performing arts.

 

By the end of the course, students will be able to examine taken-for-granted aspects of the human body and critically reflect on the ways these conceptions reveal their social, cultural and political contexts. Students appreciation of body performance and their practices in acting will also be loaded with critical awareness.

This course offers students possibilities for revisiting and further exploration on, via textual analysis and scene work, fundamental craft of acting that were taught and experienced in the former years of their training. Through a variety of exercises, improvisations, rehearsals, and scene work, students are expected to get a deep understanding of acting with objectives and overcome obstacles. It is also a practical course in experiencing different dramatic situations. Students are expected to nurture capacity to change, be in empathy, and partake positively in conflicts, empowering themselves to enter into unfamiliar situations.

 

This course encourages students to break down physical and internal inhibitions to build effective sources for the creation of truthful characters. Students will meet the instructor for one-on-one and group consultation for advices related to their acting skills. All these experiences shall be recorded in the students' journal as a process of self learning and critical reflection.

This course provides students field work and professional experience in theatre, film, television and entertainment organizations. Each student's internship is a variable-time assignment in the profession. They should fulfill at least 180 hours of internship work.

This course will be in the format of one to one tutorial. It will focus on students' attention to their own acting skills and their application in stage/film/television/screen interviews/self- taping/interviews/audition/casting sessions, in particular the skills in and approach to presenting themselves professionally for opportunities, roles and parts. The workshops will review their performance in voice, speech and movement, with special emphasis on how to apply their work to audition, how to prepare and successfully record screen test for a self- taping session.

 

This course focuses rigorously on how to apply a proactive and creative approach to a script, enabling one to improve one’s skills in voice and body acting, and apply critical thinking to a text to deliver a persuasive performance within the tight confines of a table script read, casting suite, or the self- taping onto a mobile phone or device.

 

This course addresses how to translate the actor's initial and instinctive response as an artist into a convincing character that the students can then present to the camera. Students will learn to receive criticism and make improvement, develop their ability to make strong brave choices when they perform on stage or in front of the lens. Through exercises for varied texts, they will develop a profound understanding of their casting potentials.

 

This course will focus firstly on the actors’ understanding of their own physical type, vocal range, class, accent, social type/range and its impact on others. These are examined alongside an intensive exploration/understanding of one’s own individual quality. Students will take part in mock interviews with directors of film, television and theater. The feedback should enable them to transform and improve. The student will review self-taping outcomes and go through workshops for enhancement, which will examine and explore methods and approaches to bring the character to life in creative ways.

 

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. They are expected to develop self-awareness and conduct self-critique. As a result, the journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal. While the course is basically composed of one to one sessions or individual tutorials, there shall be group sessions for sharing and exchanges.

This course is to understand and prepare students for the casting process for acting for global stage, film, television and other media. In addition to the knowledge of the casting process for an actor/actress, a producer or director, the course will inform factors involved in casting decision. In sum, students will learn to prepare for professional casting and audition.

 

By embedding exercises into lectures, the course will offer students methods and advices for professional casting, together with self-understanding of one’s acting strengths and role possibilities, and the ways to do audition and interview. The course will also invite industry professionals sharing their experiences, opinions, and giving advices to students one on one.

 

Simulated exercises and auditions for students to experience the casting process are arranged, from stage to film and to other media.

The course offers several approaches which can contribute to the understanding that actors must master the art of dance in a particular context when they perform movement in the drama. The aim is that the whole active and thinking body and mind are fully engaged with the task of making dance an internal and vital part of performing.

 

The course will select ideas and dance forms from a selection of traditions, eras and cultures. Students will learn how to adapt their bodies to display different styles. Specific traditional dances will be practiced to demonstrate variations among different societies. Certain dancing techniques are identified with these historical and cultural circumstances. The various approaches taught in this course will train students how to dance in dramatic ways, and inspire students to move confidently.

 

The course will train students to analyze movements and their performances. It is believed that sharing the traditional sensations with others can be a new collaborative experience.

 

The course will look at dance from historical and developmental perspectives in different cultural contexts. Dance films are selected and screened as references. Students will do dance practice accordingly and when it comes to Contemporary dance, they are encouraged to respond creatively with a greater degree of confidence in self-expression, with also the critical reflection on dance, movement and the social environments.

This Special Topic in Screen Performance is structured around the tropes of aesthetics in comedic performance. Students will learn two classic physical forms - Commedia dell'Arte and Clowns. They will be able to explore concurrent threads of performance, identity, and language in the illustrations of historical and contemporary comedic performances. Students will also attend to the cultural trends that have shaped the way humor is expressed through screen acting. Class screenings and readings are organized by the type of comedic strategy format.

 

Projects will include self-directed and collaborative works, exercises, video-recordings, and texts. The aims are to give the students basic tools to tackle comedy acting and appreciation and to let students know what's funny and why.

 

Students should be able to develop their abilities to form judgments of and understand comedic acting through the lectures, readings, screenings and acting practices. Assignments will enable articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and enhancement, and self/peer appraisal.

The Special Topic in Stage Acting is to (1) introduce Japanese theater director Tadashi Suzuki, (2) disucss Suzuki's performance practice and philosophy on theatre, and (3) examine and apply the Suzuki Method into practice.

 

As the major figure of the post-modern theater revolution in Japan after World War II, Suzuki has created a unique, multi-faceted method for training actors on stage that has been acclaimed by theater directors worldwide and has been adopted by training programs and theater companies across the world, including the Juilliard School in New York and the Moscow Art Theatre.

 

Following Suzuki's premise that "culture is the body", students in this course will be able to examine their own physical presence on stage through a series of exercises developed by Suzuki and members of his acting company, which includes breathing techniques for control and strength, a 'total-body voice' through the engagement of language on deep-breath, and an awakening of his/her consciousness as a professional actor/actress.

 

Introduction to the philosophy behind the Suzuki Method enables students to understand Suzuki method and the Japanese cultural context in which these exercises have been developed.

 

Students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the acting method through lectures, screenings, and exercises. The learning journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, personal reflection and self/peer appraisal and supervisor's advice.

This course surveys and explores the forms, traditions, expressive styles and aesthetics of theatre from its origins to post-colonialism and contemporary globalized international theatre markets. This is to provide a solid introduction to several aspects of the world theatre: theatre histories, literatures, and theatre theories. Students will study an array of theatre practices, including Athens in the Fifth Century BCE, Roman theatre, early Modern European theatre, Asian theatre, contemporary American theatre, African and South American theatre, etc. Theatre architecture, technology, design concepts, acting styles and significant dramatic works of various theatre traditions of Western and non-Western cultures will be explored.

 

Students will read and analyze classical, modern and contemporary representative plays from different traditions and approaches from cultural, historical and a practitioner’s perspectives. Questions of indigenousness and cultural exportation are to be discussed. As a result, students will learn to situate dramatic forms and theatrical practices within historical contexts, recognize and analyze the rhetorics of periphery versus center, Occident versus Orient, and cultural hegemony versus multiculturalism.

The course provides students with an opportunity to explore, in depth, the interpretation and representation of some classical works in acting from different cultures.

 

It will also analyze and compare the various ways of turning the texts into performances. Students will learn and compare how cultures or social settings would shape a performance after surveying a rich variety of plays, films, videos and other media adaptations of the texts, from the perspectives of acting and directing.

 

Class discussion and assignments will enable students to practice the approach of comparative studies and case studies and understand the cultural and social influences involved.

Digital technology has fundamentally changed the way art is made. Over the last fifty years, media arts, which includes screen-based projects presented via film, television, radio, audio, video, the Internet, interactive and mobile technologies, video games, trans-media storytelling, and satellite as well as media-related printed books, catalogues, and journals, has become a significant part of our networked information society.

 

Media arts are rife with references to performance. This course, which is half theory, half practice, is to explore the understanding of media arts within the wider context of the "turn to performance" or the "corporeal turn" that has taken place in the humanities in recent decades. It will try to demonstrate the concept of "mediatized performance", first raised by Jean Baudrillard, which argues that some performances themselves are shaped to the demands of their circulation on film, television, radio, Internet, phone, as audio or video recordings, and in other forms based on the technologies of reproduction.

 

The course is composed of lectures and workshops/presentations. The lectures will offer students an overview of and exposure to visual and media arts through theoretical, aesthetic and practical frameworks. Students will be introduced to media concepts, techniques and theories in which they analyze the context and application of photography, video, audio, film and social media.

 

The practical components of the course will include workshops and presentations. Workshops are for students to develop a creative process with reflection on the conception of ideas learnt and with writing through production and post-production of media arts/projects. Presentations are for students to demonstrate understanding of the theories learnt.

Technology has already invaded the human body, and it appears that technology has completely transformed the way people perceive themselves. In today’s cinema, there is a broad range of representations of technology and its relationship with the human body. This course will explore the critical issues of body and technology surrounding films.

 

The first part of this course will examine how technological transformations offer new options and let the digital become an extension of the human body in films. The course will consider the role of the body in a variety of films from the early 1930s to the present, to see technological products become parts of the human body at both the physical and mental level.

 

The second part of the course will investigate how contemporary science fiction cinema redraws boundaries between human and non-human flesh, natural and artificial intelligence, living and non-living matter. The films in this category are more than technophobia or technophilia Hollywood-like gadgets, but full of symbols and allegories and giving a more critical perspective on technology and body. The teaching and learning will attend to how certain films situate the characters in discourses of culture, race, gender, sex, and class via technology.

 

Finally, the course will address the specific conditions that technologies impose on performance. Students who are to be twenty-first-century global screen actors shall understand that technological transformations offer not only new obstacles but new opportunities for expression.

An Honours Project is proposed and designed by the student, with the approval of a supervising faculty member, in an area related to the student's selected final major electives. It should be an acting performance using various media or devices, at stage or on screen, produced in Hong Kong or oversea including students’ home countries and be in any languages (in this case, guest assessor and supervisor will be invited for cross assessment and supervision.) The Honours Project involves individual students in a creative pursuit and represents the peak of the student's creative achievements in the course. Students receive regular reviews of their progress from supervisors. The final project must be presented in production or written format and will be assessed by a panel of teaching staff.

 

The proposed project may be in the following categories: video production, animation production, advertisement script, media plan and research studies, etc. Student must submit a detailed proposal for the programme’s approval. The assessment criteria include communication and artistic quality, and the creative use of materials, or technological and digital media techniques. Media can provide an informal forum to discuss progress of the work.