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 Course Description

Medium of Instruction

English is the primary medium of instruction. Some courses may be taught in Chinese. Intermediate level or above in Chinese proficiency is suggested.

Core Courses

A.F.7410 Financial Management for Film, Television and New Media (3 units)

This course aims to provide students with the basic principles and theories of financial management and fund-raising with practical applications. Students will be able to analyse and evaluate different types of funding methods and budgeting as well as the earning potential of a media project. Students will be equipped with global vision of the future development of both domestic and global film markets.

A.F.7420 Promotion, Advertising and Distribution for Film, Television and New Media (3 units)

This course aims to explain, examine and apply a wide range of marketing, advertising, sales and distribution models and theories related to specific Hollywood case studies while also applying them to Asian markets. Students will arrive at an understanding of the importance of innovation in the contemporary media production industry as well as the challenges that marketers are now facing within new-media industries.

A.F.7430 Law, and Film, Television and New Media (3 units)

This course aims at providing students with knowledge on laws specific to the film/TV industry. Students will become acquainted with the essential principles of entertainment law on a global perspective and be able to apply the same to practical scenarios which they may encounter if they pursue their career in the film/TV industry whether in Hong Kong, China or anywhere.

A.F.7440 Script Analysis for the Producer (3 units)

This course aims to equip students with excellent script-analysis skills and to identify uniqueness, value and creativity. Students will identify important commercial elements for film distribution and marketing in relation to the script. In addition, the production feasibility for scripts will be analysed and artistic elements of scripts will also be discussed.

A.F.7510 Fundamental of Media Arts (3 units)

This course will introduce the meanings of media arts related to Film, TV, and New Media through the study of media history and archaeology from traditional film and video art to multimedia design, net art, digital art, computer animation, computer graphics, interactive installation, robotic art, biotechnology, and so forth. Different media arts and their applications of different media technologies and interface design will be studied to explore their relationship to transforming culture and society. The students will gain broader understanding and critical awareness of different concepts and developments of media arts and mediated interaction from early experiments by futurists and constructivists to most recent practices like interactive games and virtual reality experiments with wearable and portable media. Eventually the students will be able to identify creative ideas of design solutions related to Film, TV and New Media for different applications ranging from conceptual to virtual art computer graphics to digital animation, and performance to interactive installation.

Elective Courses

A.F.7450 Case Studies in Production and the Market (3 units)

This course will cover the fundamental principles for the duties of film management and human resources management. The basic principles behind positions of a crew, ethics and code of practice of film productions will be introduced. The aim is to provide students with a range of marketing and distribution knowledge in addition to giving industry insights into film production by examining and analysing specific case studies. Students will develop a deep understanding of technical and practical aspects of filmmaking, planning and budgeting while also being able to apply acquired theoretical and practical concepts to Asian film business; nurture critical analytical skills, spirit of leadership, communication and teamwork. The new challenges and opportunities that new marketers are facing and having within new media industries will also be discussed through a diverse range of case studies.

A.F.7460 Overview of New Media Contents and its Future: Internet Movie, Drama Series and Short Video (3 units)

This course aims to provide students with the basic principles and theories of intellectual property creation, distribution (Television, Film and Internet), merchandising, technology; and with a broad vision and mind-map concerning key aspects of media business and the global vision of the future development and trends of such issues and aspects.

A.F.7470 Seminar on Non-Mainstream Producing (3 units)

This course aims to provide students with basic principles and theories of film distribution, promotion and advertising which can be applied to non-mainstream film or media productions. A wide range of marketing and distribution techniques will also be examined during lectures by applying case studies to non-mainstream markets.

A.F.7480 Film, Television, New Media and Globalization (3 units)

The course explores the Hong Kong media and the media in Greater China, with emphasis on cinema, television and New Media, in its social-historical context from the 1930s to the present. Its impact on both Asian and global media and community will be thoroughly examined. Attention will be paid to the processes and patterns of the changes in Hong Kong and Mainland China media industries as a major shaping force of globalization.

A.F.7490 Multimedia Management (3 units)

The aim of this course is to provide students with an overview understanding of cross-media management in the film, streaming, and other form of new media industries, and helping to establish foundations for them as film professionals in the capacity as producers, distribution and acquisition.

Through class lectures, group assignments, and occasional guest sharing, students will grasp some of the necessary knowledge and procedures to create contents and drawing from real world scenarios, distribution/marketing strategies which often tended to be overlooked in a film school environment.

A.F.7520 Interactive Media Design (3 units)

This course aims to extend students’ visual literacy and application of creative ideas from medium to dynamic interactive media with the introduction of programming skills and the relationship between codes and visual elements. In order the harness the full potentials of the emerging dynamic media, a thorough understanding of the general programming principles and interactivity design is indispensable. However, this course is not going to train students as programmes but prepare them with sufficient knowledge to develop and exploit the dynamic media for their creative endeavours. Students will learn the underlying mechanisms of manipulating, creating and transforming visual elements using programming codes. Moreover, students will explore the domain of generative visuals and arts through the evolutional computing concepts of iterations, recursion, random function and L-system. After finishing this course, students will be able to develop dynamic and generative visual applications for various domains of creative and media productions.

A.F.7530 Principles and Applications of Computer Graphics (3 units)

This course is designed to introduce the fundamental principles of computer graphics and its applications in Film, TV and New Media. The course will approach the landscape of computer graphics from the aesthetic and technical perspectives. On one hand, aesthetic issues will encompass concept, composition, appreciation and historical context. On the other hand, technical topics will include raster and vector imaging, scanning, retouching, printing, animated graphics, and other related topics. The course is based on lectures, demonstrations, and a series of workshops which will involve the creation of computer generated images.

A.F.7540 The Art and Practice of Digital Media (3 units)

This course aims to provide comprehensive descriptions and analyses of the art and practice of digital media. Comparing and contrasting the practices of traditional and new media, students will obtain new angles to understand and critique contemporary media entertainment standards and new trends. It covers a wide range of topics that include contemporary commercial production norms, creative strategies, entertainment standards, cultural practices, aesthetics, branding, image design, psychology of design and media ethics.  Methods of creative positioning and theoretical application of visual and audio-visual ideas will be taught. Students will be guided to develop critical thinking and creative skills for digital media or multimedia project designs. They will gain hands-on experience by exploring creative methods, identifying short-comings and resolutions, and establishing narrative and visualization techniques. Upon completion, students will gain confidence in meeting challenges in the fast-changing media industry.

A.F.7550 Graduate Seminar on Chinese New Waves Cinema (3 units)

This course introduces the textual and institutional features of Chinese New Wave cinemas. They include Hong Kong New Wave cinema, Taiwanese New Wave cinema and PRC's fifth and sixth generation films. Enhancing an understanding in the creative approaches of the three cinemas, this course provides both diachronic and synchronic analyses of post-war New Wave movements in the world. Close study of the Chinese cinemas’ historical backgrounds, aesthetic contributions and cultural significances will be offered.  Comparing and contrasting the uniqueness of the three cinemas, students will obtain a critical perspective to appreciate and critique their cinematic and cultural contributions. Exploring the cinematic styles, students will be able to understand how the auteurs’ creativity allows them each to compliment, transform, or reject traditional filmmaking norms. Students will be engaged in class discussion sessions for opportunities to plough through the differences and similarities of these cinematic practices. With refreshed analytical angles, students will be able to appreciate and critique effectively the Chinese-language films upon completion of the course.

A.F.7560 Multimedia Platform Programming Positioning and Branding (3 units)

This course enables students to gain perspective on and acquire a comprehensive basic understanding of the features, opportunities, challenges and issues with programming and conceptualizing multimedia content for new platforms. Equal in its aim is for students to gain experience with methodologies for working with these platforms amidst the larger entertainment landscape. The course expands on the perspective cultivated in the Programme's marketing courses -- the importance of innovation in the contemporary media production industry -- as well as elucidates the challenges that professionals are now facing within the emergent platforms and formats with positioning and branding. Through lectures, guest lectures, discussions and international case studies of the latest market intelligence students will analyse five new media platforms gaining depth in four essential aspects consisting of: positioning/branding; programming strategy; platform operation/production; and its business model. This depth, along with the perspective of the history of platforms will help to bring into focus the larger picture of how programs (media content) are selected (or not selected), arranged, evaluated, positioned, promoted and branded within pressures from technology, financing and marketing.

A.F.7570 Non-Scripted (Reality Show) Creation and Production (3 units)

This course aims to investigate and involve students in the well-established, popular, and continuously transmuting genre of entertainment programming known as 'non-scripted' or 'reality' television. It considers the global phenomenon of the genre and the localized changes contributing to the evolving formats and narratives in the genre. Lectures with discussions, presentations, and industry guests will allow students to examine and evaluate a range of issues for reality shows including, but not limited to: structures and conventions of formats in Eastern and Western cultural contexts; honoring Intellectual Property (IP); development and production stages; sponsorship and multi-platform tie-ins; and distribution with a focus beyond the local and on international distribution. Finally, students will synthesize the material to create an original format with a 'high concept' that considers and appeals to changes in the demographics of consumers. Students will refine their presentation skills and skills as a producer as they will pitch their concept in class with the goal of viable distribution via network/channel/internet, and global marketing to include Hong Kong and mainland China while traveling beyond their borders.

A.F.7580 Graduate Seminar on a Director's Palette (3 units)

As understanding the mechanism of acting and the preparation needed to act can help directors in directing their actor(s), this subject introduces and explores the tools and the palette a film director uses to allow a producer an insight into the creative process of directing. This seeing things through the eyes of a director is meant to allow an executive producer the sensibility to be creatively empathetic in selecting and putting projects together. In short, the subject will allow for a driver seat experience on filmmaking from a director's point of view.

A.F.7590 Digital Multimedia Communication (3 units)

This course introduces the principles of digital multimedia storytelling across different forms of media communication with minimal hardware requirement. Students will learn to create and judge effective audio-visual persuasion techniques, on-camera interview skills, and to produce visual content for completing a multimedia story in promotion, reporting, film, public relations, or other communication applications, on the web and on social media platforms. Lectures and workshops are designed for students with limited technical skills to understand how images and sound tell stories through active discussions, analysis on narrative and promotional films, and through interview and production exercises.

A.F.7600 Narrative Storytelling (3 units)

This professional course aims at training future media workers to identify good narrative material for producing; provides structured understanding in writing and directing contemporary motion picture formats, namely feature films, TV dramas, “webisodes”, “micro movies” and short web videos, etc. Through lectures and hands-on exercises, students will be able to identify the needed ingredients of a commercially successful narrative work. They will be able to apply script writing and directing techniques learned from this course in their producing career as well as personal creative work.

Students will learn to analyse a screenplay; break down the action beats; and treat the material with cinematic pacing in mind. Students will be more familiar with the production protocols and the entertainment industry in general. Through in-class practices they will be able to handle professional actors and pull out better performance from nonprofessional talent as well through audition and rehearsal. As the camera and imaging is the essential of modern media, use of camera and visual elements in general will be addressed throughout the course.

A.F.7610 Film Festival and Film Programme Curation  (3 units)

Hong Kong has held one of the longest continuously running major international film festivals in the Asian region since 1976; since then, several dozen annual large and small film festivals, together with special film programmes have drawn in tens of thousands in terms of attendance, entertaining audiences and cinephiles alike. In comparison with other cultural events, film festivals are participated by the widest number of audiences, an intrinsic nature of the cinema as an art form designed to be projected, shown, and enjoyed by the masses.

Despite its popularity, there has been few local academic courses which looks at the various aspects associated with a film festival, its cultural and economic impact, the role it plays in the local and regional film industry; not to mention the complex logistic and planning involved. The course will also look at programming for art house, repertoire cinema, and non-theatrical special screenings such as stage performances and other live events.