School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Contemporary Screen Audiences
  • Unit Code

    SPR3600
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Mr Andrew EWING

Description

Intended audiences shape the ways that screen producers conceive and create work. In this unit, students gain a deeper understanding of the diversity of audiences and their viewing habits and tastes by examining screen culture and storytelling practices through the lens of local and global cultural policies and trends. Through practical exercises, students will gain valuable experience utilising appropriate methodologies and resources to formulate cohesive audience research projects and devise strategies that identify and capitalise on opportunities such as funding, cross-platforms, and international co-productions.

Prerequisite Rule

The student must complete 240 credit points in their current course of study before attempting this unit.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Examine the relevant research literature to explain the way key institutions in the Australian screen industry impact the development and sustainability of the industry.
  2. Discuss and respond to the role of the intended audience in shaping media content and communication strategies.
  3. Assess diverse screen audiences using appropriate methodologies to explain how audiences are targeted, engaged, and influenced by various media forms and platforms.
  4. Defend audience-focused projects by examining the complex dynamic between content creators and their intended audience.
  5. Consider implications of representation and inclusivity in formulating cohesive audience research projects.

Unit Content

  1. An overview of national policies.
  2. Methodologies for audience research.
  3. Case studies on how screen producers identify and engage with contemporary audiences
  4. Industry guidelines on inclusive and ethical practices.
  5. No and low budget strategies for reaching audiences.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
ExerciseMarketing Strategy for a transmedia project 40%
Case StudyCase study of distribution methods for a screen work 60%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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