Self-funded Undergraduate Programmes

This course is aimed to train students with the practical skills for writing scripts, especially for E-books, E-magazine, mobile phone films/video and digital radio broadcasting creatively. The general principle in creative writing for new media will be introduced from week 1 to 5. The second part will focus on writing scripts for mobile phone film/video, and digital radio broadcasting. A new way of interactive storytelling, creative mindset and grammar are highly emphasized.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of film and new media as the modern media forms and meaning-making entities in the era of media convergence. The course consists of two modules. The first module considers film as an art and cinematic practices by which viewers make sense of images and stories on screen. It provides a critical introduction to the basic film elements and critical approaches of film. The second module will engage students with an understanding of new media with a range of phenomena that underpin the critical discussions in the new media age. It will examine an array of key themes that preoccupied new media scholars, for example, identity, intelligence, ownership, surveillance, digital narrative by stressing on the Web-based entities such as blogs, online social networks, video-sharing sites, etc. Students will learn how new media serve as a tool for creative expression and cultural production that mediate the everyday interactions.

This course will train students in professional scriptwriting for different TV programmes like Talk Show, Late Night Show, Reality TV, Children’s Programme and TV News Magazine Show with Sit-com as the main focus. At the end of the course students will be able to write Sit-com scripts.

This course will train students in professional scriptwriting for TV drama series and Made-for-TV movies. At the end of the course students will be able to write scripts for TV dramas.

This course introduces students to the craft of screenwriting, establishing a foundation for all future writing. Screenplay formatting will be a major focus, and students will learn how to write scene description, to describe characters and locations, and to develop dramatic conflict, climax, romance and humor. The course will also include script-to-screen action sequences, script-to-screen analysis, comparing well-known films to their original screenplays.

This course introduces students to the craft of screenwriting, establishing a foundation for all future writing. Screenplay formatting will be a major focus, and students will learn how to write characters’ dialogue, monologue, voice-over, dramatic structure and the ways of storytelling narrative. The course will also include script-to-screen action sequences as well as script-to-screen analysis, comparing well-known films to their original screenplays. This course is a continuation of Screenwriting Workshop I.

This course is aimed to train students with the cinematic storytelling techniques aside from dialogues and voice over, etc. which includes how the shots language, frame, shape, colour, lighting, editing, music and sound effects tell the story. As film is a unique medium that does not solely depend on the verbal delivery of messages, film scriptwriters need to understand the fundamentals of film art as a narrative tool.

Creative Thinking is the essential course of training students how to think creatively by knowing the mechanism of our mind. Students will explore to think from various angles and perspectives applying the creative tools into actual artistic and creative work.

This course introduces literature written by world authors in the 19th and 20th century. Its focus is on short stories, poems, and plays. Students will learn to analyse the artistic and imaginative use of language, and develop the ability to think creatively and critically. The course aims to deepen students’ understanding of people from other cultures which helps establish knowledge for their creative works in the future.

This course introduces the students to the creative process of various adaptations from literature into film, drama into film, and literature into drama. This seminar addresses many of the considerations associated with translating texts to film, and offers an in-depth analysis of the ways in which how adaptation works successfully use imagery and film-editing techniques to capture aspects of the original script that would have been impossible to show on stage. Literature provides filmmakers with a rich source of material for films. The students compare concrete examples of adapted films to the original works, and discuss adaptation strategies of selected works.

This course will train students to have a better understanding of Mobile Communication in contemporary information society. Students will have the opportunities to gain knowledge on mobile communication history, the relation between mobile communication and youth culture as well as mobile communication and its transformation of the democratic process. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand how the rapid emergence of online interactions with mobile communication technology has reshaped their lifestyle.

The course will start creative and critical uses of media, and students will discover new tools and new forms of communication useful throughout their studies. Students will have the opportunity to begin working with still images, video, and interactive media like Facebook, You tube, Blogs, Web2.0, Interactive Television, Games and mobile phone film/video to create a range of creative and interactive projects. The expressive range of screen languages in cultural, historical, and technological contexts will also be introduced. Discussions will focus on specific topics in digital culture with attention to visual communication, hyper-textuality, interactivity and visual identity.

This course is aimed to train students with the practical skills for writing scripts, especially for interactive web TV, videogames, and 3-D animated feature film creatively. The general principle in creative writing for new media will be introduced from week 1 to 6. The second part will focus on writing scripts for web TV, 3-D animation and videogames. A new way of interactive storytelling, creative mindset and grammar are highly emphasized.

This course is the first section of the graduation project. It mainly helps students from generating, researching, developing, and planning ideas to writing up several high concepts, story outlines, character bios and scene breakdown for their script project in preparation for Graduation Project II. In the final year, regular consultation with graduation project supervisor will be arranged. The course provides an opportunity for students to prove they are capable of completing the project and graduating from the programme.

This course is the second section of the graduation project. From the high concepts and story outline proposals produced in Graduation Project I, students will write scripts for full length feature film or animation or for certain episodes TV/Web drama or a script(s) of appropriate length for new media as the final fulfillment for the course depending on project supervisor’s, programme director’s and external advisors’ advice on it. Course contents are in a more advanced stage and more focused progress. Regular consultations with the project supervisor will be arranged. The course provides an opportunity for students to prove that they are capable of completing the project and graduating from the programme.

This course is designed to enhance students’ understanding towards the influence of new media studies in Greater China (Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China). Several aspects will be covered: the relationship of New Media and election, marketing, integration with TV stations, advertising, and the media ecology.

Referring to what screenwriter William Goldman says, “screenplays are structure,” the course will adopt a structural approach as the key frameworks to analyze a number of screenplays of the notable Hollywood and Chinese-language movies from 1970s to 2010s. The analysis will pivot on the screenwriting theories and ideas such as the three-act structure, Syd Field’s Paradigm, Frank Daniel’s the sequence approach, and non-linear narrative. Considering screenplay is a unique literary form, this course will investigate how a screenplay stresses on the literal and visual dimensions of a story whereas thoughts and emotions of characters are evoked through subtext, action, and symbolism. In addition, it will explore how components like technical jargon, tight prose are used in describing stage directions. By examining the screenplay texts from various cinemas, the course will also provide a brief scrutiny on how the screenwriters may systematize the goals, structure, and techniques of writing a script in different cinematic systems.