University degrees: Postgraduate
Course length: 2 years full-time
Course city: Sydney
In our digital world, the skills and capabilities demanded of the director are increasingly complex.
Unique in its structure, the Master of Arts Screen: Directing offers you the opportunity to master your directing skills through a series of cross-disciplinary collaborations and mentorships.
The aim of the course is to give you the opportunity to hone your approach as a professional director within collaborative environments.
WHY DO THIS COURSE
You will gain access to world-class mentors and lecturers who will give you practical insights into the skill-set of the screen director.
Crucially, you will have the space, time and resources to evolve your own creative work. You will have the opportunity to work with cinematographers, writers, producers, designers and editors across several projects to realise your vision. These projects will facilitate the development of ongoing working relationships and an industry network.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
Your creative leadership will be exercised through intensive practical workshops, underpinned by explorations of contemporary screen language. Working in small groups, you will collaborate with your fellow students to develop a shared vocabulary for cinematic storytelling.
Throughout your first year, you will learn from leading industry practitioners. In your final year, you will create a funded major project using AFTRS’ extensive production facilities. At its conclusion, the course can assist with professional placement.
Overall, the course will allow you to consider who you are as a creative practitioner with an adaptable skill-set. Learning to analyse your process through the development of a practice-based research project, you will understand how your practice is informed by the past – but also how it engages with contemporary screen culture and emerging trends and technologies.
The Master of Arts Screen: Directing will equip you with specialist knowledge and collaborative experience, propelling you towards a professional role as a director or story producer on TV series, feature films, TVCs or online content.
Over the past 40 years, AFTRS Directing alumni have been nominated for a slew of awards. Notable alumni include: Jane Campion, nominated for BAFTA and Emmy Awards for Top of the Lake (2013-2014) and nominated for an Academy Award as Best Director for The Piano (1994); Gillian Armstrong, winner of AFI and London Critics Circle Film Awards for My Brilliant Career (1979), and winner of Australian Director’s Guild Awards for Love, Lust & Lies (2010); Chris Noonan, nominated for an Academy Award Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Babe (1996); Cate Shortland, winner of Best Director at the AACTA Awards for Somersault (2004) and Berlin Syndrome (2017); and current AFTRS Head of Directing Rowan Woods, winner of AFI and BAFTA Awards for his feature films and TV.
Potential careers:
