Regulations for The Bachelor of Screen Arts - BSA

An introduction to the principles and concepts of animation. Students will gain a creative and basic technical knowledge of the tools and techniques essential to the development and production of animation.

An introduction to the principles and concepts of visual effects. Students will gain a creative and basic technical knowledge of the tools and techniques essential to the production of visual effects.

An introduction to the principles and concepts of game development. Students will gain a creative and basic technical knowledge of the tools and techniques essential to the development and production of games.

This course introduces students to industry standard video and sound production tools and techniques, equipping them with creative, technical and collaborative skills essential for developing an understanding of film production. Working in teams on practical film projects, students gain experience in planning, collaboration, production and post-production.

An introduction to the principles and concepts of media technologies. Students will gain a creative and basic technical knowledge of the tools and techniques essential to the development and production of media technology.

This course offers an accessible introduction to artificial intelligence as a tool for creative expression across multiple disciplines. Students will explore how AI can generate and transform images, music, film, and spatial environments, while critically engaging with the cultural, ethical, and philosophical dimensions of machine-assisted creativity. Alongside hands-on experimentation and collaborative projects, the course will foreground conversations around data ethics, bias, authorship, the environmental impact of AI, and Indigenous perspectives. Students will examine how emerging technologies intersect with traditional knowledge systems, and explore alternative frameworks for creation, stewardship, and storytelling.

An introduction to the principles and concepts of factual production. Students will also gain a creative and basic technical knowledge of the tools and techniques essential to the development and production of factual content.

An introduction to the development of personal forms of expression though an engagement with the values, concepts, traditions, art/design forms and structures of the whare whakairo.

Explorations in Visualisation explores how creative practitioners comprehend, generate, and communicate ideas. The course provides students with foundational skills and techniques for representing ideas in traditional and digital media. The course will be valuable for students from any creative area who want to communicate their work and thoughts visually.

Explorations in Materials provides students with practices and skills to explore physical materials, surfaces and structures in their making. Students will gain hands-on creative and technical knowledge and understanding of sustainable ecologies of materials. It will appeal to students across the creative arts who want to create and work with physical materials as part of their creative practice.

Explorations in Coding and Media explores how creative practitioners leverage computational concepts as a creative tool. Students will acquire basic knowledge and foundational techniques that can be applied across creative practice.

Gain three-dimensional literacy and confidence as you model, sculpt, 3D sketch and fabricate objects. Throughout the course you will experiment with a variety of iterative practices and processes, including sculpture and modelmaking, prototyping and testing. These approaches are applicable to a range of different creative specialisations. Throughout the course you will gain foundational skills and understanding in: • Articulating creative work and ideas as 3-dimensional objects • A range of analogue and digital 3-dimensional materials and methods. • The processes associated with different forms of 3D making

Learn foundational skills for creating digital 3d assets. In this course, you will be guided through hands-on creative exercises to develop the skills and knowledge required to produce digital assets that can then be inputted into various software for object-building, world-building and character building across a variety of digital platforms. The approaches and outputs in this course will benefit any creative arts students working in digital technologies. The core 3D skills you will gain include: - Understanding the creative process to make 3D assets - UV mapping – initial process of adding texture/colour to 3D work - Creating textures/colour - Digital lighting - Preparing your assets for animation Explorations in Digital Assets can be used to take your creativity to the next level - especially when paired with other Exploration and studio courses.

Explorations in Drawing introduces students to foundational techniques and practices of observational drawing, drawing as thinking, drawing for ideation. The course guides beginners and skilled practitioners alike through a variety of exercises, introducing students to practices from across the creative arts. Skills taught in this course will be useful for students in all areas creative practice.

Explore the concept of Pacific Island diaspora within the context of Aotearoa. You will be introduced to a range of unique perspectives, experiences, and cultural identities that have been embodied, and disseminated through the Pacific arts in Aotearoa. The goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of diverse Pacific narratives through creative practice and storytelling.

Explorations in Narrative introduces students to the processes of analysing, interpreting, and creating stories with the intent of realising the material through various creative practices. With the option of producing written or visual narratives, students will gain a foundation in storytelling that can be applicable to diverse creative practices.

Explorations in Image and Meaning explores how creative practitioners capture, construct and manipulate two-dimensional imagery. The course provides students with foundational skills and techniques to construct and analyse two dimensional images.

This course provides students with the foundational knowledge and skills to understand and apply colour in their creative practice. Students will experiment with mixing pigments in analogue and digital environments and consider colour’s cultural, communicative, and evocative potential.

Explore mātauranga Māori, cultural perspectives and indigenous ways of knowing as a foundation for creative expression through paint and multi-media. This course will enable you to develop your own practice in paint and extend this practice to explore multi-media artworks inspired by mātauranga Māori, cultural narratives and indigenous ways of seeing the world.

In this course you will be introduced to taonga pūoro Māori through hands on engagement coupled with an insight to tikanga and mātauranga connected to this practice. This course will encourage creative exploration with taonga pūoro, with potential to add another dimension to your creative practice. Through this mahi toi, you will gain greater connection and understanding of te ao Māori.

An introduction to the people, places, and scholarship of the contemporary music industries. Through the analysis of various issues, trends, and cultural and social contexts, this course supports and encourages students to critically explore the challenges and opportunities of local and global music industries, building awareness of the contemporary commercial music landscape.

Restrictions: 133255

Students will analyse a range of philosophical and critical perspectives on the ethics, social roles, and cultural responsibilities of music and its associated communities. Through exploring theoretical positions to develop tools for the analysis of their own practices, students develop a robust critical understanding of the intersections of music, ethical conduct, and professional practice as these inform their own positionality within creative communities.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 150106, 133154, 197139, 237131, 289100

Students explore theoretical approaches to music's intersections with politics and economies to inform an advanced understanding of music as a cultural industry. Students employ strategies of critical reflection, collaboration, and praxis to analyse their situatedness within the social, legal, and industrial landscapes of the contemporary music industries, and engage with the symbiotic relationship between politics and the economy as it shapes their own experiences and professional outlooks.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 237231, 133257, 289200, 150206, 197239

An introduction to the scope of Māori art with a view to recognising traditional elementary forms and their significance. Social and cultural dimensions will be considered and Māori art forms from pre-contact times to the present will be examined within the context of a dynamic and changing society.

An interpretation of the design structures that constitute Māori art from a bicultural perspective together with an examination of the factors that determine stylistic change.

Prerequisites: 150106

Positionality is a key concept in the creative arts. In this course you will interrogate the concept in relation to how we think about the world we live in, what we see as beautiful or objectionable, and what we believe about who we are. We pay particular attention to our place: in Pukeahu, in Aotearoa, and in the world.

Restrictions: 237130

Examine how contemporary design evolved from its roots in identity, craft and technology through to its place in contemporary culture and society. From our local perspectives as Tangata Whenua and Tangata te Tiriti to the broader tensions of functioning in a globalised world with a plurality of identities and subject positions, we examine what it means to operate within the pluriverse, always in relation to one another.

Prerequisites: 289100 OR 237131 OR 133154 OR 150106 OR 197139 Restrictions: 237230

From the design of serving communities, to processes, to the necessity of embracing the health of our planet, this course encourages students to independently explore and appraise a range of ideas that critically examine how contemporary design is shaped by cultural, ethical, moral, commercial, ecological and technological complexity.

Prerequisites: 197239 OR 289200 OR 237231 OR 133257 OR 150206 or 237230 Restrictions: 237330

An introduction to critical thinking through key contemporary topics and debates related to the production and reception of art. Students will have the opportunity to investigate a range of contemporary art practices and texts, in order to recognise and gain insights of their own values and processes as creative practitioners. Examples will be drawn from both Aotearoa and international contexts.

Restrictions: 237102

An exploration of diverse perspectives to develop critical responses relevant to contemporary art in Aotearoa. Students will examine cultural, theoretical, political, social, and ethical issues that are contributing to the shaping of contemporary art. The understandings gained will contextualise the student's own practice in relation to local and global shifts in cultural production that have taken place over the past two decades.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 150106, 237131, 289100, 133154, 197139

This course examines and appraises ideas that contribute to a critical understanding of contemporary art. Students will evaluate a range of content in relation to their own creative practice as well as the wider contemporary art world. The relation between artists and their processes and approaches will be explored through topics such as race, gender, intersectionality, decolonisation, popular culture, politics, social justice, and others.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 237231, 289200, 150206, 133257, 197239, 237230

In this course, tauira are introduced to a range of concepts and theories that provide insight into why artists make screen media, the value of media to those who engage with it, and the impact of media on societies and cultures. Tauira will critically investigate screen practices and texts, gaining a greater understanding of their own values, motivations and processes as creative practitioners.

In this course, tauira will engage with a range of critical and philosophical concepts and perspectives that provide insight into their developing creative practices and offer a wider understanding of the social and cultural significance of their work. Tauira develop tools for critically assessing and evaluating collaboration and communication within group environments and employ reflective and analytical approaches to their work informed by their growing critical understanding.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 150106, 133154, 197139, 237131, 289100

Tauira will engage with concepts and theories that allow them to critically understand their own works, practices, and positionalities as makers in Aotearoa New Zealand. By employing their growing understandings of media ethics, alongside theories of representation, power and ideology, tauira will embed their creative process with critical thinking and consider their roles and responsibilities as media makers and as the producers of screen media.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 150206, 133257, 237231, 197239, 289200

This advanced-level course delves into the intricate relationship between Māori cosmological narratives and their dynamic manifestation within contemporary Māori creative expression. Through an interdisciplinary exploration that encompasses art, design, music, theatre, and dance, students will analyse the evolving role of cosmological narratives, connecting traditional wisdom to modern artistic innovation.

Prerequisites: 1 of 150206; 237230; 237231; 133257; 289200

An introduction to the music industry and environment, with specific emphasis on culture, ethics, learning, and positionality.

Restrictions: 298160 289150 197190 213170

A further orientation to the music industry and environment, with specific emphasis on working with and within communities, and practicing within the context of Te Tiriti O Waitangi.

Prerequisites: one of: 298160 289150 197190 213170 133180 133152 Restrictions: 298260 289250 197290 213270

Develop skills and knowledge for a future career in commercial music. Students will be supported in developing professionalism within the context of the music industry.

Prerequisites: One of: 213270 298260 289250 197290 133280 133256 Restrictions: 289350 298360 197390 213370

An introduction to the design studio environment, with specific emphasis on ethics, studio culture, learning, and positionality.

Restrictions: 298160 289150 133180 213170

A further orientation to the design studio environment, with specific emphasis on collaboration and working within the context of Te Tiriti O Waitangi.

Prerequisites: One of: 298160 289150 197190 213170 133180 237130 Restrictions: 298260 289250 213270 133280

Develop skills and knowledge for a future career in design. Students will be supported in developing professionalism within the context of designer-client relationships.

Prerequisites: One of: 213270 298260 289250 197290 133280 237230 Restrictions: 289350 298360 133380 213370

An introduction to developing artistic practice, with specific emphasis on ethics, fine art cultures, learning, and positionality.

Restrictions: 298160 289150 197190 133180

A further orientation to developing artistic practice, with specific emphasis on working with and within communities, and practicing within the context of Te Tiriti O Waitangi.

Prerequisites: One of: 298160 289150 197190 237130 213170 133180 Restrictions: 298260 289250 197290 133280

Learn skills and knowledge to develop sustainable art practice within Aotearoa.

Prerequisites: One of: 213270 298260 289250 197290 133280 237230 Restrictions: 289350 298360 197390 133380

An introduction to professional literacies and industry best practices for building a sustainable and healthy career in the field of Screen Arts. Tauira will also be supported in gaining communication and interpersonal skills and develop their personal growth and engagement in learning.

Restrictions: 0

A further orientation to the screen industry and environment, with specific emphasis on deepening creative practice and practicing within the context of Te Tiriti O Waitangi.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 133180, 197190, 213170, 289150

Develop professional skills in preparation for a career in the creative industries. Tauira will be supported in developing professional communication and presentation skills and to continue to strengthen personal growth and engagement in learning at this level.

Prerequisites: 15 credits from 289250, 133280, 197290, 213270, 298260

This introductory course provides students with a foundational understanding of customary practices and values within Te Ao Māori and their relevance in contemporary Māori creative practice. Through a combination of theoretical exploration and practical engagement, students will gain insights into the cultural context shaping Māori creative expression and its significance in fostering personal and communal growth.

Restrictions: 133180 213170 197190 289150

Building upon the foundational concepts introduced in Māori Practices as a Māori Creative Practitioner, this course delves deeper into the intricate relationship between Māori creative practices and cultural continuity within Te Ao Māori. Through an advanced exploration of theoretical frameworks, hands-on creative projects, and community engagement, students will further refine their understanding of the nuanced role of Tikanga Māori in shaping contemporary Māori creative practice.

Prerequisites: One of: 298160 or 289150 or 197190 or 213170 or 133180 Restrictions: 289250 197290 213270 133280

This course propels students into the realm of Māori Arts Innovation and Community Leadership. By synthesizing foundational knowledge with advanced theoretical frameworks, innovative artistic projects, and community leadership principles, students will refine their skills as Māori Arts Practitioners and actively contribute to the evolution of Māori arts practices within a contemporary context.

Prerequisites: one of: 213270 or 298260 or 289250 or 197290 or 133280 Restrictions: 289350 133380 197390 213370

This course builds upon foundational 3D skills to develop proficiency in advanced techniques for game development, animation, spatial, concept and visual effects (VFX) for screen. Students will deepen their understanding of 3D digital asset creation while working within industry-standard pipelines. The course emphasizes practical applications, creative problem-solving, and technical workflows to prepare students for professional projects in the creative technology industries. Students will gain extended creative and technical understanding of 3D digital processes and develop their knowledge and application of aesthetics and form.

Prerequisites: One of: 198124, 197193, 289104, 289106, 289103, 224157, 296157, 289116, 293.127, 296158

Gain a knowledge and understanding of industry standard tools for audio production. Students will also gain a creative and technical understanding of audio production processes and develop their knowledge and application of aesthetics and form.

This course serves as the "on ramp" for next semester's major project. Student will analyse, research and reflect on their aesthetic choices and articulate how to their craft can support their vision. Students will prepare pitch presentations individually and in small groups, explaining the intentionality of their choices and demonstrating the viability of the proposed idea. At the end of the semester, projects will be green-lit to move forward to production in second semester.

Prerequisites: 289.218 or 289.227 or 289.222 or 289.230 or 289.226 or 289.219 or 296.263 or 296.264 or 296.265

Students work in project-based teams to gain hands-on experience with industry-standard processes and techniques directly applicable to their major project work. This fast-paced, intensive, allow students an opportunity to test their proposed major project by creating a vertical slice or test scene from their major project.

Prerequisites: 289.303 AND one of the following: 289.302 OR 296.367 OR 296.368

Gain knowledge and understanding of audio production tools in the studio and on location. Students will also be introduced to working with interactive audio platforms and environments.

Prerequisites: 289.240 OR 289.107 OR (289.210 AND 289.211) or appraisal required

The development of individual work that grows out of the investigation of a select range of Māori concepts, art forms, imagery, values and approaches that reflect a Māori world view.

Prerequisites: 298157

Developing visual responses to the exploration of issues (social, political, environmental, global) significant to Māori people and their communities.

Prerequisites: 298263 Restrictions: 298358

This course explores narrative theory and practice across film, documentary, games, and animation. Students will analyse how storytelling functions across different screen media, examining both the shared foundations and unique affordances of each form. Drawing significantly from both Western narrative theory and Indigenous storytelling traditions, the course investigates diverse structural principles of narrative and their application across media. Through lectures, workshops, analysis, and creative exercises, students will develop critical understanding and practical skills in cross-media narrative design, with opportunities to specialise in their preferred medium while understanding the broader narrative landscape.

Prerequisites: At least 75 Credits at 100-level

This course focuses on a particular aspect or aspects of creative arts. Offerings change from year to year and the course may not be offered in a particular year.

Gain a knowledge and understanding of industry standard tools for audio production. Students will also gain a creative and technical understanding of audio production processes and develop their knowledge and application of aesthetics and form.

This course focuses on a particular aspect or aspects of creative arts. Offerings change from year to year and the course may not be offered in a particular year.

Prerequisites: Appraisal Required

This course focuses on a particular aspect or aspects of creative arts. Offerings change from year to year and the course may not be offered in a particular year.

Gain an advanced knowledge and understanding of creative and technical processes, including sound and music recording, editing, and mixing. Students will also advance their knowledge of audio production for interactive platforms.

Prerequisites: 289340

Centring on a particular aspect of creative arts at an advanced level, this course focuses on projects which result in professional standard outputs that demonstrate creativity and/or innovation. Offerings change from year to year and the course may not be offered in a particular year.

Prerequisites: Appraisal Required

This course focuses on a particular aspect or aspects of creative arts. Offerings change from year to year and the course may not be offered in a particular year.

Prerequisites: Appraisal Required