NM2202 - Photojournalism: Documentation and Communication

Credit points:	03
Year:	2009
Student Contribution Band:	Band 1
Administered by:	School of Creative Arts

This subject will provide students with intensive quasi real-world experiences in working to a supplied brief, working in multidisciplinary teams, and working to deadlines within the genre of Photojournalism. Photojournalistic teams will comprise digital imaging majors/minors paired with journalism students. All students will initially attend three days of full time lectures and tutorials covering aspects of documentary photography and working journalism. In the final session all teams will be individually supplied with a detailed brief, each based on a separate issue of environmental concern in North Queensland. The following week will comprise unsupervised background research to contexturalise the topic, identify issues and key players and develop an action plan to investigate and report on their topic. At the end of this week students will return to class and over two days student teams will make presentations of their research and action plan. These presentations will be peer assessed. Stage two involves field-work invoking the action plan. All photography, interviews and further related research will be done at this time. Students will return to class towards the end of July to complete write-ups and format images (DI students) and articles (Journalism students).

Learning Outcomes

• Established awareness of image making as a medium for social, political and cultural change;
• Established high levels of skill and knowledge on aspects of documentary photographic reportage;
• Established knowledge of location based lighting theory and its application to a range of lighting situations in the field;
• Established knowledge of the professional working norms and ethical considerations of photojournalism.

Graduate Qualities

• The ability to adapt knowledge to new situations;
• The ability to think critically, to analyse and evaluate claims, evidence and arguments, and to reason and deploy evidence clearly and logically;
• The ability to deploy critically evaluated information to practical ends;
• The acquisition of coherent and disciplined sets of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics from at least one discipline area;
• The ability to reflect on and evaluate learning, and to learn independently in a self directed manner;
• The ability to read complex and demanding texts accurately, critically and insightfully;
• The ability to speak and write clearly, coherently and creatively;
• The ability to work with people of different gender, age, ethnicity, culture, religion and political persuasion;
• The ability to work individually and independently;
• The ability to select and use appropriate tools and technologies;
• The ability to use online technologies effectively and ethically.

Inadmissible Subject Combinations:

JN5501

Availabilities
Townsville, Block, Study Period 7
Census Date 10-Jul-2009
Face to face teaching (30/6/09 - 17/7/09)
Coordinator:	Mr Clive Hutchison
Lecturers:	Ms Kirsten Heritage, Mr Clive Hutchison.
Contact hours:	39 hours workshops/Seminars
Assessment:	presentations (30%); portfolio of images at culmination of project (50%); assignments (20%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.