Please note that the University and the Faculty of Arts have launched a new assessment policy effective as of 1 July 2021. This new policy particularly affects LATE SUBMISSION OF ASSESSMENTS.

The Faculty policy in relation to late assessment submissions is as follows:

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – 10 marks out of 100 credit will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.  No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests, etc.

To be very clear:

• Unless you have applied for special consideration and had your application approved, for each day your assignment is late, 10 marks will be deducted. For example, if you submit your assignment 7 days late, 70 marks will be deducted, which means you will fail that assignment.
• If your assignment is more than 7 days late (including weekends), you will get 0 marks for your assignment.

These are serious penalties that will substantially alter your final grade and even determine whether you pass or fail this unit. Please make every effort to submit your assignment by the due date.

If you find you cannot submit your assignment on time, please apply for Special Consideration through AskMQ. Make sure you read Macquarie University's policy regarding Special Consideration requests before you apply: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration

Lectures, tutorials, readings, and screenings are all core modes of delivery of the content of this unit.  Active engagement with these is facilitated through weekly quizzes that support consolidation of learning.  The assessment tasks are scaffolded to support application of knowledge and insight you develop through this active engagement with all four core modes -  lectures, tutorials, readings and screenings.  Lack of engagement with any of these is likely to have a detrimental effect on your learning and achievement in the unit.  

Lectures

Lectures will be via Zoom.  Recordings of the Zoom lectures will be made available via ilearn after they are delivered live, however, live attendance is strongly encouraged! Being present in the 'room' energises the dialogue with your lecturer, tutors and peers, gives you a chance to do quick exercises, comment and respond to questions via chat or verbally, and ask questions.  This participation makes the learning more immediate and rewarding. Attendance at lectures is not assessed and there is no need to request special consideration if you miss one.

Tutorials

Tutorials are designed to give you live, in the moment, opportunities to develop knowledge via exercises, and dialogue with tutors and peers.  Attending gives you opportunities to try things out, get informal feedback, learn by sharing your responses to other's work, and develop your assessment tasks.  Every tutorial is directly aimed at improving your screenwriting ability and is directly relevant to an aspect of your assessment tasks.  Attendance is not assessed and there is no need to request special consideration if you miss one, however repeated or consistent lack of attendance will mean missing core learning and is likely to impact on achievement in the unit.  Tutorials are NOT recorded. 

Readings

Readings for this unit will be available through ilearn.  Comprehension will be tested via weekly quizzes.

Videos:

Key videos relevant to assignments will be available through the MMCC 1025 iLearn page. They form part of the unit content and your observation skills will be developed through weekly quizzes asking questions about them.  

Technologies/resources required:

Students will be required to use their own computers for research, development and writing of assignments in this unit. It is recommended that MMCC1025 students become familiar with Celtx (free script software) or other industry standard script formatting tools, which will be discussed in class or in information on ilearn. Microsoft Word can be used for scriptwriting, however it is not as effective a tool. 

Students are encouraged to consider downloading and exploring one or more of the widely available free screenplay formatting tools before the start of semester, so that you are familiar with the principles.  Because these are automated processes when using the free, widely available software we do not spend a lot of time in class on them.  Rather, our focus is on ideas and content.  Students are not assessed on formatting however, tutors do often note that using formatting software improves legibility and gives students a better understanding of the ways that scripts work dramatically and logistically. 

The outline below may be subject to some variations.

Week 1: generating ideas

week 2: character

week 3: storyworlds

week 4: structure/plot

week 5: theme & research

week 6: containment

NB: Comprehension and application of principles from ALL of the first six weeks of the unit is expected to be demonstrated in the Outline assessment task due at the end of week 6. This includes the principles of 'containment' which will be discussed in the lecture in week 6. 

week 7: genres

week 8: writing & formatting for documentaries

week 9: scene writing and fiction script formatting

week 10: dialogue

week 11: summation and application