The National Institute of the Arts at the Australian National University comprises the School of Art, the School of Music and the Australian Centre for the Arts and Technology (ACAT). The National Institute of the Arts is Australia's premier institution for the education of professional artists and musicians. Students at ACAT have access to courses and activities conducted by the School of Art, the School of Music, the University Faculties and the Humanities Research Centre. The Australian Centre for the Arts and Technology is a centre dedicated to creative applications of new technology. The primary disciplines at ACAT are electro-acoustic music, computer animation, digital video and interactive multimedia. Activities at ACAT include teaching, research, recording, publishing and appropriate artistic practices in the fields of electro-acoustic music, computer animation, interactive multimedia and digital video. ACAT provides a unique environment in Australia for the artistic use of computers and a focus on interdisciplinary education for artists interested in exploring the potential of new technologies and new media. At ACAT a primary concern is in the creative interaction between composers and digital artists. ACAT's interdisciplinary pursuits within the arts and the sciences associate it with other academic and artistic centres through Australia and around the world.
Research at the Centre covers a wide range of areas and disciplines, which have application in the creation of works in new media. ACAT has always played an active role in the research and development of realtime composition systems, for interactive performance of both computer music and computer animation. Computer facilities include a laboratory of Macintosh computers. The studios are equipped with state-of-the-art digital recording, editing and synthesis technologies
ACAT and the ANU Supercomputer Facility enjoy a collaborative relationship that allows shared use of facilities and expertise. ACAT supports the development of a wide range of artistic practices as they relate to the use of new technologies. There is a special focus on exploratory techniques -- especially those that involve the use of the computer in the direct implementation of ideas through software.
Staff at ACAT are concerned with the aesthetic implications of new and emerging technologies. New environments are explored with emphasis on the production of new works. This motivates software and hardware research which focuses on the design of new computer-based methods for composing and integrating sound and visual images in real-time and in 3D space.
At the end of every semester, students at ACAT present their latest original works, including music, digital video and animation in an evening performance and a `hands-on' display of interactive multimedia works. The public are invited to attend these showcases of new works and new talent. An archive of work from previous years' Performance Nights is available at the ACAT WWW site.Staff at ACAT regularly perform works in a variety of contexts, spaces and locations. All staff members have a history of using technology in a live situation and are concerned with addressing the problems of using technology in these contexts. Students at ACAT have access to extensive audio-visual recording and production facilities including non-linear sound and video digital editing suites as well as CD, CDROM, Laser Video Disk and Beta cam SP mastering services. These facilities make it possible for students to prepare work for dissemination via public performances, broadcasts, internet, CD and CDROM.
The ACAT WWW site at http://online.anu.edu.au/ITA/ACAT contains an archive of student performances and works, as well as information on the Centre and its activities. The National Institute of the Arts' Library houses a collection of ACAT animations from 1990 to the present. ACAT has produced 5 CDs of Australian electroacoustic music as part of the `Anthology of Australian Music on Disk' (currently 30 CDs). This is a commercially available reference collection of solo instrumental, electroacoustic and chamber music written by many of Australia's foremost composers and performed by Australian musicians. ACAT is an active participant in NFRAM (Networked Facility for Research in Australian Music). This project provides an online WWW gateway and resource guide to Australian Music and fosters a community of music research: http://online.anu.edu.au/nfram
ACAT has an active program of visiting artists both from Australia and overseas. Visitors to the centre engage in seminars and forums, guest lectures and longer periods of researching and teaching.
3 Year Pass Degree, 1 year Hons
This is a three year full-time program, with an opportunity to undertake a further year in Honours. Students major in a choice of two streams from a total of four streams offered by ACAT.
As a preparation for their major, students undertake in first semester an introductory stream in Digital Sound, Digital Image and Media Theory, as well as theory electives from either CSA or CSM. In subsequent semesters students, in addition to their two major streams, undertake theory electives from either CSA or CSM or both. Complementary electives are also undertaken external to ACAT. With the prior approval of the Academic Committee and on the recommendation of ACAT, a student may enrol in a course or courses at another institution or undertake other work approved by the Academic Committee.
BACHELOR OF ARTS (DIGITAL ARTS) ORDERS
To be admitted to the program, a candidate must comply with the Institute of the Arts Undergraduate Admissions Rules.
The following four streams are available: Computer Animation; Computer Music; Digital Video and Interactive Multimedia.
In order to complete the program at the level of Pass, a candidate must accumulate 144 units and successfully complete:
a) A choice of any two streams, in any semester, from Computer Animation, Computer Music, Digital Video, and Interactive Multimedia to the value of 60 units
b) Theory electives chosen from either the School of Art, School of Music, or both, to the value of 36 units
c) Complementary electives chosen from either the School of Art, School of Music or faculties to the value of 24 units
d) Digital Image, Digital Sound and Media Theory courses to the value of 24 units
To be admitted to a program at Honours level, a candidate must have:
successfully completed the 3 year Bachelor of Arts (Digital Arts) Pass degree normally at the overall level of Distinction for the streams, and have achieved at least a level of Credit in all Theory courses.
have their Individual Research Honours Proposal approved by the Honours Committee.
To complete the program at the level of Honours, a candidate must accumulate 192 units under the Admission Requirement in 1. above, and successfully complete:
a) A major work in at least one of the streams previously undertaken by the student to the value of 36 units
b) The course Honours Research as approved by the Head of ACAT in consultation with the Chair of the Honours Committee, to the value of 12 units.
If a candidate successfully completes all the courses prescribed in the first year of the course order, the Head of Centre may approve the candidate enrolling, in a subsequent year, in few courses than prescribed for that year in the order. Only in exceptional circumstances may a candidate seek the permission of the Academic Committee to undertake a part-time enrolment in first year of the program.
With the permission of the Head of Centre, a candidate may enrol in a course at another institution or undertake other work that is approved.
If a candidate has successfully completed all courses prescribed for the first year of the program, a candidate may apply to the Academic Committee on the appropriate form totake leave of absence for a period not exceeding 12 months, giving reason. This must occur on or before the HECS census date of that semester. Only in exceptional circumstances may a candidate seek the permission of the Academic Committee totake leave of absence for a period of time in the first year of the program.
The approval of the relevant Director and the Head of Centre is required for an enrolled candidate to undertake professional engagements that are not part of that candidate's program of study.
The Head of Centre and relevant Director may grant leave to a candidate for periods of not more than one month. If the period is no greater than one week, a Head of Centre may approve the leave.
The NITA Joint Committee will be the committee responsible for this program under the rules.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial per week.
Prerequisite: For cross-faculty students, by interview
This course will provide students with the foundational skills for working in all modes of digital sound relevant to the Interactive Multimedia, Digital Video, Computer Animation, and Computer Music streams. It will also serve as a basic introduction to how sound integrates into each of these streams. The artistically creative uses of digital sound will by the primary emphasis. Students will work with sound as it relates to different media with a view to producing an artistic outcome.
Assessment is by a series of assignments, class work and a final presentation to the assessment panel. Assignments 50%, Final Work 50%
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial per week.
Prerequisite: For cross-faculty students, by interview
This course will provide students with the foundational skills for working in all modes of digital imaging relevant to the Interactive Multimedia, Digital Video and Computer Animation streams. It will also serve as a basic introduction to what constitutes each of these streams. The artistically creative uses of digital imaging media will be the primary emphasis of this course. Students will work with each of the media, always with a view to producing an artistic outcome.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Digital Sound DART1001 and Digital Image1002 or by interview.
Introduction to 2D Animation. This course is an introduction to time-based art. Students manipulate computer images as well as scanned physical objects to create the illusion of movement. The emphasis is on movement and developing personal work. Students composite layers of moving and still elements to show the illusion of depth and create a unified whole. Film and video concepts such as storyboarding, editing and sound integration are introduced. Traditional animation techniques of squash and stretch, action/reaction, secondary motion, and exaggeration, are explored. The result is a solid foundation in the fundamentals of 2D animation with 3 minute animation made for the end of semester.
Assessment is by class work and a final presentation to the assessment panel. 40% class work, 60% final piece
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Computer Animation 1
Introduction to 3D Animation. Students build objects rather than layers and animate in a 3D infinite space. They develop the idea of environment informing content and structure their work with the final exhibition format or exhibition space in mind.
Lights and cameras are positioned and manipulated in 3D infinite space. Students learn to texture, light, and animate their objects so that they interact and perform for them. They learn how to manage their time and resources and to change hats between modeller, animator, painter, lighting director, photography director, project manager and editor. The techniques learnt from first semester are utilised and applied to their new environment.
A 3D 3 minute animation piece is added to their portfolio at the end of semester.
Assessment is by class work and a final presentation to the assessment panel. 40% class work, 60% final piece
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Computer Animation 2.
To be familiar with more advanced animation techniques and incorporate these into personal work. Students are introduced to particle systems, dynamics and advanced character setup, they bring animated characters to life, it is life itself which will be studied. Characters are linked systems. Anatomy and the ability of muscles to pull bones or pistons controlling the movements of mechanical parts are discussed and studied. Students are encouraged to act out motions, to understand the cause and effect reactions of linked systems.
Traditional animation techniques are revisited in a new context. Effects animation is explored through particle systems.
Students will develop projects under supervision with appropriate Lecturer.
Prerequisite: Computer Animation 3
To develop a major animated work for performance, installation or as a discrete piece to be shown. This work will be completed in Computer Animation 5. Students will also be encouraged to make work for a demo reel.
Students will finalise the pre-production of their major work. They will complete their storyboards and begin to set up each scene of their animation. Sound recording will begin and field sounds collected.
Students will develop projects under supervision with appropriate Lecturer. A work proposal will be devised.
Prerequisite: Computer Animation 4
To complete a major animation work for performance, installation or as a discrete piece to be shown. Students will complete their major project that they started in Computer Animation 4. They will consult with lecturers at each stage of the production and will be expected to present their work to the class on a regular basis.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Digital Sound DART1001 and Digital Image1002 or by interview.
Students will learn fundamental principles involved in instructing the computer to deliver multimedia with a view to creating a work with structure appropriate for its content. Methodology for conceiving of a multimedia work will be introduced. Notions of metaphor and analogy, notions that may act as key reference points for making decision relating to the composition of such a work, will be explored. In order to broaden the scope for the way in which multimedia composition might be approached, examples of other forms of artistic compositions will be considered. Students will plan, develop and complete multimedia projects that will demonstrate their ability to put into practice principles of multimedia composition.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Interactive Multimedia 1
The computer is an input/output device with powerful internal processing abilities. The creation of successful interactive multimedia works requires the ability to anticipate input, harness processing and provide what is necessary to deliver the range of desired outputs. Students will be introduced to basic programming principles necessary to understand the interactive and non-linear possibilities relating to digital multimedia. The role of scripting languages in encoding instructions to a computer will be explored through practical work. Students will plan, develop and complete multimedia projects that will demonstrate their ability to incorporate interactivity appropriate to the aesthetic rationales of these projects.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Interactive Multimedia 2
This course will consider the creation of richer multimedia by means of working with more sophisticated media formats. It will provide students with an understanding of and ability to work with more complex forms of time-based digital media: those that can consist of multiple content tracks that can be addressed and accessed independently of one another. The course will also explore ways in which the control of the playback of such media is achieved in multimedia authoring environments.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Interactive Multimedia 3
Students will have had sufficient instruction and practice in creating artworks which integrate a range digital media. This course will enable students to conceive of the multimedia art not simply as a sum of its parts, but as a total artwork in which each element is orchestrated with a view to its role in the synthesis of the work's totality. This course wills emphasis project planning skills and the conception of a multimedia artwork as a coherent whole.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Interactive Multimedia 4
An artwork only exists as artwork through its mode of presentation. Digital media can be delivered in a variety of ways and a digital artwork can consist of elements variously delivered to achieve the complete presentation. Moreover digital media can be presented in conjunction with components that are the outcome of other artistic modes of production. This course will provide students the opportunity to explore relationship between various digital media and between digital and other media. In this semester students will have the opportunity to be create works which take the meaning of multimedia beyond the digital realm.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Digital Sound DART1001 and Digital Image1002 or by interview.
Students will learn the basic technical aspects of Digital Video and then use their knowledge to produce a short video work. Areas to be covered include Camera techniques, Basic lighting techniques, Synchronous Sound, Scriptwriting, Working with Actors and Computer Editing. Students may work independently or they may collaborate.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
This course will focus on enabling students to generate technically competent and artistically effective video footage with an emphasis on visual storytelling.
Students will develop their technical skills in this course and be encouraged to experiment with each area. In this course we will be placing an emphasis on the construction of the visual story. We will look closely at shot design, lighting, titles, storyboarding and graphics. A Camera and Lighting Masterclass, a Production Design Masterclass and a Titles Design Masterclass will be provided where practical.
Throughout the semester students will be working towards their major video project which will be shown at the end of the semester.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
This course will build on skills already acquired in the previous courses to provide students with the practical and creative planning skills to enable them to undertake more ambitious video productions, especially in the area of sound postproduction. Video project planning and production: students will undertake the key stages of a video production, including treatment, storyboarding, shooting scripts, filming and post-production. Students will be exposed to professional practice and we will endeavour to attach students to professional productions. In this course students will be required to take part in a field trip to a sound post production facility.
Students will be expected to explore the use of post produced sound in their major productions.
2 hour lecture/tutorial session, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
This course will concentrate on advanced compositing techniques in postproduction as a means of creatively taking video beyond camera-based, photo-realistic modes. In this course students will focus on the development of their Major Projects for completion in Digital Video 5. Students will explore advanced editing and compositing techniques and digital video effects as a means of increasing their creative and conceptual engagement with the video medium. Students will also simultaneously develop their major graduation project and learn how to market and distribute their work.
Students will develop projects under supervision with the appropriate Lecturer. A work proposal will be devised.
To complete a major video work for performance, installation or to stand on its own to show the world. In this final semester of the video stream students will complete their major project that they started in Digital Video 4. Students will consult with lecturers at each stage of the production and will be expected to present their work to the class on a regular basis. Along with their major works, students will be expected to present a developed plan outlining the marketing and distribution plan for their work.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Digital Sound DART1001 or by interview.
To develop an understanding of the principles of Digital Audio Synthesis. Digital Audio Synthesis is the generation of sound through digital means other than sampling. Digital synthesis gives us a deeper understanding of sound and sound production as well as providing suitable language set for developing compositional ideas and ways of thinking. Students will develop an understanding of current digital synthesis techniques as they relate to music making. The student will be introduced to variety of techniques and encouraged to explore one or more of these techniques in the context of their own work. The student will produce a work utilising some aspect of material covered.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Computer Music 1
To provide an introduction to MIDI. MIDI provides an effective method for interconnecting computers and musical instruments and producing music works. Particularly, MIDI provides a method for musical interaction with a computer. Samplers provide simple platform for using "real world" sounds in a musical context.
Students will be introduced the basic interconnections and the MIDI specification. MIDI synthesisers, samplers and sequencers will be explored in the context of musical composition. Methods and techniques will be developed through the production of a musical work.
Assessment is by a series of assignments, class work and a final presentation to the assessment panel. Assignments 40%, Final Work 60%.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial, 2 hour response session plus 8 hours independent study per week.
Prerequisite: Computer Music 2
To develop an understanding of the principle of Algorithmic and Interactive Computer Music. Algorithmic music is music produced through some process which is pre-determined. The composer deals more with macro-structural principles rather than the fine detail. Algorithmic techniques often form the basis of interactive works, as such interactivity in sound works will be explored in conjunction with algorithmic techniques. Students will develop an interactive sound work using techniques discussed or may even develop their own interactive/algorithmic techniques.
Assessment is by a series of assignments, class work and a final presentation to the assessment panel. Assignments 40%, Final Work 60%.
Students will develop projects under supervision with appropriate Lecturer.
Prerequisite: Computer Music 3
To create a work(s) for Computer Music Performance/Installation. By this stage of the course students should a have broad skill set in digital sound and media. The student will conceive and develop either a sound installation or live performance work. The work will be developed in conjunction with a lecturer and should extend and consolidate the student's skill set.
Assessment is by a final presentation to the assessment panel. 100%
Students will develop projects under supervision with appropriate Lecturer. A work program will be devised.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial plus 4 hours independent study per week.
To introduce students to trends in thinking about media in the broadest sense as it relates to arts practice. Students will be given an overview of twentieth-century thinking as it relates to the evolution of new mediums in arts practice and explore the resultant theoretical paradigms that have influenced modern art and music practices.
Assessment is by two presentations during each semester 50% weighting each.
1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial plus 4 hours independent study per week.
To examine current trends in media theory and arts thinking as it relates to current digital arts practice. Students will be given an overview of current digital arts practice and the associated schools of thought. Students will develop an understanding of the different contexts of digital arts practice and possible future directions and emerging paradigms in modern media.
Assessment is by two presentations during each semester 50% weighting each.
Full year (18 units per semester)
Contact will be on a supervisory basis in agreement with the appropriate lecturer. Course must be undertaken over two semesters.
Prerequisite: Approval of Academic Board and Completion of BA(DA) pass level courses.
To develop a major work for performance or presentation in at least one of streams previously taken by the student. Students will be encouraged to develop a project that makes use of multiple disciplines. The student will develop a concept under supervision from the relevant lecturer(s). This concept will be realised during the year and will be presented in a major performance/installation/exhibition.
Assessment is by a final public presentation and will be assessed by an appropriate assessment panel.
Full year (6 units per semester)
Contact will be on a supervisory basis in agreement with the appropriate lecturer. Course must be undertaken over two semesters.
Prerequisite: Approval of Academic Board and Completion of BA(DA) pass level courses.
To give the student an in-depth knowledge of one area of digital arts practice from a theoretical perspective. Students will conduct an individual research project with supervision from the appropriate lecturer.
Assessment is by submission of a research report/thesis and may be a written paper and/or a multimedia presentation of a scholarly nature.