Associate Degree of Film

Make your establishing shot in film with a degree that covers everything from concept to cut!

With eighty percent of internet content projected to be video by 2020, film is an exciting career pathway with many and varied opportunities for career outcomes, now and into the future.

In the Associate Degree, you will complete the first four trimesters of the Bachelor of Film program, which consists of six trimesters. This will prepare you to enter the workforce as a highly skilled para-professional employee. The Associate Degree is also designed an excellent pathway into the Bachelor of Film program.

Starting with the fundamentals and rolling through to the finer, more complex aspects of cinematography, you’ll acquire a very particular set of skills during your time. You’ll experience the different ways you can tell your stories on screen; through editing room and via different platforms.

At SAE you won’t find yourself in a lecture with 300 people or even in a traditional lecture at all. You’ll be in a studio environment using industry-standard equipment like 4K Red, Sony and Canon cameras, DaVinci Resolve colour grading software, Avid Media Composer, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Your growth and development will be assessed through the completion of portfolio to share with potential employers or first client.

In preparation for an industry that commands agility and adaptability, you’ll cut your creative teeth on projects initially in partnership with your course peers. As your skills develop and you work on more dynamic projects, you’ll apply your capabilities on cross-discipline projects.

For those wanting to go the extra, and thousands of miles, you can complete up to two trimesters of your course at selected SAE campuses across the planet. Suddenly, real-world experience just went worldwide.

But most importantly at SAE, you’ll see your ideas come to life as you prepare for a big future in front of you behind the lens.

Graduate roles may include

Your learning experience

• Develop your knowledge and skills on industry standard camera technologies including 4K Red cameras,  Canon C300s, and more.
• Work collaboratively with artists, designers, web, mobile and games developers, animators, and audio specialists.
• Create productions under real-world conditions.
• Learn high-level cinematography and visual effects skills using the same equipment, software, and processes employed by industry practitioners.
• Build skills in industry-standard software including DaVinci Resolve colour grading software, Avid Media Composer editing software, Adobe After Effects, and Photoshop standard screen graphics applications.
• Experience a course designed in collaboration with industry partners and develop skills that the film industry wants.
• Develop high-level skills in your craft before you graduate: be industry-ready.

ASSOCIATE DEGREE OF FILM

The Associate Degree of Film program is broken up into discrete stages, each designed to promote different skills.

Stage I – Foundational Skills Development
In Stage I, students will undertake a number of foundational units which will give students the essential technical skills and knowledge not only relevant to the chosen discipline area, but also give students the skills required to collaborate with other creative media students and professionals in later stages of the Film course.

• Introduction to cinematography and film production
• Post-production principles and techniques
• Storytelling for contemporary media
• Critical thinking for creative media
• Screen design
• Film studies
• Overview of industry
• Project management and professional etiquette
• Critical and creative thinking
• Contemporary industry overview

Stage II – Interdisciplinary Projects, Media and Cultural Studies
In Stage II we show students how their work in Film contributes to and interacts with broader culture and media practice. This knowledge will enable students to work with a variety of other disciplines and artists and expand their potential on the global stage.

Students will complete a number of real-world projects with students not only in their own discipline, but also in all other SAE disciplines.

Stage II has three studio modules with projects based on the following areas;

1. Production

Both film specialisations have a strong common set of subjects covering the broad base the film industry requires. The Production specialisation focuses on targeting producing and directing skills specifically to this stream, strengthening the ‘big picture’ skill-set of graduates.

2. Post production

The Post Production specialisation adds more specific compositing and software curriculum elements to the common core subjects of this degree. Visual Effects are used in many more films than most people realise and these techniques are studied in this specialisation using industry standard software.
 Some of the high level software was traditionally very expensive and required major hardware installations in order to use. Software is now more accessible to students, increasing creative possibilities within the realm of all future filmmakers.

Stage III
Only students who progress to the Bachelor of Film will be eligible to undertake Stage III. In Stage III, students undertake a project of their own design. Students also undertake work placement to finalize the development of their professional skills in a real work placement setting.

Stage III is NOT included in the Associate Degree.