VCE Visual Arts

Media

Course Description

This study focuses on providing students with the opportunity to analyse media products (film, print publications, gaming, mixed media and photography) and concepts in an informed and critical way. Students will examine industry production and distribution context, audience reception and the media’s contribution to, and impact on, society.  Furthermore, students will work independently and collaboratively to investigate, design and create media products.

Units 3 & 4 builds on the topics studied in Media Units 1 & 2. This study will allow students to develop and refine their skills in the areas of production and critical analysis to express their ideas through media forms (film, photography, print) and gain self-confidence and communication skills through their selected expression. Students will continue to build their understanding of the relationship between media products, their production context and the audiences that consume them. 

Unit 1 

In this unit, students develop an understanding of audiences and the core concepts underpinning the construction of representations and meaning in different media forms. They explore media codes, conventions, and the construction of meaning in media products.

Students analyse how representations, narrative and media codes and conventions contribute to the construction of the media realities audiences engage with and read. Students gain an understanding of audiences as producers and consumers of media products. Through analysing the structure of narratives, students consider the impact of media creators and institutions on production.  They develop research skills to investigate and analyse selected narratives focusing on the influence of media professionals on production genre and style. Students develop an understanding of the features of Australian fictional and non-fictional narratives in different media forms.

Students work in a range of media forms, develop, and produce representations to demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of each media form, and how they contribute to the communication of meaning. 

Unit 2

In Unit 2, students further develop an understanding of the concept of narrative in media products and forms in different contexts.  Narratives in both traditional and newer forms include film, television, sound, news, print, photography, games, and interactive digital forms. Students analyse the influence of developments in media technologies on individuals and society, examining in a range of media forms the effects of media convergence and hybridisation on the design, production and distribution of narratives in the media and audience engagement, consumption and reception. Students focus on media industries such as journalism and filmmaking that are built upon the creation and distribution of narratives constructed in the form of a series of interconnected images and/or sounds and/or words, and using media codes and conventions.  New media forms and technologies enable participants to design, create and distribute narratives in hybrid forms such as collaborative and user-generated content, which challenges the traditional understanding of narrative form and content.

Students undertake production activities to design and create narratives that demonstrate an awareness of the structures and media codes and conventions appropriate to corresponding media forms.

Unit 3: Media Narratives and Pre-Production

In this unit, students explore stories that circulate in society through media narratives. They consider the use of media codes and conventions to structure meaning, and how this construction is influenced by the social, cultural, ideological and institutional contexts of production, distribution, consumption and reception. Students assess how audiences from different periods of time and contexts are engaged by, consume and read narratives using appropriate media language.

Students use the pre-production stage of the media production process to design the production of a media product for a specified audience. They investigate a media form that aligns with their interests and intent, developing an understanding of the media codes and conventions appropriate to audience engagement, consumption and reception within the selected media form. They explore and experiment with media technologies to develop skills in their selected media form, reflecting on and documenting their progress. Students undertake pre-production processes appropriate to their selected media form and develop written and visual documentation to support the production and post-production of a media product in Unit 4.

Unit 4: Media Production and Issues in the Media

In this unit, students focus on the production and post-production stages of the media production process, bringing the media production design created in Unit 3 to its realisation. They refine their media production in response to feedback and through personal reflection, documenting the iterations of their production as they work towards completion.

Students explore the relationship between the media and audiences, focusing on the opportunities and challenges afforded by current developments in the media industry. They consider the nature of communication between the media and audiences, explore the capacity of the media to be used by governments, institutions and audiences, and analyse the role of the Australian government in regulating the media.

For further information: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/Media/Pages/Index.aspx 

Art Making and Exhibiting 

Course Description 

 VCE Art Making and Exhibiting, provides a framework for art making and the investigation of artworks through inquiry learning. Students are engaged in the practices of art making, either through the exploration of ideas or through specific themes. Students investigate and draw inspiration from artworks and practices of artists from different periods of time and cultures to discover how artists have represented ideas and communicated meaning in artworks. The course provides fine arts studies using art forms such as: drawing, printmaking, sculpture, painting, photography, digital and mixed media. Students will explore with a range of materials to understand their characteristics and properties, so they are able to refine their skills to create finished art works. Their development and refinement process is documented and recorded in a Visual Arts journal where they justify and evaluate their practice. Through the development of their finished artworks, students synthesise and resolve the ideas connected to their subject matter, and they evaluate their use of materials, techniques and processes, art elements and art principles, and aesthetic qualities. They develop their use of visual language and understand how ideas and meaning are communicated in artworks.

Students also study industry contexts to develop an understanding of understanding of the curation, presentation, and conservation and care of artworks. They curate and present their own and others’ artworks for display.

Unit 1 - Explore, Expand and Investigate 

 In this unit students explore and experiment with materials, techniques and processes in a range of art forms to expand their knowledge and understanding of the characteristics, properties and application of materials. They explore the way other artists use materials, techniques and processes and develop understanding of the historical development of specific art forms through investigation of the characteristics, properties and use of materials and techniques. Exploration and experimentation with materials and techniques is used to stimulate ideas, inspire different ways of working and enable a broad understanding of the specific art forms. 

Students document their exploration and experimentation in both visual and written form in a Visual Arts journal that is used as a record of their art making practice.

Unit 2 - Understand, Develop and Resolve 

In this unit students expand on how artworks are made by investigating how artists use aesthetic qualities to represent ideas in artworks. They broaden their investigation to understand how artworks are displayed to audiences, and how ideas are represented to communicate meaning. 

Students will respond to set themes and progressively develop their own ideas. They learn how to develop their ideas using materials, techniques and processes, and art elements and art principles. Students then consolidate these ideas to plan and make finished artworks, reflecting on their knowledge and understanding of the aesthetic qualities of artworks. Throughout the unit students plan and develop at least one finished artwork that is documented in their Visual Arts journal.

Students investigate how artists use art elements and art principles to develop aesthetic qualities and style in an artwork. They will discover and understand how the visual conventions can be combined to convey different emotions and expression in their own and others’ artworks and how art elements and principles create visual language in artworks. 

They will also study how exhibitions are planned and designed, spaces are organised for exhibitions and investigate the roles associated with gallery organisation 

Unit 3 - Collect, Extend and Connect 

In this unit students are actively engaged in art making using materials, techniques and processes. They will explore contexts, subject matter and ideas to develop artworks in imaginative and creative ways. Students will investigate how artists use visual language to represent ideas and meaning in artworks. 

They will use their Visual Arts journal to record their art making, research of artists, artworks and collected ideas and document the iterative and interrelated aspects of art making to connect the inspirations and influences they have researched. The visual Diary will also demonstrate exploration of contexts, ideas and subject matter and their understanding of visual language and to document their exploration of and experimentation with materials, techniques and processes. Students will use the documented ideas in the Visual Arts journal to plan and develop artworks. 

Throughout the unit students will engage in tutorials with peers where they present a critique of their work for constructive feedback. After the critique students evaluate their work and revise, refine and resolve their artworks. 

Students will visit an exhibition in either a gallery, museum, other exhibition space or site-specific space.  Students research the exhibition of artworks in these exhibition spaces and the role a curator has in planning and writing information about an exhibition.

Unit 4 - Consolidate, Present and Conserve 

In this unit students make connections to the artworks they have made in Unit 3 and consolidate and extend their ideas and art making to further refine and resolve artworks in -specific art forms. They continue to further develop their ideas and broaden their thinking to make new artworks.

Students document progressive resolution of these artworks in the Visual Arts journal, demonstrating their developing technical skills in a specific art form as well as their refinement and resolution of subject matter, ideas, visual language, aesthetic qualities and style. Students reflect on their selected finished artworks and evaluate the materials, techniques and processes used to make them. 

Throughout the unit students build on capacity to communicate to others about their artworks and present a critique of their artworks so they can receive and reflect on feedback.

Students continue to engage with galleries, museums, other exhibition spaces and site-specific spaces and examine a variety of exhibitions with a focus on the presentation, conservation and care of artworks. To conclude they organise the presentation of their finished artworks through considered decision making and exhibition planning. To conclude they organise the presentation of their finished artworks through considered decision making and exhibition planning.

For further information:  https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/studioarts/2023ArtMakingExhibitingSD.docx

Visual Communication Design 

Course Description

The Visual Communication Design study examines the way visual language can be used to convey ideas, information and messages in the fields of communication, environmental and industrial design. Students look at ways designers create and communicate to influence everyday life for individuals, communities and societies. The study emphasises the importance of developing a variety of drawing skills to visualise thinking and to present design solutions. Students employ a design process to generate and develop their own visual communications. Students develop the skills to communicate ideas through manipulation and organisation of design elements, design principles, selected media, materials and methods of production.

Unit 1

This unit will be an introduction to Visual Communication Design. 

Areas of study: 

• Drawing as a means of communication: students follow a design brief and create digital and manual drawings. 
• Design Elements and Principles: students use the Design Elements and Principles as the basis of a range of practical explorations.
• Visual communication design in context: students look at design history and various factors that influence design.

Unit 2

This unit looks at applications of Visual Communication Design within design fields.

Areas of study: 

• Technical drawing in context: students look at manual and digital technical drawing methods.
• Type and imagery in context: students learn about typography and layout, and create type-based designs.

Applying the design process: students follow the design process to develop and refine ideas

Unit 3 - Visual Communication Design Practices

• Students analyse and create visual communication from each design field. They use manual, digital and technical drawing conventions.
• Students study the work of contemporary Australian Designers to learn ways the Design Process can be applied. Students learn about factors that influence design including legal obligations and copyright.
• Students develop their own brief and research and generate ideas to meet the needs of that brief. Outcome 3 is the start of student’s exploration of their own design process. They will use design-thinking strategies to come up with ideas for two finished presentations that will continue to be explored in Unit 4.

Unit 4 - Visual Communication Design Development, Evaluation and Presentation

• Students focus on the design process stages of the development of concepts and refinement. Using separate design processes, students develop and refine design concepts that satisfy each of the communication needs of the brief established in Unit 3. 
• Students deliver a ‘pitch’ to present their design folio to an audience.
• Students produce two final visual communication presentations, which are the refinements of the concepts developed in Outcome 1 Unit 4. 

For further information: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/visualcommunicationdesign/Pages/Index.aspx