Overview

This unit provides students with a hands-on understanding of how novels, plays, and comic books are adapted to films and TV shows through adaptation, and then can be extended into the sequels, spin-offs, and merchandise that make up a transmedia franchise. Students will learn how entertainment franchises and screen adaptations are conceived and produced, and the cultural and historical contexts that underpin creative and industry strategies. In so doing, students will consider how commercial and cultural power structures impact screen adaptation and entertainment franchises. The unit equips students with the tools necessary to analyse and develop screen adaptations and franchises: using professional-standard software, students create assignments aligned with industry expectations. Students will cultivate an understanding of the relationships between screen franchising, transmedia storytelling, media convergence, and different media formats.

Requisites

Prerequisites
MDA10001 Introduction to Media Studies

Rule
50 credit points
OR
MDA10018 Content Creator Lab OR JOU10007 Media Content Creation
AND
MDA10001 Introduction to Media Studies

Teaching Periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Teaching Period 2
Location
Online
Start and end dates
08-July-2024
06-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
21-July-2024
Census date
02-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
23-August-2024
Results released date
29-October-2024
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge, conceptual understanding, and expertise in screen adaptation, franchising, and transmedia storytelling.
  • Formulate arguments and critical analysis skills that engage various theories of screen storytelling and screen industry dynamics, and that consider cultural and industrial power dynamics.
  • Recognise and reflect on social, cultural, and ethical issues relating to screen texts and screen industries in local and international contexts.
  • Use screen theories as presented in the unit to develop solutions to contemporary screen issues within the context of the discipline
  • Reflect critically on their own scholarship and practice, and use this to improve their creative outcomes.

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class
2.00 12 weeks 24
On-campus
Class
2.00 12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various
2.00 12 weeks 24
Unspecified Activities
Various
6.50 12 weeks 78
TOTAL150

Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning
12.50 12 weeks 150
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Essay Individual  25%  1,2,3,4,5
Screenplay Adaptation Individual  50%  1,2,3,4,5 
Pitch Presentations Group 25%  1,2,3,4,5

Content

  • Fandom and Serial Fiction
  • Screen Adaptation
  • Storytelling in Pulps, Soap Operas and Comics
  • The Evolution of the Blockbuster
  • Rules of Screen Franchising
  • Semiotics of Movie Marketing
  • Merchandising and Convergence

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.