Abstract:

In 2021, lecturers in parallel Acting and Film programmes at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand were compelled to re-design a major film and performance project to suit the Covid-19 lockdown environment taking place in that country. In previous years, this complex studio project had brought together students of Screenwriting, Directing, Acting, Set Design, Cinematography, and other film crew specialisations, to create a two-week-long series of one-scene mini-films shot in the school’s film studio. With face-to-face interaction off the table due to national lockdown, creative agility was required to quickly craft a cross-discipline assignment that both captured the essence of the conventional (face-to-face) filmmaking experience and also stood on its own merits as an online project. Screen and Acting staff worked together to plan an activity that addressed the Learning Outcomes of both courses. The assessment components, such as tasks and deliverables, were constructed whilst the project was being designed. A checks-and-balances method evolved during the writing of the assessment briefs. Lecturers challenged themselves and one another to create an assessment event of the highest possible clarity, achievability, and equity. In the end, the students were highly engaged in the project, and the assessment process was - itself - a meaningful learning experience.

This approach signalled a departure from the conventional assessment-writing model whereby a lecturer designs an assessment that is passed to a colleague for pre-moderation. Rather, this was a dynamic example of collaborative, living pre-moderation that grew organically out of the project design process.

Keywords:

Screen, acting, pre-moderation, assessment, remote filming, covid response.