UC Digital Screen

UC Digital Screen is proud to have its new Green Screen and Virtual Production sound stages complete. Empowering students to learn a new platform of storytelling for the Digital Screen!

Watch the installation of our Virtual Production Set come to life! UC Digital Screen is proud to have its new Green Screen and Virtual Production sound stages complete. Empowering students to learn a new platform of storytel...

Level up and create interactive digital games from scratch! 🎮🚀🕹️👾

Study Game Development with UC’s Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours and build immersive worlds 🌎 and characters, using industry standard software and technology!

Learn how to use game development tools such as Unity and Unreal, develop your own games from your second year and create your own projects using our AR/VR equipment, gaming consoles and motion capture suites!

From applying game development skills for phones through to virtual production, our experienced gaming lecturers and technicians will teach you how to create entertaining, educational and meaningful gaming experiences!

Walking into term 4 like… 🎥🎞️🎙️.

Our Digital Screen team were busy bees last week across campus, hosting tours for staff, careers advisers and future students here at the University of Canterbury! 🐝

Rongo o te Wā was a successful day with Careers Advisers joining us from across the country for a tour of our Digital Screen facilities, exploring the Sound Hub, Editing suites, Post-Production studios, Green Screen stage and Virtual Production set!

Open Day was an absolute buzz, with our info tent packed with hundreds of enquiries from enthusiastic future students, an info session lead by our Executive Dean of Arts, Kevin Watson, and facility tours happening throughout the day! 📽🎮

A massive thank you to our wonderful team for all they do and the energy they bring to each event and tour, that's a wrap! 🎬

Are you joining us for Open Day? Check out the info below!👇🏻

There are a few ways you can connect with our Digital Screen team, and we’ll be scattered across the Ilam and Dovedale campus’s to help you with any questions you have! 🙋🏾

📍We will have a table at the info tent stalls, just look for the ‘Digital Screen’ banner, and you’ll find us!

📍Our Executive Dean will be giving a presentation about the Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours degree at 12.00pm in the A1 lecture theatre. Make sure to register! 🎫

📍You can explore the Digital Screen facilities on the Dovedale campus anytime between 12.00pm - 3.00pm. Grab a map from the info tent, and follow the orange flags! 🚩 (approx 10 minute walk)

📍After the Digital Screen info presentation, you’ll be able to jump on the bus 🚌 at 1.00pm to Dovedale Campus if you wish, the bus will return to Ilam Campus at 2.00pm. This is optional, not compulsory. (No need to book for this)

📍Facilities include our Green Screen sound stage, Edit suites, Virtual Production sound stage, Recording studios, Post production labs and more!

If you have any questions, just pop us a message, otherwise, we look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to campus! 👋🏼

Digital Screen Team ✌️ 🎬🎙️🎥🎮

Turn up and tune in to level up your skills in audio through the power of sound! 🔊

Our Screen Sound major teaches you how to create sound effects, character voices and source digital music for video games as well as film! 🎞️

Sound is a core element for a range of media channels, whether it be a documentary, tv, video game or creating digital music, sound is what brings the screen to life and builds the emotion behind the screen to give the audience an immersive experience.

Studying Screen Sound at the University of Canterbury will give you hands on learning experience in recording audio, post-production process and techniques for sound mixing.

Learn in our specialised post-production facilities where audio content is edited, mixed, and processed for final distribution with 5.1 surround sound!

From using industry standard software to turning the sound up LOUD, our Screen Sound Lecturers will teach you how to mix, create and capture sound every step of the way for the digital screen!

Our Cinematic Arts and Screenwriting students have combined to learn from Writer, Director and UC Lecturer, Gillian Ashurst!

These drama workshops are tailored for students who will be working with actors in the future, learning how to connect with actors on set and how to encourage actors to connect with each other.

How good does our Green Screen Sound Stage look, filled with enthusiastic and creative students! 📽

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And that’s a wrap on our Bachelor of Digital Screen Information Evening for 2024! 🎬

Thank you to everyone who came to campus to hear what the UC Digital Screen programme and degree offers. And a special mention to our guest speakers Richard and Benjamin who shared their expertise and insights from the screen industry!

If you have any further questions, you can email us at, [email protected] 🙂

Send a message to learn more

Combine art, design and imagination with cinematic scenes for the digital screen! ✍️👾🚀

Studying our major in Animation will teach you how to create and breathe life into imaginary worlds and characters! 🏂🤸‍♂️

Find your passion within an animation pipeline, be it story boarding, 2D, 3D modelling, rendering or visual effects! 🪐

Design and draw your vision and imaginary worlds using our industry standard tools and software in our brand new facilities. Including our Art studio, Digital Production suite, Motion Capture lab, and Stop Motion studio! 🖥️🖱️🖲️

From the principles of animation to working on real-world projects and outputs, our experienced Animation lecturers will lead you through each stage of the process from creation to post-production! 🎥

And action! 🎬 There's been a lot happening here at the University of Canterbury on the Dovedale Campus, and we're delighted to see and share that our new Virtual Production set has arrived and looks incredible in one of our newly refurbished Jack Mann sound stages! 📽

A handful of our second-year students joined us for a tour and demo of the technology, who were full of questions and excitement. The very best is yet to come for these future storytellers!

A special mention and thank you to the UC Kōawa team and our amazing technicians for all their hard work getting this set up in one piece (there were many pieces), and to the wider team who worked behind the scenes to bring this technology to life, we appreciate you! 👏

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From writing scripts to screen production, share your passion for storytelling with the world! 🌎✍️📕

Our Screenwriting major gives students invaluable insight into the unique story writing journey! Our writers aren’t just tucked away in a quiet room writing (Well, sometimes they are). But you’ll also find them pitching their scripts as potential projects to be made, and have the opportunity to join a crew during the production phase! 🎥

Learn story ideation, and how to develop ideas from simple concepts to unique story worlds. Explore different ways of telling a story for various platforms, including feature film, TV, web series, short films and games! 📺 🎮

Screenwriting is both creative and practical, as we work with words and images, and learn how to best communicate and express our ideas and how to be a valuable part of a ‘writer’s table’!

From writing your own short scripts and screenplays, to creating characters and tying elements of a story together, our Screenwriting Lecturers will help you bring your stories to life! 📕🎞️🎮✍️

Master the art of game design through the creation of online worlds and characters! 🪐✍️🕹️

Our Game Arts major focuses on the principles of design and teaches the practical skills needed to create characters and worlds using free hand, technical drawing techniques and digital software. ✍️

Learn prototyping, developing multi-dimensional characters and evaluate game ideas and testing. 🎮

Explore rigging and animating worlds using industry standard tools in our purpose built Digital Production suite using Wacom tablets and digital applications! 🖊️

From learning conceptual art design to digital sculpting and rendering cut scenes, our experienced Game and Design Lecturers will teach you how to create believable worlds and characters for multimedia and beyond! 🌎

Capturing the world through stories and film! 🌎🎥🎞️

Our Cinematic Arts major focuses on the principles of screen production, lighting and sound, and gives students hands on experience in cinematography using industry standard technology! 🎬

Learn how to operate lights, cameras and mics. Create with digital cameras 🎥, gimbals and editing software, while mixing sound in our edit suites. 🔊

From structuring narrative, filming and editing into post-production, our experienced film and cinematography lecturers will lead you through the creative process to advance your story one scene at a time! 🎬

Meet UC Arts Executive Dean, Kevin Watson, and see a little 'behind the scenes' as he shares about the exciting world of social sciences, humanities and the creative arts!

Kevin is the Academic Lead for the Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours degree here at UC and has championed its progress and success from day one.

“It’s a real privilege to be part of the Digital Screen development, which is a whole university enterprise at the cutting edge of film and sound production, screen writing, game development and animation".

“We need people who understand things from a humanities perspective, plus those people who can generate new technologies. Both of those things are important. And I think we need to not lose sight of that important partnership.”

Check out the video below to capture the full story!

UCArts

University of Canterbury | Behind the scenes with our Deans | Prof. Kevin Watson, Faculty of Arts In the third of our ‘Behind the Scenes with our Deans’ series, Amo Matua | Executive Dean of the University of Canterbury Faculty of Arts Professor Kevin Wat...

Did you miss our Bachelor of Digital Screen Information Evening for 2024? Don't panic, we've got you! You can check out the recording below via YouTube, and if you have any further questions, you can email the team at [email protected], we're happy to help 🙂

Bachelor of Digital Screen Information Evening 2024 Listen to Film and Game industry experts and the UC Digital Screen academic team share about the career opportunities available and the structure of our degr...

And that's a wrap! 🎬

Last week we presented our Digital Screen Information Evening for a third year in a row, and this year we went a step further and partnered with other faculties across UC for a combined careers evening event!

A very big thank you to our guest speakers, Benjamin Hart and Richard Lord who shared their creative insights into the screen industry and the steps they took to get to where they are today, we loved the stories you shared!

Thank you to our wonderful academic team who always speak so enthusiastically about their courses and what the Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours has to offer, including our amazing MC, Hamuera Kahi. Without the knowledge and expertise you all carry, we couldn't run this event without you! Ngā mihi. 🙂

We are excited to share that Animation lecturer and illustrator, Hilary Tapper, has been nominated for her latest picture book, At The Bach, written by Joy Cowley, at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults!

Congratulations Hilary, and we wish you and Joy all the best for the awards ceremony in August! 🎉

University of Canterbury UCArts UC Engineering

2024 Awards Shortlist | New Zealand Book Awards Trust An evocative and deceptively simple story that perfectly encapsulates the experience of beach holidays at a traditional Kiwi bach. With their soft colour palette, the illustrations have a nostalgic and dreamy quality, while carefully chosen words evoke a sense of place and time, and will send little...

Are you interested in studying a Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours in 2025? Thinking about what a career may look like?

Join us on Tuesday, 25th June at 6.00pm to hear from industry experts and our Digital Screen academics who will share all about the opportunities available and the structure of our degree, including information about our indigenous narrative minor and the importance of good storytelling.

Click on the link to register and secure your spot! 🎫

https://events.humanitix.com/uc-careers-evening-explore-your-pathways-to-success

UC’s exclusive, multi-year agreement with the Aardman Academy, the training arm of , gives students access to industry-lead training, while studying a Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours at the University of Canterbury. 👾

The multi-Academy award winning animation studio has created stop-motion films such as, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run. 🐶🐑🐓

UC is the first and only educational partner in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to offer training with the Aardman Academy, allowing our students exciting opportunities and insight into learning world-leading animations and stop-motion training!

For more information, read the media release linked in our bio ℹ️

Play Hide and Seek in Augmented Reality! Details below ⬇️

USER STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED!

Register at: http://bit.ly/HITLABNZ

Study Location: Room 534, 5th Floor, West Building, School of Product Design UX Research Lab, University of Canterbury. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/9j2PKEVRXUVNaqSZ8)

For the very first time, the Doc Edge Festival will kick off in Ōtautahi Christchurch, starting 19 June!

The University of Canterbury are proud supporters of the festival, thanks to our Kōawa Initiative, whose work enables the University to connect to the wider creative technology industries and beyond!

Doc Edge Festival 2024 Programme Launch The Doc Edge Festival 2024 full programme is now live, and tickets are available for purchase.

This week Storyboard Artist Kevin O'Brien from Pixar joined our second-year students online all the way from California!

Kevin gave a masterclass on storyboarding and entertained the students with his vast years of experience and stories from creating within the industry. Kevin has worked on significant animations, including; The Simpsons, Ice Age, Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E and more recently, Turning Red.

An engaging and inspiring presentation for our Digital Screen students!

University of Canterbury

The TVNZ breakfast team joined us on campus last week to report on the latest partnership between the University of Canterbury and Aardman, an award-winning UK Animation company who created animated films such as Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.

Listen below to Digby Werthmuller interview Dr Adrian Clark and Game Arts student, James Anderson from our stop motion studio on campus.

TVNZ breakfast team announce Academy Award® winning Aardman Animations partnership with UC. The TVNZ breakfast team joined us on campus to report on the latest partnership between the University of Canterbury and Aardman, an award-winning UK Animati...

Have you heard the news? 🎬

We are thrilled to confirm UC's exclusive, multi-year agreement with the Aardman Academy, the training arm of Aardman Animations, the multi-Academy Award® winning animation studio behind ‘Wallace and Gromit’, ‘Shaun the Sheep’ and ‘Chicken Run’.

This partnership will give students access to industry-lead training, while studying a Bachelor of the Digital Screen with Honours degree at the University of Canterbury.

New Zealand's University of Canterbury is now a proud partner of the Aardman Academy, offering students and academics access to our industry-leading animation training.

Learn more about the programme: https://aard.mn/partnerships

Join Dr Adrian Clark at our next UC Connect series, as he shares insight into the evolving world of AI and the entertainment industry! Register below 🎫

https://www.facebook.com/share/6HxzxkF1bgYG5XpT/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Explore AI & the entertainment industry

The power of sound! 🔊

This week at UC Digital Screen we had Location Sound Recordist and Engineer, Joseph Veale pop in to inspire our Screen Sound students, sharing his tips for recording sound in the field and the importance of being organised!

Joseph has worked on a broad range of screen productions, including documentaries and reality tv series, and his stories from being on set did not disappoint! Thanks for visiting Joseph, we look forward to seeing you again soon! 👋

We are incredibly spoilt to have award winning Director and Screenwriting Lecturer Gillian Ashurst as part of our Digital Screen whānau! How wonderful to see her skills and experience acknowledged within the screen sector, go Gillian! 👏

When Screen Sound and Animation studies combine!

Screen Sound lecturer Hamish Oliver and Camera and Lighting Technician Mark McNeill have been busy in our new edit suites, helping students bring their moving images to life!

Animation students have been creating plasticine models and scenes in our Stop Motion studio, based on nursery rhymes, while our Sound Capture students delivered the voice over for each scene.

A fun and exciting cross collaboration between students, staff and technology! 🎙🎭

University of Canterbury