This course offers a survey of the variety of theories and issues in communication in a systematic fashion and from a historical perspective, with a focus on those theories and issues that bear strong implications for the present situations of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China.

This course seeks to:

· Establish a coherent understanding of the progressive development of the discipline of communication;

· Provide a context for critical appreciation of current scholarship and research in communication;

· Offer a reasonable account of future conditions for human communication.

This course aims to provide students with the basic principles and theories of financial management and fund-raising with practical applications. Students will be able to analyse and evaluate different types of funding methods and budgeting as well as the earning potential of a media project. Students will be equipped with global vision of the future development of both domestic and global film markets.

This course aims to explain, examine and apply a wide range of marketing, advertising, sales and distribution models and theories related to specific Hollywood case studies while also applying them to Asian markets. Students will arrive at an understanding of the importance of innovation in the contemporary media production industry as well as the challenges that marketers are now facing within new-media industries.

This course aims to provide students with knowledge concerning statutory requirements and legal management within the media industry. Students will acquire a basic knowledge of laws, rulings and principles for legal management, while applying issues and rulings of specific landmark cases to practical and contemporary situations. Students will be able to grasp and articulate broad global perspectives in media and entertainment law within the industries, and also understand the film regulation and censorship in the Greater China region.

This course aims to equip students with excellent script-analysis skills, and to identify uniqueness, value and creativity. Students will identify important commercial elements for film distribution and marketing in relation to the script. In addition, the production feasibility for scripts will be analysed and artistic elements of scripts will also be discussed.

This course will introduce the meanings of media arts related to Film, TV and New Media through the study of media history and archaeology from traditional film and video art to multimedia design, net art, digital art, computer animation, computer graphics, interactive installation, robotic art, biotechnology, and so forth. Different media arts and their applications of different media technologies and interface design will be studied to explore their relationship to transforming culture and society. The students will gain broader understanding and critical awareness of different concepts and developments of media arts and mediated interaction from early experiments by futurists and constructivists to most recent practices like interactive games and virtual reality experiments with wearable and portable media. Eventually the students will be able to identify creative ideas of design solutions related to Film, TV and New Media for different applications ranging from conceptual to virtual art, computer graphics to digital animation, and performance to interactive installation.

This course will cover the fundamental principles for the duties of film management and human resources management. The basic principles behind positions of a crew, ethics and code of practice of film productions will also be discussed. It aims to provide students with a wide range of marketing and distribution techniques in addition to models for film productions by examining and analysing specific Hollywood case studies. Students will be able to apply acquired theories to Asian markets and develop critical analytical skills, spirit of leadership, communication and teamwork. The new challenges that new marketers are facing within new media industries will also be discussed.

This course aims to provide students with the introduction of the contents, especially  internet movies and drama series, in the era of new media. This course would cover the  overview of the new media development, market information, content production &  distribution with a broad vision and mind-map concerning key aspects of new media  business and the global vision of the future development and trends of such issues and  aspects.

This course is a complete study of the basic process of independent film production, with sessions to master the key points of production and simulate the practical proposals of an independent film team, radiating non-mainstream production methods.

The subject explores the Hong Kong media and the media in Greater China, with emphasis on cinema, television and New Media, in its social-historical context from the 1930s to the present. Its impact on both Asian and global media and community will be thoroughly examined. Attention will be paid to the processes and patterns of the changes in Hong Kong and Mainland China media industries as a major shaping force of globalization.

This seminar aims to establish a firm foundation of business and management skills for specialized career training in the media industry for film, television and new media. The roles and skills of a media producer are examined, and the proper procedures for production management from project initiation to completion are analyzed in detail.

This course aims to extend students' visual literacy and application of creative ideas from static medium to dynamic interactive media with the introduction of programming skills and the relationship between codes and visual elements. In order the harness the full potentials of the emerging dynamic media, a thorough understanding of the general programming principles and interactivity design is indispensable. However, this course is not going to train students as programmers but prepare them with sufficient knowledge to develop and exploit the dynamic media for their creative endeavours. Students will learn the underlying mechanisms of manipulating, creating and transforming visual elements using programming codes. Moreover, students will explore the domain of generative visuals and arts through the evolutional computing concepts of iterations, recursion, random function and L-system. After finishing this course, students will be able to develop dynamic and generative visual applications for various domains of creative and media productions.

This course is designed to introduce the fundamental principles of computer graphics and its applications in Film, TV and New Media. The course will approach the landscape of computer graphics from the aesthetic and technical perspectives. On one hand, aesthetic issues will encompass concepts, composition, appreciation and historical context. On the other hand, technical topics will include raster and vector imaging, scanning, retouching, printing, animated graphics, and other related topics. The course is based on lectures, demonstrations, and a series of workshops which will involve the creation of computer generated images.

This course provides a comprehensive study and understanding of the art and practice of digital media. The learning goal will focus on the aesthetic as well as cognitive theory and applications of visual ideas and industrial standard by different creative digital media. The major learning activities will be hands-on practices in digital media and design experience of communication and transformation such as graphic arts, multimedia design and interactive publication. Exploration of content creations and media solutions in contemporary creative business are expecting to be realized and delivered by students. Cross-media narrative skill and visualization techniques will be required to achieve the creative expression and idea. In addition, exploiting different visual skill sets together with demonstrations on professional techniques will be provided to student. After completing this course, student will be able to understand the discourse of design solutions and cultural changes in digital media aesthetics and practices.

This subject analyses textual and institutional features of various Chinese New Waves, including those from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the PRC's Fifth Generation. Close analysis of films, historical background and exploration of critical controversies will be taken. Comparative perspectives are also incorporated to tease out differences and similarities of industry, audiences, auteurism and cultural politics. Experts of each individual New Wave movement will be invited to participate on the seminar.

This course enables students to gain perspective on and acquire a comprehensive basic understanding of the features, opportunities, challenges and issues with programming and conceptualizing multimedia content for new platforms. Equal in its aim is for students to gain experience with methodologies for working with these platforms amidst the larger entertainment landscape. The course expands on the perspective cultivated in the Programme's marketing courses-- the importance of innovation in the contemporary media production industry-- as well as elucidates the challenges that professionals are now facing within the emergent platforms and formats with positioning and branding. Through lectures, guest lectures, discussions, and international case studies of the latest market intelligence students will analyze five new media platforms gaining depth in four essential aspects consisting of: positioning/branding; programming strategy; platform operation/ production; and its business model. This depth, along with the perspective of the history of platforms will help to bring into focus the larger picture of how programs (media content) are selected (or not selected), arranged, evaluated, positioned, promoted and branded within pressures from technology, financing, and marketing.

This course aims to investigate and involve students in the well-established, popular, and continuously transmuting genre of entertainment programming known as 'non-scripted' or 'reality' television. It considers the global phenomenon of the genre and the localized changes contributing to the evolving formats and narratives in the genre. Lectures with discussions, presentations, and industry guests will allow students to examine and evaluate a range of issues for reality shows including, but not limited to: structures and conventions of formats in Eastern and Western cultural contexts; honoring Intellectual Property (IP); development and production stages; sponsorship and multi-platform tie-ins; and distribution with a focus beyond the local and on international distribution. Finally, students will synthesize the material to create an original format with a 'high concept' that considers and appeals to changes in the demographics of consumers. Students will refine their presentation skills and skills as a producer as they will pitch their concept in class with the goal of viable distribution via network/channel/internet, and global marketing to include Hong Kong and mainland China while traveling beyond their borders.

As understanding the mechanism of acting and the preparation needed to act can help a director in directing his actor, this subject introduces and explores the tools and the palette a film director uses to allow a producer an insight into the creative process of directing. This seeing things through the eyes of a director is meant to allow an executive producer the sensibility to be creatively empathetic in selecting and putting projects together. In short, the subject will allow for a driver seat experience on filmmaking from a director's point of view.

Digital Multimedia Communication

Narrative Storytelling

This course is intended to be a lab where students can execute their critical thinking and creative abilities in exploring the fascinating world of mass communication research. While the main purpose is to expose students to the fundamentals of social scientific research methods and to familiarize them with a variety of research techniques in mass communication research that are useful to media professionals (e.g., surveys, experiments, content analyses), students will also be encouraged or required to critically evaluate published research articles and creatively design their own research project.

This course is an introduction to and survey of the broad area of international and intercultural communication. Students will learn to develop their critical thinking skills through class discussion and the reading/writing assignments. The first half of the course focuses on international communication issues, including the Western media system, press freedom, the influence of new media in the globalization of communication, and transnational advertising and public relations.   The second half of the course is devoted to intercultural communication topics. With an increase in awareness and understanding of the similarities and differences among different cultural values, students will broaden their worldview and be a better intercultural communicator. Students will be expected to interact with a person from a different culture throughout the semester.

Issues in Corporate Communication

Globalization of Media and Communication

Organizational Communication

This course aims to provide a framework for students to understand the skills and knowledge needed for the strategic planning of communication campaigns by integrating various elements in public relations, advertising and social media. The objective is to develop students' capability to execute communication campaigns by working with professionals of different roles and functions in the industry.

The course introduces students to new media, with particular focus on multimedia, social media and the internet. The first part of the course examines the influence of new media technology on communication and social change. Through lectures, discussions, presentations and practical sessions, students learn how to make the best use of the latest communication tools to solve communication problems. Lab sessions are incorporated into the course to give students hands-on experience.

Project

Media Policies & Regulations

This course studies how an understanding of consumer behaviour informs the development and implementation of communication campaigns in Hong Kong and Asia. It examines the consumer decision-making process and how it varies for different types of purchases; the psychological processes involved, including the consumer learning process; and external factors such as culture, social class, group influences and situational determinants. Global consumer issues including the effects of social networks and consumer activism on companies' communication strategies will be examined. Application of current theories and research findings in cross-cultural consumer studies will be emphasized.

The course examines different perspectives on the relationship between public administration and mass media in a modern society. Media factors affecting or facilitating public administration will be discussed, as well as the impact on public administration and governance on media. Students will analyse cases concerning media-administration relationships and crisis management in local (Hong Kong) and Mainland China contexts.

Political Communication and Public Opinion

Youth, Media and Consumption

The course is intended to teach students how qualitative research fits into the social sciences and in particular into Media / Communication Studies, and to enable them to conduct such research on their own. The course will cover the philosophical and ethical grounding of qualitative research, provide an analysis of individual qualitative research methods, and allow the students to practice these methods to prepare them for their own research projects.

Introduction to Social Science Theories

Data Visualization

Big Data Analytics for Media and Communication

Media Communications and Psychology

Deception is an extremely common propagation phenomenon in life. The common sense of life tells us that it is extremely common, the moral code tells us that it is not worthy of encouragement, and as ordinary people, although we see the deceitful people with contempt, we inevitably have a little awe. Have you ever thought about the value and significance of such a seemingly ordinary and almost common sense concept in our daily communication process? This course focuses on guiding and stimulating students' interest, and analyzes the formation process, motivation and evidence of deception in various human interaction situations. By sharing and discussing key concept theories, research results, behavioral ethics and case studies, students can gradually form their own views on lies and deceit, truth and knowledge. Therefore, when encountering deception in daily life and media consumption, it can conduct independent in-depth analysis and think of reasonable solutions.

Advanced Quantitative Communication Research Methods

Communication Research Thesis

The social effects of interactive media have been long debated. This course discusses various ethical and bioethical themes in interactive media narratives, exploring issues as well as potentialities in and around interactive media communication.