In 2015, Curtin University signed a 20-year contract with the Fremantle Dockers, which allows Curtin students to provide media content for the club’s website. The project kicked off at the start of the year when Film & Television students enrolled in a new unit called Sports Media Production, and started recording matches played by Fremantle’s WAFL affiliate, the Peel Thunder, at various grounds across the metropolitan area.
Under the guidance of lecturers from Screen Arts, Sally Goldrick and Jemma King, the students were rostered as professional crew members. The students started the year with two cameras, eventually progressing to a four-camera multi camera production. This introduced them to multi camera editing techniques. Production roles for Film and Television students included producer, camera operator, continuity and editor.
During the second half of the year, Journalism lecturer Sean Cowan joined the team when journalism students became involved in the project. The journalism students worked closely with the film and television students to improve the quality of the scripts, voice-overs and player interviews that formed an integral part of the final TV packages. They also started producing written content, including match reports, that required a high level of pre-match research.
Over the course of 2015, the quality of the packages increased dramatically. Communication and collaboration were key elements of the project and students were encouraged to seek advice and assistance from teaching staff and from the Docker TV Producer.
