Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries
Realise your creative potential
Available at
Online
Duration(s)
2 Trimesters (Full time)
Complete the course over two, 40-credit point trimesters (approximately 7 months).
Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries
Course Durations
2 Trimesters (Full time)
Complete the course over two, 40-credit point trimesters (approximately 7 months).
Part-time
If you want to take a little longer, that’s ok too. We’ll help you work out the best study load to suit your needs.
We understand that things can change, so you'll have the flexibility to change your study load throughout your course if you need to.
Start Date(s)
Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries
Start Dates
Online
February 2022
May 2022
September 2022
Entry Requirements
Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries
Domestic Entry Requirements
Domestic students must meet one of the following criteria:
Completion of a Bachelor degree or higher in media production or related creative industries field (obtained with the last 10 years); OR
Experience-Based Entry – at least five years of documented relevant work experience related to media production or a related creative industries field, with evidence of artistic ability and achievement or practice comparable to that or undergraduate degree holders in relevant disciplines, combined with the successful completion of Year 12 or higher.
Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries
International Entry Requirements
International Entry Requirements
Minimum age requirements
International students seeking admission to SAE must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
Academic requirements
Successful completion of an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (Year 12) or an equivalent overseas qualification. Minimum overall pass is required.
English language requirements
International English Language Testing System (IELTS): A band score of 6 or higher for an Associate Degree/Bachelor course and 5.5 or higher for a Diploma course (only the Academic Test is accepted), OR
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): 73 or higher for an Associate Degree/Bachelor course or 63 (internet-based test) for a Diploma course, OR
Pearson Test of English (PTE): Academic score of 46 (or higher) for an Associate Degree/Bachelor, and an Academic score of 36 (or higher) for a vocational education course, OR
THE NEXT STEP IN YOUR CAREER BEGINS NOW
This unique course offers an online learning experience whilst fostering collaboration with like-minded creative peers across the SAE network.
You will expand your professional network with the opportunity to attend a range of extra curricular seminars and bespoke workshops.
Completing two of the four trimesters of the Master of Creative Industries, the graduate diploma provides a strong pathway to the master’s course.
World class facilities
You will get unlimited access to SAE’s state-of-the-art facilities and equipment across Australia and the world.
Tailored for you
We will guide you to select units that meet both your individual creative and professional aspirations.
Collaboration with the best
You will learn from industry thought-leaders, collaborate with creative peers and extend your network through our global reach.
Achieve your career leadership goals
You will acquire the skills and know-how to attain and succeed in leadership positions within the creative media industry.
What you will learn
Strategy
Leadership
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Advanced creative industry knowledge & skills
Course Structure
The Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries is broken up into two distinct stages, both designed to develop different skills.
Core Units
Stage 1 - Graduate certificate
In this module, you extend your ability to apply a quality process to the development of a creative media project in an online environment. Variously described as virtual or distributed teams projects, you will be developing your skills in remote practice. You will create iterative elements that are accountable to an agreed targeted brief. You will demonstrate how all stages of a creative production, from concept to delivery and reflection, can be achieved in an entirely online context.
Successful creative practitioners exhibit a critical understanding of their processes and approaches in order to take intelligent risks, solve problems and develop new and interesting ideas. This module gives you the opportunity to explore the kind of creative practitioner you are now, and consider options for approaching your creative practice in new ways for the future. This involves initially analysing how creative professionals think and work as individuals, team members or leaders, and then critically, reflectively and innovatively approaching your own creative processes, outcomes and relationships with others.
Common or Specialised Elective 1
Discipline Elective 1
Discipline Elective 2
Discipline Elective 3
Discipline Elective 4
Stage 2 - Graduate diploma
The aim of Graduate Studio 2, is to explore personally experimental creation. In order for creative projects to be interesting to audiences and the creatives who make them, they need to have a difference. Differences come from the unique and the individual. This studio is about exploring the edges of your comfort zone as a creative, to discover what new viewpoints, art forms, and processes you can include in your creative practice. Ultimately you’ll be developing habits that enable to keep stretching in your practice.
Drawing on a range of creative media texts and analytical frameworks, this module will engage with critical concepts and perspectives that influence the production and consumption of creative media, in a contemporary global context. Through critical inquiry, you will discover how creative media generates meaning and how interpretations of meaning can be articulated from various social and cultural perspectives. You will discover how these perspectives define your personal response to creative work.
You will develop the skills to be able to apply an understanding of contextual parameters to support your own creative media practice. You will gain a professional perspective on a range of digital tools and collaborative media platforms. These tools and platforms will assist you with the critical consumption and dissemination of information and equip you with the skills needed to make a meaningful contribution to participatory culture.
You will develop the skills to be able to apply an understanding of contextual parameters to support your own creative media practice. You will gain a professional perspective on a range of digital tools and collaborative media platforms. These tools and platforms will assist you with the critical consumption and dissemination of information and equip you with the skills needed to make a meaningful contribution to participatory culture.
Discipline Elective 1
Discipline Elective 2
Discipline Elective 3
Discipline Elective 4
Specialised or Common Electives
Creative inquiry is a research process that involves exploring ideas, issues, objects, practices or works through the collection and analysis of evidence including combining or synthesising existing ideas, products, or expertise in original ways to answer an open–ended question and/or communicate findings. It differs from more traditional approaches to inquiry by incorporating some form of artistic or aesthetic expression in one or more aspects of the inquiry process. In this module, you will harness your practical creative skills to explore questions and/or express understanding in unconventional ways. You will draw from and build upon your strong foundation in the strategies and skills of your creative practice in order to make connections and synthesise knowledge from wider domains.
Design thinking is at the forefront of approaches to innovation in industries that have to deal with complex creative, business and social problems. This module will focus on the design thinking process and will explore these concepts from the viewpoint of your professional practice.
Research and communication skills are essential for high-level creative media practitioners. This module will assist you to establish a reflective and critical writing practice as a basis for successful continuation in graduate programs. The module encourages and develops critical engagement with discipline, the building of disciplinary expertise and understanding the context of your contribution to your discipline. The development of your writing skills will allow you to build on the disciplinary and professional language you will already have when entering the program to increase your opportunities to present and communicate your work to a wider research and professional community.
This module introduces the field of intercultural studies, an important foundation study for twenty-first century media makers. The module takes a ‘discourse approach’ to interculture, focusing on the ways in which different groups of people create and negotiate meaning. The challenges of working across cultural boundaries are explored, problematised and theorised through examination of literature and case studies, enabling you to develop a creative project that ‘remixes’ an existing work in your discipline. Intercultural work requires an approach which is both sensitive and adaptive to enable the creation of projects that productively celebrate cultural differences and synergies.
Screen Form will challenge your relationship to accepted and institutionalised forms of screen form, encouraging the development and deployment of the conceptual tools necessary for an ongoing exploration of alternative models and modes of creative practice in Film, Game Design, Animation, Design, and Sound Design. This module will enable you to identify and critically discuss a number of standardised screen forms. The aim of this process will be to recognise the normative nature of these screen forms and to critically assess their viability in terms of innovation and appropriateness in an ever-changing media landscape. You will develop your critical and analytical skills through the study of a number of counter-examples to standardised screen forms, thus providing examples of alternative modes of expression that will serve to expand your expressive and creative perspectives.
This module is delving into the structures that operate in games, films, tv shows, and novels. This interdisciplinary look at narrative design will interrogate how audiences are drawn to stay with a work, what facilitates their investment in it, and how an emotional journey is designed. From this module, that mixes analysis with creative exercises, you will develop your ability to keep your audiences interested and moved through your structural choices.
This module introduces the theories, techniques and ethics to allow you to examine and design a photographic essay. You will learn how to evaluate, create and critically reflect on a visual narrative and analyze its context within the creative industry and your own practice.
In this Module you will investigate national and international models of success in the screen content production business. Focusing on successful impact in the marketplace, both individualistic and company strategic entrepreneurial approaches will be examined and analysed as case studies.
CNM400 will explore the role and function of marketing. It will examine how marketing goals are established and how results are measured. You will engage in learning about the key elements of marketing such as: design; planning; public relations; publicity; advertising; promotions and positioning. You will learn about how these elements are distinct from one another yet operate together in an interdependent way. The module will also encompass a study of brand identity and the business of understanding, creating and fulfilling demand.
The aim of this module is to enable you to develop the expertise required to establish, operate and grow an effective creative media production company through the investigation of the governing principles of entrepreneurial business strategy, financing, legislation and management.
The aim of CIM415 Contemporary Media Storytelling is to explore a variety of storytelling structures that operate across moving image media and engage audiences emotively. Within this module, you will participate in analytical and creative activities that develop your ability to develop emotional journeys and build audience investment in your stories.
Discipline Electives
The ability to analyse a piece of audio is a key aspect of high-level audio production. AUD450 Critical Listening for Audio Professionals enables you to explore various processes through the investigation of common tools and techniques, and appraise each process in relation to their application within a sound recording. You will develop your perceptual expertise through controlled practice and training via the utilisation of various Technical Ear Training programmes. Psychoacoustic concepts embedded in the process of critical listening are explored throughout the module.
This module will investigate new concepts regarding mixing audio for VR and head-tracking devices and develop your surround mixing skills in immersive audio environments. You will plan and mix spatialised audio for a 360 video, share your ‘work in progress’ mixes with your peers and combine your audio and video using embedded spatialising applications to create an immersive audio experience.
This module explores audio production styles through the analysis and practical recreation of three selected sonic characteristics synonymous with a chosen music genre. Through your own creative practice, you will explore the recreation of those sounds using appropriate audio technology.
Sound design for screen is proliferating. Mobile device, web-based and interactive content are augmenting traditional formats like cinema and, recently, ‘high production value’ cable shows and series. This module introduces techniques and theories that will assist you in evaluating different aspects of screen sound design. Screen theory, critical listening, and technological considerations may be utilised as you engage with screen sound and its effect. You will apply this knowledge to plan and produce screen sound designs of your own. You will reflect on your creative practices and your production techniques, and assess the effectiveness of the work.
The ability to analyse industry trends to plan, deliver, and reflect on a technology-based audiovisual performance is a key aspect of high-level practice. AUD459 MIDI for Audiovisual Performance enables you to explore various processes through the investigation of successful industry practitioners and consider the relevance of each process to your own practice. You will be introduced to a variety of concepts, tools and practical techniques relevant to audiovisual performance. In particular, you will be analysing the work of industry practitioners to inform the planning and delivery of a live performance that includes various uses of MIDI technology.
The ability to analyse a piece of audio to plan, deliver, and reflect on a mastering task is a key aspect of high-level audio production. This module enables you to explore various processes through the investigation of advanced tools and techniques, and appraise each process in relation to a practical mastering task. You will be introduced to a variety of concepts, tools and practical techniques relevant to audio mastering. In this module, you will learn how to recognise mix issues and plan for solutions to improve audio quality.
This module explores audio production styles through the analysis and practical recreation of three selected sonic characteristics synonymous with a chosen music producer. Through your own creative practice, you will explore the recreation of those sounds using appropriate audio technology.
Interactive audio has various applications, the most notable is video game entertainment software. The design and implementation of interactive audio represent an exciting and challenging field of work in a fast-moving industry. This unit introduces theories, design concepts, and techniques to allow you to develop and implement interactive audio. You will learn how to analyse, create, and then implement interactive audio assets using industry standard tools and workflow.
This module introduces you to the foundations of visual programming in the context of professional audio applications. You will learn the fundamental digital signal processing, interface design, and the visual programming techniques required to develop your own audio-based applications.
Building upon the programming skills developed in AUD462, in this module you will execute a
fully-functional digital emulation of a hardware audio device as a standalone application.
fully-functional digital emulation of a hardware audio device as a standalone application.
The Screenplay document is the ‘blueprint’ for production and caters to the professional needs of all members of the creative team. As such, your screenplay’s story form and structure should be considered and consistent. While different writers employ different methods of generating and developing screen ideas, this module provides industry-based tools for the design of your screenplay document. This unit facilitates the generation of the industry’s first major tool for the creation of your screenplay: the one-page synopsis. By evaluating your story’s scenes and sequences, dramatic ‘units and beats’ will be designed and organised in a logical fashion to accommodate rising stakes. You will explore character and narrative on the basis of your protagonist’s ‘need’ and consequently you will design biographies for two major characters using principles instilled by contemporary screenwriting theorists. In this way, characters and narrative will align to form your story structure. This structural input determines the interrelationship of characters and narrative to create an industry-acceptable synopsis document.
In industry, the screenplay document is formulated from idea to shooting script by patient balance of story, plot and visual design. By consideration of how your story will work rhythmically and as visually rendered artefact, you will create an industry-based treatment on the foundation of your previously constructed synopsis. On the basis of the three-act structure and through careful consideration of your structural wireframe, the crisis-climax of your story is now given dramatic impact through exploration of plot. You will further formulate characters by virtue of their participation in the unfolding plot: their function within the dramatic planning is balanced against the protagonist’s story arc or super-objective. In this way, dramatic beat analysis and implementation shifts and changes according to the effectiveness of the unfolding plot. Having embraced this writer’s journey, the industry-based treatment is formulated.
Producing for Independent Film is designed to give you essential knowledge in relation to how independent films are promoted, exhibited and sold, and how to promote and pitch a film project for sales and producers. Part A of this unit has an emphasis on important fundamentals involved with planning and pitching an independent film including identifying the genre and market, budget considerations and ways of selling an ‘indie’ film. You will consider these elements in relation to both case studies of completed independent works and through your own practice, creating a press release and short trailer for your own screen idea.
Producing for Independent Film is designed to give you essential knowledge in relation to how independent films are promoted, exhibited and sold, and how to promote and pitch a film project for sales and producers. The unit has an emphasis on distribution, sales agents, marketplaces and festivals. You will identify and analyse promotional tools, and create an electronic press kit for an indie film to demonstrate your knowledge of film markets and festivals
Stereoscopic 3-D (S3D has existed as long as moving image, but integration in film language is still in its infancy. Refining the use of S3D requires technical operational skill and creative skills in its application. This unit discusses the concepts, physiology of human vision, physics, and terminologies involved in S3D beyond the basic two-camera orientation in preparation for S3D production unit.
In FLM454 Directing Actors A you will be introduced to a practical framework of script analysis for directors and the theory behind it. Many first time directors are so scared of actors they don’t direct them at all, while the braver ones use ‘result direction’ hoping that the actor will be able to play out the scene as they’d imagined it when reading the script. Neither are ideal ways to engage or earn the trust of professional actors. While there is not one way to direct actors, there is a universal language and set of tools that all professional actors will respond to. This unit will help you understand how actors work and guide you through script analysis and rehearsal processes. You will engage with concepts such as given circumstances, objectives, obstacles, actions and beats in a detailed script analysis process. This work will form the basis of a face to face workshop where you will have the opportunity to rehearse a scene with professional actors.
FLM455 Directing Actors B builds on the scene analysis and rehearsal techniques of Directing Actors A and provides you with the opportunity to move from the rehearsal room to working with actors on set. It provides aspiring directors with the practical skills required to run a successful audition process, and get optimum performances on set in often difficult and high pressured environments. You will engage in audition processes and work on a detailed plan and director’s scene breakdown in preparation for a short studio shoot. You will apply your knowledge of acting theory and performance direction tools in a face to face workshop with professional actors and a crew.
The aim of this unit is to enable you to develop an acute understanding of the social and political impact of authentic storytelling in screen-based documentary through the investigation of the principles of documentary theory and application to your own creative projects.
The aim of this unit is to enable you to gain knowledge about the fundamental forces that determine market success in the screen–based documentary industry through the investigation of the principles of marketing and distribution and application to a strategic documentary marketing and distribution campaign.
This unit focuses on developing innovative online content across different platforms that enrich the viewing experience, engage and retain audiences. By investigating, analysing and understanding a series of outstanding case-studies, this course will give you a keen appreciation of the requirements necessary for multiplatform broadcaster acquisition.
This unit aims to introduce you to industry trends and practices in multimedia screen productions in order to provide you with the insights required for your own creative project development. By analysing a series of case studies, you will understand the intentions of current multiplatfrom productions that are making an impact in the market. With this new knowledge you will be able to ascertain multiplatform interactive assets and speculate on their audience engagement and impact. At successful completion of this course, you will be able to conceive, design and implement an effectual dynamic multiplatform creative campaign bible.
Colour grading is the final key enhancement affecting the visual aesthetic of the filmmaking process. It compliments the cinematography and aids in tying the ‘look’ of the film with the Director’s vision. During this unit you will explore the industry standard theories and techniques on film and media assets to firstly assess, correct, optimise, then enhance before final delivery of the creative output utilising tools built in the software.
In Game Design A, you will be introduced to the concepts, theories, and practical techniques relevant to the design of games. You will be able to discuss the design of games in an analytical capacity, be able to identify different types of game experiences, and you will have a deeper understanding of the videogame industry, surrounding cultures, and the relationship between games and society.
In this unit, you will deepen your understanding of concepts, theories, and practical techniques relevant to the design of video games. You will learn how to pitch and develop a game idea, how to iterate an idea, how to communicate ideas, and how to make a more engaging experience through design principles and game feel.
You will be introduced to a wide variety of concepts, theories and practical techniques relevant to scripting/programming. In this unit, you will learn how to analyse a brief and identify the requirements outlined in the brief. You will learn how to design and then implement a code-based solution to meet those requirements using industry best practices. In implementing the code-based solution you will learn how to extend and combine procedural programming techniques to solve complex problems.
You will be introduced to a wide variety of concepts, theories and practical techniques relevant to scripting/programming. In particular, you will learn to apply industry best practices to the design and development of programs to solve a diverse range of problems. In this unit you will learn object oriented programming techniques and how to apply them to build game systems that can scale from small to medium sized games.
Interactive audio has various applications, the most notable is video game entertainment software. The design and implementation of interactive audio represent an exciting and challenging field of work in a fast-moving industry. This unit introduces theories, design concepts, and techniques to allow you to develop and implement interactive audio. You will learn how to analyse, create, and then implement interactive audio assets using industry standard tools and workflow.
Augmented reality integrates visual information via projection into the world, thus allowing computer graphics to escape the limits of the traditional screen, and users to interact with data in a situated, spatial manner. An emerging technology, it has commercial applications in education, medicine and manufacturing. This unit will introduce the theory and practice of Augmented Reality application development within your existing development practice. A project-based introduction to common code libraries, tracking systems, and gestural control will provide you with a platform to explore potential applications in entertainment and educational games, particularly in the mobile space.
You will be introduced to a variety of concepts, theories and practical techniques relevant to character navigation in games. In this unit you will learn how to design and implement systems to convert a game environment into an alternative representation that is optimised for character navigation. You will learn how to design and implement systems for character avoidance and how to evaluate your solutions. You will also learn how to design and implement solutions to these areas using industry best practices.
You will be introduced to a wide variety of concepts, theories and practical techniques relevant to creating Artificial Intelligence (AI for characters in a game. In particular, you will learn different techniques for creating AI in games and how to select the appropriate technique for your game. In this unit, you will learn how the different AI techniques work, their advantages and limitations, and how to implement them. You will also learn how to estimate player intent and have your characters act based on that estimated intent.
This unit will introduce the theory and practice of Virtual Reality application development within your existing development practice. You will be examining the existing practices, precedents, and frameworks of virtual reality applications. You will devise and develop a project-based prototype application to create a virtual reality environment and experiences. A project-based introduction to common code libraries, tracking systems, and gestural control will provide you with a platform to explore potential applications in immersive entertainment and training simulations.
This unit introduces theories, design concepts, and techniques to allow you to examine and design virtual economic systems in your own games. You will learn how to create, enhance, and adjust the commercial value of digital items in video games in a production context.
Serious Game Design provides students with the processes of directed research, specific to the
Serious Games industry. Topics covered include research techniques, data analysis, game design theory, testing and reporting design and iterative systems planning.
Serious Games industry. Topics covered include research techniques, data analysis, game design theory, testing and reporting design and iterative systems planning.
This unit will focus on the creative application of photogrammetry modeling as an artistic method with broad applications of people working in creative industries. The scope is not limited to a particular application of photogrammetry modeling however will focus on the relevance to the student. Through exploring principles and a range of skills and techniques, you will develop your ability to appropriately select and apply photogrammetry modeling methods applicable to your discipline, skill level and project.
This unit will focus on the creative application of digital painting as an artistic method with broad applications of people working in creative industries. The scope is not limited to a particular application of digital painting however will focus on the relevance to the student. Through exploring principles and a range of skills and techniques, you will develop your ability to appropriately select and apply digital painting methods applicable to their discipline, skill level and project.
The aim of these units is to research and investigate the tools, techniques and technologies required to plan and execute a 3D Printed, Internet Enabled product, destined for the Internet of Things marketplace. With the spread of cheaper and more reliable 3D printers entering the prosumer marketplace, the possibility for prototyping all sorts of 3D printed products is becoming a reality for all. The proliferation of the Internet and the move from IPV4 to IPV6 now allows for more nodes (addresses on the Internet than there are atoms on the surface of the planet. This means that just about everything could be connected to the internet - we call this the Internet of Things (IoT). unit Context With the spread of cheaper and more reliable 3D printers entering the prosumer marketplace, the possibility for prototyping all sorts of 3D printed products is becoming a reality for all. The proliferation of the Internet and the move from IPV4 to IPV6 now allows for more nodes (addresses on the Internet than there are atoms on the surface of the planet. This means that just about everything could be connected to the internet - we call this the Internet of Things (IoT).
CRICOS Course Codes
096594G
Australian Qualifications Framework
AQF LEVEL: 8
FULLY ACCREDITED BY TEQSA
We consult closely with industry professionals so you can expect a course that is highly relevant and equips you with sought-after skills.
Career Outcomes
How will this course help my career?
This qualification will help your career forward and enhance your employment prospects. You’ll create fresh career options, deepen your industry knowledge, and develop your influence and authority within the creative industries.
Student Spotlight
Easy transition into the Master of Creative Industries
SAE courses are structured in an integrated course framework.
This means that when you complete an SAE Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries you will be awarded the maximum credit points available, providing you with the opportunity to seamlessly transition into the Master of Creative Industries qualification if you choose to do so.
Course FAQs
SAE has three intakes per year: February, June and September. Short courses and certificates courses may have different intake timings. View our academic calendar for trimester start dates or contact your campus for further information.
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All SAE HE and VET courses are government accredited. This means that the qualifications you receive upon graduation are recognised all around Australia and internationally.
CREDIT AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING
SAE may recognise your prior learning and may grant credit towards satisfying the requirements for a VET or a higher-level program. This is applied where previous learning is considered equivalent to the content and learning outcomes prescribed for units within the program. For full details, please refer to SAE's policy on recognition of prior learning and credit transfers.
SAE may recognise your prior learning and may grant credit towards satisfying the requirements for a VET or a higher-level program. This is applied where previous learning is considered equivalent to the content and learning outcomes prescribed for units within the program. For full details, please refer to SAE's policy on recognition of prior learning and credit transfers.
