PSC launches future-focused Bachelor of Screen Media

Southbank News sat down with course convenor Nic Kocher at Photography Studies College (PSC) to discuss his new Bachelor of Screen Media course.

With nearly 15 years of teaching experience at PSC, Nic’s expertise in editorial photography has played a key role in shaping the learning journey of many students.

“I worked at The Age newspaper for a long time as a photographer, then I went freelance and did more magazine work,” he said.

“I also worked on movies – the biggest and longest movie I worked on was Mary and Max by Adam Elliott.”

Recognising the evolving media landscape, PSC’s new Bachelor of Screen Media is designed to equip students with the skills needed to thrive in this digital era.

The course offers a multidisciplinary approach, preparing students for various roles in media. 

Whether you aspire to direct, write, edit, or produce, you’ll gain hands-on experience across the full spectrum of media creation.

“We’re building on PSC’s 50 years of experience with photography, and broadening that out to screen media,” Nic told Southbank News.

The program runs across six tiers, or semesters. The first two focus on covering essential skills such as shooting, scriptwriting, audio production, post-production, editing tools, and special effects.

Tiers three and four, known as “labs,” emphasise practical, studio-based learning. 

Students will explore AI-generated imagery and video, virtual reality, digital art, community-based projects, and even DJing.

“We’re actually embedding AI into pretty much every subject, which is interesting because it’s quite controversial,” Nic said.

“We’re going to be having AI literacy in all our subjects, and teach students how to ask the right questions and how to collaborate with AI – which is exciting because students can do much bigger, grander projects.”

“The scope of their work can increase a lot more than just doing stuff by themselves, we’re hoping students can even make feature length movies which has never been done before,” he said.

The final tiers focus on industry preparation. Students will develop a major project, specialising in either an artistic or commercial field of study.

“We’ve just found in the more digital age that screen-based media is becoming a huge part of the conversation. We saw there was a need for us to give that to students and convergence these two industries,” Nic said.

The course is set to launch in the coming months, with the first student intake beginning in the second half of the year.

Nic and the PSC team hope this program will “prepare students for the future” and inspire them to embrace new technology.

“I love being on the cutting-edge of this technology. When you teach, you really need to be five years ahead of industry because students do the course, they graduate, and then they go out into industry - we need to think about what’s going to be happening in the future,” Nic said.

“I just really like interacting with the students. They give me a lot of energy and ideas, and it’s nice to see them flourish and grow.” •