Design Year Overview

Your Training at Toi Whakaari

The Bachelor of Design for Stage and Screen is a new undergraduate degree exclusively aimed at training theatre and film designers.

The three-year, full time programme uses a combination of practical and theoretical studies to encourage originality, experimentation, inquiry and a collaborative approach to design. The course also aims to heighten students’ social and cultural perspectives as creative artists working in the context of New Zealand and the South Pacific.

The Bachelor of Design for Stage and Screen replaces the old Bachelor of Performance Design that Toi Whakaari used to offer in conjunction with Massey University.

Graduates of this course will be equipped to begin careers in design for opera or dance, production design for an emerging film maker, feature film art department roles, prop design, stage design, scenography, costume design for film and live performance, lighting design for performance or events. Graduates could also go on to specialise in exhibition or event design and many other areas where they could use their conceptual and practical skills.

Year One

The first year of the course concentrates on introducing the principles of design and investigating the history and theories essential to an understanding of theatre and performance. The programme introduces the artistic practice of a designer for performance, encouraging research and critical skills and independent learning. Essential practical design skills are learned through developing series of studio projects, including composition, using movement and text as starting points for design, visual communication, construction, and the application of bodies, space and light in design.

Year Two

The second year extends the student’s conceptual, practical and research skills through more complex design projects. Students gain networks in the industry through the School’s employment of block-course tutors, and students’ secondments to professional productions. Designers focus on the working relationships and collaborative creative practices inherent in design for stage and screen. They identify areas of specialisation and advance their knowledge and skills through participation in production projects, supervised research, and industry secondments.  During this year students are integrated into the working process of productions as part of a creative team.

Year Three

The third year is an outward looking year and a preparation for a life-long career. In this year designers consolidate their design practice in relation to the core skills of leadership, creative collaboration, visual and verbal articulation, and management. Students initiate an independent research project and complete a major realised design for either a theatre production or a film.

Check out Hermione Flynn’s experience at the PQ – Prague Quadrennial International Scenographers Exhibition and at the Central St Martins’ College of Fashion and Art.