Assessing graduate screen production outputs in nineteen ...

eadily do this kind of evaluation. The inability of DEST to evaluate creative works isalso difficult to understand given that screen production academics do not havedifficulties assessing works of their students or their colleagues according to thesame implicit exhibition criteria that are built into the process of production.2.1.12 Exhibitions as Implicit Assessment CriteriaMost screen schools do not set assessment exercises for their graduate students.Most encourage students to produce works that can be exhibited at screen festivals.The high point of every screen production student is the end of the year festivalwhen their films are screened to the public for the very first time. The exhibition andpublication potential of a production is the implicit criteria of assessment used bymost screen production institutions when assessing creative work. For moststudents, the festival selection is considered as a penultimate form of assessment.The implicit publication criteria is evident in the assessment guidelines that areusually given to students. Here is one example:Productions will be assessed according to the following criteria:(i). Overall quality of production [i.e. social impact/force, drama, emotions,entertainment, humour; freshness of style and approach - creativity of thenarrative(s), originality of "voice", implicit or explicit reflexivity; quality of preproductionresearch - validity of the argument presented (if applicable); quality ofimages (cinematography, lighting, colour, composition, set-design); dynamiccharacteristics of images presented (i.e. movement of performers, dynamic playof light and colour, dynamic cinematography); quality of direction, editing,performances; quality of the sound track, music track, special sound effects].(ii). Your individual contribution to the production: Individual mark will be derivedfrom the group mark according to the merits of the individual contribution andparticipation in the total production process. Please note that the group markprovides the baseline for the individual mark and that it is very difficult to get agood individual mark from an inadequate group production. It is everyone'sresponsibility to ensure that the production is of the highest standard possible.Hence you are urged to chose your scripts and crew carefully, as these choicesmay well have a bearing on your final mark. 10The emphasis on the publication status is particularly evident in part (ii) of thisassessment guideline which rewards the overall quality of the production above allother considerations. The effort that goes into the production is of no consequence ifthe production as a whole does not work. Guidelines of this kind are to be found inmost Australian films schools in one form or another. They apply equally to allscreen producers, to staff and students, to undergraduates and postgraduates. Theexistence of such “exhibition” prescriptions, however, does not mean that theprocess of production is not important and is not assessed.2.1.13 Enlightened Assessment ProcessPreparing for the festival selection comes with a series of production deadlines andis bound up with a complex feedback loop between producers and all those thatparticipate in the production process. This gives rise to a most enlightenedassessment process. The feedback that producers receive may come from potentialaudiences, actors, crew, staff, other students, technical staff, other teachers,professionals, documentary subjects, funding agencies and clients. This feedbacktakes place at every stage of the process and is intricately bound up with thelearning process. To a naive observer this arrangement may not seem connected toAssessing graduate screen production outputs in nineteen Australian film schools14