Task 3: Curriculum-aligned design

 

A learning experience for Years 7–8 Media Arts, centred around the ACMI Beings: The Art of Play learning resource. It combines imaginative creati, teamwork in media production, and thoughtful analysis, fostering both the “student as artist” and “student as audience” perspectives within the framework of experimental media arts practice.

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Title: Playable Portraits: Designing experimental media characters

Target Level: Years 7–8 (Media Arts)

Duration: Two double periods (or 3–4 50-minute lessons)]Resource Selected:

Beings Learning Resource: The Art of Play

https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/beings-learning-resource/

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Reasoning for resource use:

This resource originates from ACMI’s Beings installation, which delves into interactive media, character design, and emergent play. It is captivating, thought-provoking, and fosters creative, cross-disciplinary investigation. This resource is designed to enhance media production and responsive interpretation, making it perfect for delving into symbolic meaning, engaging with audiences, and crafting digital narratives. 

It also connects with Media Arts concepts like representation, audience, and technical elements (movement, gesture, digital composition), which are central to the curriculum at this level.

 

Curriculum Alignment (Australian Curriculum: Media Arts):

• ACAMAM065: Develop skills with media technologies to shape movement, lighting, and composition

• ACAMAM066: Organise ideas using story principles and media conventions

• ACAMAM067: Develop representations reflecting cultural and personal values

• ACAMAR071: Analyse how technical and symbolic elements create meaning and influence audience engagement

 

 

Learning Objectives:

• Use symbolic and technical elements to design a digital character

• Explore how play and interactivity influence media narratives

• Respond to peer artworks through the lens of intention, audience, and emotion

• Experiment with movement and gesture as storytelling devices

 

Workshop Structure:

 

1. Exploration (Lesson 1)

• Introduce Beings and view videos/images from the installation

• Group discussion: What makes a character feel “alive”? How do we interact with media characters?

• The group member to write brainstorming about feeling ‘alive’ on the blank A4 paper.

 

• The class sharing the words from each brainstorming. 

 

 

2. Ideation & Sketching (Lesson 2)

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• Students engage in discussions about concepts for sketching a symbolic image

   Inspired by the words generated during brainstorming. 

 

• Students design their own “Being” – an abstract or symbolic media character

• Focus on gestures, sounds, reactions to audience movement (via storyboard, script, or moodboard)

 

3. Creation (Lesson 3)

• Students use animation, video, or stop-motion tools (e.g. Flipaclip, Stop Motion Studio, Canva video editor) to bring their Being to life.

• Students create their own sounds and develop the sound effects. 

• Record sound effects or voice to give the character identity

 

 

 

4. Gallery Walk & Responding (Lesson 4)

• Screen the artworks in a classroom gallery format

• Peer feedback using guided prompts (e.g. “What mood did this character give you?”, “How did the movement or sound affect your interpretation?”)

 

Pedagogical Strategies:

• Arts-based inquiry: Emphasises the process of exploration, reflection, and invention

• Collaborative creation: Promotes teamwork, role-play, and shared vision

• Embodied learning: Students explore ideas through movement, gesture, and sound

• Multimodal storytelling: Encourages blending of image, sound, and interaction

• Formative feedback and audience response: Supports identity development and critical literacy

 

What Students Will Achieve Using This Resource (Years 7–8)

 

This learning experience empowers students to explore identity, creativity, and representation through experimental, interactive storytelling. It supports making through production and responding through peer critique and self-reflection. It positions students as both creators of meaning and interpreters of others’ work, deepening their understanding of the role media plays in shaping narratives and emotions.

 

This experience allows students to create, analyse, and evaluate media works in authentic ways. It connects technical skills with storytelling, fosters reflective practice, and builds understanding of audience impact, essential elements of Media Arts education. It honours students as both makers and interpreters of meaning.