This course introduces students the field of communication, its diverse areas of study and its fundamental concepts. It will provide a common foundation for students in the School of Communication by presenting a coherent vocabulary for talking about communication and a comprehensive perspective for approaching subsequent courses within the School’s various majors and concentrations. Students will learn how the field of communication relates to public relations, advertising and organizational communication by looking at their communication practices in different context so that students can become more competent and strategic communicators.

This course attempts to introduce students the basic knowledge of visual principles and its cultural and originative contexts. Students will identify visual communication as a form of non-verbal communications. The functions of visual design and its cognitive usage and context will be expressed and analysed. Examples of art and design will be employed to illustrate the different ideas and design approaches.
In addition, students need to study and identify the functions and development of visual practices and technological movement and its applications. This course will also facilitate students to express their own findings through visual studies. Eventually students will be able to appreciate good visual practices and understand the aesthetics of visual communication in our everyday lives.

This course aims to equip students with a solid understanding of major social, cultural, economic and political developments of Hong Kong that are crucial to their work as communication professionals. Students will learn to critically appraise the forces that shaped these developments and the policy dilemmas that beset Hong Kong in the past, present and future.

The 21st century is the age of knowledge society. This is an introductory course to study media management in the era of change. Management cases in news organizations will serve as examples for illustration. The main purpose is to examine and analyse the new challenges being posed by political, economic and technological changes in the new millennium to news media management in Hong Kong as well as in other countries. Through the course, it is hoped that students can have a better understanding of the basic principles of media management in a new media environmental context. The course is divided into four parts. The first lays out the theoretical foundations of media management. The second introduces the changing media environment. The third part is designed to provide students with theories and basic principles of media management. The fourth part is about the important areas of media management activities. The course covers both print and electronic news media.

This course is an introduction to cultural studies. This new area within the discipline of communication brings social and political analysis to the study of communicative practice. The emphasis is on developing sets of concepts which help to understand communicative power, using examples from film, press, television, popular music, fiction, and so forth.

This course introduces students to the implications of the information communication technologies (ICT) for individuals, culture, and society as well as the opportunities and challenges for traditional media practices in the contemporary communication landscape. It develops students’ knowledge of how ICT innovations influence communication processes and challenges students to critically engage with contemporary debates and concepts around the changes brought about by ICT.

This is a fundamental drawing subject in which students will explore various arts and media, learn to use a variety of drawing tools, draw objects in perspective, and generate drawings that demonstrate correct proportions of models. Emphasis is placed on drawing from observation; the application of line/value; understanding of composition principles; the development of a body of original work; recognition of the history and its role in the development of a visual idea.
The course is organized to maximize hands-on experience and will include many in-class exercises, and therefore participation in the weekly classes is very important and will be considered in grading calculations.

3D computer graphics and digital animation have been incorporated into many different forms of digital media and design production among disparate sectors of creative industries. This course is an extension of the foundational knowledge of computer graphics and aims to prepare the students with histories, theories, principles, genres, and practical skills of 3D modelling, texturing and rendering from preproduction, production to postproduction. The students will learn both technically and artistically (1) different methods of geometric modelling—NURBS, polygon and subdivision surfaces; (2) shading and texturing—from surface shading to procedural texturing; and (3) lighting and rendering— lighting and shadows, raytracing and radiosity. Simple animation and camera techniques from keyframing to path animation will be introduced. Eventually, the students should be able to create innovative 3D design from concepts, sketches and storyboards to 3D models and renderings for different kinds of 3D digital visualization and simple animation applicable to film, TV, game, environmental and industrial design, as well as other multimedia productions.

This course aims to introduce students to an understanding of the idea and development of animation. From a historical perspective, the course directs focal attention to the narrative and aesthetic devices particular to the animated works produced by major film studios and independent artists alike. The course also seeks to introduce students to an appreciation of animations produced outside North America, in particular those from Europe, Japan and China. Alongside the understanding of the history, narrative and aesthetics of animation in a transnational framework, equally important to the course are issues of contemporary ideologies, industrial imperatives and evolving technologies that have decisively animated and shaped the genre.

This course introduces the history, language, principles, aesthetics and 3D animation tools used in the creation of animation within the context of art and design. Focus is on understanding the development of animation, the mechanism of animation, and the techniques of 3D animation sufficient to produce projects of merit.
The course is organized to maximize hands-on experience and will include numerous in-class exercises. Because of this, attendance and participation in the weekly classes is extremely important and is considered in grading calculations.

This course focuses on the facial expressions and bodily gestures in character animation for performance and storytelling. The course takes the animation from the level of convincing physicality up to the level of engaging performance with believable characters through the study and applications of animation principles, non-verbal communication, theories of human motivations and emotions. The course will provide a fresh perspective for studying character animation from the technical and communication aspects of animation. Students will learn not only how to animate but also how to deliver the emotions and thoughts of the characters to engage the audience with distinctive personalities and attitudes through rich facial expressions and body gestures.