Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance)
National Institute of Dramatic art
Courses included
This course has been cancelled
About
This immersive course focuses on both stage and screen design.
You will learn to create sets, costumes, properties and lighting for live and film productions. With small groups and high levels of individual tuition you will develop your design skills in professional student studios, theatres and workshops. You will learn through practice-based learning and intellectual enquiry.
This course will equip you with technical skills such as rendering, virtual visualisation techniques, manual drafting, computer-aided drafting, drawing and pre-visualisation. You will extend your creative tool-kit by investigating the social, historical and cultural contexts of contemporary performance, design, architecture, fashion and art.
Throughout your degree, you will take your skills from the studio all the way to a final completed work, applying learning as a key member of an extensive creative and collaborative team. You will create designs for live productions, short films, music videos, devised works, installations and industry collaborations.
In your final year, you will be placed with a design professional and professional arts company. You will leave NIDA with a robust skillset, valuable industry connections and confidence about your future in stage and screen design.
Areas of study
Architecture and design, colour theory, computer-aided drafting (CAD) and life drawing and pre-visualisation, costumes, design for sets, historical and cultural contexts informing contemporary art, lighting theory, manual drafting, model-making, properties and lighting, rendering, social, the history of costume and clothing, virtual visualisation techniques.
Career opportunities
Designer of set, production, costume, lighting, video and properties, art director or design educator in the arts, entertainment and creative industries, including traditional performance (film, TV, theatre, opera, dance), digital (film, screen, video, game design), immersive theatre and events.
Practical experience
Final-year students undertake an industry placement, during which they are linked to a professional designer who acts as a mentor while the student observes their process of working within a major performing arts organisation or similar area.
Fees and charges
Refer to NIDA current fee information.
Admission criteria
Interview: All applicants must participate in an interview and are required to produce a course-specific response to a text and/or a brief demonstrating specific attributes relevant to the course.
Applicants are encouraged to show a portfolio of their existing work during the interview.
Applicants for some courses must complete a course questionnaire in advance of the interview. The questionnaire and detailed project information is available on the NIDA website.
We select students who:
- demonstrate commitment, motivation and passion in relation to the arts, entertainment and related industries, to their chosen discipline, and to the course of study
- provide evidence of their capacity to work creatively and imaginatively
- demonstrate an aptitude to collaborate with peers as part of a creative process
- demonstrate a range of knowledge, skills, technical abilities and/or problem-solving techniques relevant to their discipline
- demonstrate cultural and contextual awareness
- articulate and communicate ideas clearly.
Further information
ATAR profile
ATAR-based offers only (semester 1, 2021)
Use all ATAR profile data as a guide only; it provides a broad overview of the ATARs and selection ranks of previous Year 12 students admitted into that course. ATARs and selection ranks required for entry in 2020 may be different. If you are unsure about including a course among your preferences, contact the relevant institution.
- This ATAR profile table is in line with Commonwealth Government transparency requirements. It is based on offers to recent school leavers (ie completed Year 12 in the last 2 years) who were selected solely or partly on their ATAR. Note that some institutions further differentiate this information on their websites.
- The ATAR values exclude any adjustment factors.
- The selection ranks include the ATAR and any adjustment factors.
Abbreviations
– = data is not available.<5 = less than 5 ATAR-based offers were made.
N/A = no offers were made on the basis of ATAR.
NC = new course
NP = Not provided by institution
NR = No reportable profile
NS = No Semester 1 offers
NN = Unavailable (other)
NO = Entry on other criteria