Evolving Modes of Screen Production – The AI Workshop

Summary of Activity

Evolving Modes of Screen Production is a third-year communications course I developed to support students in exploring novel, non-traditional ways of telling stories through the screen. The course is workshop-based and practice-led, with a strong emphasis on experimentation, critical reflection, and social relevance. At its core, it encourages students to push beyond conventional production modes, embracing emerging technologies and platforms while remaining grounded in ethical, collaborative, and culturally responsive practice.

Each week, students are introduced to a different approach to screen storytelling that expands their creative and critical vocabulary — including projection art, interactive forms, social media storytelling, AI, and poetic or performative screen modes.

Workshops begin with provocations such as screenings, short readings, creative challenges, or guest contributions, followed by hands-on making. Every week, students create a short work in 90 minutes in response to a theme or constraint, enabling rapid skill development and playful exploration.

The course is underpinned by the idea that screen work can—and should—respond meaningfully to the world students inhabit. From the outset, we ask: What stories matter to you? What issues do you want to explore through screen practice? In this way, the course centres the lived experience of the cohort and fosters an ethos of social impact. Many students choose to focus on identity, connection, mental health, cultural heritage, and climate-related themes in their work.

Challenges Faced

One of the most compelling and complex components of the course was the workshop on artificial intelligence. This session began with an avatar I created to introduce the topic and spark discussion. We viewed short AI-generated films and unpacked the ethical concerns and aesthetic potentials of using AI in creative practice. Key discussion points included questions of authorship, environmental impact, Indigenous data sovereignty, and the place of the human touch in creative work.

Students then experimented with a range of AI tools and were invited to create a short work inspired by a Māori proverb or whakataukī on the theme of connection. This task encouraged them to blend cultural depth with emerging technologies and to reflect critically on what it means to collaborate with non-human systems in the creative process. While some students expressed unease about AI as a creative partner—particularly given their aspirations to work in a screen industry where AI is contentious—others embraced the opportunity to experiment. Several students went on to use AI-generated imagery or sound in their final projects, crafting poetic, emotionally resonant works that combined technical innovation with meaningful storytelling.

As the course designer and facilitator, I shared many of the same reservations raised by students, especially regarding the environmental cost of AI and the risk of losing the individual’s creative fingerprint in generative processes. However, I was impressed by the sensitivity and care with which students approached these tools. Rather than using AI for convenience, they engaged with it critically, using it to extend their ideas, test boundaries, and create hybrid forms that often surprised them—and me.

Outcomes & Impact

Overall, Evolving Modes of Screen Production supports students to become adaptive, thoughtful, and ethically engaged screen practitioners. The structure of the course allows for progressive learning and increasing creative independence. Through both individual and group projects, students are challenged to think deeply about the evolving language of screen media, and their role in shaping its future.

Reflection & the Future

As screen technologies and storytelling modes continue to evolve, this course positions students to engage meaningfully with the changing landscape of media production. Looking ahead, Evolving Modes of Screen Production will continue to adapt in response to emerging tools, ethical debates, and cultural shifts. The course is designed not only to build technical and creative capacity, but to foster critical makers who can question, shape, and contribute to the future of screen media. It aims to cultivate graduates who are not only technically agile but also socially conscious, able to navigate—and influence—the dynamic intersections of technology, culture, and creative practice.