The University of Technology, Sydney took practice-based education one step further by employing students for the production of a new cinema advertising campaign that will be screened from August.

UTS students volunteered as cast and production crew for two commercials developed by Saatchi and Saatchi - one about career options for undergraduates, the other relating to postgraduate students. Both convey the University's commitment to 'Leading Change' and the provision of practice-based education, as a way to attract the 'options generation'.

Student actors and crew studying Media Arts and Production were eager for the chance to gain professional experience. The Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Media Arts and Production) program is one of few undergraduate courses in Australia that teaches 16 mm filmmaking.

Third year student Barnaby Norris was one of two students appointed as Directors of Photography to assist the professional video producer.

Barnaby's crew set up the cameras and lighting for video and still photographic shoots in internal and external locations on the City and Kuring-gai campuses. Since starting his degree, he has produced and directed or crewed on fifteen short films and promotional videos.

"The cinema ad project was invaluable professional experience for me because I want to work in cinematography and to direct for the cinema," Barnaby said.

"I learned a lot about techniques, and how professionals work on location. We also worked with a state-of-the-art high definition video camera, which we don't have at uni."

UTS Executive Director and Vice-President (University Enterprises) Professor Bob Robertson said there was increasing demand among students and employers for university courses to be relevant to the workplace and equip graduates not just with knowledge, but with a working knowledge that would enable them to be highly effective immediately on graduation.

"The cinema advertising campaign was a great opportunity to involve our Media Arts and Production students in learning first-hand what it is like to work on a major project with real budgets and real deadlines," he said.

"All UTS faculties work with business and industry to ensure that our graduates have the edge in a highly competitive world."