CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media: This Is Where Serious Artists Train
Some people do makeup. Society Artists do something else entirely.
They step onto film sets with confidence. They build prosthetics from scratch. They transform a human face into a character that makes audiences believe in something that does not exist. They work under pressure, deliver under lights and leave every job with a portfolio piece worth showing.
If that is the kind of artist you want to become, the CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media (Specialist Make-up Services) at The Art of Makeup Society on the Sunshine Coast is exactly where you need to be.
This Course Is a Career Launcher.
The Diploma of Screen and Media is the qualification that takes you from skilled to industry-ready. It is designed for creatives who are serious about working at the highest level of the makeup profession — in film, television, theatre, editorial, fashion and special effects.
Where the SHB30221 Certificate III in Make-up opens the door to professional artistry, the Diploma blows it wide open. This is advanced training. Specialist training. The kind of training that puts you in rooms most makeup artists never get into.
At The Art of Makeup Society we do not dilute this program with irrelevant content. Every unit, every project and every hour in our Sunshine Coast studio exists for one reason — to make you a formidable, versatile, thoroughly prepared screen and media makeup artist.
What You Will Learn & Why It Changes Everything !
The CUA51020 covers the full spectrum of professional screen and media makeup across 14 specialist units. Here is what that actually looks like in practice.
You will learn to design and apply makeup for screen productions, the kind of work that holds up under HD cameras, reads from the back row of a theatre and stays consistent across a full day of filming. You will study continuity, which is one of the most technically demanding and critically important skills on any production set, making sure characters look identical from scene to scene regardless of how long shooting takes.
You will go deep into specialised makeup and advanced SPFX, scars, wounds, ageing, illness, prosthetic appliances, character transformation and special effects items built from scratch. Sculpting. Moulding. Silicone. The technical, hands-on, gloriously messy work that separates SPFX artists from everyone else.
You will learn hair styling for productions, creating looks for film, television and live entertainment that meet the demands of a director’s brief. You will study remedial camouflage and photography makeup. You will develop your own creative practice, learn how to present your work professionally and understand how to build a sustainable freelance career in the industry.
You will also take on real creative projects, designing and executing makeup work of your own choosing, developing your artistic voice and building the kind of portfolio that gets you noticed.
Every skill is relevant. Every technique has a purpose. Nothing is filler.
Boutique Training. Uncompromising Standards.
The Diploma runs three days per week face to face — Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9am to 4pm — with consolidated learning and self-study throughout the week. Total nominal hours are 867 across 34 weeks, with intakes in January and July each year.
Class sizes are deliberately small. That means direct mentoring from senior working artists, real-time correction and feedback, and the kind of individual attention that simply does not exist in larger training environments. You are seen here. You are invested in.
Our Sunshine Coast studio is purpose-built for this kind of training — a professional makeup space, a dedicated SPFX room where the real magic happens and a learning environment designed to inspire the standard of work we expect from every student who walks through the door.
From Our Studio to Real Sets
Here is what genuinely sets The Art of Makeup Society apart from anywhere else you could study this qualification on the Sunshine Coast or in Queensland.
Our students work on real productions while they study.
Through our connections with local film productions, screen collectives, acting schools and creative industry partners, Diploma students are given opportunities to step off campus and onto actual sets. Real film projects. Real productions. Real environments where briefs are tight, timelines are real and the standard expected of you is professional.
This is not work experience in the traditional sense. It is not shadowing someone and watching from the corner. Our students contribute. They work. They build their portfolios with content that came from genuine production environments, not staged classroom simulations.
By the time you graduate you will have worked under real conditions, alongside real industry professionals, on projects that you can show a director or producer with complete confidence. That is the difference between a graduate and a Society Artist.
The Next Step After the Diploma
Graduates of the CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media go on to work across film and television production, theatre, editorial campaigns, fashion weeks, bridal and events, SPFX studios and beyond. The qualification is nationally recognised under the Australian Qualifications Framework and respected across the industry.
Not quite ready for the Diploma yet? Start with our SHB30221 Certificate III in Make-up and build your foundations first. Or come and experience our studio through one of our SPFX workshops or short courses before you commit.
2027 Intakes Now Open
Places in the Diploma are limited and fill quickly. If you are ready to train at the highest level, to work on real productions and to graduate as a Society Artist, now is the time.
Explore the CUA51020 Diploma of Screen and Media and secure your place in our Jan 2027 intake.
This is where serious artists train. Come and join them.
