PRELIMINARY COURSE SYLLABUS, VIDEO PRODUCTION I,
Spring 2009
COURSE TITLE: Video Production I
COURSE NUMBER: 0311 PREREQUISITES: Foundations of Media Design (MEDI 110), Audio Production (MEDI 210) INSTRUCTOR: John Miglietta
OFFICE (Same as Prof. Joel Katz): Fries Hall, MA228
OFFICE HOURS: Thursdays 2-3pm TELEPHONE: (201) 200-2208 - office; (201) 200-3494 department office
E-MAIL ADDRESS: john.miglietta@verizon.net BLOG ADDRESS: http://www.jdmpromedia.blogspot.com/
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Video Production I is an introductory course in the theory and practice of video production. It will emphasize your becoming both a competent technician as well as a thinking producer. Just as important as gaining knowledge of the technology of video is coming to appreciate and use it as a creative and expressive medium. This course includes work in camcorder field production, basic editing, and multi-camera studio production. There will be a variety of assignments and projects, some of which are individual and some of which are group based. You will each keep a journal of written assignments, including your pre-production preparation, production notes, and evaluations of your work; your critical reactions to screenings, readings, and your classmates' works.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
a) To Access Your Own Creative And Directorial "Voice" In Video. To learn more about your creative capacities, personal sources of creativity, interests and inspirations.b) To Improve Your Ability To Tell Stories. To learn the translation skills to bring your ideas out from your head and onto the screen.c) To Expand your Skills Working with Audio as an Element of Media.d) To Explore A Variety Of Working Styles. Individual/collaborative, long term/short term, subjective/objective, conventional/experimental.e) To Develop Your Critical Perspectives And Vocabulary. To cultivate a deeper level of engagement and a language of critique in viewing media.f) To Learn The Technical Fundamentals Of Video. Learning how to operate and apply technology to your aesthetic ends in a capable and creative manner. g) To Gauge Your Relationship To Technology. Help you understand your strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes in working with the medium, and to help you plan your future accordingly.h) To Learn The History Of The Video Medium. To learn the technical and aesthetic history of television and independent video production.i) To Improve Your Level of Media Literacy. Learn to read the values and messages embedded in media.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES:
Guidelines for All Production Assignments:1) Plan carefully and get started early. There is no better teacher than experience, and the more time you spend shooting and editing, the better you will become at it.2) The exact length of your piece does not matter. Some projects might be only a few minutes; others ten, fifteen, or longer. Make your project the length that works best for it on its own terms.3) Carefully consider your sound design. If you want to make a silent piece, make this a deliberate decision before going into production. If using sound, do not shoot and edit for picture only and then add a soundtrack as an afterthought. Consider sound an integral design element of the piece. In all sound pieces, you MUST include some audio that you have recorded yourself. Pieces with a music-only soundtrack will not be accepted.4) Let mistakes be your teacher. There is no better opportunity to learn from your mistakes than while in school. Often one makes exciting discoveries through mistakes. Keep your eyes and ears open!
Projects and Assignments:
"Video Haiku." Haiku is an ancient form of Japanese poetry that is still very much alive today. Classically the haiku is a short poem based on a 3 line, 17-syllable structure: the first line has five syllables, the second seven, and third five. (see additional information in reading packet). For this assignment you will each create a visual interpretation of a haiku in video. You can write your own Haiku, or you can use one you find through another source. Your video should include the text of the haiku either as voice, on-screen text, or some combination of these.On-Line Haiku Resources:The Genuine Haiku Generator
Internet School Library Media Center haiku page
Wikipedia haiku page
"Aha! poetry": Jane Reichhold's website with essays on and examples of haiku and related form Haiku for People .
The department has digital camcorders available for shooting these projects. NOTE: REPLACEMENT OR REPAIR OF DEPARTMENT'S EQUIPMENT WILL BE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. We will be going over their use and operation in class. If you own or have access to another camcorder, you may use that instead. Our edit rooms are set up to work with mini-DV tapes – if your own camcorder is of a different format, you will have to transfer your tapes to mini-DV in order to edit them here. You are encouraged to start shooting your project as soon as possible, and to share equipment and help crew for each other.
“Memory and Remembrance”. "I remember that I have remembered the same thing an untold number of times already." — J.L. Borges. In this assignment you will create a short video piece dealing with the theme of memory, a concept artists have addressed for centuries. How you approach this theme is very much open to your own interpretation: you may use an experimental, documentary, or narrative approach, or some combination of these genres. Your tone can be poetic, serious, comedic, or farcical. A useful website to consult about artists’ work with memory is PBS's "Art:21" You may work alone or with a partner; in special cases even a trio, but this will require prior approval. You must develop a proposal and shooting script before beginning to film – more information about this below.
Editing Tutorials: Through both in-class instruction and a series of outside-of-class tutorials, you will learn to use Final Cut Pro editing software. There will be a series of four required outside lab sessions taught by student assistants. These sessions will be offered several times each week to keep the group sizes small and accommodate your varied schedules. Tutorials will begin around the third week of the semester. I will pass out a sheet asking about your schedule and availability. A very good on-line manual and tutorial for Final Cut is also available on-line.
Studio Production:During the last half of the semester we will be creating multi-camera, live-to-tape studio productions on a weekly basis. Productions may be originally written or be adapted to the screen from a previously written work. In all cases, your script must be submitted to the professor for approval prior to the production date. The creative realization of each project will be in the hands of a team of two to three students; the technical realization of the production is in the hands of the entire class. Each person in the class is required to be part of the creative team on at least one studio production.Studio production is a very team based effort and it requires a lot of cooperation, patience, and respect to operate smoothly. If you are going to be late or unable to show up for a job position for which you have signed on for, please leave a message on my Cell phone (607-437-0347). It is expected that at all times you will demonstrate professionalism working on each other’s productions and in your use of equipment. Food or open beverages are not permitted in the studio.Several days before the day of your production you should schedule a brief meeting with me to review your preparations (my office hours are listed above; just before class is also often a good time). Doing a rehearsal with your crew before the day of your shoot is always a good idea. The studio is available for you to work or rehearse in on the same basis as all other equipment in the building (sign up at Central for three hour blocks). You are required to work in each of the studio job positions at least once (some jobs twice) during the semester. A listing of these jobs and a schedule of upcoming productions will be posted in the studio at all times. There are two sections of this class; you may work as crew on the other section’s productions to fulfill this requirement.
Journal/Production Books:You are required to keep a journal/production book for this class. You should use a 3-ring bound notebook. In it you will record your reactions to various screenings and readings for the class, and keep your written proposals for your projects and your evaluations of your own and your classmate's work. I will let you know when I would like you to write an entry.Written assignments can be placed in my mailbox (TBD ???) or sent through e-mail. Try to get assignments to me before the next class so I can provide you feedback more expediently.
Grading is based on the following:• Video Haiku 10%• Written treatment for “Memory and Remembrance” project 10%• “Memory and Remembrance” – Rough Cut 10%• “Memory and Remembrance” – Fine Cut 20%• Written treatment/preparation for your Studio project 10%• Studio production 25%• Journal/production book - mid term 10%• Journal/production book - end of term 5%. TOTAL 100%
Recommened Resources: For Video Production Essentials, we'll be working with content on the following site: http://www.cybercollege.com/
Other useful Production & Post-Production texts:
Video Basics 5 by Herbert Zettl (copy available from Central for in-house loan; available for purchase at the campus bookstore). The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5, by Rick Young (a very good small volume, $25)Final Cut Pro for OSX by Lisa Brennis (a more comprehensive hardcover volume, $30)Single Camera Video Production, by Robert Musburger. Published 1999 by Butterworth-Heinemann (available in the campus bookstore, $25)Basic TV Technology, by Robert Hartwig, Focal Press99 Film Scenes for Actors, edited by Angela Nicholas, 1999, Avon Books (copy available from Central for in-house loan) Duo! Best Scenes for the ‘90’s, edited by John Horvath, Lavonne Mueller, & Jack Temchin, 1995, Applause Books
Thursday Section-- weekly calendar
COURSE MEETS: Fries Hall Rm. 118, Thursdays 9am-11:50am; 3 pm-5:50 PM REFERENCE NUMBER: 3140 (?) To view complete course description and calendar as printable PDF file: (Link will be posted) .
WEEK-BY-WEEK CALENDAR:
Week 1: January 22nd• Course introduction• screenings: to be announced• introduction of the Video Haiku Assignment.
Readings: “Toward an Impure Poetry”, (tentative) essay by Pablo Neruda. Write a reaction in your production journal.
Assignments:1) Write a one to two page statement listing a) your strengths as a media producer b) your weaknesses as a media producer c) what you hope to get from this class.2) Find or write a haiku that you will interpret in video.______________________________________________________
Week 2: January 29• Introduction to camcorders, microphones, and sound recording.• the history of television technology. Readings from http://www.cybercollege.com/ website TBA
on microphones: http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp038.htm
on cameras: http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp017.htm
& http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp017-2.htm
on the Production Process: http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp004.htm
on the Production Team: http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp001.htm &
http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp001-2.htm
(or textbook by Zettl: “Putting it All Together: Directing”; “The Production Process”, “The Production Team”, Zettl). • study the Audio Technica microphone technology website
• “Film vs. Video”• “Hearing” excerpt from chapter of A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman.Write reactions to the two articles in your production journals.______________________________________________________
Week 3: February 5 : Introduction to Final Cut Pro editing software.
Editing tutorials begin the week of February 9th. Bring your Video Haiku footage with you to your tutorial section.•
Start with: above-mentioned good on-line reference manual and tutorial for Final Cut.
And Andrew Balis' article
And:(see link for Keyboard Shortcuts)
Readings from The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5, by Rick Young (a very good small volume, $25-TBA
Assignment Readings from:• Thames and Hudson Manual of Film Editing (excerpt)• "On Directing" by David Mamet. Write reactions to the articles in your production journals.______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Week 4: February 12
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY BUT THERE WILL BE CLASS...
• Final Cut Pro, continued. Remember, The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 (or 5)by Rick Young is recommended...
Here's the Tutorial schedule:
Final Cut:
Tutor - Jim Foote - Mon. 10am-noon
Karla Watkins
Kevin Muraca
Camalisa White
Chidinman (Cynthia) Emenike
Tutor – Charles Hunter – Mon. 2-5pm
Kerrie Young
Danielle Cummings
Francis Andal
Ann Marie Kaczka
Tutor – Patrick Calero - Tues 1-3pm
Jennifer Medina
Darnella Guions
Edgar Rivera
Tutor – Patrick Calero - Tues 3– 5pm
Michael Donnelly
Anthony Gerace
Antonio Pineiro
Tutor – Chris Camejo – Tues 7-9pm
John Klimcsak
Elena Cintron
Tutor – Chris Camejo – Weds. 12-2pm
Mirna Benitez
Alexander DeBenedetto
Tutor – Chris Camejo – Weds. 7-9pm
Mercy L. Smith
Jason Papa
Gus Marquez
Tutor - Jim Foote - Weds. Noon-2pm
Adam Hindi
Brandon Vega
Jan Aguilos
Tutor - Chris Camejo - Fri. 1-3pm
Shawn Norbert
Melody Araujo
Shyrone Scriven
• How television works: the video signal. Video formats and signal flow. More information and helpful animations can be found at Stephen Zinn's website.
(or textbook: “Image Formation and Digital Video”; “The Video Camera”;; “Operating the Camera” and “Looking Through the Viewfinder”, “Video Recording” (chapters 3-6 and 11, Zettl). Also:
Assignment Readings:
• excerpts from In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch
• excerpt from In Search of Memory by Eric Kandel
Write reactions to these articles in your production journals.
____________________________________________________
Week 5: February 19th
"Take A Deep Breath" Class. Assessment of needs of individual projects, review of technical issues. Individualized assignments given. Bring your production journals for instructor review. You'll be turning in the journals for grading week 9.
Group assignment: read this interview between anarchist and writer Derrick Jensen and media scholar and social critic George Gerbner. It's pretty long, you have 2 weeks to write a response.
____________________________________________________
Week 6: February 26th• screening of Video Haikus
• discussion of readings
• Intro to the “Memory and Remembrance” project. "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." -- William Faulker
• screening: “Passing” by Kym Ragusa.
In-class reading: La Memoria, poem by Pablo Neruda
assignment: You will prepare a written shooting script for the “Memory and Remembrance” assignment. At minimum, make a list of images, shots, music, sounds, and words you plan to use in your piece; if you would like to draw a storyboard, do so. The schedule for completion of these pieces will be as follows:
First draft shooting script due: Can be e-mailed to me week of March 12 or brought to class March 19
Final draft of shooting script due: March 26
Rough cut screening: April 16
Fine Cut screening: May 7
Readings:
• “ Video Black: The Mortality of the Image by Bill Viola
• “ Video Art ” chapter.
Write reactions to these articles in your production journals.
____________________________________________________
Week 7: March 5
• Discussion of Viola and Video Art readings
• Video Art: a brief history
A few web resources on video art include:
Video Data Bank
Electronic Arts Intermix
http://www.videoart.net/
UbuWeb (archive of classic experimental films)
• Final Cut Pro: class editing exercise
Basic lighting exercise in the Studio
readings:
“Directors in Jeopardy”, chapter from Directing Actors by Judith Weston
“Lighting for Video” by Blain Brown
Write reactions to these articles in your production journals.
______________________________________________________
Week 8: March 12
NOTE: THERE IS NO CLASS TODAY BECAUSE OF SPRING BREAK. JOURNALS WILL BE COLLECTED NEXT WEEK. THEY SHOULD INCLUDE REACTION TO ARTICLE BY CHARLES KAISER BELOW:
• Bringing it All Back Home, introduction to 1968 in America, by Charles Kaiser
______________________________________________________
Week 9: March 19th
• Introduction to studio production: job descriptions, communications, the studio switcher, wave form monitor and vectorscope, Studio Lighting, Audio, Safety. Basic studio terminology. Studio production proposals and script formats.
• studio exercise: "The Exquisite Corpse"
• First draft of “Memory and Remembrance” Script due
• mid-term collection of Production Journals. Journals should include:
- Strengths/Weaknesses statement
- reactions to weekly readings, as indicated in the blog above.
- Final draft of Memory and Remembrance Proposals. The components of your proposal are 1) a one or two paragraph Synopsis 2) A detailed prose Treatment or a Two-Column Audio/
Video Script 3) a summary of location(s), actor(s), or special equipment needed, and 4) a production and post-production timeline.
Readings:
• Tips on Proposal Writing
• ITVS: Writing a Better Treatment
• Shooting & Editing Sequences; Shot Abbreviations; The Audio/Visual Script
______________________________________________________
Week 10: March 26 •
Television studio exercise: "The Conversation"
Scheduling of Studio Production projects for the rest of the semester. You must turn in a preliminary draft of your proposal for Studio Production two weeks before your production date; the final draft of your Studio Production proposal is due the week before the date of your studio production. You may collaborate with one or two other classmates on your Studio Production. Creative and organizational responsibility should be shared equally. On the day of the production, one should be Director, one Technical Director, and if there is a third collaborator, she/he should be Floor Manager. After your Studio Production is completed, write an evaluation of it in your Production Journal.
• the character generator
• luminance keying and chroma-keying
• audio mixing
See:Readings from Zettl text:
“Graphics and Effects”, “Switcher and Switching”; “Light, Color, and Lighting”; “Audio and Sound Control” (chapters 7-10, Zettl)
Reading: "The Dramatic Scene"
Write a reaction in your production journal.
______________________________________________________
Week 11: April 2
Studio Production #1
_____________________________________________________
Week 12: April 9
Studio Production Day #2
______________________________________________________
Week 13: April 16 • review of studio productions
• screening of Rough Cuts of “Memory and Remembrance” projects
Following are some on-line guides for finishing projects in Final Cut Pro, from Ken Stone's website:
Working with Audio in the Timeline
Color Correction
______________________________________________________
Week 14: April 23
Studio Production Day #3
Reading: Becoming Screen Literate , from the N.Y. Times, 11/23/08. Write a reaction in your production journal.
______________________________________________________
Week 15: April 30
Studio Production Day #4
______________________________________________________
Week 16: May 7 FINAL EXAM WEEK
We will meet at our usual time and place for screenings of completed “Memory and Remembrance” projects. Include self-evaluations of your “Memory and Remembrance” and your Studio Production in your Production Journal, which is due today. Your Production Journal should also include a brief revisitation of your "Strengths and Weaknesses" essay. Has anything shifted or changed?
Monday, January 19, 2009
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