Course Structure Overview
The information below will give you some sense of the reading, writing, and creative work you will be engaged with during each portion of the semester.
module 01:: weeks 01-05
some basics
learning goals :: topics
. Lots of introductions: Mac laptops, electronic journals, camcorders, iMovie.
. Literacy, visual literacy, semiotics (remember, basic).
. Thinking, creating, making.
. Seeing, hearing, paying attention.
. Video as a language for expression and communication. Exploring content selection, sequence, and timing as variables in the authoring process.
readings :: electronic reserves
creativity
“I Walk into a White Room”, Twyla Tharp
“Rituals of Preparation”, Twyla Tharp
“Your Creative DNA”, Twyla Tharp
“Before You Can Think Out of the Box, You Have To Start With a Box”, Twyla Tharp
“Scratching”, Twyla Tharp
visual literacy + semiotics
“The Vocabulary of Comics”, Scott McCloud
narrative
“The Significance of Film Form”, David Boardwell
journals
Your instructor will give you all the information necessary for creating your electronic journal.
Journal entries and directed writing for this module will focus heavily on two issues:
creativity :: developing creative habits + methods
Directed writing assignments will be closely linked with the Twyla Tharp readings above. They are excerpted from a book titled The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life. It includes a number of writing exercises that will be used in this course.
paying atttention :: hunting + gathering
This is closely related to creativity. As part of your journal work you will be expected, everyday, to post a journal entry called 10 Things I Saw Today. This list can be text, still images (ala your cellphone even), and/or short video clips. You are encouraged to mix it up and use multiple inscription technologies to record and collect what you see, hear, and experience. What do you pay attention to? What draws your interest? What is memorable? What are you missing?
video exercises
This module incorporates two exercises, project 1 & project 2 (see project links for details) intended to give you an easy entry-point into video production, and to provide the class with an opportunity to explore some basic aspects of communicating in a time-based medium.
_________
module 02:: weeks 06-09
the art of the real
learning goals :: activities
Video as a research tool: searching and exploring, hunting and gathering. The art of the interview. Making direct contact with your subject. Improvisation (being prepared, but thinking on your feet) and rehearsal (rough cuts and multiple drafts). Rehearsing effective creative video production: pre-production (reflecting, brainstorming, and research), production (conceptualizing, storyboards, shot lists, shooting footage), post-production (logging raw footage, paper edits, rough cuts), and presentation (critique, analysis, more reflection, finding an audience).
readings :: electronic reserves
documentary
“Writing a Documentary”, Barry Hampe
“Making Analogs of Reality”, Barry Hampe
“Visual Evidence”, Barry Hampe
“Recording Visual Evidence”, Barry Hampe
“The Documentary Interview”, Barry Hampe
“Reassemblage”, Barry Hampe
audio
“Sound in the Cinema”, David Boardwell
“Editing with Sound”, Russell Evans
journals
Directed writing assignments will focus on the idea of creative inquiry and method, and will revolve around a four-stage video production process. Section instructors will rely heavily on a common production journaling template to assign specific writing prompts.
video project
This module incorporates project 3 (see project links for details), which is longer, more complex, and more intentional.
_________
module 03:: weeks 10-15
this I believe
learning goals :: activities
This last course module is intended to, first, engage you in some self-reflection about your basic beliefs and values. Secondly, you will be encouraged to use this self-knowledge as a springboard to developing a third video project that is somehow grounded in your personal belief system, engaging with your thoughts on broader philosophical, political, and/or civic issues.
Manifestos. Self-reflection and self-knowledge. Transforming the personal into the social. Using your values as a compass to identify a subject. Engaging the world, and ideas that matter. Becoming a sophisticated media author: using everything you’ve learned about video to make a visual argument that is clear, compelling, and memorable. Becoming a sophisticated media consumer: reflecting on, and analyzing how, we read and digest media everyday.
readings :: electronic reserves
“Crystalizing Public Opinion”, Edward Bernays
“Everything is an Argument”, Andrea Lunsdford
“On Photography”, Susan Sontag
“Social Documentary”, William Stott
“The Two Persuasions”, William Stott
electronic journals
Entries during this module will focus on self-reflection about personal beliefs and values. You will engage in a series of directed writing prompts, including writing personal credos. This pre-production work will be utilized to conceptualize a topic for the video project.
video project
Putting it all together; rehearsing all that’s been learned so far; making something with real polish, you will create project 4 (see project links for more details)
