Writing with Video, ART 250-M4

agenda

• ICES forms (yay!)
• screen last videos
• homework

1. finish everything by tomorrow at MIDNIGHT!!!
2. if you screened today, remember to post “distribution” post

agenda

1. screen group 1 & 2 videos
2. homework

• if you screened today: complete a “production + distribution post” and pat yourself on the back for a successful semester

*** Jenica is home sick today, so please be kind to your substitute WwV instructor! Your sub teaches a WwV section as well and therefore is very knowledgeable about the course and materials. You’re required to stay in class for ONE HOUR today (5:00 pm), at which point you may leave to work on your projects. If you have any pressing concerns and/or questions, send me an email, though I can’t guarantee that I’ll be terribly lucid in my responses until perhaps tomorrow. ***

agenda

1. group updates: discuss the current state of your project with your group, emphasizing the final details/editing/concerns of your piece. if you can, I HIGHLY suggest showing them footage you’ve already edited together, a working rough draft (if you have one), and/or sequences that you want their opinions on.
2. work on editing your final videos.
3. reminder: we will be screening final projects for the next three days. No more substitutions are allowed past this point, so whatever day you’re scheduled to screen on right now is locked in. All students are also required to post a video by classtime on Wednesday, though, as I said before, you may change that video up until the day you screen your projects. We’ll be following the standard critique process we did during the Art of the Real screenings and I will again be grading you on the Module 3 rubric available for viewing on the main Writing with Video site. Plan on staying the ENTIRE time all three days; we’ll need nearly all of the 2 hours and 40 minutes.
4. homework

• finish those videos!! first screening group goes on Wednesday!!
• remember, you are still REQUIRED to attend class during all three screening days!
• All blog posts are due by the end of Reading Day, Thursday, May 5th. Any work posted after midnight on the 5th will not be counted for credit. This is a FIRM deadline.

agenda

• reminder: screenings start next Wednesday! The last three days of class are required screening days and you should expect to stay for the entire class period each day. Remember, too, that all of you are required to post projects by class time on Wednesday even if you are not screening that day.
• reminder: Saints & Sinners extra credit due Monday. We’ll hopefully watch a couple in class!
• discuss editing and structure in John Smith
• meet with your group to discuss progress on your projects, as well as ideas and issues you need second opinions on
• editing exercise: using footage that you were asked to bring today, begin editing and constructing your films. feel free to consult your classmates about your direction and I’ll be around to answer questions as well
• homework: finish those videos and extra credit projects!!

NO CLASS TODAY – Please complete the agenda by next class.

agenda

1. watch This American Life (Season 2, ep. 6: “John Smith”) on Netflix Watch Instant and write a post discussing your reaction to the unusual narrative structure. how are plot and story working in this piece? what do you make of the juxtaposition of multiple John Smiths? what is the relationship of this piece with the other This American Life episodes, especially since it’s the very last one they produced?
2. work on those videos! I HIGHLY suggest that each of you brings at least some footage to class on Wednesday, since it will be a part of our group work that day (AND you should be starting your editing stage this week as well)
3. finish your 3-4 page response assigned last Wednesday; this is very important since it occupies a large portion of your journal grade for this module

1. questions on projects so far?
2. discuss The Cove
3. hand-back module 2 grades
4. homework

• watch Waste Land on Netflix Watch Instant and write a brief post regarding your thoughts about the film’s storytelling and its formal, technical elements. how do these two filmmaking skillsets relate to one another in this film?
• write a 3-4 pg. reflective write-up that engages at least 2 of the documentaries we’ve viewed this module. discuss how your “through your eyes” film is in conversation with these films. how, when viewing them as filmmakers, do these pieces influence your thinking? how does your documentary relate to the structure/construction/thematics of those pieces? Be specific and relate your points explicitly. POST your paper to your blog by next class.

agenda

1. screen Grizzly Man
2. discuss screening
3. homework:

• write a post answering the following three questions in regards to your projects: 1) what is the plot of your narrative? 2) what’s the story you want to tell? 3) what is the larger, thematic, more global narrative at work in your piece? 4) what is the personal element in your piece? (in other words, how is it fulfilling the prime directive of the project)?

NO CLASS TODAY!

homework for Monday:

1. reminder: we’ll be watching Grizzly Man in class on Monday, so be prepared to stay for the entire class time
2. keep working on those films!!!
3. choose any documentary on Netflix Watch Instant that you think may be related to your project idea for module 3 and write a post about 1) what you admire in the piece, 2) how the piece relates to your idea and/or aesthetic, 3) what elements or ideas you want to incorporate into your own piece, 4) how you will go about actually accomplishing your answer to #3 (be very specific), and 5) what effect you hope to create for the viewers by incorporating these ideas.
4. reminder: extra credit opportunity if you attend the Fundance Film Festival my Rhetoric students are throwing tomorrow night, April 7, from 7-9:00 (films will start at 7:30) in 314 Altgeld Hall. You will need to sign-in with me at the screening, watch the films, and then write a review of at least one of the films and post it to your blog in order to earn credit. Up to 3 extra credit points for this module are available. Hope to see many of you there!
5. make sure to have your post and discussion points ready for our discussion of The Cove (now moved to next Wednesday)

agenda

1. meet in project groups to discuss ideas, pre-production, and general state of your projects (35 min)
2. discuss Bomb It and Exit Through the Gift Shop
3. homework:

• continue to work on pre-production and prepare to start filming next week!
• watch The Cove on Netflix Watch Instant for Wednesday’s class
• REMINDER: extra credit opportunity if you attend the Fundance Student Film Festival Screening on April 7 from 7- 9:30 pm in 314 Altgeld (you will need to sign-in with me and turn in a review of at least one film on your blog)
• NOTE: we will be screening Grizzly Man in class next Monday (April 11), so please plan to stay the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes

agenda

1. writing warm-up: (10 min) post about the following questions. what is research? what sources will you use in your own research for this project? how do you evaluate the credibility of a source? how might research for a video project differ from that for a paper?
2. draw screening dates
3. assign extra credit: re-imagine your Saints and Sinner assignment from the 1st module. shoot and edit two new 30 second videos. based on execution, polish, and creativity, you can earn up to 5 additional points on your overall course grade. due date: April 25th
4. additional extra credit: my RHET 233 class will be having a screening for their 10 minute fiction films on April 7, 2011 at 7 pm in 314 Altgield Hall. you can earn an additional 3 points on THIS module grade if you attend, sign -in at the screening, and write a brief 1 p. film review of one of the films shown.
5. share your project ideas in groups of 3-4 – these will be your discussion groups for this final unit, so be sure to exchange contact info today
6. discuss “Every Marriage is a Courtroom”
7. homework:

• screen Exit Through the Gift Shop on Watch Instant and write a post discussing what you found interesting, surprising, etc. about the film. also, write a bit about how this film is in conversation with Bomb It. For example, how do both films construct very different stories on the same basic topic? How do they make a large topic personal and yet universally understood? Basically, how do they construct their own cloud for the audience to immerse in?
• work on your pre-production for your piece
• RECOMMENDED: pre-production template
• screen student videos

Elise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzXwJ6obE7U
Kim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEf5AmCqzSg
Maria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNZyDsY2QII

Justin
http://www.youtube.com/writingwithvideo#p/f/15/j7Z4OIkptqA

Jenica
http://www.vimeo.com/7723411