Requirements
- Viewing: Good writers and filmmakers study their genre. We will view a variety of a wide range of nonfiction films and videos in order to study the choices filmmakers make about content, tone, voice, structure, sound, visual effects, and voice-over narration.
- Writing: Writing will serve as the fundamental tool for constructing the narrative of your nonfiction videos. We’ll write to brainstorm, discover, develop, deepen, and reflect on the story we’re telling. Our writing will allow us to track what happens when language moves from page to screen to YouTube.
- Blogging: In addition to using our course blog for assignments and course information, each of you will create an individual blog that will serve as a platform for weekly viewing/reading responses, as an archive of your ongoing critical engagement with the course materials, and as an informal “studio” space for brainstorming and drafting ideas.
Blog posts should be a minimum of 250 words, employ multiple paragraphs rather than one long paragraph, and demonstrate careful examination of the texts under consideration. Each post is worth 4 points and each peer comment is worth 1. Each week you have the opportunity to earn (or lose) 10 points. Once the deadline has passed for the week, posts cannot be made up:
- Blog post=4 points (x 2 a week)=8 points
- Peer comments=1 point (x 2 a week)=2 points
- Weekly total=10 points
- 10 weeks of blogging=100 total points
- Filming & Editing: We’ll learn to use digital video cameras, audio recorders, and the editing program MovieMaker. Each of these technologies will help to manifest the important scenes, ideas, and emotions in your own nonfiction videos.
- Presentations: You’ll have the opportunity to present both of your own videos (the work, the rationale, the challenges), a collaborative research presentation on YouTube, and a whole class presentation at the English Department Symposium (more details on all three to follow).
- Peer Workshops: An important aspect of any creative process is getting feedback on your work-in-progress. You’ll have the chance to work with your peers in small group workshops at various times during this course. It’s important that you are a thoughtful and considerate presence in these meetings, intent on helping each filmmaker develop his/her video to the best of his/her ability. In addition, you’ll also be required to comment on each other’s blogs weekly.
- Conferences. Throughout the semester there will be multiple opportunities to discuss your work-in-progress with either Megan or Kim, and sometimes both of us.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend each class session on time and prepared. More than three absences will result in the final grade being lowered by a letter (thus, a B becomes a C). Excessive tardies (three or more) will be counted as absences.
Assessment
- Weekly Blogging=20%
- Class Participation=20%
- Collaborative Presentation=10%
- Video Production Portfolio=50%
We are interested and invested in both your final product(s) and your ongoing processes of thinking, composing, creating, revising, and reflecting. To this end, we will use portfolios as a holistic means of assessing your collection of work. We will collect and grade your portfolios at mid-term and at the end of the semester:
A Student was a stellar participant in both class discussions and the weekly blogging. Posts were well written, insightful, and specific. Student demonstrated commitment to engaging with the subject of the course, and the process of self-discovery and representation. Student produced a final video with the following characteristics: a compelling story that taught the viewer about a subject; incorporated personal experience with investigation; demonstrated conscious awareness of film techniques; successfully used a wide range of camera shots; incorporated sound, text, and image in interesting and meaningful ways.
B Student participated in both class discussions and on the blogs. Posts were insightful and specific. Student produced a video with the following characteristics: a clear story; incorporated personal experience with investigation; demonstrated awareness of film techniques; attempted a wide range of camera shots; and integrated sound, text, and images.
C Student was a lackluster participant in both class discussions and online blogging. Posts were slim, sloppy, or missing. Final video had a story, but it was not explored nor examined; did not include a range of film techniques; lacked evidence of experimentation with camera shots; neglected to attend to the relationships among sound, text, and image.
D Student seldom participated in class discussions or did not complete online blogging. Posts were slim, sloppy, or missing. Final video lacked a story and did not reflect any conscious use of film techniques. Film neglected to attend to the relationships among sound, text, and image.
F Student was frequently absent, did not participate in either class discussions or online blogging. Student did not attempt to produce a final video or submit a final portfolio.
Academic Accommodations
If you are a student with a documented disability and require academic accommodations please register with Lynn Cantwell, the Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, located in the Academic Support Center on the 2nd floor of St. Joseph Hall (x2335) for disability verification and determination of recommended reasonable academic accommodations. After you have made arrangements with that office, please see us to discuss your accommodations. Please remember that timely notice will help avoid a delay in your receipt of accommodations.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work as your own. It is prohibited by The College of Saint Rose and clear grounds for failure of this course. Students are expected to follow appropriate conduct as illustrated in the catalogue. Please see us if you have questions.
