2130 Syllabus Sp18 PDF

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2018/2019 SYLLABUS ...

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EMC2130: Single Cam I Middle Tennessee State University – Spring 2018 College of Media and Entertainment / Dept. of Media Arts

Professor: Paul Chilsen Office Location: COE354 [email protected]

Office Hours: W 11:00 am – 4:00pm T 5:45pm – 6:30pm Appointments are ALWAYS best, especially this spring!

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION: Technical, operational, and creative basics of single camera location production. Focuses on fundamental skills used in producing, directing, production and post. Incorporates equipment applications including cinematography, lighting, location audio, and editing. Lecture/lab with three to six hours per week. COURSE DESCRIPTION: Three credits. Prerequisite: College candidacy. Introduction to on-location, single camera film production, defined as any production that takes place partially or wholly outside the studio environment, standard performance space or sports environment, and without the aid of switchers or remote production trucks. Course work will reference fiction production, documentary production, music videos, commercials, experimental and web. Emphasis on the function and operation of the primary tools including concept and writing development, camera, composition, lighting, audio, editing, and an understanding of proper production procedures. Laboratory required. Each student will attend lab twice a week. We will discuss the structure of this in one of our first meetings. Depending on M/W or T/R lectures, there may be a combination of lab and lecture as well. IF PROJECTS CANNOT BE COMPLETED IN LAB, IT IS EXPECTED THAT STUDENTS WILL WORK ON THESE PROJECTS OUTSIDE OF CLASS HOURS. Most labs will focus on building skills in cinematography/composition, lighting, sound recording and editing. Lab and classtime will occasionally provide work time for your projects, both group and individual. COURSE OBJECTIVES: This section of 2130 is designed to introduce the student to the equipment, personnel and processes, as well as the aesthetics and rhetoric, of video and digital field production. At the conclusion of this course the student will have gained: 1. A fundamental knowledge and ability in the areas of cameras, lighting, audio and editing. 2. An understanding of location production in terms of personnel and procedures. 3. An understanding of the creative production process and the communication of ideas through the medium of the moving image. 4. The ability to demonstrate and apply aesthetic principles and tools in the creation of actual finished film projects. CHANGES TO SYLLABUS: The Professor reserves the right to make modifications to the syllabus at any time. All necessary changes will be articulated clearly in class. COURSE TEXTBOOK: You will not be required to purchase a textbook. I will supply the items I would like you to read for this class. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT: 1) EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE If students will be availing themselves of the departmental computers for editing and post-production, then an external hard drive is required, as those computers contents are periodically wiped.

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Be aware that projects must be delivered to the instructor during lab via hard drive transfer, requiring that even projects you may complete at home still need to be transported to lab for delivery. Your video files will be too big to email or send via Dropbox! We recommend drives with USB 3.0 connections. • Minimum Space Requirement 100 GB (1 or 2 TB recommended for purchase of new drives) • Recommended 7200 rpm speed I’ve had really good luck with G Drives. Lately I’ve found them for under $70. I’ve also had good luck with Fantom Drives, but some can have a larger footprint. LaCie is a very dependable a brand as well but a little bit more expensive. Remember the larger the hard drive memory size, the better for you. You will use this hard drive on future classes. Lots of places sell drives. I might avoid Walmart and Best Buy, but that’s me. Whatever drive you get is fine but you must oversee its care and dependability. AND BACK IT UP! We will be starting projects right away so you should get your hard drive ASAP. 2) CAMERA – Purchase Optional Students are granted access to DSLR cameras through the equipment checkout system. But you can use your own. The key requirement is that the output from the camera be compatible with your editing software of choice. Not surprisingly, better cameras will produce superior results. For students continuing in video and film production or contemplating a career in production, a good, versatile camera is a valuable asset. We will learn about the various attributes and limitations of video cameras early this semester. The Department now has a decent number of Canon camera kits available for class use, but as they will be in high demand and possibly not available every time you want to shoot, it is suggested you have access to your own camera if you can – but it is NOT required. 3) USER MANUAL Students should also secure user manuals for the camera they will be using, and be able to find specific information about their specific camera. The manuals for most camera models are available online. 4) TRIPOD - Purchase Optional For steady footage, a tripod is necessary. Departmental tripods may be available, but like the cameras, their availability cannot be guaranteed. I suggest you procure a solid tripod if you are able and we will discuss good options. Do NOT waste your money on “kit” tripods! 5) MICROPHONE - Purchase Optional While we will focus a great deal on the moving image and the process of effective communication in this visual medium, we will also work with, learn about and eventually record sound. Again, departmental mics are available, but like the other equipment, their availability cannot be guaranteed. There are some very cost effective mic options that we will discuss.

GRADING CONSIDERATIONS: Quizzes and Exams: There may be occasional quizzes given based on lectures, the films we watch, the discussions we have and the readings we do. There will also be a Midterm exam. There will be NO written Final.

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Assignments/Projects: Class assignments will include: 1. A film Viewing Exercise. 2. A camera report detailing specific functions of the camera you will be using for the class. 3. The Key Exercise Shoot – team shooting exercise. 4. The Key Exercise Edit –Premiere (or Final Cut X) editing exercise. 5. The Sound of Silence – 1-Minute silent film project with supporting paperwork. 6. A written Midterm Exam 7. A team-based Lighting Exercise. 8. A personal Audio Exercise. 9. A final personal production project, (preceded by a project proposal, pitching an idea or concept for your personal project) – directed and edited by you. All projects are due by the start of class on the due date. Late assignments may result in the reduction of one letter grade per day late. You are expected to budget your own time to meet your deadlines. The instructor reserves the option to add, change, or delete assignments as deemed necessary. RECOMMENDATIONS: Plan your projects accordingly and leave time for last minute editing/output crises – they are very very common. Equipment, software, computers, servers, malfunctions and friends who don’t show up often hinder meeting deadlines, so you would do well to give yourself some padding by establishing a personal deadline one week in advance of the due date for your personal projects. Film is a collaborative form. While you are personally responsible for your individual projects, you are expected to work together in teams or cooperatives to help each other with the work of the course. Grading: Writing, Tests & Participation 30 percent The Key Exercises 10 percent Camera/lighting Projects 10 percent Sound of Silence Film 15 percent Audio Exercise 10 percent Personal Final Project 25 percent

A’s = B’s = C’s = D’s = F’s =

100 89 79 69 59

90 80 70 60 0

Extra Credit: You may accumulate extra credit points. Opportunities include: • Assisting or observing productions outside of class. You may volunteer to work at MTTV, or sign up to help crew advanced video productions from other classes and organizations (including the MTSU Film Guild), and you may attend professional shoots. You will receive 1 extra point per hour worked up to 10. A list of your duties and hours, signed by your supervisor, is due on the last day of class. • Completing additional shooting exercises or edit exercises as proposed by the instructor or graduate assistant. • Completing DIY projects resulting in usable production gear. -- All extra credit projects should be approved in advance. Attendance: Regular and prompt attendance is required for all scheduled class sessions. As part of your class participation grade, for each absence in excess of 1, I will lower your participation grade by one increment (A goes to A-, B- goes to C+ etc.). For every time you arrive in class after I have taken roll or leave before the end of the period is completed, I may treat it as half an absence. Those students that have 0 absences will receive a bonus on your final grade. Those students with only 1 absence will receive a slightly lesser bonus, but a bonus nonetheless. "The University has instituted a practice of giving midterm grades. Your midterm grade is based upon a small fraction of the work that will determine your final grade. Your midterm grade should not be interpreted as a strong indication of what your final grade may be. Most of your final grade will be determined by how you perform in the second half of the semester."

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COMMUNICATION You’d think in this department and in this day and age we would not have to cover this so specifically but alas, this ball gets dropped perhaps the most. So, pay heed…! Email: You need to check your email!! All the time. For important emails, I may communicate to you directly through Pipeline or I may use D2L. That’s my choice. You DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE IN THIS MATTER. My email is [email protected] That’s it. Use NO OTHER email address for me. ^^^Just this one!^^^ D2L: I use D2L – a lot. It is your responsibility to check D2L on a daily basis. I may have an assignment on D2L that I don’t announce in class. It won’t be an excuse to say “I didn’t check D2L,” “I don’t get D2L at home,” “I checked it earlier and it wasn’t there,” “D2L was down when I checked,” “I don’t know how to work D2L,” et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. ALSO – remember above? I do NOT check my D2L email! [email protected]. To repeat, I DO NOT check my D2L email! I only accept official emails here: An email sent to me on D2L is an email not sent. DIVERSITY AND CULTURE: MTSU, the College of Media and Entertainment, the Department of Media Arts, and Prof. Chilsen are all concerned with issues of social power and cultural diversity, especially as they relate to the electronic media. This course will include readings, references, discussions, media, and lectures regarding age, race, religion, gender, body image, and sexual orientation, some of which may be graphic. It is critical to point out that you are studying media: remember, don’t shoot the messenger. Additionally, this class celebrates the unique ways that people from varying social intersections have contributed to American media institutions. Please choose your words carefully and be mindful of differences in this classroom.

CRITIQUES: Critiques are intended to foster a positive environment of constructive feedback for your work in the class. Active participation in critiques is crucial to your success as media makers – and your success in this class! Each student will be expected to provide honest and constructive feedback to your peers, and be actively engaged in critiquing the work of others. In return, you will be provided with valuable feedback on your own work. We will discuss how to critique work early on in the semester. NOTE: You must be present for a viewing critique of your work, in front of others. If you are not there, we will not view your work, and you will not receive a grade until the work is viewed and critiqued correctly. Additionally, an integral part of the filmmaking process is showing drafts of your work, getting feedback and making changes accordingly. If you shortcut this part of the process, your grade will be reduced by as much as one full grade. In Short: Show your work often. Be there for critiques. Help critique others. MOBILE DEVICES AND LAPTOPS: Phones and mobile devices must always be off or set to vibrate. You may not use your phone or laptop while class is in session. We will take breaks – you can do your social mediating then. If you engage in unauthorized use of your phone or laptop during lectures, you will receive a verbal warning to cease the activity. If you violate this policy a second time, your device will be turned over to your instructor for the class session. If the behavior continues, and you do not comply with the rule, you may be asked to leave the classroom. Multi-tasking is not conducive to solid educational outcomes, and we have a lot of material to get through in a short amount of time. In addition, it is rude and distracting to your peers and your instructor. Wait until the break!

DEADLINES / LATE SUBMISSION OF WORK: Production works on a schedule; so will this class. Please get used to that early on. Assignments are due on the date and time indicated. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED unless authorized by the professor. It is entirely up to the professor’s discretion as to whether or not late assignments will

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be accepted; in most cases, they will only be accepted in cases of documented illness, medical/family emergency, or other force majeure. You will be asked to provide documentation of your incident in order to be granted a project extension. If you do not submit your project by the assigned deadline, and are unable to produce sufficient documentation for your illness/emergency/force majeure, you will receive a reduced grade for that assignment that continues downward over time. PLAN YOUR PROJECTS ACCORDINGLY. You are expected to budget your own time to meet your deadlines. The professor reserves the option to add, change, or delete assignments as deemed necessary. Although all students are personally responsible for their individual projects, students should consider forming teams or cooperatives with other students to help each other with their work. TESTING: If you do not take tests (written or practical) during the scheduled time, you will not be allowed to make-up the work unless you have contacted the instructor in advance with the reason for your absence. If you provide written documentation of your reason, your professor, at their discretion, may make reasonable accommodations to reschedule an exam for you in the event of a documented illness, medical or family emergency, or other force majeure. USING WORK FROM OTHER CLASSES – OR ANYWHERE ELSE – IS PROHIBITED: You are here to create new, unique work. Therefore, ALL WORK for this course must be completed during the course of the current semester FOR THIS CLASS ONLY. Work submitted for other courses, in current or previous semesters – whether or not it was graded, will not be accepted for credit in this course. Any work submitted for this course that has been, or will be, submitted for another course will be considered self-plagiarism and will receive, at minimum, a grade of ZERO on the project. Academic misconduct is also grounds for failure of the course, at the instructor’s discretion. Please read the section on Academic Misconduct for more information on plagiarism and self-plagiarism. I take this very seriously and will not accept this under any circumstances. If you have any questions, please ask me BEFORE you begin the project! THE FINE PRINT: (It’s technically the same font size, but you get my drift…) If you have special academic requirements or needs, please let me know immediately. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Middle Tennessee State University is committed to campus access in accordance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Any student interested in reasonable accommodations can consult the Disability & Access Center (DAC) website www.mtsu.edu/dac and/or contact the DAC for assistance at 615-898-2783 or [email protected]. LOTTERY SCHOLARSHIP: Do you have a lottery scholarship? To retain Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship eligibility, you must earn a cumulative TELS GPA of 2.75 after 24 attempted hours and a cumulative TELS GPA of 3.0 thereafter. A grade of C. D, F, or I in this class may negatively affect TELS eligibility. Dropping a class after 14 days may also affect eligibility. If you withdraw from this class and it results in an enrollment status of less than full time, you may lose eligibility for your lottery scholarship. For additional lottery scholarship rules, please refer to your Lottery Statement of Understanding form, review lottery scholarship requirements on the web at or contact the MTSU financial aid office at 898-2830.

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ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: Middle Tennessee State University takes a strong stance against academic misconduct. Academic Misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, and fabrication, or facilitating any such act. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: (1) Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of ideas, words, statements, images, or works of another person as one’s own without proper attribution. This includes self-plagiarism, which occurs when an author submits material or research from a previous academic exercise to satisfy the requirements of another exercise and uses it without proper citation of its reuse. (2) Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. This includes unapproved collaboration, which occurs when a student works with others on an academic exercise without the express permission of the professor. The term academic exercise includes all forms of work submitted for credit or hours. (3) Fabrication: Unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. To be clear: going online and taking information – this includes story ideas and film ideas – without proper citations, copying parts of other student’s work, creating information for the purposes of making your paper seem more official, or anything involving taking someone else’s thoughts or ideas without proper attribution is academic misconduct. If you work together on an assignment when it is not allowed, it is academic misconduct. If you have a question about an assignment, please come see me to clarify. Any cases of academic misconduct will be reported to the Office of Academic Affairs for violating the academic honesty requirements in the student handbook. THEY MAY ALSO RESULT IN FAILURE FOR THE COURSE. Remember – ignorance is NOT a defense.

THAT SAID: I am looking forward to the semester with you! And remember, while from a technological standpoint, this thought might seem quaint or old school to you, it still holds true…

“Whenever you put film in a camera, anything can happen.”...