WHAT
You will work with members of your section (grouped by letter) to create a 3-5 minute video that engages with the theoretical perspectives we have studied. You’ll post your videos online, and we’ll go over the available resources for producing and editing them. Keep in mind that this is not a production course, and your project doesn't have to be technically ambitious to succeed. You will be evaluated based on your incorporation of course material, the originality of your critical approach, and the effectiveness of its presentation.
Your project should take the form of a "video essay" – that is, you will conduct an analysis and make an overall claim. This assignment offers a great explanation of this methodology, and you can see more examples of video essays (mostly about digital media) here.
Building on course intros that surveyed you about your TV viewing habits and offered theoretical perspectives on the definition and evolution of television and TV studies, the theme of your first video project will be "TV Today." You can approach this by responding to one of these prompts:
.TV programming
Choose a single series, a comparison of two, or a genre or other coherent unit (e.g. NBC comedies, reality competition shows, cable news pundits) that is relevant to everyone in your group. Create a video that explains why it engages you. You might consider the program or programs' narrative structure, its representation of characters, its "mode of address" (how and to whom it seems to appeal), and/or its promotional materials. (This step-by-step tutorial on video essays may be especially helpful if you do a project on TV programming.)
.viewing practices
Consider how the members of your group watch TV and/or its position in your daily lives. You can choose to focus on a technological device, a website or platform for viewing TV, a website or platform for discussing TV, or a "real world" social space or activity around television. Create a video that explains the significance of this particular viewing practice. You might explore the structural elements of this platform or activity, how they affect your relationship to TV programming, commonalities or divergences in engagement among your group or between you and a different demographic (e.g. your parents), and/or how you believe it is shaping or changing cultures of TV. (The resources associated with this video assignment [see "helpful how-tos" in the sidebar] may be especially helpful.)
.current events
Respond to a recent development in or around the television industry (an excellent source is the blog News for TV Majors athttp:/
WHY
The goals of this assignment are to:
- learn and mobilize some technical and formal aspects of online video
- communicate ideas in a visual medium
- experientially engage with course concepts through participation
- engage in a collaborative process of media production
HOW
You should correspond (and, ideally, meet in person) with your group as soon as possible to begin brainstorming and outlining your project. Discuss your respective skills and talents and your goals for working together.
Once you've settled on a concept, break it down into its component tasks and establish how you can execute it with a realistic production plan. It's a good idea to divide up the duties and steps (whether different sections of the video or different stages like writing, shooting, editing) amongst yourselves according to your interest and experience. This planning process is an important first step that may include scripting or storyboarding the video (Google Docs can be a useful tool for collaborating on texts).
When you have organized your ideas, you'll have a sense of what component video and audio source you need to find or produce. Make sure to decide how you'll assemble the video, since the editing process will be most likely be confined to one computer (either in a multimedia lab or one of your own). The technical aspects of recording, editing, exporting and uploading your project are covered in this post.
Please be respectful and responsible in collaborating with your fellow group members. Before grades are allotted, you will each fill out a private self-evaluation of your group work (questions below). In most cases, one grade applies to all of you, but we will take any glaring discrepancies into account.
WHEN
We will be viewing your projects in class on Thursday, February 23. Plan to finish them by the night before to allow time to export and upload the video (along with any last-minute troubleshooting in that regard). For optimal watching, try to bring the file to class on a DVD or USB stick so we don't have to deal with streaming. You will also meet in sections as usual Thursday/Friday to discuss your projects as a group (there is no other homework).
