WHAT
Working together in your groups of four (by letter), you will create a final video at least 10 minutes long on the theme of "TV 2025: Imagining Media Futures." You may build on and even include your work from the individual video responses and YouTalk interviews. Conceptualize your project as a video from 2025 reporting on, analyzing, or embodying some aspect of "television" (whatever it may be then). It might take the form of a how-to, a news story, a documentary, a promotion, a review, a fan commentary, or simply a sample of future programming. Similarly to the vlogs, you will be evaluated based on the incorporation of course material in creative ways, the originality of your critical perspective, and the effectiveness of its presentation in the video medium.
WHY
In this course, we've learned about the history, technology, form, ideologies, and industry of television through various scholarly approaches that illuminate its present-day evolution as a medium. To conclude our work, you are asked to imagine how TV will change over the next 15 years (or even what TV will be in 15 years – will television as we know it still exist?) based on concrete aspects of its structure and development that we've studied. By creating online videos about TV for this class, you're already part of television's future, and by collaborating on video production, you'll gain further insight into the construction of TV rhetoric and experiences.
HOW
You should correspond (and, ideally, meet in person) with your group as soon as possible to begin brainstorming and storyboarding 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.
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 Meyer or one of your own). The guidelines from the resource post still apply (up to the part about uploading). Unlike with your video responses, I would recommend exporting at a medium quality rather than aiming for the smallest size – if the final file is under 1GB that should be fine.
Please be respectful and responsible in collaborating with your fellow group members. Before I allot final grades, I will ask each of you to fill out a self-evaluation of your group work (below). In most cases, one grade applies to all of you, but I will take any glaring discrepancies into account.
WHERE/WHEN
Your videos are due when we meet for our "final exam" at 12:15pm on Wednesday, December 8 in Building 320, room 105. You should bring the exported and ready-to-play video file on a computer, external hard drive or thumb drive, or CD/DVD to give to the professor.
At our meeting, we will watch and discuss/critique each video. Our scheduled time goes until 3:15pm; this may take the full three hours depending on the lengths of your projects.
The professor will take care of uploading the videos online and adding them to our course website. Because this is a public project (and to avoid Vimeo's size restrictions), they will be hosted athttp:/
Group Project Self-Evaluation Questions
1. How would you assess your level of participation?
- I was an active collaborator in all aspects of the project
- I did a good job on my designated responsibilities but let others take the lead in ideas and organization
- I contributed/completed less work than I could/should have
2. What were your responsibilities within the group?
3. Did the distribution of these tasks recognize and mobilize your skills?
4. Did you feel that work on the project was allocated evenly? If not, why not? (You can mention particular group members if you wish.)
5. What was successful and/or challenging about your collaboration?
