Introduction to Media Production

Course description

This course will teach students to analyze media forms in terms of composition, framing, lighting, sound and editing, and to produce elementary productions exhibiting an understanding of these forms. The theme of the course is an exploration of the relationship between convention and experimentation in media production. Satisfactory completion of Comm/Gen 21 (a grade of 'C' or better) is required to obtain a "media card" (allowing future access to production facilities).

Teaching Assistants:

Tarleton Gillespie (tgillesp@ucsd.edu)

Katynka Martinez (kmartine@ucsd.edu)

Matt Ratto (mratto@ucsd.edu)

Fred Turner fturner@ucsd.edu)

The weekly TA sections will allow each student to apply the lecture topics, discussions, and readings in a practical setting focused on solving creative problems and producing effective television and video. During the smaller group sections, you will receive training in the use of cameras, portable video recorders, lights, and editing equipment.

Prof. Ellen Seiter's office is located in MCC 102. Her office hours for winter quarter will be Tuesdays 9-10, Thursdays 1-2
email: eseiter@ucsd.edu

Schedule

Week One:
Read: Zettl, pp. 2-60
Read: Berkow "Video Interviews" pp. 99-106.
Jan. 5: Introduction to the course: Greatest hits from past Com 21 courses
Jan. 7: Video Basics

Week Two:
Read: Zettl pp. 62-115"
Jan. 12: Composition and Camera Movement
Jan 14: Camera Operation
Screening: Austin Allen's Claiming Open Spaces

Week Three
Jan. 19: Lighting : Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia Diving Sequence
Jan. 21: Sound and Image
Read Zettl 178-212
Screening: Cecilia Condit: Possibly in Michigan

Week Four
Alldrin "Edit Your Audio, Too" pp. 107-111.
Jan. 26: Review/ study questions
Jan. 28 In-class midterm

Week Five
Read: Gollin A Viewer's Guide to Film pp. 26-89.
Feb. 2: Documentary Form
Feb. 4: Conventional and Experimental Documentary Techniques
Screening: Lise Yasui's Family Gathering; Absolutely Positive

Week Six
Read: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson Film Art pp. 246-288.
Feb. 9: Storyboards and Storytelling
Feb. 11: Classical Hollywood style: The Maltese Falcon; My Darling Clementine

Week Seven
Read: Compesi & Sherriffs, 242-306
Feb. 16: Editing Tehnologies
Feb. 19: Editing and Looking: Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon and Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

Week Eight
Feb. 23: Editing Styles: Montage
Feb. 25: Digital Imagery: CD-Roms

Week Nine
Mar. 2: Video on the World Wide Web
Mar. 4: Screening of final projects

Week Ten
Mar. 9: Screening of final projects
Mar. 11: Review Session/ Screening of final projects

Final exam Tuesday March 16 11:30-2:30
(No early finals will be given.)

1. Video Basics 2, Herb Zettl
   ISBN 0-534-52686-1 1998 Wadsworth Publishing Company

2. Com 21 Course Reader (sold by University Reader Printing Service... bhamadeh@aol.com)
   

   Peter Berkow "Video Interviews" Videomakers (May 1997) pp. 99-106

   James Morrow and Murray Sud Moviemaking Illustrated pp. 11-26

   John Corner "Civic Visions: Forms of Documentary" 77-104

   David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson Film Art pp. 246-332.

   Loren Alldrin "Edit Your Audio, Too" (Sept. 1997) Videomakers pp. 107-111.

1. The midterm will cover all readings and screenings from weeks #1-5. The final exam will concentrate on readings, lectures and screenings covered in weeks #6-10, but will include some material from the midterm. Each exam is worth 20% of your grade. Questions will be true/ false, multiple choice and short answer.
   
2. Effort and participation during lab is worth 20% of your grade. This grade will be based on the TAs subjective impression of how much work you have put into your projects and how energetically you participated in sections.
   
3. Each project and its paperwork is worth 20%.