SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 226-3

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL VIDEO TECHNIQUES

Prerequisite:

Permission of instructor. Priority will be given to students who have taken CMNS 110, 130 and 220.

Co-requisite:

CMNS 448. Advocacy video documentary, theory, research and scripting, taught by Roger Howard (howard@sfu.ca).

Overview:

This course provides an entry level learning experience, introducing students to a variety of approaches to applications of video techniques through the production of an advocacy documentary. The course also introduces students to the whole range of design and management tasks involved in video production including proposal writing, story boarding, scripting, shooting, digitizing, editing, and presenting a final product.

In the workshop component of the course, students will be expected to gain technical knowledge and skills required for digital video production including production planning, the use of camera, sound/voice recording equipment, lighting and framing, digitizing raw footage, editing, graphics, transitions, and outputting your work. Production will take place in the Media Lab and on location.

To provide focus for development of these design and technical perspectives all students will be expected to work on the production of 22-minute documentary based on the topic researched in CMNS 448. The "fine cut" of the documentary you produce will be evaluated and critiqued by an NFB producer and the resulting cut will be shown in public and evaluated by the audience toward the end of the semester.

This course is designed to use the process of documentary video production as a pedagogical tool to learn about the social impact of a specific topic. This is a participatory production course that employs cooperative learning.

Texts:

- Kevin Macdonald and Mark Cousins, Imagining Reality, 1988, London, Faber and Faber,
ISBN: 0-571-19202-5
- Barry Hampe , Making Documentary Films and Reality Video
- Maxie D. Collier, Digital Video Filmmakers Handbook, 2000, Hollywood,ifilm, ISBN 1-58065-031-7

Grading:

(will be announced at the first class)

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honest,” and Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations Section).