COMMUNICATION 265
BEGINNING TV PRODUCTION
WINTER 2006
Instructor:
Ron Weekes Text:
Video Basics 4
Office:
251 Spori (Daily 10-11)
Zettl
Phone:
496‑2933
E‑mail: weekesr@byui.edu
Web: http://emp.byui.edu/weekesr
As the course title implies,
this class is designed to help the student become familiar with the tools,
techniques, and usage skills for basic TV production. The instructor assumes
that the student has no (or little) prior experience in the use of the
equipment or in performing in professional TV settings.
Broadcast Majors/Minors:
Communication 260 must be completed before taking this course.
Non‑Broadcast
Majors/Minors: Communication 130 or Communication
260 is a prerequisite for this course. Communication 130 or 260 and
Communication 265 cannot be taken concurrently.
Materials Needed for this Class:
*You will need to purchase an
external firewire hard drive to store your nonlinear projects on for projects
four through six. The University Bookstore stocks the LaCie 120 GB 7200 RPM
drive. If you purchase your hard drive
elsewhere, make sure it is a LaCie, Western Digital, EZ Quest or Maxtor. You will not be allowed to use the department’s
non-linear editors unless your drive is one of the four approved drives. Keep in mind that these hard drives store
five minutes of digital video per gigabyte. You will not be able to edit on the
department’s nonlinear editors unless you have your own external hard drive.
This hard drive will be used in your upper division broadcasting classes as
well, so please consider it an important investment. You should also be able to
use this drive with your personal computer provided you computer has a firewire
port and the drive is formatted properly to work with both Macs and PCs.
*You will need to purchase two
(2) Mini DV video cassettes You can purchase these
tapes at Wal‑Mart, K‑Mart and the Audio/Video Duplicating in Room
325 of the
*You will need to purchase one
(1) VHS video cassette for your final project tape. I would suggest you
purchase this from Audio/Video Duplicating as well. You can buy tapes as short
as 15 minutes. This length of tape will be more than adequate for the needs of
this last project.
The general layout of the class is
described below:
1.
This class
is divided into two aspects, theory and practice.
2.
We will
cover the theories of TV production generally during the first class period of
each week. Please have the particular
reading for that date completed before you come to class. You will be tested over material from the
text throughout the semester.
3.
The
practice aspect of the class will occur during the second class period of each
week. Here you will have opportunities
to work on
4.
Besides
working as an anchor or crew member for our weekly
You will be asked to do one or more of
the following positions in
1. Technical Director (Switcher)
2. Character Generator Operator
3. In‑studio Camera
Operators
4. Teleprompter Operator
5. Audio Operator
6. Floor Director
7. Videotape Playback Operator
DEADLINES:
Broadcasting is a deadline
driven industry. If your producer says
your package must run sixty seconds and be ready at
BACK UP YOUR WORK!!!
Since all of your work this
semester needs to be on your final project tape, it is the student’s
responsibility to make back up copies of all your work. Once you complete a project, besides making a
copy of it to turn in to the instructor for evaluation, you need to make a back
up copy of the same project onto another mini DV tape. Secondly, you should also back up your
project onto your personal hard drive.
Better yet, make a tape and hard drive back up of your project. If any projects get lost, damaged, or corrupted,
it is the student’s responsibility to recreate the project again for the final
project tape. These back up copies will
relieve a lot of semester end stress if a tape disappears.
GRADING:
Your grade will be based upon
class attendance, classroom participation, performance during
Lab Assignments 6 X 100 = 600
Tests 3 X 100 = 300
Participation 100
1,000
THE HONOR CODE:
I am a supporter of all aspects
of the BYU‑Idaho Honor Code. Please review it regularly to make sure you
are in compliance with the classroom integrity and appropriate dress aspects of
our campus standards. If I notice that you are not dressed appropriately for
the classroom, I will not be shy about mentioning it to you.
Due to safety reasons, no
opened-toed shoes will be allowed in the classroom, editing rooms, control room
and studio.
DISABILITY STATEMENT:
In compliance with applicable
disability law, qualified students with a disability may be entitled to Areasonable accommodation.@
It is the student=s responsibility to disclose to the
teacher any special need she/he may have before the end of the first week of
class.
Lab Assignments:
1. You will produce a ten scene
video postcard of the Brigham Young University‑Idaho campus. All shots
must be exterior shots of the campus, students, and campus activities. Be
creative regardless of the weather conditions. You will present a storyboard in
class of what you plan on videotaping. Each scene must be different in subject
matter and composition. The ten different required compositions will be
discussed in class. You will not be able to use the videotape editor to
complete this project. Thus, all scenes must be shot in sequence and at one
time. Points will be deducted from videos that have a break (Asnow@)
between any shots. All scenes must be properly composed and stable else points
will be deducted. Remember: the purpose of this project is to create a
promotional video to send to prospective Brigham Young University‑Idaho
students. What did you want to know about Brigham Young University‑Idaho
before you came here?
2. This is a continuation of
your first assignment. You will be able to correct any mistakes or bad scenes
in your first assignment by reshooting them, etc. This project will be able to
be edited on the linear videotape editing system. Your completed project should
last sixty seconds exactly. You need to
utilize the ten shots from assignment one. You will also need to add an
appropriate musical sound bed. Remember: the purpose of this project is to
create a sixty second promotional video to send to prospective Brigham Young
University‑Idaho students. What did you want to know about Brigham Young
University‑Idaho before you came here? This project will be edited on the
linear videotape editing system.
3. Your assignment is to create
a 30‑second video open with narration, music and graphics the daily or
weekly newscast. This project will go together easier if you first create your
narration/music sound bed in the two audio production area of the lab. Next,
edit your video to audio in the video lab. All video must be shot by you. Your video must also open and close with an
appropriate graphic created by you. This logo will be keyed over your video at
the beginning and end. You can use
additional graphics if desired. This
project will be edited on the linear videotape editing system.
4. Your assignment is to create
a 60‑second Public Service Announcement promoting
5. Your assignment will be
announced in class. You will have a very
short time too create this project. The
deadline will be similar to a real-world assignment. This project will be edited on the nonlinear
computer video editing system using Final Cut Pro.
6. You will create a final production tape (on
VHS not Mini DV tape) that will include assignments 1 through 5. At the
beginning and end of the tape, you will need to create a CG graphic (be
creative, but realistic as well) that includes your name and your permanent
mailing address. These two graphics should be on the screen for ten seconds.
After the first graphic, insert two seconds of black and then create another
graphic (five seconds in length) that introduces assignment two and what your
responsibilities were. Insert two more seconds of black and then insert your assignment
two onto your tape. After the assignment is over, insert another two seconds of
black before inserting your graphic that identifies assignment three. This is
the format you should follow until all assignments are on your tape. Additional
information about the format of this final tape will be handed out in
class. This project will be edited on
the nonlinear computer video editing system.
CLASS
SCHEDULE
NOTE: This
schedule is a tentative outline. Any changes to it will be announced in class
ahead of time or via e‑mail.
1/10 Course Introduction
1/12 Unit One: Production: Processes and People - Chapters 1 & 2)
1/17 Unit Two: Image Formation & Digital
Video/The Video Camera – Chapters 3 & 4
1/19 Unit Three: Operating the Camera – Chapter 5
1/24 Unit Four:
Looking Through The Viewfinder – Chapter 6
1/26 Unit Five: Switcher & Switching –
Video Recording – Chapters 10 & 11
1/31 Unit Six:
Postproduction: Linear and
Nonlinear Editing – Chapter 12
2/2 Unit Six: Postproduction: Linear and Nonlinear Editing – Part Two
2/7 Unit Seven: Editing Principles – Chapter 13
2/9
2/14 Unit Eight: Lighting – Chapter 7
2/16
2/21 Unit Nine:
Audio and Sound Control – Chapter 8
2/23
2/28 Unit Ten:
Graphics and Effects – Chapter 9
3/2
3/7 Unit
Ten: Graphics and Effects – Part Two
3/9
3/14 Unit
Eleven: Production Environment: The
Studio – Chapter 14
3/16
3/21 Unit
Twelve: Creating A
News Package
3/23
3/28 Unit
Thirteen: Prod. Environment: Field & Computer Generated - Chapter 15
3/30 Spring
Break – No Classes
4/4 Unit Fourteen: Talent, Clothing, and Makeup – Chapter 16
4/6
4/11 Unit
Fifteen: Putting It All Together: Directing – Chapter 17
4/13
4/18 Final Tape Due/Test Three (In Class)
4/20
Test One:
Units One through Four: Jan. 30 – Feb. 3
(
Test Two:
Units Five through Nine: Mar. 6 – 10 (
Test
Three: Units Ten through Fourteen: Apr.
18 (In Class)
DUE DATES:
Assignment
1: Tuesday, February 7 Assignment
2: Tuesday, February 21
Assignment
3: Tuesday, March 7 Assignment
4: Tuesday, March 28
Assignment
5: Thursday, April 6 Assignment
6: Tuesday, April 18