LATE SUBMISSION AND PENALTIES
The majority of coursework will take the form of practical performance and projects. If you are not present in class when your name is called to undertake a task, your work will be considered late. If your work is submitted incomplete or otherwise outside the assignment’s specified format parameters, it will be returned to you for correction. Upon resubmission, it will be considered late work.

Late work can earn no more than a maximum of 64 points. Work is considered late if it is submitted (or, in the case of e-mail, time-stamped) after lecture begins on the due date. If, because of extreme and prolonged sickness, you miss a deadline and are able to substantiate a claim of incapacitation with a note from a reputable doctor or Calvin Health Services, the grades of your remaining assignments will be given greater weight to compensate. Otherwise, you will receive a zero for the assignment. Examinations must be taken when scheduled.

FEEDBACK AND REVISION
Syllabus deadlines are the date and time an assignment is due in its final version. The nature of filmmaking is such, however, that you should plan on soliciting your professor’s feedback on at least two intermediate versions of each project. While this is not a requirement, you ignore this recommendation at significant peril to your grade.

QUIZZES
Quizzes may be given without warning to encourage attendance and affirm content mastery throughout the term.

PARTICIPATION
Participation will be evaluated throughout the semester by professor and peers based on student contribution to class community. Assigning the grade, I am chiefly concerned with the following questions:

1. To what degree and in what ways does the student demonstrate respect for his/her audience and co-laborers?
2. To what degree and in what ways does the student model dependability and responsibility?
3. In what ways has the student participated in work load, idea generation, and leadership — apart from the work necessary to complete his/her individual assignments?
4. Of what value are the student’s criticism and suggestions for improvement valued by his/her peers?

GRADE SCALE
Coursework will be weighted as indicated:

Assignment grades will be based on the following scale:

Responding to students’ desire for the most immediate feedback on their project work, grades and comments are reported via Moodle. It is therefore the responsibility of students to regularly consult Moodle for the most current report of their grades.

Technical & Creative Competence Testing  W Feb 01 5:30 pm – 9:20 pm

To demonstrate creative and technical competence acquired in previous media production courses, rotate through the five skills tests set up through classrooms and studios in the media production area.

Initial Research  W Feb 08 5:30 pm

• Generate and present elements of preliminary topic research.  Take rigorous notes of classmate feedback.
• Generate and present elements of preliminary design research
• Discuss and submit crew contracts.

Workflow  W Feb 15 5:30 pm

• Directors will present storyboards for coverage and composition based on two or more famous paintings. Bring images of those paintings with you to class. I am frequently inspired by leafing through Sister Wendy’s 1000 Masterpieces.
• Directors, Cinematographers & Gaffers will each research 2 films in back issues of American Cinematographer. The films should — in some matter of visual tone or style (and to a far lesser degree, content) — inform the one you are making this semester.
• Audio Recordists will present location roomtone recordings. Marantz PMD660 and Tascam DR-100 flash recorders are available in the equipment check-out room. Transfer the audio files to a ProTools project on your group partition so we can audition them in the Audio Control Room, DCC 030.
• Editors will research and present at least three ideas for temp music. No copyright clearance is required at this point in the semester. In addition to the temp music, members should share a total of three other musical tracks generated from their shared image files.
• Producers will submit a marketing and distribution portfolio to more accurately budget festival entry fees.
• Cinematography teams will shoot test footage employing multiple cameras and settings.
• Editing teams will organize post-production work: naming bins, designing timelines, and importing test footage at multiple project settings.

Talent & Equipment W Feb 22 5:30 pm

• Producers will submit copies of completed personal and location releases. Friendly advice: never give professors the original of anything.
• Gaffers will submit scale lighting plots and equipment lists. (Google SketchUp is a useful [free] drawing tool with a fairly gentle learning curve.)
• Cinematorgraphers will submit an equipment list.
• Audio Recordists will submit an equipment list.
• Teams will discuss specific concerns for impending shoots, paying rigorous attention to the feedback of their classmates.

Location Shoot W Feb 29  5:30 pm – 9:20 pm

I do not expect that you will be able to shoot your entire documentary in a single, four-hour class period.  Rather, I am reserving this class period for project work.  I will be available to visit any filming location within easy driving distance of the school, with priority given to groups who have reserved my time in advance.

Logging & Transcription W Mar 07 5:30 pm – 9:20 pm

This class period is reserved for project work, preferably the transcription of documentary interviews.  I will be available to peruse any of your work product to date, with priority given to groups who have reserved my time in advance.

Principal Photography M Mar 12 1:00 pm

• Cinematographers will submit a file/footage log to the professor (as a .pdf) as evidence of completed principal photography.  Each video file should be accompanied by corresponding audio files.
• Producers will submit a complete transcription of all interviews.

Assembly Edit W Mar 14  5:30 pm

Editors will screen an assembly edit for the class (chiefly to check for coverage).  The remaining class period should be spent improving the edit.

Editing Workshop W Mar 28  5:30 pm – 9:20 pm

Editors will screen an assembly edit for the class (chiefly to check for coverage).  The remaining class period should be spent improving the edit.

Rough Cut due M Apr 02 1:00 pm

Editing Workshop W Apr 04  5:30 pm – 9:20 pm

Visual Lock due M Apr 09  1:00 pm

Given our collaboration with the Music department to marry your work to an original score, consider this deadline virtually sacrosanct.  No extensions.  Late work may earn partial credit toward your final semester average.  However, if your group’s visual lock is submitted after the deadline, your film may not be included in the Showcase screening.  The film’s producer must secure the instructor’s approval of your film before class begins.  You may not proceed to any successive phase of the project without this approval.   Footage will be graded as an Avid timeline saved to your group partition.

Graphics and Color Correction due W Apr 11  5:30 pm

For further instruction in Avid Color Correction, I recommend this well-organized series of tutorials. Interested in still more? Consider The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction as a supplemental text.

Each group will partner with an assigned Graphic Arts student to design a promotional poster for your film.  His/her artwork will be presented to you as a collection of layered Adobe elements.  You are expected to import those components into After Effects and use them as the basis for a coordinated suite of lower thirds, titles, and other graphics.

Dialogue Edit due M Apr 16  1:00 pm

During today’s class, each group will screen the dialogue edit of its film.   The group’s designated dialogue editor must secure the instructor’s approval of the film before class concludes.  You may not proceed to any successive phase of the project without this approval.   The project will be graded as a ProTools session file saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one ProTools session file only.

Score due W Apr 18  5:30 pm

During today’s class, each group will screen the music edit of its film.   The group’s designated music editor must secure the instructor’s approval of the film before class begins.  You may not proceed to any successive phase of the project without this approval.   The project will be graded as a ProTools session file saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one ProTools session file only.

Trailer due F Apr 20  1:00 pm

30 secs, 0 frames.  1080p.  Include bars, tone & slate.  Employ proper project, bin, and sequence nomenclature.

Dinner and a Movie  Fuller’s House  S Apr 21  5:00 pm

All Media Production Students and their guests invited.

Final Poster due T May 01  1:00 pm

18″ x 24″ .psd @ 300dpi, Adobe elements separated in layers

Final Audio Mix due W May 02  5:30 pm

Each group will screen a final mix of its film in the Bytwerk Theater.  Copies will be submitted to the professor as an Avid timeline saved to the group partition.  The sequence will only contain a video mixdown and a two-channel audio bounce.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.

Final Projects due T May 08 12 noon

Exhibition Plan W May 09  5:30 pm

Withoutabox account; poster; BTS photos

Final Exam: Screening  R May 10  7:00 pm

Media Showcase, CFAC Recital Hall, Mandatory Attendance

Final Exam: Assessment W May 16 6:30 pm

All student work must be removed from the ISIS Server

The classroom setting is such that not all needs can be met within it. I encourage you, therefore, to visit my office often. It is my pleasure to discuss grades, attendance, notes, lectures, or anything else which will make you a better student. Your grades can only benefit from regular communication with your professors. I will gladly work with you to arrange meeting times convenient to us both. Feel free to contact me:

• by e-mail at mail@brianfuller.org [good].
• by phone or voicemail at 616.498.4336 (49.VIDEO) [better].
• in person [best].

If you write a good essay or fail a math exam, you do so as an individual. But the success of a video production is often a collaborative endeavor that begins with attendance. You jeopardize any group project for which you show up late (or not at all). Reflecting the emphasis Media Production professors place on collaboration, strict attendance is required. Students will be penalized for late arrivals and early departures.

I’ve got tickets to leave early for spring break. Can I reschedule work to accommodate my travel plans?

Classes will not be held on holidays officially recognized by the college. All other days of the term are fair game for lectures, quizzes and assignments. Those students who plan to leave early for or return late from holiday breaks may not reschedule exams or other work.

Can I take class notes on my iPad? What are the professor’s expectations for electronic etiquette?

You’re encouraged to use smart phones, tablets, and laptops in disciplined ways which accomplish the work of the course. It’s considered rude, however, to engage in private communiqués (facebook, twitter, IMs, texts) during class.

Oops. My phone started ringing in class. Probably Mom calling…

The professor reserves the right to answer any cell phone call received by a student during class time. From a practical standpoint, you’d hate to ruin an otherwise fabulous take on location with a Justin Bieber ringtone.

The current edition of our college Code of Student Conduct notes that “the student-faculty relationship is based on trust and mutual respect which can be seriously undermined by the suspicion or reality of academic dishonesty.” It elsewhere defines plagiarism as “the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment.”

Though expected to abide by the document as a whole, Media Production students may benefit from specific awareness of conduct proscribed by Article IV of the Code:

• Cheating, plagiarism, or other forms of academic dishonesty.
• Unauthorized possession, duplication or use of keys or other access devices to any College premises or unauthorized entry to or use of College premises.
• Use of computing facilities and resources in violation of copyright laws.

The standards of honesty and the penalties of dishonesty apply equally to words, ideas, visual images, auditory images, and all electrochemical means of storage and communication.

I will vigorously pursue prosecution of academic dishonesty to the very limit of sanctions allowed by the college (Article V, Sections D and E), up to and including failure of the course and expulsion from the college. I will just as vigorously work with student to prevent even unintended lapses of integrity. If you are uncertain about how to avoid plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty, please consult a member of the English faculty, the most recent edition of The Little, Brown Handbook,or (preferably) ask me.

While student media producers retain copyright ownership of their respective work, enrollment in this course constitutes your permission to let the college, the department, the professor, their representatives, and successors, exhibit and distribute for promotional purposes those media projects submitted in fulfillment of course assignments. Without any effect on your grade you may withhold or limit such permission by indicating your wish to do so in a note to your professor signed, witnessed, and dated, before the course’s drop date.

Media Production lab aides are available in DeVos 025A (hours posted there) to check out equipment for class projects. It is often advantageous to alert them to your equipment needs several days in advance.

The Media Production Faculty approved the following equipment loan policy in March 2009.
Governed by the following priorities, equipment and facilities are available to those students currently enrolled in Media Production classes:

1. Priority shall be given to equipment loans which support class project assignments and faculty scholarship initiatives.
2. Production equipment will support in-class instruction as well as out-of-class project work. Return deadlines will be carefully monitored.
3. Certain equipment is designated for use by each class. Thus, cameras, lighting, and grip equipment set aside for advanced instruction may not be available to students in introductory-level courses (and vice versa). Not even Production Lab Aides should assume free access to all equipment.
4. Understanding that Media Production majors may not be enrolled in production classes each semester, those declared majors are nevertheless encouraged to engage in project work for their continued improvement (video festivals, competitions, a senior capstone piece, even personal projects). Requests for equipment to support such projects must be made in advance to the Chief Engineer. As a rule, equipment and facilities tend to be more readily available early in the semester. Requests must include (a) a project summary; (b) a detailed equipment wish list; (c) crew list; and (d) desired loan dates.

As in the regular semester, instruction, scholarship, and maintenance, regulate equipment use over breaks, vacations, reading recess, interims, and summer. Exceptions follow the same guidelines enumerated above.