Course Title: Advanced Video Production

Teacher: Dharini Rasiah

Voicemail: 644-4500 x37169

E-mail: drasiah@berkeley.k12.ca.us

General Course Description:

This course will focus on four areas of study: media literacy training, fiction/documentary production, integrated media projects and internships. We will be working on these four areas all year, guided by the essential question for the CAS junior year: "What is the most just way to build community?" We will apply our media skills to projects that explore social justice issues in the CAS curriculum and to projects that serve the broader community.

Media literacy serves as the foundation of the curriculum in which we will develop our critical thinking and viewing skills. As we explore a variety of elements in fiction and documentary production, we will produce work that will depart from conventional media. Through integrated media projects with the CAS English and History classes, we will have the opportunity to engage in deeper interdisciplinary work. For example, oral history projects allow us to study our place within various significant historical moments and research our own family histories using a variety of multimedia tools. We will develop skills in researching, interviewing and storytelling. This course also provides the opportunity to participate in a media internship by choosing a second area of expertise in which you will explore the professional world of media. The goal is to expand your media skills and knowledge and apply your skills to a service learning project. Choices include: video, radio, television, web design, photography and print media.

Over the years, CAS students have participated in a number of film festivals, including the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Orinda Film Festival, Tower of Youth Film Festival (Sacramento), Berkeley Film and Video Festival, Screenagers at the Pacific Film Archive and our own Berkeley High School Film Festival. You will be expected to submit your best work to these festivals so that you experience sharing your work with a wider audience and become familiar with the broader filmmaking community.

Goals/Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• become critical thinkers

• become discerning viewers of media

• understand the emotional impact of mass media

• recognize different points of view

• fine-tune understanding of the narrative

• become effective producers and storytellers

• strengthen production skills in video, radio , television, photography and web design

• build skills in teamwork

• apply advanced media skills by participating in media internships

Course Content:

Area 1: Media Literacy Training

Throughout the year we will explore the four major standards in media literacy: Point of View, Narrative, Discourse and Diversity. The goal is to develop skills in analyzing and interpreting information. We will also focus on how conventional media manipulates the way we receive information while we simultaneously construct images ourselves to more accurately reflect our experiences.

Skills Developed:

• recognize, compare and move between different points of view, cultural perspectives and biases

• identify and manipulate narratives as a series of constructed conventions

• identify and develop themes and messages

• differentiate between multiple genres and understand how genre shapes audience expectation of media content

• analyze and interpret the influence of visuals and understand commercial influences

• analyze influences of design elements in media

• define the aesthetic form and understand the relationship between form and content

• understand/critique the difference between representation and reality

• recognize discrepancies in access to technology

• understand how audiences negotiate meaning

• explore the concept of group work in media production

• identify a variety of historical contributions to media and technology

Area 2: Fiction

We explore a variety of film genres, with an emphasis on the dramatic structure, point-of-view and a focus on short-form fiction. You will build upon your previous knowledge of all phases of video production by producing four works of fiction per semester.

We will emphasize the development of writing skills through pre-production including storyboarding, production charts and shot lists. You will learn to analyze stories for their dramatic structure and apply that knowledge to story and script development. We will focus on advanced techniques in camera work, set design and audio: framing/composition, tripod/dolly use, backgrounds, lighting, microphone use and audio mixing. We continue to explore higher level editing programs: Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro and emphasize more refined editing techniques using special effects, exposure control, transitions, audio mixing, multiple tracks, etc. You will be expected to produce a major piece of fiction each semester for submission to film festivals.

Area 3: Integrated Projects

Advanced Video will team up with English and History for two multimedia projects per semester. This collaboration will allow you to use another mode of instruction to learn academic concepts. Some projects include: the Museum Project that incorporates an oral history video project and the 1920s/1930s Documentary Project that incorporates still photography. You will be working on these projects in all of your CAS classes. All projects will have a final presentation component.

Area 4: Internships

You will be required to participate in media internships so you can explore the professional world of media and develop your media production skills. Possible internships include the following:

Video Production:

Students will have the opportunity to teach video at several local schools or non-profit organizations. Other possibilities include working with local filmmakers or film companies.

Curating two film festivals:

Five students will be chosen to participate in the curating project with Kathy Geritz of the Pacific Film Archive. Students will learn the fine art of curating a film festival and will produce the prestigious Screenagers: Bay Area High School Film Festival in the fall. In the spring the students will help produce the annual Berkeley High School Film Festival.

Video Yearbook:

15-20 students will produce the annual video yearbook, in collaboration with the yearbook class. The students tape all the performances, events, sports, spirit week activities, classes/departments, hangouts and various highlights of what takes place at Berkeley High School during the entire school year.

Radio Production:

Youth Radio staff work in the CAS junior classroom three days per week to produce a number of radio shows on social justice topics. The show is comprised of music, commentaries, public service announcements, the news and a round table discussion with a guest speaker. Students also learn how to dj. Several times per semester, students produce their 2-hour show live on KPFB (89.3) in Berkeley.

Television Production:

Students produce shows on a variety of topics in the express studio at Berkeley Community Media under the direction of Mark Coplan. They act as mentors in the TV station for the freshman/sophomore classes.

Grades/Credits:

30% Fiction Projects

30% Integrated Projects

10% Notes/Binder Checks

10% Internships

10% Writing Exercises/Exams

10-100% Respectful Behavior/Participation/Equipment Usage

The following is a sample assignment list for a total of 1000 points per semester.

Assignments for Fall Semester Points

Fiction Project 1: 20 Shot exercise 75

Fiction Project 2: Production from a Script 75

Fiction Project 3: Public Service Announcement 75

Fiction Project 4: Major Fiction 75

Integrated Project 1: Museum Project 150

Integrated Project 2: 1920s/1930s Project 150

Bi-Weekly Notebook Check (5 points per week) 100

Internships 100

Writing Exercises/Exams 100

Respectful Behavior/Participation/Equipment Usage 100-1000

Assignments for Spring Semester Points

Fiction Project 1: Major Fiction 150

Fiction Project 2: Major Fiction 150

Integrated Project 1: TBA 150

Integrated Project 2: TBA 150

Bi-Weekly Notebook Check (5 points per week) 100

Internships 100

Writing Exercises/Exams 100

Respectful Behavior/Participation/Equipment Usage 100-1000

Instructional Materials:

You will need the following materials for the course:

• a $20 lab fee for equipment/materials

• a binder

• additional videotape stock

Suggestions for Independent work:

• View documentaries and/or fiction from the Independent Film Guide and fill out screening sheets

• Produce a video from the extra credit assignment sheet