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Class Syllabus

Updated 7/26/13
Journalism J 210 (24421 Jour)
Visual Communications
Tuesday and Thursday mornings
Instructor: Lara Neel
email: neell@ipfw.edu                     
Instructor’s blog site http://nouinlara.blogspot.com/
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Students will discover their own creative voice as they express themselves with photography. Photojournalism and documentary photography will be emphasized as each student learns to use a camera and process digital images in PhotoShop. Composition and lighting will also be emphasized. Work will be presented with various mediums as students learn to work with a blog, web page and edit video.
Journalism J210 credits may be applied to the general education requirements. Among the appropriate learning outcomes for artistic-endeavor courses are:


 - Use appropriate organization or logical sequencing to deliver an oral message.
- Recognize and describe humanistic, historical, or artistic works or problems and patterns of the human experience.
- Analyze the concepts and principles of various types of humanistic or artistic expression.
- Create, interpret, or reinterpret artistic and/or humanistic works through performance or criticism.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process using the vocabulary of the appropriate discipline.
- Perform or create a work of personal expression and bring the work to fruition using applicable skills.
- Articulate a reflective and critical evaluation of their own and other’s creative efforts using written and/or oral communication.

TEXTBOOK: Visual Communication in a Digital Age: Ellie Bogue, Cathie Rowand, Aaron Suozzi, and Worth Weller. This is available now as an ebook you can purchase online.

SUPPLIES:
35 mm film camera or digital camera with manual mode. Film cameras can be rented through student government. Video Cameras can be checked out for 48 hours through Studio M.
Go to http://dpreview.com/ for information on all the digital cameras available for purchase. Sunny Schick, downtown Fort Wayne can also be very helpful in selecting a camera. Prices are competitive with other stores in town and the staff is very knowledgeable.
You will also need:
- 12 rolls of color negative film 400 ASA if using a film camera
- Flash drive portable storage unit with at least 4 gigs or an iPod/MP3 player.
- A card reader for the memory card of the digital camera.
- Processed film should be scanned and put on CD. Prints are not necessary or wanted.
- Software: PhotoShop CS4 is recommended. Review article on the Poynter Institute’s website (link below) for free PhotoShop alternatives and check out free audio websites to help with documentary project.
Software Resources:
NVU - free software for developing a website. Both Macintosh and PC versions.
General Resources:
NewsU.org - Poynter website offering free tutorials. Requires registration.
Knight New Media (http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/) - dozens of free tutorials on audio and video storytelling, setting up a blog, using CSS and a variety of multimedia gear.
The University of Westminster  (http://www.multimediatrainingvideos.com/) - Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Flash and various other multimedia software tutorials. They have a YouTube channel with dozens of how-to videos.
Video WTF? (http://videowtf.com/) - a forum on all things video. Post a question and let the community help yu solve your problems. This is a give and take site, play nice and contribute when you can.
Mindy McAdams’, Teaching Online Journalism (http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/) is not just for teachers. Mindy writes on timely multimedia and online journalism issues. She also offers many how-to lessons on her site. The conversation is lively and she is quick to respond to questions.
Lynda.com - training site that also has free video podcasts accessible from iTunes.
This American Life - a great example of storytelling from the radio show. Free podcast available on iTunes.
1Shot Blog - a Fort Wayne blog produced at The Journal Gazette. Includes specific technical information about how photographs are shot and is updated 5 to 6 times a week.
GRADING:
Assignments need to be shot this semester and completed on time. Assignments will be uploaded to the student’s blog site and can be accomplished off campus. After two weeks, late assignments will be given an F. Assignments can be redone if needed to meet an acceptable level, but must be handed in on time to qualify. Assignments need to be handed in on time even if a student is absent from class since work is uploaded to a blog. Students need to contact professor and make arrangements for missed classes and are advised to check this syllabus weekly for assignments due. If you need to miss a class because of  a religious holiday, inform the professor ahead of time.
GRADING Breakdown: Grade will consist of: 30% from 1st half photo assignments, computer work, and tests. The midterm project is worth twice as much as a regular project or assignment; 30% Final project consisting of 2nd half of photo assignments, tests and documentary project; 20% web page and final portfolio; 20% class participation and bonus points (missing 6 classes would yield an F for participation, 5 missed classes a D and so on). If you miss a test, you must contact me about a makeup test to be taken within 1 week. If you know you will miss a test before it is taken, and you discuss it with me before the test is taken, you can have up to two weeks to make up the test. The test format may vary.
The cutoffs for letter grades are:
97 - 100 A+
93 - 96 A
90 - 92 A-
87 - 89 B+
83 - 86 B
80 - 82 B-
77 - 79 C+
73 - 76 C
70 - 72 C-
67 - 60 D+
63 - 66 D
60 - 62 D-
Lower than 60 yields an F.



Academic Misconduct: Academic Misconduct, including plagiarism (using other people's ideas/words and not giving them credit thus implying the work is your own original work) or using your own work from a previous course without the express permission of both instructors, is taken very seriously at any learning institution. It is taken very seriously in this class. Please be aware of what behaviors constitute academic misconduct  (See Bulletin, Code of Students Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct Part II. A.) as well as thepotential consequences (See Bulletin, , Code of Students Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct,  Part III. A.: i.e., failure of the assignment, failure of the course and/or dismissal from the university) of such behavior.
Bonus Points:
Students will also earn their participation grade with  attendance and bonus points. Bonus points are earned by sharing helpful information with classmates (like an interesting website that pertains to photography), helping out another student with PhotoShop, website, blog or anything else technical. Bonus points can also be earned by answering bonus questions pertaining to readings in the textbook, quizzes, and participation in class activities. Six bonus points can replace a missed class. There is more information about options for bonus points on the class blog. Basically by being an active contributing member of the class and showing up to most of the classes, 20% will be added to your grade.
Grading Rubric for Photo Assignments
1) Technical: in focus, exposure just right, file size appropriate for intended use, and framing.
2) Creativity and Aesthetics: light, composition, point of view. Would someone want to hang some of these shots on a wall? Would a newspaper publish the shot? Does it have storytelling quality?
3) Following through with assignment: Did you you shoot what was assigned? Did you shot at least 40 shots?
4) Presentation: Work done in PhotoShop to present your work the best way possible and in a professional way.
5) Thought and effort: The thought process used to accomplish the assignment. Did you spend time with it?
1-5 points will be given for each one.
If an assignment is incomplete, it will receive 0 points. For example, if the assignment requires 4 photographs and you turn in 3, that assignment gets an automatic grade of 0.

 Grading Rubric for Video Assignments
1) Technical: in focus, exposure just right, file size appropriate for intended use, and framing.
2) Creativity and Aesthetics: light, composition, point of view. Does it have storytelling quality?
3) Following through with assignment: Did you you shoot what was assigned?
4) Presentation: Work done in Premiere to present your work the best way possible and in a professional way.
5) Thought and effort: The thought process used to accomplish the assignment. Did you spend time with it?
1-5 points will be given for each one.
If an assignment is incomplete, it will receive 0 points. For example, if the assignment requires 4 photographs and you turn in 3, that assignment gets an automatic grade of 0.
Grade Updates:
Grade updates will be given on tests when they are handed back. For homework assignments, updates and critiques will be sent through email. If you don't use your IPFW email very often, please contact the IT department about forwarding or accessing your IPFW email.
DISABILITIES STATEMENT:
If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Contact the Director of Services for Students with Disabilities (Walb, room 113, telephone number 481-6658), as soon as possible to work out the details. Once the Director has provided you with a letter attesting to your needs for modification, bring the letter to me. For more information, please
visit the web site for SSD at http://www.ipfw.edu/ssd/.

Very Important Notes:
- Throughout this syllabus, it is suggested that you keep notes of your camera settings. This is very helpful for learning why your camera works the way it does. However, if you are shooting digital photos, you may not need to write the diary as you go. Take a test image, open it in PhotoShop, and see if you can find where the information for the file is under the EXIF data. If you can determine your camera settings that way, it might save you some time. You will still have to present those settings as part of the coursework, but you won’t have to actually take notes as you shoot.
- All video projects, even when done in a group, must be linked to from the individual students' blog, in order to receive credit.
- Every photo taken for this class must be taken when the camera is set to manual mode.
- A photo can only be used for one project. In other words, the same photo can’t be used for the Composition and Lighting projects.
- For projects that have more than one component (the Composition Project, for example), each photo must be labelled with its concept.
- All materials within a project (audio, video, or still) must be your original work. Any music must be properly licensed and the source for the music listed in the credits.
- All materials within a project must be created during the current semester.



COURSE OUTLINE
August 27 and 29, Week 1: Introduction, “The Camera and its functions”, camera history. An unofficial survey on where you get your news. Interviewing techniques. Creating a filing system for your photographs.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 1 of Visual Communication in a Digital Age. There will be a quiz on some basic information from this chapter next week. 2) Start figuring out how your camera works in manual mode. Bring your camera and camera manual to Thursday’s class if you have questions about manual mode on your camera. 3) Shoot a few digital photos with the knowledge you have learned so far and bring images to Thursday’s class to work on in PhotoShop and upload to your blog. A card reader for the memory card in your camera is highly recommended in case you have trouble bringing in photos on a flash drive. Don’t plan on pulling off an image by hooking the camera to computer. That rarely works without some sort of software download first.
Helpful websites:
The camera obscura: http://www.abelardomorell.net
Podcast: Computing In The Cloud: Who Owns Your Files?:
Did You Know 2009 Media technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
Sept. 3 and 5, Week 2: -- More about cameras, f-stops and the sunny f/16 rule. Crash course in PhotoShop CS4 starting with digital photos shot for this class. Set up blog site and upload images. Answer individual camera questions. Common problems and how to avoid them. Set up your blog for this class. Due Date: 9/5
Test -- on Chapter 1.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 2 in your textbook. 2) Mistakes Assignment - Common Photo Mistakes: underexposed, overexposed, backfocused, camera motion blur, subject motion blur, out of focus. Shoot photos that are examples of 4 out of these 6 mistakes. Upload to your blog and label each one with the mistake you made and how you would avoid it next time. Due Date: 9/12
Be sure to bring your book to class next week.
Helpful websites:
Sept. 10 and 12, Week 3 - Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 2 in your textbook. 2) Name Project: Shoot objects that spell your first name (due date: 9/19). If your first name only has three letters add your last name. Make sure your assignment includes at least 4 photos. Do not use letters from signs. See “Class Discussions and Assignments” at the end of Chapter 1 for more information. Students must have film processed before next week and put on a CD. If using digital, download all shots on to a CD, flash drive or bring a card reader to class. Keep a diary of aperture and shutter speeds.
Sept. 17 and 19, Week 4 - Rules of composition and how to improve your images. Work on Name Project in class and learn more about PhotoShop CS4. Your textbook will be a helpful so bring it to class. Bring camera to Sept. 24 class for an in-class light shoot.
Test -- Tuesday, on Chapter 2.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 6 (Composition) in your book. 2) Shoot composition assignment as specified under assignments at end of the chapter (due date: 9/26). Shoot at least 36 exposures or more if shooting digital. Make sure to shoot the six different compositions that are listed and post the results to your blog. To receive an A, spend time with this assignment and give it a lot of thought. Keep a diary of aperture, shutter speeds, and other camera settings.
Helpful websites:
Sept. 24 and 26, Week 5: Ruth Bernhard, master of light.
Finding the right light and how it can make a difference in a photo. Bring camera to class with film or disc space, and a strobe, if you have one. In-class strobe demonstration. All the light you can carry. Making strobes look natural or at least have fun with it.
Test -- on Chapter 6.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 5 (Lighting). 2) Shoot various lighting situations as listed: night scene or low-light situation, silhouette, back lit, side light, candlelight, shadows, side light with fill, and scenic making use of a sunset, fog, sunrise, or diffused light (due date: 10/3). Should shoot eight different situations. Shoot at least 36 exposures. Remember to use a tripod and bracket your exposures with night shots. Post the eight different light shots on your blog. One of these shots should be a night shot or another low-light situation.
Helpful websites:
Oct. 1 and 3, Week 6: -- All about illustrations. Digital Ethics: can you trust what you see? Pixels make the picture; resolution is a measure of fineness. Megabytes and more megabytes: the low-down on digital cameras.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 7 (Photojournalism), paying special attention to “Journalistic Illustrations.” 2) Shoot a food illustration or Halloween illustration (due date: 10/10). Try at least four different concepts. Remember to use what you learned in composition and lighting. Keep a diary of aperture and shutter speeds. Post four different illustration shots to your blog.
Helpful Websites:
7 minute videotape except: The Digital Manipulation of Images
from "Is Seeing Believing? How Can You Tell What's Real?"
Is Seeing Believing? Manipulation of photographic images
Oct. 8 and 10, Week 7: -- Portraits and how to shoot them by putting people at ease and showing their personality. Presentation about Maggie Steber.
A historical look at photography. Multimedia and how it revolutionized newspapers.
Test -- Tuesday, on Chapter 7 (Photojournalism).
Assignment: 1) Shoot 36 exposures of portraits – Candid, environmental portrait/planned, tight portrait, and self-portrait. Upload 4 shots to your blog (due date: 10/17). 3) Read Chapter 3 (www). 4) Start adding portfolio photos to a separate page on your blog.
Helpful websites:
Helpful websites:
Portraits:
Annie Lebovitz—
Sports:
Fall Break, Second Half of Class Begins
Oct. 17 (We don’t meet on 10/15, because of fall break), Week 8-- Video, A & B roll, telling a simple story, ambient sound and camera support. Intro to Adobe Premiere.
- All video projects, even when done in a group, must be linked to from the individual students' blog, in order to receive credit.
- Every photo taken for this class must be in the camera’s manual mode.
- All materials within a project (audio, video, or still) must be your original work. Any music must be properly licensed and the source for the music listed in the credits.
You may work on video projects as a group, but every member of the group must participate. Groups cannot be larger than 2 people.
Test -- on Chapter 3.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 4 (Multimedia). Assignment: Video-record an interview with a person and shoot action that helps explain the story. This to be short and no longer than a minute and 30 seconds. Most point and shoot cameras have video mode and will be just fine for this assignment. Remember this is an introductory class so you aren’t expected to an expert. Be creative and tell a story the best you can. We all start somewhere when learning to do something new. There will be time to work on this during week 9, so have it shot and ready to bring to class. The last website on the list below features a video by a student who is just learning the process.
Helpful websites:
Oct. 22 and 24, Week 9: We will spend this class working on our videos. Make sure you convert them to .mpg files before class using vlc. It will be hard enough to learn Adobe Premiere. You will be light years behind if you don’t come prepared. Video will be uploaded to a web account, either YouTube or Vimeo, your choice.
Test -- Tuesday, on Chapter 4 (Multimedia).
Assignment: 1) Start thinking of your own documentary project. 2) Have your midterm portfolio photos selected and on a page on your blog by 10/22. Portfolio should consist of 10 photos from: name project, night shots, light, illustration, composition, portraits and your choice. 3) Begin to arrange campus video shoot and make contacts. Finalize plans with your group.
Oct. 29 and 31, Week 10 -- More about video. Tripods, b-roll and microphone techniques.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 9. Students need to be thinking about a project for the second half. Write two sentences about your project and bring to class to share on Thursday. 2) Organize with your group Campus Documentary shoot. Make contacts and be ready for shoot on November 5.
Helpful websites:
Nov. 5 and 7, Week 11 -- Documentary Photography – the long-term project.
“Day at Campus Class” shoot to be presented with SoundSlides and audio or video. Student groups need to make shooting arrangements in advance and bring a camera to class. Available class time will used to shoot, interview, and edit project into a video/SoundSlides. Each photo must have a caption. If there are four or fewer people in the photo they must be identified with their first and last name. These  photos will be on the class website so getting their name is basically them giving you permission to run the photo. If there are more than four people in a photo, don’t worry about the names.
Assignment: First group video shoot is due in class on November 21.
Helpful websites:
Nov. 12 and 14, Week 12: -- Class time to finish group documentary projects.
Helpful websites:
Nov. 19 and 21, Week 13 -- First documentary shoot is due. We will view work on progress and share ideas on how the project can be improved.
View On-Campus group projects. Time in class to work on videos and web site. Bring necessary material to class.
Assignment: 1) Start working on second video shoot. With this shoot you will be polishing your story and filling in the holes.
Second video shoot is due in class on 12/5.
Helpful websites:
Podcast: Photojournalist Disembedded After Posting Graphic Images
November 26 (no class on Thursday, because of Thanksgiving), Week 14 --- The Photojournalist, tying it all together, Photojournalism Ethics, in-class project.
Assignment: I will be answering questions and working on problems with projects.
Dec. 3 and 5, Week 15


Second group video projects are due in class on 12/5 and are to be presented as a video or a slideshow, uploaded to or linked to from your blog. We will watch them in class to offer help and suggestions to each other.
Final Portfolio
Students will create a final portfolio with a total of 18 photos. Portfolio will be presented on students’ blog. Students are allowed to reshoot and improve their midterm photos. Final portfolio will include portraits and video project presentation along with night shots, light, composition, illustration, name, and students’ choices. There should be links to video projects, too, from individual blogs.
View final group video projects. We will work our way down the class list in alphabetical order by last name.
I will be answering questions and working on problems with projects.
Dec. 10 and 12, Week 16
I will be answering questions and working on problems with projects.
Dec. 17, Finals Week --
I will be in our classroom at our usual meeting time, to offer any help you might need. The final is due by midnight on 12/17/13. There will be no extensions for this deadline.
Students will create a final portfolio with a total of 18 parts - photos and videos. Portfolio will be presented on students’ blog. Students are allowed to reshoot and improve their midterm photos. Final portfolio will include portraits, features, and video project presentation along with night shots, light, composition, illustration, name, and students’ choices. There should be links to video projects, too, from individual blogs.
Make any changes and fix any problems with your final portfolio and video projects. Email the instructor a screen shot of your webpage and a list of all of the links you want to be considered for your final grade.
On a PC, press CTRL, ALT and 'Print Screen' at the same time. This creates a screen shot of just the "active" window, so make sure that the window you want to copy is on top of everything. You can then paste the screen shot into either PhotoShop or Word.
In PhotoShop, just start a new document. The software will automatically size the new document to the same size as the screen shot (which is on your system's clipboard). Paste your screen shot into your new document.
On a Mac, hold down control-command-shift-4. A crosshair cursor will appear. Simply drag the cursor over the part of your screen you wish to capture. This will copy a screen shot of the area to your clipboard, and you can continue as above.

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