Overview:  This 3 session workshop will offer a general examination of what goes into the creation of almost any video production from conception to completion.  How do you go from “idea” to visualization to creation to finished result?  Why is it important to listen to others to help improve the end product?  Since most of us use video as a “story-telling” mechanism, the workshop will explain the elements necessary to tell the story including framing, creating visual depth, headroom/leadroom, working with ambient noise, lighting, and the critical importance of backgrounds to the overall setting or scene construction.  The workshop will also touch on how to approach and work with talent (professional and non-professional) depending on the focus of the project (for instance, conceptualizing a commercial is different from interviewing your grandparents or creating a talk show even though the completed result utilizes the same techniques and skills). Sessions 2 and 3 of the workshop will provide students the opportunity to provide samples of their work (either created prior to this class or as submissions to assignments) for in-depth analysis and constructive critique for the purposes of determining what worked or didn’t work and what could have been improved, changed, or reconsidered in order to make the message or content more effective or efficiently produced.

The workshop is looking to help the student both understand and improve their ability and understanding of the skills and techniques needed to create quality content for the purpose of telling a story and appealing to the needs of the audience.  Since this is a learning process, testing out theories and techniques is encouraged both in and outside of formal meetings in order to see what happens to the end result.

Prerequisites:  Students should have access and sufficient knowledge to use their own personal video equipment for recording purposes (a smartphone or DSLR camera should work) as well as their own basic editing software which they can use to tighten up any video assignments they may be asked to submit. Students must be able to transfer their work to a portable hard drive or flash drive and bring it to class so that the content can be reviewed and critiqued. Please check with the instructor ahead of time to determine what format it needs to be in so that the classroom computer can read the file properly (this is something we’d have to determine before classes meet as some students might be creating or planning to show content on incompatible formats).