HARVARD-WESTLAKE SCHOOL

ADVANCED VIDEO I

Course Number: 0560-0A1 Time/Date: Mon/Tue Period 7 -- Fri Period 7/8

0560-0B1 Time/Date: Tue/Thu Period 8 -- Wed Period 7/8

Room Number: Feldman-Horn 105

Instructor: Kevin O’Malley

E-Mail and Phone: komalley@hw.com (818) 487-6598 (direct school line)

We need defenses against the seductions of eloquence.

Bertrand Russell

Course Description

“Disregard the man behind the curtain!” So says the bogus wizard in Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. We shall do just the opposite. This year in Advanced Video I, we will study the inner workings of how to tell a story through the medium of film. We will go behind the film curtain, so to speak. Using in-class writing exercises, the students will be introduced to the craft of screenwriting. Topics include: dialogue, character, structure and story. The elements of pre-production (production design, script analysis, cinematography, and rehearsal) will come next. In-class shooting exercises are also used to refine the work that will eventually be put into the long-term assignments. Topics include: production values, film language, set etiquette, working with actors, staging dialogue sequences, shot flow, continuity editing, narrative motion, camera cutting vs. coverage, and editing syntax.

In the process of creating their own video work, students will become more sensitive to the technical and aesthetic aspects of film and video. They will also become more "media literate" in terms of understanding the position and power of visual media in contemporary culture. And perhaps, they will ponder whether defenses against the seductions of visual eloquence are, indeed, necessary.

Course Objectives

1. To learn how to write well-crafted and imaginative scripts.

2. To improve basic camera and editing skills learned in the Video Art, including work with the studio camera and the digital editing bay.

3. To present the social phenomenon of electronic and film media to the student in a far more conscious manner than how we usually experience them.

Standards of Performance

1. Willingness and ability to offer individual insight and effort to a collective undertaking.

2. Courteous and professional observation of all standard studio practices.

3. Participation in class presentations and critiques.

4. Enthusiasm for creative story-telling.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE --Second Semester

Week

1 Shooting “Go Figure” Scripts

Begin editing footage

2 Shooting “Go Figure” Scripts

Continue editing footage

3 Submit Scripts for Project #2

Studio: Edit Character clips

4 Critique Character clips

Lecture: "Dialogue"

5 Continue with “Go Figure”

6 Studio: Shooting

7 Studio: Shooting

8 Studio: Shooting

Grades Due

9 Submit new project scripts

10 Studio: Finish Editing

11 Viewing: “Before Sunset/Before Sunrise” series

12 Studio: Storyboard new projects

13 Lecture: Editing

14 Studio: Shoot Script

15 Studio: Shoot Script

Individual editing projects

16 Studio: Editing final projects

17 Studio: Editing footage

Present work in Class Assemblies