Is Google Making Us Stupid? Really?

This week, our students tackle Nicholas Carr's seminal article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"
They will also learn to link to this blog, too - AND the blogs of their colleagues!

Putting It All Together: Website, Blog, Portfolio

Students will end the term with attention to their own personal websites. Students will refer to earlier work and previously supplied references, and will attend to course requirements for content. (See below.)

(Students, consider the advice and guidelines from the Forbes article, "Why Every Job Seeker Should Have a Personal Website, And What It Should Include." Before you begin to finalize the website, make a "finishing touches checklist" for your website from this material. Then, implement the changes and improvements while including the course-required content. Need inspiration? Look at this list of "The 3 Best Personal Websites We've Ever Seen" from MUSE.)

Students' sites will contain:

1. Links to blog entries (in Blogger and Weebly.)
2. Resume / About Me / C.V.
3. Portfolio(s) which will include each of the following, with contextualizing commentary:
1. Samples of Video Production
2. Samples of Digital Design
3. Samples of Presentation Design
4. Samples of other work, such as writing, art, 
5. Appropriate connections to other social media and online resources

Mid-term Reviews

Students will prepare three (3) blogs to review their work thus far in CM412:

1.  "Baseball" Sample and learning digital editing software (SHOW/EMBED the VIDEO)
2.  Storyboards, Planning and Shooting for a project (SHOW/EMBED the STORYBOARDS)
3.  "Artifacts from the Future" Project (SHOW/EMBED the VIDEO)

Each blog/presentation will answer the following questions thoroughly:

• What did you DO?
• How did you apply class learning to your work?
• What did you learn that you might apply to your communications practices in the future?

We will share our findings IN OUR BLOGS and in discussion in Thursday's class before Spring Break.

Packaging for Presenting Yourself

Students in CM412 will be reviewing their personal/professional websites with a view to their use as "Personal Presentations" to potential employees and members of their future professional communities.

Sources students will use include:

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-swallow/the-new-high-school-essen_b_8106544.html
2. http://www.auburnmedia.com/wordpress/2015/04/27/auburn-student-digital-resumes-fall-2014/
3. https://career.clemson.edu/michelin_career_center/career_development_recruiting/resumes/
4. https://www.clemson.edu/cbbs/departments/graphics/student_resumes/GCResumesFall2015.pdf
5. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/04/the-best-web-tools-for-students-to.html

A Project of Their Own!

Students will be writing, directing and producing a short 3-piece video on the "Artifacts from the Future" Exhibit. Their productions will each contain: an interview, a scripted selection performed by "talent," and a performance piece from the director!

In preparation for Tuesday's mixing/post-production session, students will have completed the following:

1. Complete a storyboard, and take a photo of the finished storyboard and post in ON THE BLOG, along with reflections of the planning process.
2. Use the storyboard to Make out a SHOT LIST, and post this on the BLOG, too!
3. Using the shot list as a guide, students will shoot all the video you will need for the production. (including B-roll, establishing shots, etc.)

In class, students will work on importing the video, mixing your clips to make the storyboards "come to life," and even choosing bumpers, stingers, and background music. (Students may find sound ideas here: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/ )

Mixing it up: Video Editing

Students will use Premiere Pro (and provided video, audio and photos) to recreate the 25-second introduction to a fictitious documentary called "Baseball: America's Pasttime."

In doing so, students will demonstrate their learning of the program interface, importing collateral, using photos, layers, timeline, transitions, effects, editing clips before and after insertion to the timeline, titling, the Ken Burns effect, and exporting to various video formats (in this case, a format suitable for YouTube.)

They will upload their videos to YouTube and embed them in their blogs (or upload them directly to their blogs) with additional prose commentary on the process.

Students will build on the instruction in the classroom, but can find additional support at sites like these:

Adobe has some helpful links to instructions and video tutorials to help you get started HERE.

A couple of tutorials you might have particular interest in are these:

1. Managing & Viewing Assets
2. Dynamic Slide Shows (aka the "Ken Burns Effect")

MORE HELP Available at the Course Website!

Lights, Camera, Direction, Production, Action!

This week, CM412 students will have completed their storyboards for the "Artifacts from the Future" shoot - a project in which they will:

• Direct a 2-person, 3-light Interview Shoot
• Conduct the interview
• Script and direct a colleague in an informational piece 
• Deliver an informational piece on camera
• Shoot all establishing shots, noddy shots and B-roll

Next week, they will enter post-production to edit, enhance and deliver a finished video highlighting a part of the "Artifacts from the Future" exhibit.