Course Structure and Project Guidelines

   Sequenced assignments lead student groups in CAS 249 through audio design and production tasks, building upon skills and work products as they advance through the semester.  Assignments in the last half of the term often employ footage shot or effects recorded in the first half.  The assignments combine and culminate in the production and exhibition of a 5-7 minute film.  Students who, therefore, commit themselves to the highest quality of work in the course’s inital projects – location dialogue recording, for example – are likely to get better grades on successive assignments which incorporate that earlier work – say, dialogue editing and mixing.  Simply put:  the better your raw footage in September, the better your rough cut at mid-term, the better your final project grade in December.

    Because film is chiefly a collaborative art, your work is not solely your own.  You share it with others.  Uniform strategies of disc management and documentation are so essential to an efficient workflow that your professor has specified the file nomenclature of each assignment below to help you develop the habits of saving, duplicating, backing up, and renaming files, sequences, and sessions.  Work which deviates from these file nomenclature guidelines may be penalized or simply not accepted.

    Even if you have employed Avid's Media Composer software in previous Production courses, I strongly recommend you review the handout available here.  I find, in particular, that students' projects routinely suffer from ills that can be addressed by attention to the editing software's Media Creation project settings.

    Warnings about software are necessary, but do not accurately predict the focus of the class.  CAS 249 is decidedly not "The ProTools Class."  Those who expect instruction to radiate outward from this (admittedly powerful) tool will likely work harder to repair mistakes in post-production than wiser students who eliminate those same mistakes during production.

A Word About Project Workdays

   Workdays are laboratory-style class periods designated for, well, work.  Collaborating students should protect these hours jealously; class members ought to schedule no conflicting obligations on a lab day.  Your instructor also protects these essential days on your behalf.  Unlike general office hours, my attentions are exclusively focused on this class on project workdays.

    Workdays are typically scheduled for the class period before a major assignment is due.  Thus -- though they are not topically structured -- workdays should not be considered "days off."  Indeed, they are often more critical to the completion of rigorous coursework than (admittedly brilliant) lectures and discussion.

Storyboard and Sound Design Sep 17 1:30 pm
Your professor will provide each group a dialogue-only script.  Through storyboard and production design, your group will develop the script with appropriate literary, dramatic, and cinematic elements.  Given the instructional emphasis of the class, you should pay particular attention to the sound design for your script, making special note of diagetic and non-diagetic dialogue, effects, and music.  On behalf of your group. your director will present a polished, detailed storyboard and sound design to your professor and classmates.  Take notes of class critique, revise and pitch a second time.

Casting & Location Scouting  Sep 22 1:30 pm
On behalf of your group, your producer will submit talent and location releases.

Location Dialogue & Roomtone Oct 01 3:20 pm
To become familiar with the audio recording capabilities of the following:

Sony DSR570 Camera		Shure FP33 Field Mixer

each group will record the following:

The footage should be well-lit and white balanced.  You might also experiment with the camera's lenses.  Using the members of your group as actors will provide me with evidence that each of you has enjoyed a turn as sound and camera operator.  No wallflowers, please.  A common comfort and familiarity with each other and with the equipment are the assignment's chief goals.  I recommend frequent reference to chapter 3 of the Holman text. 

(above:  an example from the SP09 offering of CAS 249.   Remember, the opening shots are ambient room tones).

Footage will be graded as an Avid timeline saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only .  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

Instrumental Music  Oct 15 3:20 pm
To become familiar with the audio recording capabilities of the Sony DMX-R100 mixer, ProTools, and the Steelcase Foundation Audio Suite, each student will record 3:00 of instrumental music to his/her own Unity Server partition.  

Some lengthier video tutorials may be found at the Artistshouse Music site here.  As specific preparation for this assignment, I recommend Aaron Sternke's beginner vids, Part 3, "Creating a New Session," and Part 4, "Basic Recording."

My expectation is that the music recorded for this project is not merely recorded to satisfy the demands of this project, but in some way supports the sound design of your final project.   I recommend that you work in pairs, though you will be graded as individuals.  Each of at least two musical instruments will be recorded in a separate track of the same song for concurrent playback.  I will open and grade one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded.

At a minimum, I suggest you view the tutorials offered below.  Lengthier video tutorials may be found at the Artistshouse Music site here.  As specific preparation for this assignment, I recommend Aaron Sternke's beginner vids, Part 3, "Creating a New Session," and Part 4, "Basic Recording."

Vocal Music  Oct 22 3:20 pm

To become familiar with the audio recording capabilities of the Sony DMX-R100 mixer, ProTools, and the Steelcase Foundation Audio Suite, each student will record 3:00 of vocal music with instrumental accompaniment to his/her own Unity Server partition.   (No, you may not simply add a vocal track to the intstrumental music recorded for the previous project.)

My expectation is that the music recorded for this project is not merely recorded to satisfy the demands of this project, but in some way supports the sound design of your final project.  I recommend that you work in pairs, though you will be graded as individuals.  Each instrument and vocal performance will be recorded in a separate track of the same ProTools session for concurrent playback.  I will open and grade one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded.

Location Effects Recording  Oct 29 3:20 pm

To become familiar with the audio recording capabilities of the Marantz PMD660 (operating manual here), each student will record no fewer than five original sound effects to the flash recorder, then transfer each effect to a separate track of the same ProTools session.  I recommend that you work in pairs (if not groups), though you will be graded as individuals.  My expectation is that the effects recorded for this project are not merely recorded to satisfy this project, but in some way support the sound design of your final project. I will open and grade one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded.

Principal Photography  Nov 03 1:30 pm

Each group will submit hard copies of completed footage logs for its final project.

Audio Suite Effects  Nov 05 3:20 pm

To become familiar with ProTools' Audio Suite Plug-ins, each student will

I recommend that you work in pairs (if not groups), though you will be graded as individuals.  My expectation is that your work (though understandably experimental) in some way supports the sound design of your final project.  I will open and grade one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded.

Each group will screen a rough cut of its film for the entire class for feedback.  Footage will be graded as an Avid timeline saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

You must secure the instructor's approval of your film before class begins.  You may not proceed to any successive phase of the project without this approval.   During today's class, each group will screen a visual lock of its film.   Footage will be graded as an Avid timeline saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

Moving files from Avid to ProTools and back across the Unity Server can be tricky and frustrating.  To ensure your facility with the process, each student will:

I recommend that you work as partners, though each student is expected to submit his/her own project..  Footage will be graded as an Avid timeline saved to your individual partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

The project will be graded as a ProTools session file saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

ADR  Dec 01 1:30 pm

To become familiar with ADR and VocAlign software, each group will replace at least one minute of dialogue in its project.  Apart from achieving lip-synch (which is pretty easy) the most successful projects will be those which best create convincing acoustic environments which appropriate to the visual images and other recorded sounds in the scene.  Footage will be screened in class and graded as an Avid timeline saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

The project will be graded as a ProTools session file saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

The project will be graded as a ProTools session file saved to your group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded:

Each group will screen a final mix of its film in the Bytwerk Theater.  Copies will be submitted to the professor on mini DV tape and as an Avid timeline saved to the group partition.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded: