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 short 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 October, 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 peculiarities of the Unity Server workflow.  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.

   The purpose of our semester together is not so that you may fulfill graduation requirements.  Instead, I want you to conclude the term with a short film that you may confidently submit to festivals, competitions, and would-be employers.  Thus, many course projects require the approval of your professor before they are submitted for grading.  This approval will likely come following my formative involvement in multiple drafts of the project at various stages.  The more times I see and hear your work well before it is due, the better your grade will be for this course.

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.

Project Management  ASSIGNMENT T Sep 13 1:30 pm
Phase One:  On behalf of your group, your producer will collect members' preferred e-mail addresses and use them to establish common a Google calendar and a shared collection of Google docs.  The producer should include the professor as a member of the group.

Phase Two:  On behalf of your group, your editor will

Storyboard and Sound Design PROJECT   R Sep 20 2:30 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. The most successful sound designs will demonstrate and understanding of the concepts and vocabulary found in Chapter 7 of Sound for Digital Video.  Take notes of class critique, revise and pitch a second time.

Location Dialogue & Ambience PROJECT R Sep 29 1:30 pm
To become familiar with the audio recording capabilities of the following:

Sony DSR570 Camera		Shure FP33 Field Mixer		Marantz PMD660 Flash Recorder		Tascam DR100 Flash Recorder

each group will submit 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 a high shooting ratio as well as 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:

Casting & Location Scouting  PROJECT   R Sep 29 1:30 pm
On behalf of your group, your producer will submit

Music Recording  PROJECT   R Oct 06 1:30 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 no less than 02:30 of music to his/her own Unity Server partition.   Students may not perform for their own recordings.  Secure applicable releases from composer/performers and submit them to your professor. Violation of applicable copyright laws will result in a failing project grade.  As a high shooting ratio offers editors more post-production choices, audio engineers are expected to record multiple takes of this project's component tracks.

Students and professionals alike often troubleshoot problems with software by searching the internet for forums, blogs, and instructional videos.WinkSound is but one site which offers a collection of such videos. If you discover others, please share them with your classmates and professor for possible inclusion in successive versions of the syllabus.

Though any sort of music may be submitted to satisfy grading requirements, the wisest of students probably recognize this assignment as an opportunity to work ahead toward the sound design of their final film.

I will open and grade one ProTools session file only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded.

Principal Photography  PROJECT T Oct 18 1:30 pm
Each group will submit hard copies of completed video and audio footage logs (.docx or .pdf) for its final project.

Assemble Edit  PROJECT T Oct 18 1:30 pm
Be prepared for playback from an Avid editing station at 1:30 pm.

Location Effects Recording  PROJECT  R Oct 20 1:30 pm
Phase One:  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.  Save your project with the indicated file path.  Exceptions to the following nomenclature will not be graded.

Save your project with the indicated file path.  Exceptions to the following nomenclature will not be graded.

Visual Lock  PROJECT R Nov 03 1:30 pm
Late work may earn partial credit toward your final semester average.  However, if your group's visual lock is submitted after the deadline, your film may not be included in the Showcase screening.  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 (color correction included).   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:

File Transfer  IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT   R Nov 03 3:20 pm
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 visual editor will:

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:

Dialogue Edit  PROJECT T Nov 15 2:30 pm
Late work may earn partial credit toward your final semester average.  However, if your group's dialogue stem is submitted after the deadline, your film may not be included in the Showcase screening.  The group's designated dialogue editor must secure the instructor's approval of the film before class concludes.  You may not proceed to any successive phase of the project without this approval.   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:

Final Mix  FINAL EXAM R Dec 03 1:30 pm
Late work may earn partial credit toward your final semester average.  However, if your group's final mix is submitted after the deadline, your film may not be included in the Showcase screening.  You must secure the instructor's approval of your film before class begins.  You may not submit your timeline for Showcase screening without this approval.   Each group will screen a final mix of its film in the Bytwerk Theater.  Copies will be submitted to the professor as an Avid timeline saved to the group partition.  The sequence will only contain a video mixdown and a two-channel audio bounce.  The instructor will open and evaluate one Avid sequence only.  Exceptions to the following file nomenclature will not be graded: