| mark e. johnson photojournalism lecturer |
grady college of journalism & mass communication |
university of georgia |
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| photojournalism | photography | photo college |
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JOUR5990 :: Multiplatform Journalism Course Overview
There is no need to preach anymore - journalism has changed. Call it convergence, call it new media, call it a travesty (as some do, but I do not), everything is different now. If you're here, it's because you're aware of this and want to be prepared for it. I'm here to help. We have 15 sessions in the next few weeks, what can we do? How far can we move you along? Based on past experiences with these Maymester courses, I think we can go pretty far. This is the first time I have taught this course this way and I think you should know that. It's pretty ambitious, but I have faith in you. The core of our Journalism Department's curriculum is centered on writing. You should have already had a few writing courses so I will assume we do not need to go through things like the inverted pyramid and AP style - those are core components of journalism, you need to have those under control. As you have probably figured out, I am not a writing teacher. I made my living as a photojournalist and photo editor. I understand the basics, can recognize good writing but am not going to be the best writing coach you've ever had. Which leads us to the core of this course: visuals. While we will spend a little time talking about writing, and you will learn to write short, we are going to spend more time on photojournalism and video journalism. You will learn how to control a digital camera, how to control your images and how to control the way a reader processes those images. Then, we are moving into video - either the holy grail of journalism or its third rail, no one really knows right now. (And you bet we will talk about why this is an issue and why it may not be in the future.) All of this in the first two weeks, then we launch you into the real world to produce a package - words, images and video, working together. A complete multiplatform, multimedia story. Are you ready? It doesn't matter, your future starts now. Assignments & Grading
A work is always on time. A work is professionally done, is ready for publication in whatever medium it is destined for. A work shows creativity, a willingness to experiment, an effort to take a chance. A work demonstrates an active thought process. C work is always on time. C work is done. C work shows an understanding of the concepts at play. C work is technically executed to the point that it can work in a desperate situation. F work is late. F work is work not done. F work shows no effort. A note on late work ... missed deadlines are deadly. Any assignment not turned in by the assigned deadline will be recorded as a zero. Missing deadlines in the journalism world is a fatal career mistake. If you cannot publish it, it does not exist. Publications have deadlines, we do, too. A note on attendance ... work is done by those who show up. If you're not here, you're not learning. And if you're not learning, well, what's the point of taking the course? Much of the work you'll be doing will be in groups so your absence will cause significant problems for your colleagues. To discourage random oversleeping, each unexcused absence will result in a five point reduction in your final grade. As visual journalists, the latest you ever want to be is on time. While a reporter can ask about what they missed, we can't. Being up to 15 minutes late will be counted as one half of an absence; beyond 15 minutes is considered a full absence. Stuff You Need I will supply you with a digital single lens reflex camera kit as well as a Kodak pocket video camera and microphone to use for your course assignments. All of the software you will need is available in the lab (and you'll be given in-class time to complete portions of assignments that are software dependent). You will need to purchase two SDHC class four memory cards. The DSLR camera and the Kodak camera each need a card. These can be found at any major electronics or department store and should be between $10 and $20 each. You won't need anything larger than 4 GB on these - keep it simple. You will need to have the at least one card by Wednesday, May 18. (If you have a pocket digital camera, you may already own one or two of these.) That's all you must buy, though there are a few things I strongly recommend. We will use two free, online resources for our main texts. Journalism 2.0 by Mark Briggs is getting a little dated, but it has all the core principles for online reporting. It is available as a free, downloadable PDF. No need to print it, if you use the electronic version it is easily searchable. The second package is a collection of blog posts by Mindy McAdams - The Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency. We will pick some of those posts, which are also available as a complete PDF. We will spend some time talking about shooting as a photojournalist, which means you will need a solid technical understanding of how photography works. While we will cover the majority of that in class, I would recommend picking up Joe McNally's Life Guide to Digital Photography - it is easily the best introductory book out there and readily available in bookstores. (If you're on the bleeding edge of technology and have an iPad, the book is available as an app that has all the text, all the photos and adds several video and audio bits.) When it comes to video editing, the 800 pound gorilla is Apple's Final Cut Pro. There's no way to avoid it anymore, iMovie or Movie Maker are nice (and free), but the pros use FCP. (Okay, some use Avid, but we don't and almost everything you learn in FCP will transfer over to Avid.) The Visual QuickPro Guide for Final Cut Pro is the best book out there to both learn from and later use as a resource. Lastly, there's this guy who used to be in charge of the photo department at the San Jose Mercury News and now teaches at the University of California at Berkley, Richard Koci Hernandez. A few years ago, he self-published a book called Multimedia Journal - if you care about this, if you want to learn how to do this better, if you're craving inspiration or ideas, this is the book to get. I go back to it regularly, picking out single ideas to try, to experiment with, to explore. Go get it. University Boilerplate The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary. All academic work must meet the standards contained in “A Culture of Honesty.” Each student is responsible for informing themselves about these standards before performing any academic work. (See http://www.uga.edu/honesty/.) The only reason readers continue to support journalists is because they believe they are credible. All work done for this course must be your own and done this semester. If you are assisted during an assignment, it is advisable to note such help in your credits. Collaboration is encouraged. Disability Services provides academic services to eligible students who have a documented physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more life activities. Learn to learn. Learn to fail. But do not fail to learn.
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data o: 230 reporter's guide to multimedia proficiency
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| rev. 110516 | ||||||||||||||
| e: mejohnso@uga.edu p: 706-363-0266 | t: markejohnson | o: 230, Grady College | © 2005-2012 mark e. johnson | |||||||||||