JMC 3763-900: Visual Writing

Fall 2009
Lectures & Labs meet Thursday from
6 - 9 p.m. in Room 1120 Gaylord Hall

Prerequisites: JMC 1013 & JMC 2033

Academic Integrity
Cultural Diversity
Course Materials
Course Objectives
Course Structure
Disability Policy
Requirements and Course Information
Course Assignments
Grading


Academic Integrity
The policy regarding academic honesty for this course consists of the definitions and policies as stated in the OU Faculty Handbook (October, 1998): “Honesty is a fundamental precept in all academic activities, and those privileged to be members of the university community have a special obligation to observe the highest standards of honesty and have the right to expect the same standards of all others.” Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, fabrication and fraud. Cheating is “the use of unauthorized materials, methods, or information in any academic exercise, including improper collaboration.” Plagiarism includes “the representation of the words and ideas of another as one's own.” Fabrication includes “the falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.” This includes deliberate changing of research data (e.g., misreporting scores to better fit a desired hypothesis) and the faking of research data (e.g., making up answers to a survey instead of actually interviewing respondents). Fraud includes “the falsification, forgery, or misrepresentation of academic work, including the resubmission of work performed in one class for credit in another class.”

Cultural Diversity

Whenever possible during the process of this course students should explore elements of cultural and ethnic diversity within the parameters of classroom and field assignments. A greater understanding of the cultural differences in our society will enhance the learning experience and help students develop work that is of greater value to the worldwide audience.

Required Course Materials:

Blacker, Irwin R. The Elements of Screenwriting. Available used on Amazon.com.

"The Art of Dramatic Writing", Lajos Egri.  Touchstone, New York .Available used on Amazon.com

Course Objectives

Students will become fluent with electronic news gathering practices and techniques. Students will learn to gather audiovisual information, evaluate it, edit it, and prepare it for distribution using both traditional and emerging technologies.

Course Structure

The class will be divided into a lecture/discussion period and a lab period. You have already registered for your lab. You will attend only the one lab section per week. When possible, lab time is allotted to work on your projects, but you should expect to put in 6-8 hours time outside of class and lab to complete assignments. Stories that meet high standards of professionalism may be aired on News4Norman.

Disability Policy

If any member of the class feels that he/she has a disability and needs special accommodations of any nature, the professor will work with you and the Office of Disabled Student Services to provide reasonable accommodations to ensure that you have a fair opportunity to perform in the class. Please advise the professor of such disability and the desired accommodations at some point before, during or immediately after the first scheduled class period.

Requirements and Course Information

1. Attendance: You are expected to attend every class session and to be on time for each class. Tardiness and poor attendance will adversely affect your grade. You may have 3 absences (whether excused or unexcused) during the semester. After four absences you can earn no better than a grade of C, irrespective of points earned for the semester. Five or more absences result in a semester course grade of F. There is no make-up for any missed assignment.
2. Participation: You have a significant responsibility to contribute to class discussions, to ask questions to clarify confusing material, and to be prepared to discuss assigned readings. You should do the assigned reading before class. In addition, when assignments are due, they are due at the beginning of class. Late assignments will not be accepted.
3. Work ethic: Production courses by their nature involve great amounts of work. Your workload is designed to allow you the repetition and practice that are necessary in order to gain and sharpen your skills. The expectations and standards for this class are set high in the belief that the rewards and learning experiences will also be high. You will get what you put into the class.
4. Your participation in this class will bring you into contact with many different individuals. Your behavior toward all those individuals is expected to conform to professional standards of courtesy and respect as you represent the College both in and out of the classroom.
5. You should not fabricate or stage any part of a news presentation. Be honest in all of your work.
6. All equipment must be returned to the College before a final grade can be issued.
7. If you are having problems with this course, talk to your professor or lab instructor. We want you to succeed!

Course Assignments

1. Exercises –These are simple writing or reading assignments.
2. Scene Evaluations . You will be viewing six reference films in this class. You will be required to write a three to five page evaluation of selected scenes within three films.
3. Writing Packages –You will be required to turn in at least six writing packages. These are on going developing stories. They may also be separate stories but must have a minimum of five pages and not to exceed ten pages.
4. Final Writing Package - These must be a finished screenplay or may be several screenplays. Several short plays are desired but a single final play will be accepted.
5. Two quizzes will cover readings, discussions, and lectures.

Grading

All grading is done on a point system. Your grade is determined by the number of points achieved as compared with the maximum number of points available. The most important part of the grading is how your work progresses and improves over the course of the semester. Because your production skills grow as you work more with the tools and techniques, it is a natural conclusion that your third package will be superior to the second and the first ones. The point values for each assignment are as follows:

15 Exercise 1
15 Exercise 2
25 Scene Evaluation 1
25 Scene Evaluation 2
25 Scene Evaluation 3
20 Writing Package 1
20 Writing Package 2
20 Writing Package 3
20 Writing Package 4
20 Writing Package 5
20 Writing Package 6
20 Quiz 1
20 Quiz 2
40 Attendance
60 Final Writing Package

365 Total points

A=90% or higher
B=80%—89%
C=70%—79%
D=60%—69%
F=59% and below

You may have 3 absences (whether excused or unexcused) during the semester. After four absences you can earn no better than a grade of C, irrespective of points earned for the semester. Five or more absences result in a semester course grade of F. There is no make-up for any missed assignment without prior notice.