Using their personal stories as a basis, students write, produce, edit, and screen an individual project aimed at developing their individual voice as an artist.

No final film should be any less than 3 minutes or exceed 5 minutes.

Prerequisites: None.

• Each student needs to purchase an external hard drive. Minimum: External hard drive with Thunderbolt 2/3 and/or USB 3.1 connection, 7200 rpm spin speed, and at least 1TB storage capacity for editing. Recommended: 500GB-1TB External SSD Drive.
  Note: This card and hard drive will serve you throughout the Film program. Buying a better/faster/higher quality drive means it will serve you better and for longer.
• Each student will need to have a reliable way to record video using ‘manual’ controls. Recording on your phone using “Blackmagic Camera” is suggested for this class. If you have your own equipment, it may be used pending instructor approval.

Learning Outcomes, Activities, and Assessments

USHE R470 Arts Essential Learning Outcomes

• 1. Understand: Explain the creative artistic process as an iterative and recursive practice culminating in an expression of human experience and emotion through a medium.
• 2. Appreciate: Apply artistic concepts and ideas drawn from traditions of artistic creation and theory to better engage with, analyze, and understand a creative work.
• 3. Connect: Examine connections between art and society and articulate how the arts are a historical and cultural phenomenon.

Personal Cinema Course Learning Outcomes

CLO 1 – GE Arts: Understand
Explain and demonstrate filmmaking as an iterative creative process through idea development, scripting, previsualization, production, critique, editing, revision, and completion of an original essay film.

CLO 2 – GE Arts: Appreciate
Identify, analyze, and apply concepts of cinematic storytelling, including composition, montage, sound, editing, visual structure, and aesthetic choices, in both the interpretation and creation of moving-image works.

CLO 3 – GE Arts: Connect
Examine how personal and essay films communicate human experiences, perspectives, and ideas within broader cultural, historical, and social contexts.

CLO 4 – Communication
Communicate an original perspective or idea through purposeful visual, aural, and cinematic choices.

CLO 5 – Critical Thinking
Evaluate creative choices in one's own work and the work of others through critique, reflection, feedback, and revision.

Alignment of USHE Arts Outcomes and Course Assessments

Projects and Evaluation

Video Message (2 parts) – 10% of Grade

• Part 1: Video
  Objective: Experiment with the camera and apply basic composition principles to create technically clean and aesthetically pleasing video clips.
  Using Premiere Pro, capture your best shot and label the media file as the following:
  Lastname_Firstname.mov
• Part 2: Edit
  Objective: Combine elements -- pictures, sounds, and a quote to modify the original meaning of the parts and create a new text in the whole.
  Produce a 15 second long video message using:
  • 2 videos (1 each from Video Bank A & B, available on Canvas)
  • 2 sounds from the Audio Bank. (1 background and 1 punctuating sound)
  • 1 quote from the handout.

Photo Story – 10% of Grade

• Objective: Use photos to create a visual story
• Students will take 15-20 photos to tell a story. In a sense, this is like a storyboard created with photos.
• You will shoot and edit the photo Story. No voice-over is allowed. Focus on composition and setting up the shots and creating a video montage.

Short Essay Film Rough cut (2 parts) – 20% of Grade

• Objective: Create an original visual story.
• Students write, produce, edit and screen an individual project aimed at developing their individual voice as an artist. No final film should be any less than 3 minutes or exceed 5 minutes.
• Part 1: Script 10%
  You will write an original script. We will workshop, read, and discuss in class for feedback.
• Part 2: Shoot and Edit Rough Draft 10%
  Do not use sync sound or dialogue. You may use voice-over, sound effects, and instrumental music. BUT remember, the focus is on visual storytelling.
  Evaluation will concentrate on: theme, story, visual expression, cinematic execution (focus, exposure, and composition), and the degree to which your sound mix adds to the overall success of the piece.

Short Essay Film Final – 40% of Grade

• Students write, produce, edit, and screen an individual project aimed at developing their individual voice as an artist. No final film should be any less than 3 minutes or exceed 5 minutes.
• You will write an original script with or without voice-over. We will workshop, read, and discuss in class for feedback.
• Do not use sync-sound or dialogue. You may, in your sound mix, use sound effects and voice over and instrumental music. BUT remember, the focus is on visual storytelling
• Evaluation will concentrate on: theme, story, visual expression, cinematic execution (focus, exposure, and composition), and the degree to which your sound mix and voice-over add to the overall success of the piece.

Participation – 15% of Grade

During grading, consideration will also be given to involvement in class discussions, group exercises, and participation in discussions about the student films.

Attendance – 5% of Grade

Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class, students not present at that time will be counted absent. To be counted late (half- credit), students must see the instructor at the end of that class period. No credit will be given for past absences. Absences due to illness, jury duty, etc. will be excused upon the receipt of official documentation.

Grading Policy and Rubric

This course emphasizes the roles of concept and visual storytelling in the creation of films. Projects will be evaluated using the following criteria:

STUDENTS WILL BE ASSESSED BASED ON THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES AND CONCEPTS COVERED IN CLASS & HOW THAT UNDERSTANDING IS REFLECTED IN THEIR CREATIVE WORK. FINAL GRADE WILL LARGELY REFLECT THE QUALITY AND SINCERITY OF STUDENTS' EFFORT IN THIS CLASS.

Assessment of General Education Learning

Grades in this course reflect both filmmaking proficiency and achievement of the General Education Arts learning outcomes. Major assignments assess students' ability to understand and participate in an iterative artistic process, apply cinematic concepts when analyzing and creating works, and examine relationships between artistic expression and broader human, cultural, historical, and social contexts. Assignment rubrics and course discussions will make these connections explicit throughout the semester.

Course Schedule

Note: Additional articles may be assigned for reading. Also, although unlikely, additional production exercises may be assigned to the groups.

• Reasonable Cell Phone Use Only. No disruptive behavior. No chit-chatting & raise your hand when wishing to address the class.
• Unexcused late work will not be accepted.
• Email correspondence must adhere to basic email courtesy, and the subject of the email MUST include your full name and the class you’re in.
• An incomplete will not be given in this class except for extreme, verifiable emergencies as approved by the instructor.
• The instructor reserves the right to alter the course outline at any time during the semester.

Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class, students not present at that time will be counted absent. To be counted late (half- credit), students must see the instructor at the end of that class period. No credit will be given for past absences. Absences due to illness, jury duty, etc. will be excused upon the receipt of official documentation.

Content Advisory

Warning: This course deals with the entertainment industry and popular culture. The instructor reserves the right to refer to and to exhibit any materials or discuss any themes that accurately reflect and enhance student’s understanding of the subject, including material meant for mature audiences. All material presented in class is deemed to exhibit scientific, literary, artistic and/or pedagogical value and is therefore appropriate for exhibition to college age students. The instructor does not endorse or subscribe to any opinions depicted in the course materials. If a student is unwilling to read or view certain types of content, please speak with the instructor with regard to the suitability of the class for the student in question.

General Education Designation

General Education Designation: Arts

Personal Cinema fulfills the Arts General Education Breadth requirement. Through the study and creation of personal and essay films, students explore filmmaking as an artistic practice and as a means of expressing human experience, ideas, identity, and emotion. Students engage with the creative process through conceptualization, visual storytelling, cinematography, sound, editing, critique, revision, and the completion of an original short essay film.

Throughout the course, students view and analyze creative works, apply concepts of cinematic form and visual storytelling to their own work, and consider how personal cinema and filmmaking reflect cultural, historical, and social contexts.

Workload Expectations

WORKLOAD: Students, especially those who are new to higher education environment, are encouraged to create a time management calendar. During a Monday through Friday schedule, there is a total of 120 hours. After subtracting approximately 40 hours for sleep, 80 hours remain. The average student takes 5 classes each semester, which equates to 15 hours of classroom time per week. 65 hours remain. Three hours per day for meals and socializing equals 15 per week, leaving 50 hours. After the 6-hour minimum of homework time per class is factored in: 6x5=30. 50-30=20. The remaining 20 hours are for work or extracurricular activities. In addition, students have an additional 48 weekend hours, portion of which they can devote to school assignments,

Coming to classroom unprepared is not conducive to a successful university career, and could result in severe penalties to students' grade.