The Ohio State University
Freshman Seminar Program
Proposal Sheet

Course Information. 

1.	Attach a sample syllabus that includes the following. Sample syllabi can be found at http://freshmanseminars.osu.edu.
a)	The course goals,
b)	A brief description of the content, 
c)	The distribution of meeting times, 
d)	A weekly topical outline, 
e)	A listing of assignments, 
f)	Grade assessment information (including whether the course will be graded by letter grades or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory), 
g)	The required textbooks and/or reading list, and
h)	The academic misconduct and disability services statements (sample statements can be found at http://artsandsciences.osu.edu/currofc/resources.cfm). 

2.	Attach a brief biographical paragraph that includes the current research interests, teaching awards and honors, and undergraduate courses taught by the participating instructor(s). The paragraph will be included in materials for first-year students. 

Professor Les Tannenbaum  -  Department of English
Proposer’s Name(s) and Academic Unit(s)	

Signature(s) of Proposer(s)	

Tannenbaum.1@osu.edu							614-638-1606
E-mail Address(es) of Proposer(s)						Contact Phone Number

 February 28, 2011
Date of Submission	

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Signature(s) of Head(s) of Academic Unit(s)

Please indicate how many quarters you would like to offer the seminar and which quarters:  ___X_  AU  ____  WI  ____  SP

This request form and the attachments should be mailed to the Director, Chinwe Okpalaoka, 154G Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue, or e-mailed to okpalaoka.2@osu.edu. For additional information, please call 292-4661.

Rev. 1/08/10

VIEWING AND CREATING SHORT DOCUMENTARY VIDEOS

Arts & Sciences 138 Freshman Seminar
Quarter, 2 credits

Day/Time   Class will meet once a week for two hours, preferably 9:30-11:18 a.m. on Fridays	Room   Mac-equipped computer lab (PC okay if Mac lab is not available)

Instructor
Prof. Les Tannenbaum	Office 
456 Denney Hall	
e-mail				Office Hours
tannenbaum.1@osu.edu
	Office Hours
TR 11:30 a.m. -1:18 p.m.	

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce you to the theory and practice of documentary film making. It aims to make you a more informed and critical viewer of documentaries through selected readings in documentary theory and film technique, and through viewing and analyzing selected short documentaries.  Our approach will be rhetorical, which means we will be looking at the dynamic relationship between the video creator, the intended audience, and the video message. You will gain further insights into documentaries by creating your own three-minute digital documentary video, using camcorders, audio recorders, and software for editing audio and video works. The course will meet in a computer lab.

No prior technological knowledge is expected for this course. Through in-class workshops and independent online tutorials, you will be able to gain a basic familiarity with the digital composing tools we will be using. Because you may not have your own personal version of these tools (especially movie-editing software), you should be prepared to borrow equipment from the OIT equipment loan office and/or spend some additional time working in an on-campus computer lab (for the necessary software).

Texts
 
Critical Questions for Studying Documentary (web site)
Brenda Brueggemann and Wendy Hesford, Rhetorical Visions (selections in Carmen Content Closed Reserve)
Michael Rubin, The Little Digital Video Book (selections – selections in Safari Tech 	Books Online)
Alan Rosenthal, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos 	(selections in Carmen Content Closed Reserve)
Atomic Learning Video Storytelling Guide  (web site)
Additional short online readings assigned in class and on the Course Calendar
Short videos to be viewed in class and outside of class

You are also required to have or purchase a portable external hard drive.  Since there are no textbooks to purchase for this course, consider this hardware as part of your textbook budget.  Also, you will be able to use this portable drive for saving personal documents and files for other courses. It is an absolute must for storing your media work in this course, since video editing programs do not interact well with flash drives.

Course Policies

1	Attendance:  you are expected to attend every class meeting. More than one unexcused absence will result in an Unsatisfactory grade. An excused absence is another OSU-related obligation, a personal health problem, or a death or severe illness in your immediate family.  Documentation is required for an absence to be excused.
2	Class participation: you are expected to be actively engaged with the material and with discussing it in class and online (in Carmen)

Assignments 

1.	Online discussions in Carmen (minimum length: 1 detailed paragraph for each response)
2.	A short Analytical Essay, applying concepts you have learned to a short documentary video (3-5 pages, 12-point font, Modern Language Association [MLA] format )
3.	A three-minute documentary video on an aspect of OSU life and work, shot on a camcorder and edited in iMovie or Windows Moviemaker (exported in MOV format)
4.	A Reflective Essay, describing the process of making the video, analyzing the results, and explaining insights and skills gained (2-5 pages, 12-point font, Modern Language Association [MLA] format )

Grading

The grading for this course will be Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. You will receive detailed feedback on all of your work, especially your video project, and a Satisfactory grade is contingent upon your completion of all the course assignments and showing a satisfactory level of performance in all of them.  You will be able to revise your video after feedback from the instructor and from the class, and you will also be asked to revise other assignments if they are not satisfactory.

A Satisfactory Analytical Essay will have the following qualities:

•	Explains what the documentary video is doing and how it is doing it, in terms of the rhetorical and technical concepts that you have learned in the course

•	Has a clear thesis (main idea), with detailed supporting evidence

•	Has a unified, logical, and coherent organization that makes effective use of paragraph structure and transitions

•	Has minimal (preferably no) errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation

•	Follows Modern Language Association [MLA] format 

A Satisfactory Documentary Video will have the following qualities:

•	Presents an engaging and informative view of a significant subject (i.e., a subject that will have appeal to a large audience)
•	Pays careful attention to the audience and purpose, and uses those considerations to make conscious rhetorical choices. 
•	Develops an interesting and engaging story about your subject and show why it matters to the audience. 
•	Arranges and presents information in a logical and appealing structure. 
•	Has a title that reflects the documentary’s theme and inspires interest. 
•	Abides by all copyright and fair use laws; uses only legal materials and provides appropriate references in the form of credits at the end of the video. 
•	Demonstrates careful editing and final polishing. 
•	The finished video must be saved as a Quicktime movie file (MOV), either by exporting it as such in iMovie or converting it (if it's a Windows WMV file or other file format) by using a conversion utility, such as media-convert.com, and must be submitted on a CD or DVD.
A Satisfactory Reflective Essay will have the following qualities:
•	Has a clear and detailed analytical summary that explains your purpose in making this audio, what you expected to achieve.  As in any analysis, your primary goal here is to explore not just what happens or why, but how. What are the strategies you employed to achieve your particular goal(s) for your target audiences? 
•	Has a clear and detailed critical reflection on this video, looking back over the process of developing your audio story, from script or notes to final edited version. What did you learn in the process—about composing in different media, about how videos work? What specific parts or points were most illuminating, frustrating, rewarding? 
•	Makes effective use of paragraph structure and transitions
•	Has minimal (preferably no) errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation
•	Follows Modern Language Association [MLA] format 

Computer Component 
You will definitely be spending time outside of class for your video project. We will allow some studio time during the quarter, but most students will find that this is not enough to complete their work. Also, all course assignments and changes will be available only on the course web page and/or via email messages from me to you. Finally, you will be submitting almost all your work--and receiving your grades and feedback--electronically. Since this course is heavily dependent on online communication among all its members, you are expected to check your email on a daily basis (if not more often) and also to check the Carmen course web page regularly for links to reading assignments, announcements, and for online resources relevant to your work in the course. 
Thus, the requirements for this course are based on the assumption that you will have access to a computer outside of class (at home, in your dorm or at the OSU public computing sites). A list of public computing sites and time schedules is available in our classroom and at the OIT web page. 

Academic Integrity 

For all the assignments for this course, the Code of Student Conduct of The Ohio State University is in effect. Academic misconduct is defined as: Any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the university, or subvert the educational process. Examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to:
1.	Violation of course rules as contained in the course syllabus or other information provided to the student; violation of program regulations as established by departmental committees and made available to students;
2.	Submitting plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is the representation of another's work or ideas as one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas;
3.	Submitting substantially the same work to satisfy requirements for one course that has been submitted in satisfaction of requirements for another course, without permission of the instructor of the course for which the work is being submitted;
4.	For an extended version of these examples please refer to http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp

To avoid plagiarism, students must make sure that they:
1.	Always cite their sources (following the MLA format)
2.	Read the guidelines for written assignments more than once
3.	 If in doubt consult with your professor.

Students with Disabilities
 
Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Office for Disability Services at 614-292-3307 in room 150 Pomerene Hall to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Or visit the internet address of this office at http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu for more information.

Weekly Schedule

Week 1 – Class Organization and Introduction to Documentary Films

IN-CLASS: Introducing each other, course overview, and viewing and discussion of video,  Alienated: Undocumented Immigrant Youth 

Week 2 – Critical Viewing of Documentaries

IN-CLASS: Viewing and discussion of documentaries as visual/verbal rhetoric

Young Agrarians

Love and Haight Ashberry

The Work’s the Thing

Until Next Year

Aging in America

READ:  Bruggemann and Hesford,  “Introduction” to Rhetorical Visions  (Carmen Closed Reserve)
	Critical Questions for Studying Documentary
	
DUE: On-line posting in Carmen Discussions

Week 3 – Understanding Film Technique

IN-CLASS: Analysis of the use of film technique (especially camera shots) in selected videos to achieve a rhetorical purpose;  Analytical Paper assigned
READ: Atomic Learning Video Storytelling Guide  (read and view all the sections, including the video examples)
VIEW:  Videos from Media That Matters 
 Night Visions
The Young Girl
Asparagus (A Stalk-umentary)
Fast and Reliable

DUE: On-line posting in Carmen Discussions

Week 4 – Writing Your Script 
IN-CLASS: Script Writing Workshop
READ: Rosenthal, "Beginning the First Draft," "Completing the First Draft" (Carmen Content-Closed Reserve)
DUE: Analytical Paper (3-5 pages) on a short documentary video (in Carmen Dropbox); preliminary draft of your shooting script

Week 5 – Understanding Copyright and Shooting Your Video with a Digital Camera
IN-CLASS: Review of Copyright Issues in Creating Digital Media; Digital Shooting Exercises, using Flip camcorders
READ: Michael Rubin, Chapter 3--"Shooting"--from The Little Digital Video Book (Safari Tech Books Online); “Copyright Basics,” “Fair Use,” and “Plagiarism” (in OSU Libraries Copyright Help Center—online)
DUE: Final draft of your shooting script

Week 6 –Editing Your Video  
IN-CLASS: Tutorial on using video editing software (iMovie)
READ: Michael Rubin, Chapter 6--"Editing"--from The Little Digital Video Book (Safari Tech Books Online)
DUE: Bring video footage for your documentary and legal soundtrack music (on your portable external hard drive)

Week 7 – Recording and Editing Audio
IN-CLASS: Tutorial on recording and editing digital audio, using digital recorders and audio editing software (Audacity)
READ: "Writing for the Ear Guidelines" (handout in Carmen Content); Audio Handouts: Storybuilders Audio (document to download about making audio)

Week 8 – Lab Time: Feedback and Troubleshooting
IN-CLASS: open lab time, instructor help, feedback on questions and problems
DUE: Bring to class your work in progress

Week 9 – Presentation of Preliminary Drafts of  Documentary Videos 
IN-CLASS: Presentation and feedback on your first drafts
DUE: a first completed version of your video

Week 10 – Presentation of  Final Documentary Video Projects
IN-CLASS: Presentation of the final version of your videos, with feedback
DUE: final version of your video

Finals Week
DUE: your video (with any last-time revisions) and reflective essay (in Carmen Dropbox)

Biographical Information for Prof. Les Tannenbaum

Les Tannenbaum is an Associate Professor in the Department of English.  His main field of specialization is Nineteenth-Century British Literature, especially the work of poet-artist William Blake and the other Romantic writers.  His current research interests include work on William Blake, and the art and writing of Maurice Sendak. Given his interest in works involving literature and graphic art, he is also becoming increasingly involved with producing and analyzing work in digital media.  He has taught an upper-division honors class on Multimodal Romanticism (Romantic works in more than one medium by William Blake, J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Hood, and Richard Wagner) and an introductory course in Digital Media Composing (English 269).