The following descriptions outline the projects students will work on during the online course. 

Podcast

This assignment will challenge you with writing, storytelling, and editing as you use a digital audio workstation (DAW) to produce a five-minute mini episode from a longer news podcast interview. Working alongside your mentor, you will be guided through the necessary steps to identify quotes, responses and comments needed to tell a story within the allotted time. Industry Media Arts will supply the original interview to be edited. Detailed instructions for this lesson and assignment will be provided in the Google Classroom Modules.

 

Audio Production - Podcast

From the cost to produce, to more personal ways of reaching out to a new audience, podcasts are increasing in popularity. A continuation of the audio unit, this assignment will include script development, audio recording, audio editing and distribution. Working alongside your mentor, you will develop a professionally recorded podcast from scratch. You will be responsible for researching the topic, writing a synopsis, and creating a show rundown. This podcast will consist of recorded audio, sound effects, and music. Any music used in this production must be original, creative commons or licensed. Industry Media Arts will provide some content, but feel free to include your own original music or sound effects. The final podcast will be uploaded to a streaming audio player and embedded into your final website assignment. Detailed instructions for this lesson and assignment will be provided in the Google Classroom Modules.

 

Postproduction (Video Editing)

This video editing assignment will allow you to practice the non-linear editing workflow as a writer, producer, and editor. As the producer, you will be responsible for writing the script from the provided stock interview and b-roll footage. Using the interview footage as your main source for telling the story and b-roll for cutaways, you will develop a written edit decision list. This edit decision list (a.k.a. Audio/Video Script) is a detailed written spreadsheet document for your editor that contains the details of your audio and video selects. Your final editing script will contain start and end times with duration for each segment being edited into the final cut. Think of this document as a blueprint for the final edit that can be shared with other media production collaborators. Once your editing script is approved, it will be shared with a classmate who will practice editing using your script. This is a two-part assignment where you will practice developing an editing script and completing a final cut using a non-linear edit system. Detailed instructions for this lesson and assignment will be provided in the Google Classroom Modules.

 

Video Preproduction/ Production (Interview with B-Roll)

Interviews are one of the most effective and engaging tools used to tell a story and communicate with an audience. Working alongside your mentor, you will be tasked with creating a three-minute news style/documentary style video presentation. You will be asked to complete various tasks related to preproduction, production, and post-production. The topic for the video will be decided by you followed by research, news writing, scheduling, recording, and editing. The final video will be uploaded to our YouTube channel and embedded in your final website. Detailed instructions for this lesson and assignment will be provided in the Google Classroom Modules.

 

Website

A website is the hub for all communication used to engage and educate your audience. This site will feature your video and audio content from this course. After this course has concluded, this website can still be a place to feature social media, news links, newsletters, and any other content you create as a journalist. Our hope is that you keep updating your website with new stories, social media highlights, and anything you create to help promote unique voices and democracy in news coverage for our state. For this assignment, you will be utilizing a cloud-based website design application. Working alongside your mentor, you will create an original website using the free tools available through an online cloud-based design program. The website will include a navigation menu, links to external apps, audio, and video content. This website will include relevant text and images applying to the overall website’s theme. Detailed instructions for this lesson and assignment will be provided in the Google Classroom Modules.

​