Professor Barbara Nevins Taylor
Mondays 4:00 to 6:30 p.m.
In-Person in Room 462 Shepard Hall
Syllabus for MCA 34300 Video Journalism
by Barbara Nevins Taylor is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Prerequisite: MCA 33300 or department consent
Office Hours: One hour before or after class. Text or email for appointments during these hours and at any other time. barbaranevinstaylor@mac.com, bnevinstaylor@ccny.cuny.edu
917 678 6069
@consumermojo
COURSE DESCRIPTION
We share a mission with journalists in New York City, throughout the U.S. and the world to tell video stories that have meaning and impact. This is a difficult time for all journalists and it’s important to remember the challenges we face. I’ll talk more about that in class, but first I hope that you will think about video journalism as an exciting, creative and sometimes magical opportunity.
In this class you’ll learn to report using video to tell stories that we hope have impact. You’ll also use journalistic principles, standards and techniques to synthesize information for truthful social media videos that can serve as explainers or make specific points. You’ll learn the important crafts of writing for video, interviewing, shooting, and editing. We’ll also take a dive into the history of using images to tell stories and the cultural shifts that produced TV and the evolving technology and practices.
You will become a maker, a creator of short form videos that tell relevant journalistic stories in a minute or two. This short form of video journalism easily translates to every platform and social media, and we’ll tailor videos for all possible uses. But our emphasis will always focus on journalism and the facts that you gather. Your work will appear on our website Harlem View.
In some of our classes, we’ll have a video professional as a guest speaker in person or on Zoom to share their experiences with you.
Objectivity may seem impossible when it feels like events conspire against us. But objectivity is a fundamental part of principled journalism, and I ask you to do your best to keep it in mind and put it into practice in your reporting. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) offers an excellent code of ethics.
Journalists, video journalists especially, find themselves in an important role during this historic and fraught time. We need to tell the stories of life as we are living it now, of the politics dividing our nation, of the science and the doubters and other important issues. But we also need to make sure that we remain safe and do not endanger anyone else.
Video journalists continue to do an excellent job, perhaps better than ever. They offer examples of grace under pressure and the ever-challenging job of being in the center of things, while commenting as an observer.
That’s where you and this class come in.
Course Policies
Reading
We will use the class website CCNYVideoJournalism for our reading material. The website features instruction for writing, shooting and editing. It will substitute for a textbook and offer us more flexibility. This class is part of the CUNY Open Educational Resources (OER) program. Assignments will be posted on the website. Your work should be submitted via Google Drive. Links will be provided for specific folders. Please put the first assignment here.
Download the Associated Press – AP app. It’s free.
Tools
You’ll need a notepad for reporting and we’ll give you one.
We have portable drives for you to save your work and will get them to you as soon as possible. If you do not have an iPhone, we’ll lend you one for the semester. We’ll use iPhones for shooting most videos.
KEEPING UP WITH THE NEWS AND VIEWING AND LISTENING
This is a news class, and it helps to view news videos on social media and TV to see how producers and reporters create video stories and report. Almost every news outlet has some form of video on their site, and they use Tik Tok and Instagram, The New York Times has an excellent visual investigations unit. Start taking an analytical look. Also, you may not be a TV watcher, but try WNBC 4, WCBS 2, WPIX 11, WNYW-Fox5 , NY1, News 12, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, PBSNewsHour, Al Jazeera as well as CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, BBCWorld News America and Vice , VOX online. You can also subscribe, for free, to The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal through Cohen Library. Click on the link and take advantage of the opportunity. These publications and other digital publications are using video in creative ways.
Using AI
We use artificial intelligence most days without realizing it. Autocorrect is AI. Grammarly is AI. Google docs remind you about grammar and spelling using AI. That’s all fine. You may find ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI apps useful for checking or finding information and putting captions on your stories. That’s okay. But it is not okay to ask AI to write your stories or completely create your videos. While the university and college don’t have a clear AI policy, please maintain your own standard of ethics and integrity. Help, but don’t cheat yourself.
Class Etiquette
Please come to class on time. Please do not text or use devices in the class for anything other than class work. Turn off your phone.
Criticism
We’ll view and analyze the work of classmates, and your courtesy and participation is required. Please remember that criticism is not a personal attack. We will talk about the work candidly and this will help your professional growth.
Benny’s Food Pantry
Students who have trouble obtaining food every day or who lack a stable and safe place to live are urged to come to Benny’s pantry for assistance (https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/bennysfoodpantry). Benny’s pantry is located on the ground floor of the North Academic Center (NAC) and is open to anyone within the CUNY community (students, staff, faculty) in need of support. The pantry is open from 10am to 6pm and is self-serve. Additional emergency support for financial, health and housing needs is also available through Benny’s. Please contact Dee Dee Mozeleski at dmozeleski@ccny.CUNY.edu or Charles Ramirez @cramirez@ccny.CUNY.edu for additional details.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Video professionals work on deadline, so you have the chance to begin to develop good work habits. We’ll treat our class professionally as we would treat a job. So attend all classes. Again, please arrive on time. Your attendance, punctuality, and class participation will be considered in your grade. If there is an emergency and you cannot attend a class, please email me. If you are absent four times, you will fail.
Two unexcused absences will result in a lower grade.
Four or more absences and we will ask you to withdraw from the class.
You must email a note from a doctor, a court of law, a firefighter, or a funeral director for an excused absence.
Students who must miss class or be late because of religious beliefs will be accommodated.
Learning Outcomes
As a requirement for the journalism major and minor concentration Video Journalism emphasizes the following outcomes. Students will:
- Gather, interpret and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view for video stories.
- Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically.
- Develop and use interviewing skills
- Shoot video and edit video in a professional style
- Write specifically for video
- Produce well-reasoned, well-shot and well-edited videos that contain truthful information.
- Present on camera in a well-reasoned, logical manner.
Late and Incomplete Assignments
In journalism, deadlines count. You need to complete your work and assignments to meet every deadline. Please consult with me if you have a problem making a deadline. But remember, in life excuses can’t compete with excellent work.
Procrastination
Many of us put off work until the last minute. It will not work in this class. You are learning skills and crafts. The class is progressive. We build one skill on top of the next. You are required to do all exercises in the time allotted.
Because we plan to cover a great deal in a short amount of time, it’s possible that we will have a quiz or test at the beginning of every class. It will cover news, readings from the website and whatever I provide to the class.
Your video work and writing assignments will be graded as tests and your final video story will serve as your final exam.
Grades
- Attendance Required
- Punctuality Required
- Reading Required
- Participation, Tests and Homework 20 Percent
- Writing 20 Percent
- Reporting, Shooting, Editing and Producing 20 Percent
- Your video stories 40 Percent
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Assignments
- Leading up to producing actual stories and social media videos, you’ll work on a series of exercises aimed at developing the craft skills of shooting, writing and editing.
- You’ll write and edit a video based on footage and interviews we supply.
- Your Midterm will be a video story based on your reporting from Washington Square Park, or another place where we meet as a class.
- You’ll write and produce an explanatory news TikTok video based on a news story of the day. Our production team will help you record in front of a green screen.
- You’ll report and produce a story of your choosing for your final project.
Course Calendar
*This is a news-oriented class and assignments and plans for classes may change.
Week One
Monday, January 26
Meet and greet to learn what our class offers.
Let’s see where everyone stands with video and editing. What tools do you use for editing social media videos? CapCut, Canva?
How do we tell stories with video?
NBCU Video shooting video with your phone.
Setting up a shot to get the best image.
Those of you who don’t have cameras or iPhones, you will each get an iPhone 12 Pro Max, a microphone, a shoulder pod, and a bag to put the gear in.
Everyone will receive hard drives.
We’ll go over how to use the gear
Shooting in 5-shot sequences – Video examples
Framing shots
- Class exercises.
- Graduate students let’s talk about an exercise incorporating the five-shot rule.
- Undergraduate students:
Pick a simple task that has movement. It can be anything on campus. Shoot at least three series of 5-shot sequences that tell a story. We should see the story clearly without narration.
Homework:
If we don’t get to shoot the sequences as part of the class, please do it at home. You shoot people at a cross walk, or people getting food from a cart. Anything with movement and action works.
Read: How to Bring Footage in from your phone
Download your video. See the instructions on the website. https://ccnytelevisionjournalism.com/2020/01/25/how-to-bring-in-footage-from-your-phone/
Familiarize yourself with the Video Keywords. It will help you as we move forward in the class.
If you want to jump ahead, these are good basic instructions for starting Premiere Pro.
Week Two
Monday, February 2
Bring your video into Premiere Pro, if you haven’t already
Edit the video you shot in class
Week Three
Monday, February 9
Synthesizing information for video
The Language of Video-Key Words
Types of video stories.
Writing Video Stories on the class website.
How we write on the class website
Clunky words and phrases to avoid.
Writing for a news TikTok or vertical video.
Writing for TV
Homework:
Read: Writing Video Stories on the class website.
Read: How we write on the class website
Read: Clunky words and phrases to avoid.
Week Four
Monday, February 16 – No Class College closed
Monday, February 23
Using the audio booth
Interviewing techniques for asking questions and for shooting
Video examples of good interviewing.
Interviewing exercise
We’ll go out on the campus and ask questions about the issue of the day. We’ll post the soundbites, SOTs onTikTok and Instagram.
Week Five
Monday, March 2
Working with the garden video provided, begin to write a script using the script format and active writing.
Homework:
Finish the script and submit to me for review by 5 p.m. on Friday.
Edit the video at home if you haven’t finished in class. Do not post this video on YouTube or another platform.
Homework:
Read: What Makes a Good Story on the class website.
Week Six
Monday, March 9
Review of the garden video. Work on the video, if necessary.
We want to borrow an idea from the film industry and write the logline of the story in one sentence. What is your story about?
- What makes it a news story?
- Why is it relevant?
- Why would we watch it?
- Who will you interview?
- What footage will you shoot?
Week Seven
Monday, March 16
***This may change depending upon the weather or the news.
We might meet in Washington Square Park and report a quick story about something happening there. There’s enough going on for everyone to have a separate story.
Write your script this weekend. Please try to get it to me during the weekend and I will edit. You can record a TRACK on Monday, and we’ll put the stories together in class.
Homework: Finish your stories
Write a pitch for the TikTok story that you want to report. Put it Google Drive by Wednesday at 5 p.m. Once approved, write the script and think about the visuals. Answer the questions, Who? What? When? Where? Why? in the script.
Week Eight
Monday, March 23
Review of TikTok scripts and shooting in front of the green screen.
Homework: edit your TikTok video
Week Nine
Monday, March 30
Guest Speaker
Graphics and data that make your story stronger and more compelling.
Homework:
Begin working on your story. Bring in a set-up sheet listing everything you plan to shoot and who you need to interview.
April 01 to April 9, Spring Break
Week Ten
Monday, April 13
Vocal Coaching: Each student will have a chance to read a script and get guidance from a voice coach.
Homework:
Begin to shoot your stories.
Week Eleven
Monday, April 20
Homework:
Work on your stories.
Week Twelve
Monday, April 27
Bring your footage to class and we can work on scripts.
Homework:
Week Thirteen
Monday, May 11
We screen first drafts and give notes to all.
Work on stories in class.
Homework:
Continue to work on your stories. Friday at 5 p.m. submit your second draft via We Transfer
Week Fourteen
Monday, May 18
Last Class!!
Showtime!! We applaud the final stories!
Thank you for what I hope will be a great semester.