RTV 3321-1 Course Syllabus

Instructor:             Professor George Bagley
Office:                     Comm 256
E-mail:                    george.bagley @ucf.edu
Office Hours:        M-TH:  10:00-12:00pm
Class Hours:         T/TH: 12:30-2:20 p.m.
Class Location:     NSC 152B
Course Credits:    4 hrs.

MY PHILOSOPHY ON UNIVERSITY LEARNING
You find yourselves immersed in a four-year, liberal arts university environment.  A small minority of this country's adults possess a bachelor's degree.  Put these things together, and you begin to get a picture that this whole college thing isn't really very easy.  That's the way it should be.  If something is of value, you most often will have to work hard to obtain it.  So it is with knowledge.  This course will tax you intellectually.  There's a lot of stuff covered here, and you'll have to dedicate yourself if you wish to achieve a "good" grade.  This isn't just an accident; I intend it to be difficult.  That's what university learning is supposed to be.  I design my classes to be difficult but fair.  To that end, I stand prepared to assist you in anyway I can to get that result you want in class, but the work must always come from you.  I can guide your efforts, but the learning will be the product of your labor.

CELLPHONE POLICY
Cellphones may not be visible, in use or exposed in any fashion during class time.  Additionally, turn them off or use the vibrator mode; ringing or ring tones in class are prohibited.  Also, I regard texting the same as conventional calling.  Instances of texting in class will be noted and a standard five-point deduction will be applied to the student in question for each instance of texting. 


CLASS EMAIL COMMUNICATION

Email communication is most often inherently more informal than a hard-copy letter, yet when you communicate via email with a professor it is nevertheless different than when you communicate with your friends or family.  Improper email communication risks not being answered by me. 

I require the following in all course email communication:
     - proper salutation
     - sign off with your name
     - appropriate punctuation, capitalization, etc.

Avoid the following of errors when communicating with me via email for this course:
    - common texting abbreviations
    - inappropriately casual grammar such as no appropriate capitalizations at the front of sentences or in uses of the first person subjective pronoun, "I," lack of closing punctuation
    - scriptural, religious, political or any kind of reference to your personal belief system that is not the subject of the email

Additionally, all UCF students must have an active Knight’s E-Mail account. I may only send university e-mail communication to Knight’s E-Mail accounts.  If you have questions about an existing account, please call (407) 823-5117.

CLASS ATTENDANCE
I won't take attendance for our class meetings.  However, I will note chronic instances of both absence and tardiness.  Also, any instance of tardiness or absence during your assigned orientation/consultation times will be noted.  Additionally, you are required to attend the screenings of the work you and your fellow students produce in class.  Problems in these areas will reflect poorly in the Class Presence portion of your final grade.

COURSE DESCRIPTION/OBJECTIVES
Our purpose in this class is protean.   We will be technical--you will learn how to operate video and audio production equipment--but journalistic, aesthetic and theoretical as well.  These latter three considerations represent a higher level of understanding than purely technical alone.  However, technical understanding will pose as an important consideration that we attend to during the course of the term.  These all will form the framework for this course, and you are expected to demonstrate an appropriate level of understanding in them throughout the term as you apply them in the following areas:
- News Judgment
- Story Generation
- ENG Field Photography Technique
- Journalistic Ethics
- Story Editing
- Critical Evaluation of your product and your classmates' as well

Pursuant to these goals, students will:
- Understand ENG story generation, including newsworthiness
- Understand newsphotography concepts and apply ideas and theories in the use and presentation of images and information toward journalistic ends
- Learn to apply the tools and technologies appropriate to single camera ENG video production and editing

PREREQUISITE
JOU 2100

TEXT
Shook Fred, Larson J. & DeTarsio.  (2013).  Television field production and reporting:  a guide to visual storytelling (6th ed.).  Boston, MA:  Pearson.

FIELD NEWSGATHERING ASSIGNMENTS
You will receive various newsphotography field assignments during the term, and one final, comprehensive exam.  The newsphotography field assignments are meant to demonstrate your understanding and execution of the ENG and production/editing principles you learn in class and readings.  For all field assignments, the following rules apply:
- All work (story generation, camera, lighting, audio, editing, etc.) for your assignment must be performed by you individually unless otherwise stipulated. This includes framing of shots for something like the standup assignment.
- All clips used for all assignments in this class, as well as the sequence timelines for those assignments, must be located on your RTV EditShare server space for the duration of the term and must never be   removed by you from EditShare.  If I or Jim McCully or Dylan Yonts have cause to examine your clips/sequences and they are not located on our EditShare server, you will receive a significant point deduction for the respective assignment.
- No one outside of our class is allowed to assist in any way with photography, lighting, sound, editing etc., even under your direction unless otherwise stipulated.
- No one except yourself is allowed to report news stories for any field assignment in our class.  That includes on-camera standups and voice-over tracking.
- All productions must use only RTV production equipment; no use of outside equipment is allowed.  This policy is absolute.
- RTV field production gear for RTV 3321 students is allowed off-campus for assignments.
- Use of RTV field production gear for RTV 3321 is confined to normal RTV Checkout hours of operation and to the checkout duration determined by the Facility Manager for all students.  Any request outside normal checkout rules and hours must be formally submitted in an email to Mr. Dylan Yonts and me.

Failure to follow the above production rules may result in loss of credit for that assignment.

TEXT QUIZZES
There will be four quizzes administered at the start of class on the dates posted in our course schedule.  They are drawn from the text assigned readings.  They will consist of ten questions multiple choice, matching and/or true/false questions. These are closed book/notes unless otherwise stipulated.

CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT
Because this course may at times encounter content that could potentially be objectionable to some individuals, I will endeavor to alert the class to such content prior to the point at which it is encountered so that alternative arrangements may be made for those who feel they would be disturbed.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Students with disabilities who need accommodations in this course must contact the professor at the beginning of the semester to discuss needed accommodations. No accommodations will be provided until the student has met with the professor to request accommodations. Students who need accommodations must be registered with Student Disability Services, Student Resource Center Room 132, phone (407) 823-2371, TTY/TDD only phone (407) 823-2116, before requesting accommodations from the professor.

LATE/MISSED ASSIGNMENTS
Assignments are due on the date posted in the course outline at the beginning of class time on that day.  Assignments handed in within 24 hours after the deadline will receive a mandatory 50% reduction in your score for that assignment.  Assignments will not be accepted later than 24 hours after the assignment's posted deadline except under extreme circumstances (below).
If there is some VERY compelling reason why you can't meet deadlines, you must alert me prior to the deadline wherever possible and, depending upon the nature of your excuse (death in the family, severe and incapacitating illness, for example) and satisfactory documentation (below), we may be able to negotiate.  Documentation of the incident/event that prohibited your attendance (funeral program, airline tickets, traffic ticket, towing receipt, etc.) must be presented to me in a reasonable amount of time following the deadline and must contain a typed, brief (confined to one page), formal request containing the following:
- explanation of the incident/event
- why you think it justifies the policy outlined below (doubling credit)
- the date of both the class(es) missed and the particular quiz or exam missed
- your contact information (name, PID, email address)

These documentations are subject to verification and, if found acceptable, the remedy for the missed score will be determined on a case-by-case basis.  In the event these can’t be verified or are unacceptable, or if the above requirements are missing, no score will be awarded for that exam, quiz or participation.  

NOTE:  I will only accept these petitions up through the last day of classes for the term in question.  After that, I won't entertain appeals for a missed exam, assignment or quiz.  If you are legitimately prohibited from being in class on the day of the final exam for unavoidable reasons, you must notify me within 24 hours of the administration of that final exam and submit documentation according to course policy (above) within 24 hours of that final exam in order to potentially qualify for some kind of negotiation regarding missed points.  This same policy (previous sentence) will also apply to the last assignment.

There is no extra-credit option for this course.

ASSIGNMENT COLLABORATION
Three things have blanket permission for collaboration:  carrying gear to/from locations, shooting standups for each other for the final news package and shooting each other's interviews for that same news package assignment.  It's possible that there may be some collaboration within our class if stories overlap, or collaboration with Knightly, EJII or other NSC news entities if we're doing similar stories as they are.  Such instances will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

GRADING

Professionalism refers to your general conduct both in the classroom and outside. In particular, failure to supply the following will significantly diminish your score in this category:
     - Knightly News Story Approval Forms (signed)
     - Knightly News Broadcast Attendance Form  (signed)
In class, problems in the following areas will negatively affect the professionalism grade:
     - involvement in and preparedness for classroom discussion
     - general class attentiveness
     - meeting deadlines
     - attendance and punctuality
     - reliability
     - texting 
Outside of class problems in the following areas will negatively affect the professionalism grade:
     - appropriate reporter dress when working on assignments
     - care of RTV news photography gear and facilities
     - treatment of RTV staff, news subjects and other students/faculty, etc.
The professionalism grade also incorporates your ethical conduct both inside and outside class.  

Knightly News Broadcast Attendance Grade
There is one other graded component to this course, and that is mandatory attendance of at least one of the Knightly News live broadcasts.  These occur on Friday.  You are required to attend the full broadcast (30 minutes) and the subsequent debrief that will take place directly following the broadcast.  The window for attending these during Spring 2018 is from February 2 through April 20.  You must get the news director's (instructor's) signature at the end of the debrief, not before, using the official form for this.  More instruction on this will be presented in class.  If you do not get credit for attendance at a broadcast within the parameters presented in class you will receive a score of "0" for professionalism.

The final grade will be determined from the following formula:
A...........630-700
B+.........606-629
B...........583-605
B-..........560-582
C+.........536-559
C...........513-535
C-.........490-512
D+........466-489
D..........443-465
D-.........420-442
F...............0-419

Grading for individual assignments will derive from such things as technical execution (white balance, exposure, focus, steady handheld, etc.), creative execution (composition/framing, unique camera angles, etc.), proper formatting according to assignment instructions. and your ability to meet deadlines. Additionally, for the VO, SOT and PKG I will also grade your assignment according to the following broad rubric:

A = airable for Knightly News broadcast (meets that show's technical, journalistic and aesthetic standards)
B = airable for Knightly News webcast (similar to above,though is lacking presentational quality in some aspects for the broadcast)
C (or lower) = not airable for either Knightly News broadcast or webcast (lacking in one or more of the following areas:  technical (e.g. white balance, exposure, focus. contrast, clean editing), aesthetic ) framing and composition, lighting, etc.), journalistic (second sourcing, pertinent questions answered, proper attribution, journalistic ethics. etc.)

GRADED VIEWING EXERCISES
These exercises are meant to familiarize you with the formatting of television news and individual story structure and relate directly to your field assignments. There are four of these exercises.  Each is graded credit/no credit, that is, you will receive a score of 25 or zero.  If you perform the analysis that is required and submit  it properly according to instruction and on time, you will receive the full 25 points.  If you either fail to perform the analysis, submit it late, or submit a clearly weak or inadequate analysis, you will receive no points. Instructions for each of these exercises are listed on the course Assignments.

For technical problems with viewing exercises:
Should you have technical difficulties of any kind with webcourses, the first thing you are required to do is contact tech support and file a report. The next thing you must do is contact me.  I will not respond if you do not indicate that you’ve contacted tech support. Generally speaking, I will wait to hear back from tech support before deciding how to proceed. 

COURSE POLICY ON ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
It is unethical to use someone else's writing, notes, VIDEO/AUDIO or ideas as your own, or to allow someone else to use yours. This includes abstracting material from other sources like magazines, the Internet, television newspapers or prerecorded material without proper attribution.  To do so is cause for immediate failure and referral to the UCF Office of Student Conduct for appropriate disciplinary action. Don't let yourself get caught in this scenario; always be prepared with your own original work.

Additionally, I have a real problem with skirting or violating the rules of the class and the RTV facility.  Don’t let procrastination or anything else put you in a position where you feel the need to do this.  Be assured, for all instances of this I’ll pursue appropriate remedies, including grade reduction, prohibition from RTV facilities and gear (in accordance with Jim McCully's and Dylan Yonts' disposition), and maybe even prosecuting certain egregious instances to the full extent defined in the UCF GOLDEN RULE, which may include expulsion from this class or from the university.  Additionally, the University of Central Florida Undergraduate Policy and Curriculum Committee of the Faculty Senate has approved the use of the Z designation policy.  As a result of academic dishonesty in a course, an appropriate grade will be assigned to a student that is preceded by the letter Z.  

POLICY ON RECOMMENDATION LETTERS
While I'm happy to write recommendation letters for present or former students, I also reserve the right to deny such requests.  My policy on these letters is that I have to know something about you which justifies such a letter.  In other words, simply because you were in my class doesn't justify a recommendation letter from me.  Moreover, such a recommendation letter under these terms would be meaningless.  Consequently, I may excuse myself from your request.  Please don't take offense at this; it's just that I have simply not witnessed in a classroom or other setting enough of you to draft a meaningful recommendation letter.

RTV ListServ
RTV majors and prospective majors are encouraged to subscribe to the RTV ListServ.  The listserv is the official email communication vehicle of the Radio-Television division. Announcements about class schedules, changes in classes, as well internship and job opportunities are made through “the list.” 


NOTE: This syllabus may be altered, at the instructor's discretion, during the course of the term.  Students are responsible for informing themselves of changes announced in class.