Communications

Course Description

Prerequisites

Course Goals (includes core competencies, incorporation of SCANS, etc.)

Instructor Information

Textbook Information

Lab Requirements (if any)

Students with Disabilities

Academic Honesty

Attendance and Withdrawal Policies

Grading Policy

The Houston Community College System grading system must provide for flexibility in approach to instruction in order to allow instructors to meet the needs of their students and courses.  It must also be consistent in its overall grading policy so that students are treated similarly throughout the college. The following criteria should be observed in all courses and divisions.

Final grades in courses at the Houston Community College are as follows:

It is the policy of the Houston Community College instructional area that letter grades A through F can be translated into the numerical ranges listed above.  These ranges should be used in all classes in which grades A - F are appropriate.

This policy does not mandate a specific strategy for grading.  Any number of  kinds of grading scales might be appropriate. They should, however, be able to be equated to the point system; e.g., that system should award an A for 90 to 100 percent of possible points accumulated.

While the final course grade is always a letter, the grades that go into making up that grade should either be numerical or should be translatable into numbers for the purposes of averaging grades.  Example:  If an A, A-, B+, etc., is to be used as the  grade for an essay or report of some kind, the instructor’s syllabus should indicate specifically how those grades will be translated into number grades for purposes for purposes of achieving a final average.

Every student who is to receive a letter grade in the range of A - F should also receive a final numerical grade that is the basis for the letter grade.

Course Requirements for example: Testing, Projects, Assignments, Portfolios, Service Learning, Internships, etc.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. VISUAL THINKING: Intro a room through the camera;
intro a character through action. 1-2 pgs. each.
2. TWO PSAs: One for radio; one for TV.
3. TRAILER OR ADVERTISING STORYBOARD. 3-5 pgs.
4. INDUSTRIAL/ CORPORATE. 3-10 pgs.
5. SHORT: Fiction or non-fiction. 3-5 pgs.

PROJECTS

Script log. Using our story analysis form, critique 6 movies, television shows or radio programs during the semester. Additionally, read 4 scripts from our script library; compare 2 with finished films. Write about a page on each of the four scripts, focus your choice. Turn in all ten bound, with cover sheet and Table of Contents.

MAJOR PROJECT. A script of at least sixty minutes, either fiction of non-fiction, in correct script form. Meet all deadlines -- Premise, 2 minute movie, outline, rough and final draft -- and participate fully in the script workshop.

GRADING SCALE
Script Log - 20%
Assignments - 20%
Classwork; project deadlines - 10%
Workshop critiques - 10%
Major Project
Rough and Final Script - 40%

Make-up policy

Students are responsible for any material missed, and arranging any make-up work necessary. Excessive tardies will not be tolerated.

Course Content

COMM 2339 introduces the student to script formats and techniques for fiction and non-fiction in radio, television and film. This is a lecture and discussion course with a workshop component, and includes critical evaluation of film and television. Corporate and industrial applications, PSAs and advertisements and other short forms, are covered.
Course topics include visual thinking, camera movement, premises, treatments, the two-minute movie, outlines, dramatic terminology, characters, dialogue, plotting, structure, and working with the long form.

Course Calendar with Due Dates for Assignments and Testing

Other Student Information (clubs, tutoring, web resources, student services, etc.)