Technical Exercise 1

TIME-BASED COMMUNICATION 2
YSDN 3013 (S) Winter Term I Academic Year 2008/2009

TECHNICAL EXERCISE 1 (dramatic editing)
Assigned: January 16, 2009

Length of Project: Classes 2-4.
Deadlines: DUE 1:30 PM JAN 30, (START OF WK 4 CLASS)
Grade breakdown: 5% of final grade.

Objectives.
The technical exercises, generally speaking, are designed to help students discover principles of time-based media that they can later apply to their own independent creative project work. They are also opportunities to further develop their technical skills with time-base media production equipment and computer application.

Exercise 1 objectives:
-    to familiarize students with the principles of continuity editing
-    to develop their sense of dramatic  pacing
-    to gain a basic understanding of the elements of conventional dramatic structure.
-    to improve their technical knowledge and competency with Final Cut Pro editing tools and techniques.

The assignment

Working  with the provided video footage from an episodic television series, cut a short (30 sec-  2min) sequence that creates and resolves a dramatic tension. Your goal is to maximize the tension.

Procedures and Guidelines

1. Find the Quicktime file called <TBC2-exercise1> on the work disk of one of the computers in J219.

2. Create a new Final Cut Pro Project, name the project, and import the <TBC2-exercise1> Quiicktime file into your Final Cut Pro project

3. Using Final Cut Pro, cut a sequence from selected portions of the provided footage, with the above goals in mind. Keep your sequence as short as possible, and no longer than 2 min.

4. When you have finished the exercise, give the piece a title and a credit.

5. Render your sequence and export as a Quicktime (.mov) file. Be prepared to present your video at the beginning of class on January 30.

Evaluation
5 points:
3 points for the student’s ability to achieve the goal of creating and resolving a dramatic tension.
1 point for student’s ability to meet the basic length and technical requirements.
1 point for especially original approaches to the problem.