Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Audiovisual Creation Workshop
Other languages of instruction: English, Spanish
Teaching staff
Marc Llobet: llobetmarc@uic.es
Tito Banqué: jmbanque@uic.es
Introduction
This is a hands-on production lab. This workshop is designed to provide students with journalism skills for reporting, writing and editing news stories. This subject requires that students participate in news-gathering as well as in taping their stories. We will pratice techniques for information gathering, scripting, selecting video and choosing sound bites for news. This class should be looked upon as a real-life lab. Our main goal is to put together a newscast by the end of the course.
Pre-course requirements
No pre-course requirements are needed to enrol in this subject.
Objectives
Since the class is a workshop, we will use the classroom as our own newsroom. For the first time you will have to explore techniques used in broadcast news so you will need to become familiarised with a whole new world. You will have to keep in touch with current events and you will have to set foot on the street, microphone in hand.
The main goal is for you to learn how to structure, shoot, write and edit in order to create a newscast. This means you need to come to class on time, every time and be ready to participate. Like a professional journalist, you will need to keep up with daily newspapers and newscasts (especially English speaking media) and other sources like TV newscasts. I especially recommend viewing and analysing TV news programs such as CBS News, NBC Nightly News, BBC News, ABC News and ITN News.
We will cover technical tools which we are sure are new for you as well as concepts and disciplines necessary for planning, shooting and editing non-fiction television production of the TV news magazine, both in the field and in the studio.
The Department of Communication checkout room is equipped with all the cameras, microphones, lighting equipment and additional production gear that you will need to complete the production projects. You will not walk alone, we will help you through the technical process.
Finally, in your reporting, you will need to be careful not to cite sources as your work is “only for class”: accept that your work can and will become public.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 01 - The ability to adapt to varying circumstances
- 02 - The ability to understand, accept criticism and correct errors
- 03 - The ability to administer and manage human and technical resources
- 04 - The ability to work in a team and autonomously
- 05 - The ability to organise time and workspace
- 06 - The ability to develop academic rigour, responsibility, ethics and professionalism
- 07 - The ability to apply the deontology and respect for the audiovisual sector
- 08 - The ability of critical analysis, synthesis, concretion and abstraction
- 09 - The ability to objectify, quantify and interpret (data, statistics, empirical evidence )
- 10 - The ability to confront difficulties and resolve problems
- 11 - The ability to generate debate and reflection
- 12 - The ability to meet deadlines, develop the ability to be punctual and respect for human, technical and material resources
- 16 - The ability to manage, analysis and reflect on content
- 19 - The ability of informative documentation
- 20 - Knowledge and mastery of bibliographic media
- 21 - Knowledge and mastery of the digital culture
- 23 - The ability to prioritize newsworthy events and contrast information
- 24 - The ability to plan and organize both short term and long term projects
- 25 - The ability to maximize creative development
- 26 - The ability to develop a sense of taste and perfection in the aesthetics and finalization of projects
- 30 - The ability to study the feasibility of an audiovisual product
- 32 - The ability to confront audiovisual and film projects in all phases (pre-production, shooting, post-production, distribution)
- 33 - The ability to create and direct.
- 34 - The ability to know and respect the different roles of the artistic and technical teams
- 35 - The ability to contextualize and critically analyze the products of the audiovisual industry
- 38 - The ability to understand and apply the structure of the audiovisual system
- 40 - The ability to defend and respect authorship and intellectual property
- 41 - The ability to know how the distinct elemental agencies of the audio visual sector function
- 42 - The ability to distinguish, analyze and dominate the distinct genres and formats of television, film and radio
- 46 - The ability to dominate resources used for image (Photographs, lighting...) and sound.
- 48 - Knowledge and mastery of the techniques of filming, directing, producing and editing
- 49 - The ability to write fluent texts, step outlines or scripts
- 50 - The ability to adapt, understand and apply the expressive possibilities of new technologies and future changes
- 53 - Lingustic ability in Catalan, Spanish and English
- 54 - The ability to skillfully manage the literature, terminology and linguistic structures of the English language related to the field of communication.
Learning outcomes of the subject
Once the course is completed, the students will:
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Work comfortably in a radio and television studio.
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Master video and audio editing software.
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Master the language of audiovisual communication.
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Develop teamwork skills and learning.
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Enhance creativity and originality.
Syllabus
Since our main goal is to build a newscast from beginning to end. We will do a great deal of writing, researching, reporting and editing. You will be in charge of one news segment or story for the duration of the workshop. This will be like your Master´s dissertation or in other words: your baby!
You will be asked to report, write and edit a handful of stories to chose from:
Assignment One: Cover a Public Meeting. You should choose your meeting based on likely news value and report the news that the meeting generates for a news segment of your own.
Assignment Two: Cover a Speech. Straight news assignment. The story should show evidence that you did research on the speaker before the event and on the topic afterwards, if necessary.
Assignment Three: Profile. A story that requires no less than three interviews, one with the subject, the others with associates who know the subject. It has to be a person in authority such as a City Council member, an artist… The story must reflect quotes from the subject and two others.
Assignment Four: Feature. This will require reporting about some event or place, giving the mood, colour, atmosphere. It can be a sports event, a political rally, a place in particular.
Assignment Five: In-depth news story. This will be an analytical story that digs below the surface, providing background information and outlining future problems. Sound reporting and vivid prose are essential. The project must use multiple sources and types of research must be approved by instructor.
Assignment Six: Human interest story. This will present people and their concerns, achievements in a way that brings about interest or sympathy to the viewer. The story behind the story as they call it.
More ideas for assignments are more than welcome!
Think of us as your editors – we will decide which topics you pursue together.
Bear in mind that apart from these assignments some students will have to recreate live interviews or live packages on the field as well as work as anchors on the studio.
Deadlines:
We will announce all deadlines well in advance. As in professional journalism will be inflexible. Missing a deadline on a story – for any reason—will result in a grade reduction.
Grading:
You will be graded for your assignment as well as for your participation in class. You will have to be a journalist all the way through. This includes being an independent and ethical one.
Grading Criteria:
Grading journalism, like practicing it, is necessarily a subjective process. Generally speaking an “A” news story will be virtually ready to be broadcasted. A “B” news story will be solid, but may need further editing or may leave certain questions unanswered. A grade of “C” would go on a story that might be technically perfect, but that lacks imagination and scope. “D´s” and “F´s” go to stories that do not fulfill the assignment
Programme Learning Outcome
With this workshop we want to develop with you ways of thinking about TV journalism and the upcoming communication era that will equip you to be skilled and independent journalists.
Please don´t be afraid to take risks, be inventive and have serious fun with this workshop.
“I don´t think a reporter should give advice or make predictions” Peter Jennings, former ABC News anchor.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | ECTS CREDITS |
| Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested. | 1 |
| Seminar. This activity will consist of taking an in-depth look at specific up-to-date topics in a monographic manner-in some cases these topics will have been debated socially-, via active work in small groups. | 1 |
| Meeting Point. Meetings will be organised with notable people from the professional and scientific fields or the international field, and students. These sessions will take the form of conferences, work sessions, discussions, or interviews, etc. | 0.5 |
| Practical workshop. A highly practical working activity, where students can acquire skills that are practical or also theoretical (intellectual skills, logical skills, critical skills, intellectual learning skills, study skills, quoting skills, etc). | 0.8 |
| Workshop. Advanced and intensive workshops of a longer duration, led by lecturers and/or foreign professionals, in which the language used is English. These culminate in the creation of a professional or semi-professional product which is also produced in English. | 2.2 |
| Mentoring programme. Ensuring a review of and in-depth look at competences and knowledge, as well as the development of habits involving social commitment and responsibility, with the strongest students providing guidance for students from lower years, particularly if they have any type of disability (physical, etc). | 0.5 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
1 point: Format Sales Dossier
3 points: Work throughout the course and in the assigned department
2 points: Production component
4 points for the final program. Of these two points, one is for the entire group and the other two at an individual level.
If the practical part is not passed or 80% of the practical exercises are not completed, to recover the course, students must take a current affairs and production concepts exam and complete an 8-minute audiovisual project with informative content, to be agreed upon with the instructor.
A program proposal must also be submitted.
Students in the third or subsequent retake must repeat the course.