Requirements for Digital Media Production
- Prerequisites
- Communication
- Textbooks | Readings | Resources
- LyndaCampus
- Software
- Hardware
- Grading
- Discussions - 20%
- Exercises - 50%
- Term Project - 30%
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have basic knowledge and/or familiarity with:
- Basic Computer Skills
- Download and install software on hard disk and troubleshoot if there are missing drivers or software components.
- Create, name, rename an appropriate hierarchy of folders/files
- Identify types of files (e.g., .doc, .pdf, .xls, .html, .gif)
- Copy files from hard disk to storage devices and vice versa
- Use file transfer protocol to upload/download files to server
- Basic Photography and Videography skills.
- Video editing software (such as Windows Movie Maker or iMovie)
- Capture and edit video using simple video edits.
- MCIS Digital Journalism course materials.
Communication
- Online Discussions – use eCollege.
- Virtual Office – use Discussion board in eCollege to create communal resource.
- Threaded Discussion is meant to serve as community resource, where students can ask for technical or content help from fellow students and instructor.
- Virtual Meeting – chat, voice conferencing and screen / application sharing service.
- Weekly online meeting will be held on a day and time TBA.
- The chat attendance is voluntary but highly recommended.
- Use the free Adobe Connect service because it supports voice conferencing (good to have a headset with a built-in mic) and screen & application sharing (this way you can see me perform specific steps on your screen in real-time and vice versa).
- Virtual Help – use Skype or Adobe Connect service.
- Instructor will be available to talk to students via Skype or Adobe Connect by appointment if a question cannot be answered or technical problem cannot be solved via email, virtual office or meeting.
- Students need to create free Skype account.
- In Person Help
- If email and virtual ways of providing help are not able to solve a problem related to your course work, then it is possible to meet with the instructor at Rutgers by appointment only.
Suggested Textbooks | Required Readings | Resources
Suggested Textbooks
- Castro : HTML, XHTML & CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide 6th Edition - Order | Companion Site
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Classroom in a Book - Order
- Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Classroom in a Book - Order
- Textbooks Accessible for Free from Rutgers Libraries:
- HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies (2010 - 2nd Version; Wiley) Harris, Andy.
- HTML, XHTML & CSS QuickSteps (2009; McGraw-Hill) Hart-Davis, Guy.
- Beginning HTML, XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript (2010; Wiley) Duckett, Jon.
- HTML, XHTML, and CSS: Your visual blueprint for designing effective Web pages (2009; Wiley) Huddleston, Rob.
- HTML5: Designing Rich Internet Applications (2010; Elsevier Science & Technology) David, Matthew.
- HTML5 24-Hour Trainer (2011; Wiley) Lowery, Joseph; Fletcher, Mark.
- JavaScript by Example (2011; Pearson Education) Quigley, Ellie.
Required Readings | Resources
- Links to all of the Required Readings are provided in the weekly modules on the Lectures page.
- Multimedia Story Design & Planning
- Digital Storytelling | Approaches to Scripting | Storyboarding
- Knight Digital Media Center
- Transition to Digital Journalism
- What is a Multimedia Story?
- Assemble the Story
- Picking the Right Media
- Web Design (XHTML, CSS)
- Knight Digital Media Center - Web Development Tutorials
- HTML
- CSS
- Web Design Templates
- Embed Media
- Embed Widget
- Smashing Magazine - Useful HTML/CSS/JavaScript Tools & Libraries
- Image Slideshows
- Slideshows
- A Faustian Bargain: Slideshows are the scourge, and the savior, of online journalism - Columbia Journalism Review, November-December 2010
- HTML5 & CSS3
- w3schools: HTML5 Reference
- html5.org
- 9-websites-to-learn-the-basics-about-html5
- more listed on Lectures page.
- Image Composition Principles
- Composition Rules
- Composition Balance
- Flickr: Learn Composition By Example
- Digital Photography Tutorials
- 10-Pro-Photography-Tips
- Image Editing
- Photoshop Tutorials
- Camerawork | Video Capture Techniques
- Shooting Tips
- Interviewing Techniques
- Interviewing Techniques
- Sound Capture & Editing Techniques
- Audacity
- Visual Storyboarding
- Create Storyboard
- Edit Storyboard
- Video Editing
- Premiere Elements Resources
- Adobe TV
- Knight Digital Media Center - Video Tutorials
- Animation (Flash)
- Flash Templates
LyndaCampus
- SC&I is subscribing to a service called LyndaCampus that is a school-wide version of lynda.com, an online training library of over 80,000 video based training movies on over 1400 software titles. LyndaCampus is available for free for students registered in SC&I courses and can be used to learn software, programming skills, video techniques, etc.
Titles include: all of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.), all of Adobe CS5 & CS6 (DreamWeaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, etc.), Fundamentals of Video, iMovie, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, SPSS, Google Docs, HTML5, CSS, MySQL, PHP, Python, C/C++/C#, WordPress, etc. Students can watch the videos, follow along with exercise files, and even print a certificate of completion upon completion of a course. - Login to LyndaCampus (when you first log into lynda, you are given the opportunity to personalize your profile).
- Remember: you must be logged into LyndaCampus to be able to access the lynda.com videos included in the Lectures page of this course.
- For more information and access instructions, please see http://lynda.comminfo.rutgers.edu. For any difficulties accessing the content of lynda.com please contact SC&I IT Services at help@comminfo.rutgers.edu.
Software
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- Filezilla (Windows / Mac; free): http://filezilla-project.org/ - recommended.
- WinSCP (Windows; free): http://winscp.net/eng/download.php
- Fugu (Mac; free): http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/download.html
- CyberDuck (Mac; free): http://cyberduck.ch/
- Simple Code Editor for HTML, CSS, JavaScript & PHP coding
- NotePad++ (Windows; free): http://sourceforge.net/projects/notepad-plus/
- TextWrangler (Mac; free): http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
- Info on Text / HTML Editors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTML_editors
- Image Editing
- Pixlr (Windows / Mac; free)
- Photoshop Elements (Windows / Mac; $120; available together with Premiere Elements for less)
- Audio Editing
- Audacity (Windows / Mac; free)
- Video Editing
- Premiere Elements (Windows / Mac; $120; available together with Photoshop Elements for less).
- Animation
- Flash (Windows / Mac; accessible for free via SCI Software Anywhere)
Hardware
- Digital Camera to capture photos and videos.
- Headset with built-in microphone (required for online student)
- Computer with sufficient processing speed and storage capabilities.
Grading
You will be able to resubmit the individual exercises to improve your score based on the provided feedback. Because of this, the shown grading scale is used.
| 95 - 100 | A |
| 90 - 95 | B+ |
| 85 - 90 | B |
| 80 - 85 | C+ |
| 75 - 80 | C |
Discussions (20% of Course Grade)
There will be three graded discussions:
- Topic 1: Identify Key Elements of Engaging Multimedia Story - Week 2
- Topic 2: Analyze Video - Week 7
- Topic 3: Analyze Animation - Week 11
Students will also be assigned into groups to provide constructive feedback for the exercises created by other students.
Individual Exercises (50% of Course Grade)
There will be five individual exercises that can be resubmitted based on the received feedback:
- Exercise 1: Web Design – Present Story Outline for multi-part multimedia project (10%)
- Exercise 2: Photography – Create Photo Essay using JavaScript (10%)
- Exercise 3: Web Design – Develop Website with Storyboard for video (10%)
- Exercise 4: Video – Capture & Edit Video(10%)
- Exercise 5: Animation –Design Animation (10%)
Term Project: Digital Multimedia Story (30% of Course Grade)
The term project brings together what has been covered in this course and what you have practiced in the exercises to create a multi-part digital media story.