I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Media Script Writing

2. Course Prefix & Number:
VPRO 1100

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

This course is designed to develop scriptwriting skills for broadcast, web and corporate film making. All video production incorporates some form of scripting. Students will explore the many different ways a scriptwriter ties the project together. Students will learn to write scripts meant to be 'made' and not just read. Camera angles and cues will be studied. Creative writing skills will be emphasized in conjunction with the ability to communicate in words ‘visually’ and write ‘spatially’. Emphasis is placed on the traditional writing process (brainstorming, outline, treatment, draft and revision. Stylistically, our focus will be on the AV-2-column style. Topical areas include corporate communications, commercials/PSAs, documentary and feature-narrative.

5. Placement Tests Required:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

3. Prior Learning - the following prior learning methods are acceptable for this course:
Written

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Videography AAS
Videography, Diploma

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	write copy consisting of a combination of visual directions in one column and creative narrative in another - all in understandable prose.
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations	apply multi-step processes for successful completion of a working script.
Apply abstract ideas to concrete situations	construct theoretical concepts based on existing video footage using appropriate writing skills.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Demonstrate a general knowledge of the TV production workflow;
• Demonstrate an understanding of scriptwriting formats;
• Write narrative prose ‘parallel’ to video;
• Apply visual elements to written documents;
• Write using effective sentence structure that communicates in production communities;
• Understand different categories of media scripts and how to interpret each kind;
• Apply effective camera direction and scene descriptive elements to left column of standard AV-2-column scripts;
• Write effective treatments;
• Write effective proposals;
• Write effective revisions.

 

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Topic 1: What is a script? 25%
• Describing one medium through another
• Writing to be seen, not read
• Meta-writing
• Writing dialog
• Writing narration
• Writing directions
2. Topic 2: The processes of script development 25%
• Seven step method
• Four step method
• Stages of script development
3. Topic 3: Solving communication problems with visual media 25%
• Commercials
• PSA’s
• Corporate Communications
• Documentary
4. Topic 4: Putting it all together 25%
• Puzzle pieces
• Orchestrating
• Director's scripts
• Studio Broadcast scripts

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions