S Y L L A B U S
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ROME

Department of Communication and English

The learning goals for students pursuing a degree in Communication are meant to develop and enhance their writing skills, whether expository, reflective or analytical; or journalistic; or creative. The program also aims to develop students’ conceptual analysis skills and critical thinking; and train them in the use of the appropriate/required tools and technology related to the field of Communication, in selected courses. The Communication degree program also offers students the opportunity to benefit from the Rome location, and prepares them to work and operate successfully in a global environment characterized by diversity and intercultural understanding and respect.

Course Title: Introduction to the TV Commercial

Course Number: MKT/COM306

Period: Spring 2009.

Credits: Three hours.

Professor: Kristen Palana

e-mail: k.palana@aur.edu

office phone. 06/58330919 ext. 702
URL: http://www.kpalana.com

Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:40 – 5:05 PM

Location: Room B 104 for first half of the semester. Multimedia Lab after the 7^th week.

Office hours: By appointment.

The Writing Center, 5^th Floor. Building B.

Course Description:
After a general overview of what makes a television commercial and its various categories, students will then go through the practical steps towards the creation of television commercials including choice of approach in regards to specific products or messages, scripting the commercial, directing it, creating a storyboard, budgeting, casting, music, and production schedules. The students will also go out on location to shoot a commercial, edit it, add the music and sound effects, and finally screen it.

Prerequisites: MKT 100 and COM 205 or lower level film or video production course or permission of the instructor.

Course Learning Objectives:
In this course students will:

1. Acquire an understanding of how a TV/Web commercial is created from beginning to end.

2. Develop the ability to write a TV/Web commercial with knowledge of its creative ingredients, its format, construction and constraints, and its sales requirements.

3. Gain a full understanding of the creative process and its various steps.

4. Obtain the ability to analyze the contents of a TV/Web commercial for its “selling” properties, structure, psychological approach, “hidden” as well as observable elements such as setting, casting, costuming and the like.

5. Further develop production and post-production skills by working with cameras, lighting and sound equipment, and Macintosh based software for sound design and editing.

6. Work with real world clients and have an opportunity to have their work shown beyond the classroom.

Course Learning Activities:

TV/Web Commercial Analysis:
Students will learn how to analyze TV/Web commercials and identify their various structures.

CLO’s: 1 & 3

Commercial Script:
Students will learn the proper format for a 30 second TV Commercial script and write one of their own. CLO’s: 1, 2 & 4

Final Project Storyboard:
Students will create a detailed storyboard for their Final Commercial Project that addresses the audio and visual content of the commercial, camera angles and/or camera movements, and timing of various scenes.
CLO’s: 2 & 6

Final Project:

Groups of students will brainstorm and conceptually create an ad for a real world client (TBD). Students will shoot their own footage on location using available video, lighting, and sound equipment. Students may also use their own still images or royalty free still images as well as royalty free sound/music. The Group will assign individuals specific jobs for producing the commercial. Students will be graded according to their individual jobs and also as a group.
CLO’s:1-6.

Assessment Tools

There will be one midterm exam. Two or more quizzes will be given to measure students’ conceptual, technical, and aesthetic progress.

All projects will be rubric graded.

Items evaluated in the rubrics will be innovation, exploration of concepts and ideas, technical proficiency, professional presentation of projects, and effective participation in class critiques.

Homework will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.

Grade tabulation:
All projects will be rubric graded.

Midterm Exam: 20%

Final Project Storyboard: 10%
Final Project: 30%
Quizzes: 15%

Commercial Script: 5%

TV Commercial Analysis: 5%

Homework and Written Assignments: 5%
Participation: 10%

AUR grade values

94 – 100 points = A “Excellent”

90 – 93.99 pts = A-

87 – 89.99 = B+

83 – 86.99 = B “Good”

80 – 82.99 = B-

77 – 79.99 = C+

70 – 76.99 = C “Satisfactory”

60 – 69.99 = D “Poor”

59.99 – 0 = F “Failing”

Course textbooks:

Cutting Edge Commercials: How to Create the World's Best TV Ads for Brands in the 21st Century by Jim Aitchison, Prentice Hall

All other reading materials are in the form of hand-outs in class.

Additional Costs: The lab fee for this course (50 Euros per student) is used for the maintenance of the Multimedia Lab and production equipment.

Courtesy Policy:
Compared to similar production courses, our time slot is incredibly short at only 1 hour and 25 minutes per session. Please try to keep distractions and late arrival to an absolute minimum.

Make sure your cell phone is turned off. If you have an emergency situation that requires your phone to be on, please speak with me first. Ringing cell phones, late arrival, leaving early, and walking in and out of class while class is in session is disrespectful to your Professor and to your fellow classmates and will result in the lowering of your Class Participation Grade and Overall Grade.

AUR Attendance Policy

“Attendance is required in all classes at The American University of Rome and attendance records are maintained. More than two unexcused absences from any class may have a negative effect on student grades. Absences documented by a medical certificate or an obvious case of emergency may be excused by the Office of the Provost. If the Registrar determines that the student’s attendance record is unacceptable, the student will be required to withdraw from the class with a grade of WD. The criteria upon which grades are determined, including the attendance policy, are outlined in each course syllabus.” -- AUR Student Handbook, 2006/2007, p. 17.

Kristen Palana’s Specific Attendance Policy:

Any student with more than two unexcused absences will get a half letter grade off their final grade for every unexcused absence beyond two. Please note that each two lates count as one absence.

An unexcused absence is one without a valid medical justification, or a written note from the Provost. No make-up exams or quizzes will be given without a documented medical excuse. Incomplete grades are not given.

If You Miss Class:

Please use the class contact sheet (given out after the add/drop period) to email or phone a classmate who can lend you their notes and help you get back on track. In this course it is important to stay on top of material since so much is covered. *Please do not email your professor for a briefing on what you missed, as it’s not possible to sum up an entire class in a short email. After you have made an effort to contact a classmate and catch up, your professor will be happy to give you individual help by appointment.

AUR Academic Integrity Code & Policy against Plagiarism

“Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by such acts as borrowing or purchasing assignments, including but not limited to term papers, essays, and reports; lending to or producing assignments for others (either for or without payment); using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations, copying the work of others and submitting it as one’s own; and otherwise misappropriating the knowledge of others. Such acts are both dishonest and deceptive: the work submitted to instructors is not the work of the person whose name it bears. In consequence, the sources from which one derives one’s ideas, statements, terms, and facts, including internet sources, must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form. Failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism.” -- AUR Student Handbook, 2006/2007, p. 15.

Suggestions:
Back-up all work in progress. I recommend saving your projects literally every time you make a change. It just takes one quick click…and could save you hours (if not days) of frustration. Always back-up everything! In this class it's also important to check your mini DV tapes after shooting to confirm you actually recorded footage.

Expect the unexpected. If you have an assignment due on Thursday, try to get it done a few days before. That way, if and when you are having technical problems, you will have some extra time to fix mistakes and troubleshoot.
Remember: It is always better to show what you are working on than to show nothing at all. We can try to solve the problem in class if necessary.

COURSE OUTLINE

*This outline is subject to change. Tentative: Guest speaker or field trip. TBD.

Schedule

Week 1:

(1) Introduction and Overview of Course including discussion of syllabus. Discussion: “What is a Commercial?”

(2) A Review of early commercials

(3) A Review of basic communication theory, steps a message goes through until it arrives at its target audience.

.

(4) Researching the product’s benefits

(5) Understanding the “target audience”

(6) A commercial’s structure and requirements: “What are the basic elements of every commercial?”

(7) Commercial screening and analysis

Week 2:

(1) Commercial screening and analysis continued

(2) The Creative Process: The Steps

(3) In classroom exercises for creative thinking

(4) In classroom exercise: “roughing out” a commercial idea

(5) How does an Advertising Agency work? Its structure and relationship to the advertising client as well as to the commercial production company

Week 3:

(1) Commercial forms: vignettes/slice-of-life, comedy, straight announce, testimonial, institutional vs. the “sell.” How do you choose which direction to go?

(2) Commercials tell a story; they’re small :30 second dramas/comedies

(3) The Humorous/Comic Commercial: How to write it?

(4) Formatting a commercial

(5) How to express the action within the commercial

(6) How to write dialogue for scenes or vignettes

(7) Definitions of abbreviations and formatting the

script

Week 4:

(1) “Scenes: Settings, Props, Costuming and Casting Speak Volumes”

(2) How do camera angles, close-ups, long shots can communicate and intensify what is being presented?

(3) The Sound of Music and Voice-Over: The Best Use of It

(4) Storyboarding your commercial

Week 5:

(1) How to Critique a Commercial: Screen and Write Critiques of 4 Commercials

(1) The Production Professions and Crafts: A Description of the Various Jobs on a Production from Pre-Production through Post-Production

(a) This will include demonstrations and discussions of casting, acting, b.g. music, etc.

Week 6:

(1)Presenting and “Pitching” Your Commercial to the Client:

(a) Presenting the Script, Storyboard, Budget Clearly and Effectively (includes lecture, criticism, discussion)

(b) What to Wear, What to Say, How to Sit: Winning-over the Client is Partly in the Details; HOW you say it can often be as important as WHAT you say.

(2) Web Commercials and New Media Marketing.

Week 7:

(1) Midterm Exam.

(2) Final Project Production Teams are Assembled.

(3) Product and Product information is provided to each team.

(4) Q & A plus discussion regarding the writing of the “Final Commercial Project”

(5) Individual Teams assign job positions to team members for the production of the commercial.

(6) Group brainstorming and concept development for commercials.

(7) Groups meet to start creating storyboards and scripts.

Week 8:

(1) Rough Storyboards due. Critique and in-class improvements.

(2) Review on the operation of camera, lights, and sound equipment, and computerized editing program, Final Cut Pro

Week 9:

(1) Final Storyboards and Individual Scripts for Commercials Due. Critique and final modifications.

(2) Students plan shooting schedules and begin gathering visuals and sounds for Final Project.

(3) Review on the operation of camera, lights, and sound equipment, and computerized editing program, Final Cut Pro

(4) Pre-production and Production of Final Projects. Discussion and Preparation. Work in Class.

Week 10:

(1) Review on the operation of camera, lights, and sound equipment, and computerized editing program, Final Cut Pro

(2) Production and Editing: Producing Your Team’s Comm’l. Discussion and Preparation. Raw footage due.

Week 11:

(1) Final Raw Footage Due.

(2) Production and Editing. Work in Class. Individual Help.

Week 12:

(1) Assembly Cut Due.

(2) Production and Editing. Work in Class. Individual Help.

(3) Preparing for post production and web distribution.

Week 13:

(1) Fine Cut Due. Production and Editing. Work in Class. Individual Help.

Week 14:

(1) Final Cut Due. Screening of Finished Commercials. Par-tay.

(2) Final Screenings will take place on Weds., May 6, 2009 in the Multimedia Lab. Time: TBD.