Video Production

Associate in Science Degree

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This program provides the skills and knowledge required for video production students to communicate effectively in visual and verbal format; to understand camera function and movement techniques in relation to creative expression; to understand and integrate narrative storytelling techniques into video practice; to create videos edited digitally to communicate to a diverse audience; and to prepare students for careers in video production.  Graduates will be prepared to enter the fields of videography, video editing, cinematography, camera operation, and video production. This program allows students through the SUNY Communication: Media transfer pathway.

Goal 1 To provide the skills and knowledge required to communicate effectively in visual and verbal format

  • Students will articulate an understanding of the visual problem-solving process.
  • Students will collaborate in project critiques demonstrating the ability to discuss both their own work and the work of their peers.
  • Students will demonstrate appropriate communication with instructor and peers via critique, written assignments, and class interaction.
  • Students will recognize the elements of videography visual language including composition, camera movement, cutting techniques, and storytelling among others. 

Goal 2 To understand camera function and movement techniques in relation to creative expression

  • Students will demonstrate knowledge of the creative process, i.e. analysis, incubation, illumination, and verification.
  • Students will demonstrate knowledge of different ways and means to communicate information through various media and software.
  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of reciprocity through shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.
  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of fundamental lighting techniques.
  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of digital video technologies including image capture and output.
  • Students will evaluate how camera movement techniques can affect audience perception of a video.

Goal 3 To provide advance knowledge of video through diverse global, cultural, and historical perspectives

  • Students will demonstrate knowledge of video and film on a global scale within a historical context.
  • Students will recognize the works of numerous masters from various backgrounds and cultures in video and the arts.
  • Students will discuss work in comparison to contemporary and historical masters.
  • Students will discuss how the history of video and film reflects significant historical and cultural events.
  • Students will research and organize resources to broaden their understanding of the field of video and film.

Goal 4 To create videos edited digitally

  • Students will demonstrate proficiency in timelines and transitions in industry software.
  • Students will demonstrate understanding of keying and visual effects techniques.
  • Students will utilize text and graphics to communicate to an audience.
  • Students will discover how to adjust audio properly.
  • Students will demonstrate how to export final video content.

Goal 5 To prepare students for a career in video production

  • Students will identify and discuss plans for job or transfer.
  • Students will create professional sites to market their skill set.
  • Students will create a plan for career or transfer goals with specific action items.
  • Students will create and present an Artist statement. 
  • Students will use traditional and contemporary information technology.
  • Students will identify, access, and appropriately use authoritative sources of information.

Total Credit Hours: 64

First Semester

This course is an opportunity for students to develop the skills necessary to be successful in college. Students learn the importance of the faculty-student and advisor-advisee relationship, develop time management techniques, apply effective study skill techniques, recognize the implications of living in a diverse society, utilize college resources, and explore career and transfer requirements. Collaborative projects are included. Students matriculated in a degree program must take this course in their first term of study.

This course focuses on several kinds of writing-self-expressive, informative, and argumentative/persuasive, and others. A minimum of five essay compositions are required. The course emphasizes the composition of clear, correct, and effective prose required in a variety of professions and occupations. Prerequisites: Appropriate high school GPA or placement test score or EN090 Basic Writing Skills or SL116 ESL4: Advanced Composition or SL145 ESOL Advanced Composition

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of visual communication and creativity with an emphasis on understanding historically significant art styles. Students explore various types of visual expression and apply creative problem-solving principles to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional projects in a variety of media. Emphasis is placed on formulating basic design and layout principles, with particular stress on application. Students are introduced to the masters, practices, and careers of painting, sculpture, graphic design, animation, film, digital media, illustration, and photography.

This course covers the theory, role, scope, and practice of video editing and introduces the ways and means to edit video to communicate effectively with an audience. Emphasis is placed on formulating basic editing procedures with particular stress on understanding software abilities and limitations. It investigates approaches to shaping and formatting video content and communicating conceptual elements to an audience.

This course introduces techniques used to create, edit, and manipulate photographs through digital processes. Topics include image capture and input methods, workflow, editing in the digital darkroom, and output techniques for black and white as well as color images. Students operate a DSLR camera, and are introduced to Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. Photographic composition and aesthetics, and their use as a form of visual communication, are emphasized.

This course introduces probability and statistics. Topics include graphs, tables, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion, normal distribution, correlation and regression, probability, and inferential statistics. This course is available in two formats: lecture only, or lecture plus laboratory using technology. Prerequisite: Appropriate high school GPA or placement test score or MA089 Arithmetic.

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Second Semester

This course examines the development of film as a medium of artistic expression. Topics include cinematic vocabulary, camera techniques, editing, sound, auteur theory, and personalities. Feature films are analyzed during the laboratory component.

This course covers the theory, role, scope, and practice of utilizing video as a means to tell stories and relay information to an audience. Emphasis is placed on advanced video editing procedures with particular stress advanced sound capture techniques. Emphasis is also placed on utilizing story boards as a means for ideation and revision. It further investigates approaches to shaping and formatting video and audio content and communicating conceptual elements to an audience. Prerequisite: VP101 Introduction to Video Production

This course introduces the techniques of multimedia production. The techniques of DSLR video production are explored and students shoot and edit video captured from HD DSLR cameras. Students produce videos focusing on technical skills and storytelling through multimedia elements. Prerequisite: PT207 Digital Photography 1: Camera and Editing

This course introduces the concepts of light and optics. Topics include the historical development of optical instruments, electromagnetic spectrum, lenses and image formation, light-sensitive materials and processes, color filters, Kirlean imaging, and holography. Examples are chosen from a variety of fields, including photography, human vision, and nature. Prerequisite: Appropriate high school GPA or placement test score or MA089 Arithmetic.

This course encourages a deeper understanding of human nature and the human condition through the study of ideas and values expressed in imaginative literature. Emphasis is placed on the use and development of critical thinking and language skills. Library-oriented research is required. Prerequisite: EN101 English 1: Composition or EN105 English Composition for Speakers of Other Languages or EN106 English 1: Composition & Reading.

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Third Semester

This course introduces the techniques of fiction and poetry writing through a series of discussions, readings, and writing activities. Prerequisite: EN102 English 2: Ideas & Values in Literature.

This course covers the theory, role, scope, and practice of modern advertising and introduces the types and characteristics of vehicles that carry advertisements. Topics include advertising media, such as newspaper, magazines, television, radio, and their advantages and limitations.

This course allows students to develop a body of video work that addresses both linear and non-linear narrative structures and explores the creation of meaning through the combination of sound, movement, and narrative progression. Students incorporate both DSLR video and smartphone video in the development of course work. Discussions and readings include historical and theoretical explorations of video as an art form and means of visual communication. Students further hone their technical skills using current video software and applications while gaining practical experience with a variety of equipment options and techniques for video capture.Prerequisites PT106: Multimedia Photography.

This course introduces the foundations of theater art. Emphasis is placed on the theatrical production process. Topics include theater spaces, directing, acting, scene design, and professional work opportunities. Theater experiences from the Greek festival theater to the present are discussed.

This course introduces the process of image creation and manipulation for live-action film making utilized within current industry practices. Emphasis is placed on the use of visual and special effects as a means of enhancing live-action storytelling through the utilization of industry-leading software found in contemporary film making. It further investigates approaches to incorporating visual effects to communicate conceptual elements to an audience.

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Fourth Semester

This course analyzes media costs, media buying problems, inter-media comparisons, and overall media strategy. Media problems are solved based upon marketing, advertising, and budget considerations. Prerequisite: MD151 Fundamentals of Media.

This course introduces the many and varied facets of psychology. Emphasis is on interactions of individuals in their cultural, social, and economic environments as determined by their cognitive, behavioral, and emotional experiences and training.

This course introduces the nature and study of history, and covers the emergence and development of Eurasian civilization to about 1500 A.D. in the Near East, India, China, Europe, the Western Hemisphere, and Africa. Attention is given to religion in these civilizations and on the rise of the West to a position of world power during the Middle Ages.

This course prepares students for entry into the field of video production as practicing professionals through the creation of capstone projects that encompass the skills inherent in the curriculum. Emphasis will be placed upon the completion of a professional portfolio that will be screened to the entire class and possible guests. Prerequisite: VP102 Cinematography

This course is an introduction to public speaking. It emphasizes the fundamentals of preparing, organizing, supporting, and delivering the speech based on factual material. It includes topic selection, audience analysis, fact vs. opinion, outlining, supporting material, and visual support. Informative, demonstrative, and persuasive speeches are presented. Elements of interpersonal communication, logic, and persuasion are discussed. Prerequisite: EN101 English 1: Composition or EN105 English Composition for Speakers of Other Languages or EN106 English 1: Composition & Reading.

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