Like the podcast, this assignment will ask you to learn to compose in a new medium. The conceptual work might be similar to what you would undertake in a traditional essay. The key difference is the raw materials will be video clips that you pull from one or more films and that your own insights will need to be integrated into the video as voiceovers (perhaps with some text thrown in.)

As you think about the video, keep the focus of your film media page in mind. For instance, if you wanted to create a media page on the evolution of special effects, you might compose a video that compares a Hitchcock film with a James Bond movie.

Here are a couple of examples you can use to think about the kind of essay you might create:

Music in O' Brother Where Art Thou?

What Makes a Hero?

Is He Bona Fide?

These are just three possibilities. The assignment is flexible in terms of the angle you take. You will need to have something interesting to say about one or more films, and then figure out how to sample video clips and integrate narration and text to make your points.

You will need to learn to use a video editor for the project. You can use Windows Movie Maker which is available for free for PCs. If you have a Mac you can use iMovie which should be bundled with your computer. If you have a CCI laptop, it may come bundled with Adobe Premiere Elements, a good option for composing. If you have a computer that is more than three years old, you may want to consider working in the Media Resource Center--in the basement of the UGL.

We will go over the technical dimensions and talk more about how to envision these projects as we go forward.