Resources for Digital Media Consultants
The following are resources categorized in mode and by course. Courses listed include student-produced samples, which might be useful as a reference during tutoring.
VIDEO / FILM
CS2C: "Multimedia Production"
About the course: In this multimedia production course, led by Kenneth Chan, students are introduced to Photoshop, Garageband, iMovie, 3D motion graphics. The final project requires students to include "CS2C" in some way (verbally, visually, narratively, etc.)--students often choose to present their final project in the form of a video or mini-film (less than 3 min long, uploaded onto YouTube). Students are encouraged to incorporate techniques they have never used before (i.e. movement along diagonal XY-axes, use of a smash cut, and extreme attention to inserting realistic diegetic sounds). Regardless of technique, the "best" multimedia productions are ones that incorporate these techniques effectively and rhetorically as part of the video's message or narrative.
Students are expected to bring in storyboards of their video project during weeks 2 and 3; drafts of their video during weeks 6 to 8.
Resources:
Sample Videos: The "Best Of CS2C" videos are embedded in the player at http://cs2c.stanford.edu.
Reading: You might find it useful to review the summary of Jennifer Van Sijll's Cinematic Storytelling (2005)--a required reading for the class.
IMAGE
PWR 2 SL: "Got Ads? Visual Design in Print Advertising"
About the course: This PWR 2 course, taught by Sohui Lee, introduces students to visual design theories through print advertising techniques in order to help them reflect on design techniques in slideware (PowerPoint or Keynote). Students are introduced to visual design, PowerPoint, and Photoshop.
The final project for this course is the revitalization of a "failed" ad campaign--students must present their new revitalized concept ads (targeting two audiences) in a final slideshow presentation, drawing upon market research of industry, company, and consumer groups.
Students may bring in their concept ads or their slideshow for consultation.
Resource:
Sample Student Ads: Over 100 examples of PWR 2SL concept ads are available on the Visual Resource Center's ImageBase, Click on "Imagebase," then "Collections by Academic Department." Choose "PWR," and then "Got Ads."
Reading: Visual Design in Ads and Slides (Lee).
PWR 1AO: "Visual Rhetoric Across the Globe: Capturing Culture in Images"
About the course: This PWR 1 course, taught by Alyssa J. O’Brien, examines how visual rhetoric texts, or images that make arguments, both reflect culture and shape public opinion across the world. Students learn visual analysis and are asked to write two essays on visual texts: a rhetorical analysis and a research-based argument. In addition, during the final week of classes students will have a chance to share their work in a multimedia symposium of projects.
Students may bring in drafts in progress for consultation. They might need help with analysis of visual texts, research about visual texts, or production of multimedia projects for the closing symposium.
Resource:
Sample Student Projects: Over 250 student essays analyzing visual texts are available on the Companion Website for the course textbook, Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments (Longman, 2011).
Reading: See Mark Rice-Oxley’s account of visual rhetoric traveling across the globe in this article that we read in class: “In 2000 Years, Will the World Remember Disney or Plato?” The Christian Science Monitor, 15 January 2004.
HWC Programs
