Special Topics in Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects Syllabus for 2016-2017
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Instructor Information

Course Information

Recording Policy

Disability Statement

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Statement for Mental Health and Advocacy & Resource Center:

As a student you may experience a range of issues that can cause barriers to learning, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, feeling down, difficulty concentrating and/or lack of motivation. These mental health concerns or stressful events may lead to diminished academic performance or reduce a student's ability to participate in daily activities. Amarillo College offers services to assist you with addressing these and other concerns you may be experiencing. If you or someone you know are suffering from any of the aforementioned conditions, you can learn more about the broad range of confidential mental health services available on campus by calling the AC Counseling Center at 806-371-5900. The AC Counseling Center website is https://www.actx.edu/counseling/ . Also, if you are in need of social services (affordable housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, childcare, medical/dental/vision, legal), please call the AC Advocacy & Resource Center at 806-371-5439. The AC Advocacy & Resource Center website is https://www.actx.edu/arc

Amarillo College Tutoring for Success Policy:

Administrative Drop Policy

Students who do not attend class on or prior to the census date will be administratively dropped. Effective Fall, 2016

Student Withdrawal Procedures

Students who wish to withdraw from a class must:

• consult with their instructor to obtain a signed academic withdrawal request form to submit to the AskAC department for processing
• consult with the financial aid office if receiving financial aid
• consult with the Veterans Benefit Coordinator if receiving veteran benefits
• consult with their academic advisor to determine how withdrawing may affect their enrollment in future semesters
  • NOTE:  The Texas Education Code stipulates that students attending Texas institutions of higher education for the first time fall 2007 and later may not withdraw from more than six courses during their academic career, including courses from which transfer students have withdrawn at other Texas institutions of higher education. (Senate Bill 1231) Rule 4.10.

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Course

ARTC-1394-001 Special Topics in Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: ARTC 1325 and ARTC 1327 or instructor consent

Course Description

Topics address recently identified current events, skills, knowledge and/or attitudes and behaviors pertinent to the technology or occupation and relevant to the professional development of the student. This course was designed to be repeated multiple times to improve student proficiency.

Student Resources Student Resources Website

Department Expectations

Occupational License Disclaimer

Hours

(3 sem hrs; 2 lec, 4 lab)

Class Type

On Campus Course

Syllabus Information

Textbooks

No Textbook Required.

Recommended sites: 

www.videocopilot.net

www.videohive.net

www.lynda.com

Supplies

A flash drive with a minimum storage capacity of 64 gb will do. An external hard drive with at least 250 gb (recommended). Solid State drives  (SSD) are the fastest but not recommended. USB 3 or better is recommended. USB 2 is minimum requirement. (slow read and write speeds)

We will be working with large video and graphic files. The projects we create and work with can and will require a lot of storage space. The good news is that technology is getting faster and smaller. Lucky for us! Please, don’t feel that you need to go buy the greatest and latest external media device right away. What you have may work just fine. We will test them the first week to see how it will work. (Mac formatted recommended but NOT absolutely required) 

Please bring a spiral notebook, notepad, or a sketch pad for taking notes and creating rough storyboards.  Be sure to have a pen and/or pencil handy at all times for sketching those ground breaking ideas that will suddenly hit you when you least expect it and for taking notes. We will be editing clips of video, audio, music, and adding sound effects,  so be sure to bring some headphones so you don’t disturb the person sitting next to you. It’s hard to concentrate on your timing when you can’t hear your own project. Be courteous. (expensive headphones are not needed) Additional supplies may be needed as the semester progresses. Prior notice will be given ahead of time. 

Here is a list: 

1. Flash Drive or Hard Drive (at least one is required)
2. Spiral notebook, notepad or sketch pad – 5 1/2” x 8 ½” or larger (at least one is required)
3. Pens and Pencils (Black ink, #2 pencil will be fine) 
4. Headphones (required) 

Student Performance

Specific Course Description: 

Learn the core basics of Adobe Premiere. Importing, exporting, editing, color correcting and compositing video clips.

Learn the fundamentals of motion graphics using After Effects. 

Creating new compositions and understanding the settings.

When creating new layers, it’s important to keep them organized. We’ll take a look at all of the settings to reduce the intimidation factor. 

Understand the timeline and basic tools for editing in Premiere and AE. 

Keyframing! This is what it is all about. We will learn how to set, select, deselect, add, delete, and edit their values just to name a few. 

We will learn how to preview clips in After Effects in real-time. 

Students will learn how to integrate and apply the knowledge and skills learned from Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Explore kinetic typography, custom logo animations, create 3D scenes and virtual environments for broadcast, web, and other digital video media sources. Learn how to export these animations for various devices. 

Students will demonstrate acquired knowledge of editing audio clips together with the correct software while applying filters and or transitions, adding noise cancelling plugins, leveling the clips to have a uniform waveform to minimize clipping and exporting it with the correct broadcast quality export settings. 

Specific End-of-Course Outcomes:  Students will effectively demonstrate knowledge of motion graphics and mastery of the basics of animating, color correction, and keying in After Effects.  Apply fundamentals of basic editing in Premiere; demonstrate knowledge of keyboard shortcuts to speed up editing time, and show ability to organize projects properly to prevent missing media errors. Prior knowledge of creating multi-layered files in Illustrator and Photoshop will be implemented to create animated logos, lower thirds, and title sequences. With proper planning, gathering of all the necessary elements, the student will create a short motion graphic animation that will incorporate custom built graphics, music, sound effects, and will be exported to multiple formats and uploaded to an online video host (Youtube) and presented in front of the class and critiqued. 

Students Rights and Responsibilities

Log in using the AC Connect Portal

In order to receive your AC Connect Email, you must log in through AC Connect at https://acconnect.actx.edu .

If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

WHILE IN CLASS: A student friendly environment is needed for learning. There are a few guidelines each student must adhere to:

1). NO eating or drinking in the lab.

2). Class time is NOT the time to be checking your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or other social

      networking sites ESPECIALLY if you are not caught up on your assignments.

      If you have time to socialize, then I assume you are caught up on your assignments. Time

      management is your responsibility, not mine. 

3). If you have to use a cell phone, please step outside for personal calls and keep texting to a MINIMUM.

     Excessive texting WILL affect your participation grade especially if we are working on an in-class tutorial.  

4). No overly crass or crude topics of conversation. Please keep your derogatory opinions to yourself. 

5). If you are not caught up or finished… Do not ask to leave early. Take this time to get caught up or ahead.

      Labs are open until 10 pm. Take advantage of it. 

6). Take Pride In Your Work. DO NOT CHEAT!!! 

7). Help those around you. 

PLAGIARISM: The student understands that plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class.  Plagiarism is defined by the Amarillo College Student Handbook as: “...the appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another’s work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of it in one’s own written work.” This also includes copying Internet or written sources in any course assignment discussions or projects without citing the source, as well as copying another student’s work for this course.  If a student is found plagiarizing any material in the course, it will result in a grade of "0" for that assignment discussion or project and can result in disciplinary action and expulsion of the student from the course. 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Students must be aware and responsible for the Copyright Notice for the course: The materials on this course website are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for the purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated.

DROPPING, WITHDRAWING, AND NON-CREDIT STATUS: The student is responsible for dropping courses, withdrawing from college by the last day to drop a course, changing to non-credit status, etc., if the need arises. See the Amarillo College master calendar on the AC website and our course calendar for the date of the last day to drop a course.  The instructor will not drop any student after the last day to drop a course. (this may change)

Grading Criteria

The alphabet system explained in the Amarillo College Catalog. It should be noted that a minimum grade of “C” is required as a prerequisite for advanced courses in studio art.

Projects – 80% (Final grade included)

The majority of time spent in class will be devoted to major projects covering the different areas in motion graphics and basic video/audio editing. 

Activity/In Class Work – 20% 

Your grade heavily depends on attendance. Proper time management is crucial. You will be given several days to complete one project. We will complete 5-7 projects in class. Your activity grade is measured by whether or not you show an effort to stay on track and plan ahead. Your grade may drop if participation and remaining focused on the current assignment is not witnessed. 

The instructor will provide lecture, demonstration and or group discussion to help the student complete each task. Attendance is crucial!!

Each project will be graded from 0 – 100. The criteria for grading is listed below.

• Attention to detail (20%)
  • Check for glitches, project dimensions, frame rate, misspellings, black frames etc...)
• Professionalism/Presentation (20%)
  • Project was submitted in a timely fashion, prepared with the correct demographic in mind and is presented in a suitable manner to instructor and class. 
• Concept / Project Goal (30% of grade)
  • Project was completed and turned in following all of the assignment criteria. (file name, folder structure, audio levels, fps, and format) 
• Design/Layout ( 30%)
  • Demonstrates an understanding of the fundamental design concepts and uses these effectively to achieve assigned task. This includes exhibiting and understanding composition, typography, hierarchy, timing, proper audio levels and other video and design concepts.

Industry Standards are as follows.

Symbol Percentage

A:  90 or above

B: 80-89

C: 70-79

D: 60-69

F 59 or below

All projects are due when class starts on the day they are specified to be submitted by the instructor. 

LATE PROJECTS and EXERCISES WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Instructor will evaluate circumstances with each student individually to determine the consequences of LATE work submissions.

Instructor reserves the right to decline the acceptance of any and all late work.

LATE PROJECTS will receive a 0 (zero) and will not be eligible for a "REDO" option.

All LATE exercises and projects must still be present and completed in the Final Portfolio.

Instructor reserves the right to decline the acceptance of any class work or projects that are significantly incomplete.

Students are responsible for staying informed of their grades and status in the class.

NO EXCEPTIONS!  - Anyone caught cheating or plagiarizing copyright material will receive an “F” for the class.

Final Project = 40% of your average

The final project will be graded on a combination of skills learned throughout the course. For example: Color correction, Motion graphics, use and implementation of transitions, the formats in which the final video file was created and exported. Other criteria will be covered throughout the semester as projects are assigned.

Attendance

THIS IS A STUDIO COURSE. YOUR ATTENDANCE AND PROMPT ARRIVAL TO CLASS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR LEARNING AND EVALUATION.

If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed, including new assignments and due dates, and to make arrangements to obtain the materials dispersed (if applicable) and/or catch up on instruction.

ABSENCES
Students will be allowed 2 unexcused absences without penalty. After the second unexcused absence, 1 letter grade will be deducted from the total class grade for each additional absence. 6 absences will result in automatic failure of the course. A breakdown of penalties for absence is presented below:

• Up to 2 Absences: No penalty
• 3 Absences: Loss of 1 letter grade
• 4 Absences: Loss of 2 letter grades
• 5 Absences: Loss of 3 letter grades
• 6 Absences: Failure of course

Any exceptions to the above policy will be made at the discretion of the instructor. For an absence to be excused, instructor may require appropriate documentation of the reason for absence.

Late arrival of more than 30 minutes, or early departure of more than 30 minutes will be counted as an absence. On days designated as Work Days or for individual consultation, leaving without first checking in with instructor will result in an absence.

TARDINESS
3 tardies = no penalty
4 or more tardies = 1 point removed from final Activity grade per tardy after 3.

INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISALLOW LATE ENTRANCE INTO THE CLASSROOM. In such cases grades for Attendance, Activity, Quizzes, and Exercises for that day will be lost. You may sign in no earlier than 15 minutes prior to class and no later than 30 minutes after class has begun. Any earlier or later may result in an absence. 

• Students will be responsible for swiping their own badge by the door for attendance.(Attendance is registered through Blackboard by swiping your badge at the door. If you do not have your badge, you may use the Ellucian app on your mobile device to scan)
• Instructor is not responsible for student's failure to sign in with badge or Ellucian app.
• Failure by student to sign in using their badge or Ellucian app will result in an absence.

• Any student caught swiping another students badge will be reported for dishonest conduct and all parties involved may be subject to academic disciplinary action pending investigation. 
• Students may request a review of their own attendance record with the instructor outside of class time.

Calendar

Additional Information

No additional information available