The latvian academy of culture

The Name of the Course: Specific Features of Television for Cameramen

Year 4, Term 7

The Scope of the Course: 64 hours.

4 credit points. Type of Assessment: an examination, the student’s practical work, its presentation.

The Author of the Course: Ass. Prof. Alvis Indriksons

The Content of the Course: The course is the final stage of a 4 years study course. It discusses organisational issues of the cameraman’s work and the cameraman’s place in the TV system. Attention is focused on practical work in TV or video organisations and the analysis of programmes stressing the cameraman’s achievement and its influence on the common result.

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: The cameraman’s skills.

Thematic Planning:

THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
Teamwork and individual factors of the cameraman’s work.		L2
The cameraman as the executor of the director’s (the leading author’s) idea.		L2
The cameraman’s cooperation with the stage designer and the costume designer.		L2
The cameraman’s cooperation with the people in the shot.		L2
The cameraman and the manager of the lighting team.		L2
The planning of production. The planning of finances and labour productivity.		L2
The cameraman’s liability and rights in a creative team		L2
The cameraman’s authority.		L2
The duties of a TV producer.		L2
The duties of a TV editor.		L2
The duties of a scriptwriter.		L2
The duties of the head of a programme.		L2
The duties of an administrator.		L2
A practical session.		12h
The analysis of the practical session.		L2
A practical session.		12h
The analysis of the practical session.		L2
The presentation of video materials and criticism.		10h

*Note: it is inefficient and formal to indicate “weeks” as the time will be planned in a flexible way due to the students’ involvement in the practical work in creative TV groups which work according to their own schedules. The execution of Term Work will be carried out in a similar way. The availability of actors and TV equipment, favourable weather conditions can be scarcely influenced by the Academy.

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Credit Points:

10. 
    The assigned tasks have to be performed in good quality.
    
11. 
    A positive assessment of the Term Work: a programme.
    

CXXI.BA STUDY PROGRAMME Part C

Description of the Study Course

The Name of the Course: TV Journalism

The Scope of the Course: 64 hours (44 lectures, 14 practical tasks, 6 seminars).

4 credit points. Type of Assessment – a test and an examination.

The Author of the Course: Lecturer Dace Dūze

The Content of the Course: The course prepares the students theoretically and practically for the work of a cameraman as a reporter and provides the necessary skills to work with electronic media. This course introduces the students to the fundamentals of journalism to get them ready for the course “Cameraman’s Work in TV Journalism” which already demands certain cameraman’s skills and which will provide further training for the students in TV reporting – one of the complicated genres of a cameraman’s work.

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: A journalist’s skills demonstrated at the entrance examination. The knowledge of foreign languages is desirable.
Thematic Planning:

No	THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
1	TV journalism and its development.	1	L2
2	The influence of the development of technology on TV journalism.	2	L2
3	TV journalism and public processes.	3	L2
4	The journalist’s place in the TV structure.	4	L2
5	The characteristic features of the work of the cameraman as a reporter from the journalist’s point of view.	5	L2
6	A seminar with the participation of a journalist - TV practitioner: “Tendencies of TV Journalism in Latvia”.	6	S2
7	Pseudo-personalities and pseudo-events, the influence of the press and advertising on TV journalism.	7	L2
8	Diversity and changeability of sources.	8	L2
9	Competence, reliability, control and accessibility of sources in TV journalism.	9	L2
10	The influence of the quality of the source on the work process and the final result. The most typical errors.	10	L2
11	A practical task: the analysis of the news over one day and the evaluation of the influence of pseudo-events.	11	P2
12	A seminar with the participation of a press journalist – practitioner: “The Common and the Diverse Features in the Work of a Press Journalist and a TV Journalist”.	12	S2
13	“A set of news”. TV news as a source, its development and deformation. The place of the news of TV journalism in the circulation of daily news.	13	L2
14	The work of agencies in the collection and analysis of news. Information given by other media as a source of TV journalism.	14	L2
15	A seminar with a participant from a news agency: “The Collection and Analysis of News”.	15	S2
16	Types of sources: documents, officials, informal information, literature, databases, archives.	16	L2
17	The development and “domestication” of sources. A seminar with the participation of “a domesticated source”.	17	L2
18	A practical task: the systematisation and inventory of sources.	18	P2
19	Types and methodology of the acquisition of information in TV journalism.	19	L2
20	An interview, its types and specific character.	20	L2
21	A practical task: the analysis of the content of various interviews.	21	L2
22	An observation. The use of the possibilities of video. The analysis of details, their significance and application.	22	L2
23	A practical task: the analysis of a reporting.	23	P2
24	A practical task: the shooting of a reporting.	24	P2
25	Proportions of foreground and background information. The specific character of the application of documented information.	25	L2
26	A practical task: the analysis of TV topics, the influence of editing.	26	P2
27	The methodology of the collection of individual and collective information.	27	L2
28	The management of the working environment. Compliance with the requirements of an organised environment. The influence of diverse situations on the contents.	28	L2
29	A practical task: participation in a press conference and a briefing.	29	P2
30	The variable and constant parts of TV informative key genres. The content–based substantiation of the coexistence of various genres.	30	L2
31	A practical task: the creation of TV information material by analysing the capacity of the genre material.	31	P2
32	A seminar: “The Analysis of the Acquired Material and the Gained Working Experience”.	32	S2
33	The key principles and requirements of the content of TV informative programmes. Various models.	33	L2