Media Production Course

Lesson 1 • Production Roles and Team Structure

Maps every crew position from executive producer to production assistant. Students connect role titles to specific deliverables and decision-making authority.

Lesson 2 • The Media Production Landscape

Defines media production types—film, broadcast, digital, podcast—and their distinct workflows. Establishes shared vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Budgeting and Scheduling Basics

Covers cost categories, line-item budgets, and shoot-day scheduling fundamentals. Students draft a simple budget and one-liner schedule for a short project.

Lesson 4 • The Three-Phase Production Model

Introduces pre-production, production, and post-production as distinct phases with unique goals. Students map tasks and milestones to each phase.

Lesson 1 • Story Structure and Narrative Arcs

Examines three-act structure, hero's journey, and non-linear formats. Students apply a chosen structure to an original story concept.

Lesson 2 • Script Formatting Standards

Covers industry-standard screenplay and teleplay formatting rules. Students format a scene correctly using professional screenwriting software.

Lesson 3 • Writing for Non-Fiction and Documentary

Adapts narrative techniques to documentary treatments, outlines, and interview scripts. Students draft a documentary treatment for a real-world subject.

Lesson 4 • Script Revision and Coverage

Teaches self-editing, peer feedback, and professional script coverage methods. Students revise a draft based on structured notes.

Lesson 1 • Casting and Talent Management

Guides the casting process from audition design to contract basics. Students run a mock audition and evaluate performances against character requirements.

Lesson 2 • Script Breakdown and Scheduling

Extracts all production elements from a script and organizes them into a shooting schedule. Students complete a breakdown sheet and a full shooting schedule.

Lesson 3 • Location Scouting and Management

Covers scouting criteria, location agreements, and on-site logistics planning. Students scout and document two candidate locations for a scene.

Lesson 4 • Storyboarding and Shot Lists

Translates script scenes into visual storyboards and detailed shot lists. Students produce a storyboard sequence and a matching shot list.

Lesson 1 • Exposure and Color Science Basics

Introduces waveforms, histograms, and log color profiles for controlled image capture. Students expose a scene in log and evaluate it using monitoring tools.

Lesson 2 • Shooting for Continuity

Teaches the 180-degree rule, eyeline matching, and continuity coverage patterns. Students shoot a dialogue scene with full coverage and correct eyelines.

Lesson 3 • Camera Movement Techniques

Covers handheld, dolly, gimbal, and crane movements and their narrative functions. Students execute three distinct movement types on a short sequence.

Lesson 4 • Camera Systems and Controls

Explains sensor types, lens mounts, and core exposure controls. Students operate a camera manually and achieve correct exposure in varied lighting.

Lesson 1 • Lighting Equipment and Modifiers

Surveys LED panels, tungsten, HMI, and fluorescent fixtures alongside modifiers. Students select and rig appropriate equipment for a given scene.

Lesson 2 • Principles of Light and Shadow

Explains quality, direction, color temperature, and intensity as the four properties of light. Students identify these properties in reference images and live setups.

Lesson 3 • Exterior and Natural Light Control

Addresses shooting in sunlight, overcast conditions, and mixed natural-artificial environments. Students use reflectors and diffusion to shape natural light on location.

Lesson 4 • Lighting for Mood and Genre

Connects lighting choices to genre conventions—drama, horror, comedy, documentary. Students design a lighting plan that matches a specified genre and mood.

Lesson 1 • Fundamentals of Audio for Video

Covers sample rate, bit depth, gain staging, and the signal chain from source to recorder. Students set levels and record clean dialogue in a controlled environment.

Lesson 2 • Sound Design and Music Integration

Builds a sound design layer using foley, ambience, SFX, and licensed music. Students create a complete sound design for a one-minute scene.

Lesson 3 • Microphone Types and Placement

Compares shotgun, lavalier, and condenser microphones and their optimal placement strategies. Students record the same scene with two microphone types and compare results.

Lesson 4 • Location Sound Recording

Addresses noise management, room tone, and multi-track field recording workflows. Students record a location scene with a boom and a lavalier simultaneously.

Lesson 1 • Non-Linear Editing Workflow

Establishes project setup, media ingest, bin organization, and proxy workflows. Students configure a project and organize footage for an efficient edit.

Lesson 2 • Color Correction and Grading

Applies primary and secondary color correction, then creative grading to establish a visual look. Students grade a scene from log footage to a finished look.

Lesson 3 • Assembling and Refining the Cut

Covers rough cut assembly, pacing, trimming, and the principles of continuity editing. Students cut a scene from selects to a polished picture lock.

Lesson 4 • Export, Delivery, and Archiving

Covers codec selection, platform-specific export settings, and project archiving best practices. Students export a project for three different delivery destinations.

Lesson 1 • Post-Production Supervision

Oversees editorial timelines, vendor coordination, and quality control through final delivery. Students build a post-production schedule and a QC checklist.

Lesson 2 • Advanced Budgeting and Finance

Builds detailed production budgets, cash-flow projections, and cost-reporting systems. Students create a complete budget with actuals tracking for a short production.

Lesson 3 • Managing Crew and Talent on Set

Covers call sheets, daily reports, conflict resolution, and on-set communication hierarchies. Students produce a call sheet and run a mock production meeting.

Lesson 4 • Distribution and Audience Strategy

Connects production decisions to distribution channels, audience targeting, and release strategies. Students draft a distribution plan for a completed short project.