{"id":3573,"date":"2017-08-10T14:46:20","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T18:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itg.emerson.edu\/word\/?p=3573"},"modified":"2021-02-09T18:07:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T18:07:01","slug":"teaching-video-composition-the-30-second-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/itg\/teaching-video-composition-the-30-second-ad\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Video Composition: The 30-Second Ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

As hard as this may be to believe, the traditional written essay isn\u2019t always the most engaging assignment for students. I\u2019d also venture to say that after spending the better part of a semester grading written essays, even instructors<\/a> tend to wish for a change of pace. By assigning a video project, instructors can allow students to compose in a new medium and to a new audience. Over my next few posts, I\u2019ll discuss some of the strategies I\u2019ve used to bring video composition into the college classroom.<\/p>\n

The video essay is a great way to refresh students, especially toward the end of a semester. To frame this genre, I like to compare it to a scholarly journal article. In most academic fields, to compose a journal article is to formally take your place within the scholarly conversation surrounding whatever topic drives your research. Video is not yet commonly found in academic journals, but it does exist in online publications such as Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy<\/em><\/a>. By comparing models from traditional written journals to those from online journals like Kairos<\/em>, students witness the evolution of scholarship, rather than experiencing it as something static (and boring). Students can then explore more popular models like Kyle Kallgren\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>, in which the author uses video to render his rhetorically sound arguments about pop culture approachable and enjoyable. I\u2019ve found it helpful to remind students that the video essay is a new<\/em> genre and that they are its pioneers\u2014the contours of this genre are still forming!<\/p>\n

The prospect of composing in a genre without established conventions and expectations can be daunting, and this intimidation-factor can be compounded by the presence of technology. Bearing this in mind, it\u2019s helpful to begin with a low-stakes assignment that allows room for play and practice. In my classes, I\u2019ve assigned a 30-second advertisement (graded on completion) as an introduction to video-composing. I prefer letting students have as much fun as possible with this early work; they can choose any product or concept relevant to the course content to advertise, and they can have fun with their tone within reason. If your class is on board, watching a few of these short (usually humorous) videos together in class can be a great stress-reliever. To get meta for a moment, here\u2019s a video that models three of my students\u2019 30-second videos while placing them in a theoretical context:<\/p>\n