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Course Descriptions
Communications
COM 201
Radio Broadcasting and Production
3 credits
This course introduces students to the principles of radio broadcasting. Emphasis will be placed on writing, production, and programming through studio experience in a wide range of styles.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 101
COM 240
Broadcast Journalism
3 credits
The principles of news worthiness, news selectivity and news writing for the electronic media will be examined and applied through extensive work at the campus radio and television facilities. The course will emphasize the rights and responsibilities of radio and television journalism.
Prerequisite(s): COM 201
COM 245
Writing for the Media
3 credits
This course is designed to improve writing effectiveness. Throughout the course, insightful, critical reading will play a major role, and the students will learn how to think more clearly, organizing thoughts in logical sequence. Prewriting, writing, and rewriting skills will be an integral component. The course will explore various techniques used to produce scripts or programs, ranging from spot advertisements to a 30-minute pilot television program. The students will develop and produce scripts for radio, television, and motion picture.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 101
COM 300
Communication Theory
3 credits
This course examines various popular theories of interpersonal and mass communication, with emphasis on mass communication. The ways in which society and mass communication affect each other are critically examined, with the goal of developing the students' own ideas, opinions, and preferences concerning these theories. Students will receive practical assistance in the areas of speaking, reading, writing, listening, and research. An advanced library orientation has been incorporated as part of this course.
Prerequisite(s): COM 245 or ENG 102
COM 302
Introduction to Video Editing
3 credits
This course helps students to understand and to learn the overall concept of video editing. Introduced to editing theory, aesthetics, and techniques, students also explore the relationships between shooting and directing, with editing the raw footage into a completed project.
COM 303
Introduction to TV Studio Production
3 credits
This introductory course, designed to promote a basic understanding of how the television studio process works through theory and practice, allows students the opportunity to assume the various production roles found in a television studio. Students will learn the different studio and control room duties, including writer, producer, director, floor manager, camera operator, and technical director. Students will also have a working knowledge of video engineering and audio engineering.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 101 and TEC 102
COM 306
Script Writing
3 credits
This course builds on theories and techniques introduced in Writing for the Media. Scripts developed in the previous course will be analyzed and further developed. Students will learn techniques used for drama, comedy, and other genres of the industry. A full-length script will also be completed.
Prerequisite(s): COM 245
COM 307
Streaming Media
3 credits
Creating streaming media is a multi-step process incorporating audio, video, and any other visual medium. Students will learn how to capture, edit, and encode source materials to create streaming media projects. To create such projects, students will learn each step of digital video editing that encompasses the following processes: logging and capturing footage, three- point editing, trimming, motion effects, audio mixing, and finally, exporting digital file formats to a server. Additional topics of discussion include market research techniques, copyright issues, storyboarding, and scripting.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 101 and TEC 102
COM 310
Legal Aspects of Communication
3 credits
Students will examine various aspects of the law and mass communications in America. Special emphasis will be given to the evolution of present day interpretations of the First Amendment, censorship, libel, obscenity, privacy and public access to the media. In addition, students will study copyright law and government regulation of the media.
COM 322
Aesthetics of Film
3 credits
The course examines the motion picture as an art form. Elements of film such as writing, photography, acting, and editing are examined with emphases on the director's role as a manipulator of these elements. To illustrate the interplay of these elements, selected feature films are screened and analyzed.
COM 331
Single Camera Video Production
3 credits
This course is designed to develop the students' understanding of a single camera portable approach to moving image production using corporate-level equipment. The course will also develop techniques in planning, shot selection, sequential imaging, continuity, and editing.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 102
COM 335
Corporate Video Production
3 credits
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of industrial video production and script writing for applications in business, education, and industry, as well as for marketing and advertising purposes. Students will be expected to produce an industrial video.
Prerequisite(s): COM 331
COM 340
Broadcast Journalism
3 credits
The principles of television news worthiness, news selectivity, and news writing will be examined and applied by writing copy for WCNR (Wilmington College News Review), a weekly television news program. Students will learn the techniques necessary for writing hard and soft news, sports, weather, and interviews. Additional topics studied will include the rights and responsibilities of television journalism.
COM 344
Writing and Reporting for the News Media
3 credits
This course examines how to report, write, and edit news for the mass media, including newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio, and television. Emphasis will be on methods and styles of writing pertaining to various media, stressing differences in the approach demanded by each medium.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 101
COM 345
Electronic Journalism
3 credits
This course is an introduction to the nature of news and its sources. Students will explore the principles of news gathering, news writing, and news editing for the new electronic media and photojournalism.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 101 and TEC 102
COM 346
Introduction to Interactive Authoring
3 credits
Students will explore interactive programming through the use of application software. They will learn to integrate existing sound files, images, text, and movies to produce an interactive program.
Prerequisite(s): DSN 210
COM 350
Ethics in Journalism
3 credits
This new elective covers an examination of journalistic codes and standards as they apply to the broadcast, new media, and print journalists' abilities to confront legal and ethical issues and problems faced on a daily basis. Additionally, students will learn press responsibilities using case studies, by reviewing historic and current approaches in reporting methodology.
COM 360
Human Computer Interface Design
3 credits
This course looks at the information architecture and discusses usability vs. aesthetic visuals. Students will learn how to implement man/machine interfaces via design principles.
Prerequisite(s): DSN 210 and DSN 220
COM 401
Producing the Documentary
3 credits
This course is an introduction to the theoretical foundations required for creating a documentary. Students will gain an understanding of how this genre is similar to and different from other television programming. The course will further develop scripting techniques and all facets of video pre-and post-production. As part of this course, students will produce a short documentary.
Prerequisite(s): COM 245 and COM 331
COM 409
Producing/Directing Drama for Television and Digital Film
3 credits
The culminating television studio production course will introduce students to the processes and skills required to produce and direct television and digital film dramas. Student producers and directors will gain knowledge in proper framing, camera and actor blocking, communicating with crew and actors, storyboarding, and visualizing the final project.
Prerequisite(s): COM 303 and COM 420/COM 422
COM 412
Introduction to TV News Production
3 credits
This course is designed to teach students how to direct and produce news programs. Students further enhance their skills through the creation, development, and execution of hands-on productions. In this course, each student will be responsible for producing two 10-minute news programs.
Prerequisite(s): COM 303 and COM 420/COM 422
COM 413
Advanced TV News Production
3 credits
This course covers advanced theory and practice of video production, concentrating on television news and news type programming. Students will learn advanced shooting and editing techniques. Each student will produce one 20-minute newscast.
Prerequisite(s): COM 412
COM 420
Non-Linear Editing - PC
3 credits
This course introduces the technology and practice of digital editing, from the conversion of analog video and digital capture to final assembly. The course covers a basic introduction to editing software, including importing files, assembling, applying transitions, and adding titles. Editing techniques and theory are also covered.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 102
COM 421
Advanced Non-Linear Editing - PC
3 credits
This second of two non-linear editing courses furthers the theory of editing with the various technical editing skills needed to edit a television show or digital film. Building on the abilities developed in Intro to Non-Linear Editing, students will exhibit proficiency in all areas of film editing. New techniques learned, but not limited to, will include chroma keying, importing from other programs such as After Effects and Photoshop, troubleshooting, audio sweetening, and color correction.
Prerequisite(s): COM 420
COM 422
Non-Linear Editing - Mac
3 credits
This course introduces the technology and practice of digital editing, from the conversion of analog video and digital capture to final assembly. The course covers a basic introduction to editing software, including importing files, assembling, applying transitions, and adding titles. Editing techniques and theory are also covered.
Prerequisite(s): TEC 102
COM 423
Advanced Non-Linear Editing - Mac
3 credits
This second of two non-linear editing courses furthers the theory of editing with the various technical editing skills needed to edit a television show or digital film. Building on the abilities developed in Intro to Non-Linear Editing - Mac students will exhibit proficiency in all areas of film editing. New techniques learned, but not limited to will include chroma keying, importing from other programs such as After Effects and Photoshop, troubleshooting, audio sweetening, and color correction.
Prerequisite(s): COM 422
COM 425
Podcasting
3 credits
The ability of audio and video to be globally distributed through the Internet has created exciting new technology that is affordable for nearly everyone. With the advance of MP3 players, and their availability in just about every imaginable kind of device, the technology has become ubiquitous in today's society. This course will teach students how to get a quality podcast up and running--from planning to recording, editing and preparing your file, to getting heard, finding clients and making money.
Prerequisite(s): COM 420/COM 422, DSN201, DSN210, TEC101 and TEC 102
COM 431
Media and Society
3 credits
This course examines the mass media and its influence on society. Students will compare how the press and the television and entertainment industries create images and perceptions for or against established social and political structures at home and overseas. The course will make students conversant with the economic, social, political, and cultural pressures which structure the way the media is produced and provide them with an understanding of the same theories against which it is measured.
COM 432
Media Research Methods
3 credits
This course introduces students to research methods, including procedures and sampling, survey research, field research, content analysis, and the scope of such research on the media and consumers. Students will critically evaluate a variety of communication research methods and learn specific skills to conduct scholarly research. In addition, they will develop, administer, and report the findings of their surveys.
COM 435
Comparative International Broadcasting
3 credits
This is an introduction to the cross-cultural study of international broadcasting systems. This course compares how the media are organized in other countries with how the media are organized in the United States.
COM 460
Topics in Communication
3 credits
This course surveys contemporary subjects and current events pertaining to communication.
COM 485-486
Advanced Production Design A/B
credits
This course is designed as a directed workshop to allow senior year students the opportunity to practice their specialization in a production environment. The courses are divided into 2 parts, A & B, one for each semester. Session A is the pre-production stage, session B the production and post-production stages. At the start of the first semester, the students will agree a realistic project in their main competency area(s) with their tutor. Having agreed a timetable for their projects completion, the student will then begin a required minimum 30-hour flexible workshop where they must prepare a clear and comprehensive pre-production plan to an agreed timetable. The students must also develop an appropriate corporate style and logo to accompany their projects.
COM 487
Advanced Production Design C
3 credits
This course is designed as a directed workshop to allow teams of senior year students the opportunity to practice their specialization in a production environment. The course is divided into two parts. Session A is the pre-production stage, while session B consists of production and post-production stages. At the start of the group project, team(s) of students will agree on a realistic project in their main competency area(s) with their faculty mentor. Having agreed on a timetable for their project's completion, the students will then begin a required/flexible workshop where they must prepare a clear and comprehensive pre-production plan. The students must also develop an appropriate corporate style and logo to accompany their project. All work must be presented in the best possible manner, with well designed Desktop Published pages, a proper use of color, typography, etc., using their own corporate style and logo.
COM 488-489
Advanced Production Design/Internship
3 credits
Students learn the advanced techniques of traditional, long-form documentary production. Early units of the course emphasize research skills, including: letters, telephone contacts, and archival research. Later units cover on-camera interviewing, logging, and organization of footage into off-line drafts. Final elements of this course emphasize off-line editing of A roll and B roll, developing, and creating chapters following the path of documentary production.
Prerequisite(s): Approval from Program Coordinator
COM 490
Internship
3 credits
This course will provide students with real-world experience in the field of communication where they will become acquainted with daily operations, while enhancing their professional skills and interacting with other communication professionals.
Prerequisite(s): Permission required