Online Video Series

Objective

To develop an understanding of online video series production techniques and applications.

Description

Produce, promote, and distribute at least six (6) episodes of an online video series. The episodes must be at least 3 minutes in length. This project may be for a business or non-profit client or you personally.

A few example program formats include:

  • Interview (celebrity, community leader, subject-matter expert, etc.,
  • Personal Commentary
  • How To (Instructions on a craft or skill. Must include an introduction segment and four “steps” of a process.)
  • Personal (focused on some particular aspect of your life such as a day-in-the-life, health, or hobby) SEE additional instructions below for the Personal series.

Resources

Hardware

  • DSLR, Ringlight kit, tripod, green screen kit
  • Nikon Creator kit
  • iPad Production kit, lavaliere or desk microphone, etc.

You may NOT use a smartphone to shoot the series. One grade point deduction.

Software

  • Adobe Premiere
  • DaVinci Resolve

Hosting

  • YouTube
  • Vimeo

Tutorials

Project Deliverables

Research: (100 pts)

Comparative Research: Find three (3) examples of an online video series similar to the one you intend to create. They should be similar in subject or creative approach. Create a document int he following format outlining the following:

  • Objective: include what the audience should be able to know, learn, or do after using the example. “I don’t know” is not an example of an answer.
  • Audience: include age, gender, geographic location, socioeconomic level, media and device use, etc. “Not sure” is not an example of an answer. You must include citations for your demographics sources.
  • Episode Rundown: detailing the main sections of the example (opening, main section, promo, closing, etc.) and describing that section and its length. This should look like the following.
    • Open -:30 – content
    • First topic – 1:20 – content
    • Promo -:20 – content
    • Closing -:45 – content
  • Client: if any. Anything from a brand or an influencer has a brand attached to it.
  • Linked URLs of the examples you find.
  • Analysis: Why are these appropriate examples for your project? Do they use the medium effectively, and why? What works and why? What doesn’t work and why?

You will copy and paste your Comparative Research into your completed Project Brief.

Best Practice Research: Identify at least three (3) different best practices relevant to your project that reflect industry standards, recommendations, or proven successful approaches for your chosen media type (video, podcast, social media, etc.). Your research should focus on finding established techniques or methods professionals use to create compelling content in your chosen medium.

Answer the following questions using the table below.

  • Name of the Best Practice
  • The page title and URL of the example
  • Why is this a best practice for this kind of project?
  • How will you apply this to your project?
Name of the Best Practice Page title and URL of the Example Why is this a best practice for this kind of project? How will you apply this to your project?
[Name the specific technique, approach, or standard] [Provide a link to a real-world example of this best practice] [Explain why this approach is considered effective, including any statistics or evidence if available] [Describe specifically how you will implement this best practice in your project]
EXAMPLE (Social Video Project)

Opening Hook Within First 3 Seconds

 https://example.com/video-hook Research shows 65% of viewers who watch the first three seconds will watch for at least 10 seconds. A strong hook increases viewer retention significantly. Our videos will open with striking coffee pour shots or time-lapse customer transitions to grab attention immediately.

You will copy and paste your Best Practice research into your completed Project Brief.

Delivered to D2L as an MS Word document (PDF or Pages documents will not be accepted, no exceptions.)

Project Brief (100 pts)

  • Name and describe the client.
  • Series title.
  • Explain the objective of your project.
  • Describe the intended audience, including demographics.
  • Explain how the project will be used and distributed.
  • Include the information about your use of generative AI if applicable.
  • Create an outline or rundown of each episode’s content.
  • Describe how you will promote the project.
  • Provide an episode release schedule.
  • List the metadata for each episode of the series. (See information in the “Completed Project: section below.)
  • Describe the tool or software you used and the reason for that choice.
  • Provide a Task List with names of responsible individuals and the deadline dates for the tasks.
  • If applicable, provide detailed contact information for the client and/or subject-matter expert (SME) and any cited sources for the information included in the project.
  • Provide a list of team members with email and phone contact information.

Use this Project Brief template. The filename should be LASTNAME_PROJECTNAME_brief.

Use this Task List template. The filename should be LASTNAME_PROJECTNAME_tasklist. (You may also use project management software, such as Asana, Freedcamp, and Trello, which are good choices.)

Delivered to D2L as MS Word documents (PDF or Pages documents will not be accepted, no exceptions.)

Completed Project: (200 pts)

Video/Audio

  • At least six (6) episodes.
  • Shots are appropriately focused, framed, and lighted correctly. Should have appropriate movement for each shot.
  • Audio is recorded without hiss, buzz, echo, or unnecessary background sound and is mixed appropriately at an optimum level.
  • Edits are appropriately paced and synced with audio as appropriate. There are no blank frames.
  • Include subtitles or captions synced with the audio on-screen. (YouTube can generate them automatically.) Captions should be grammatically correct and should have proper spelling. (You will need to clean up the auto-generated captions.)
  • Each episode has a unique title displayed on-screen.
  • An on-screen request (Call to Action or CTA) to Like and Subscribe should be included during each clip.
  • The completed episodes are at least 3 minutes long.
  • Video is encoded and compressed for YouTube upload.
  • Publish the project to YouTube and enter the appropriate metadata. Take a screenshot of the project’s YouTube upload page that shows the metadata entered and include it when you upload the document with links to your project.
    • Title
    • Description
    • Playlist name (create one for your whole project)
    • Audience (select one)
    • Under “Show More”
      • Paid Promotion (uncheck)
      • Automatic Chapters (uncheck)
      • Automatic Places (uncheck)
      • Tags (at least 3)
      • Language and captions certification
      • Recording date and location
      • License
      • Allow Embedding?
      • Publish to subscriptions feed and notify subscribers?
      • Shorts Sampling?
      • Category (and all associated dropdowns)
      • Comments and ratings (unselect all)
  • Create a page on your website for the project that includes an explanation of the project, the audience, and the embedded videos as a Playlist. Include a link to the project proposal.
  • Submit an MS Word document (PDF or Pages documents will not be accepted, no exceptions) to the D2L dropbox with the following information.
    • URL of your website page about the project
    • Screenshots of the YouTube Details page that displays the episode metadata
    • URL of the finished project
    • URLs of the social media account used (hashtagged #iam3210.)
    • Submit your Usage of Generative AI Justification (if applicable) as a separate MS Word document (PDF or Pages documents will not be accepted, no exceptions) to the D2L dropbox.

Reflection: (100 pts)

Submit a 250-word reflection paper about your project that addresses the following questions. Support your reflections with specific examples from the project. Focus on constructive, forward-looking observations. Consider both technical and interpersonal aspects of the experience. Use the heading structure below.

Personal Growth & Learning

  • What were the 2-3 most important lessons you learned from this project experience?
  • Describe your primary contribution to the project and explain why it was significant.
  • What specific skill or approach would you focus on improving in your next team project?

Creative Process

  • What was your team’s creative approach to this project, and what influenced those choices?
  • Based on the project outcomes, would you take a different creative approach if you could start over? Why or why not?

Professional Development

  • How do you plan to apply specific skills or insights from this project to your future career?
  • What additional skills or knowledge did this project reveal you need to develop?
  • Outline your concrete plan for developing one of these needed skills in the next 6 months.

Team Dynamics

  • For each team member (including yourself):
  • Name their most valuable contribution.
  • Provide one specific example of how their work impacted the project.
  • What one piece of actionable feedback would you give to each team member to enhance their collaboration skills?
  • (Comments about your team members will be kept confidential, but I encourage you to share them.)

This is an individual submission. Each team member must submit their own Reflection.

Submit this as an MS Word document (PDF or Pages documents will not be accepted, no exceptions) to the D2L dropbox.

Due Dates

See Course Schedule for Project 1 and 2 due dates.

Evaluation

Points will be awarded based on adherence to the Project Deliverables.

Total points available – 500