Television & Video Production

This course provides students with foundational knowledge that will enable them to use technology in the production of visual stories throughout the program. Students will learn the basics of electricity, magnetism, light and sound, and how to apply these principles to broadcast and media technology. Students will also examine various components and signals from the perspective of a novice industry technician, including monitoring, measuring and processing of signals. As they progress through the course, students will discuss the impact of technical considerations on production values, and will be introduced to the history of electronic moving pictures.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course provides students with a fundamental knowledge of the basic components of television production and how they interrelate. BCST 1120 will provide students with a working knowledge of professional broadcast equipment such as cameras, switchers, microphones, audio mixers, and media servers, developed through a combination of lectures and practical exercises. Students will be able to operate portable, studio, and control-room production equipment.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course introduces the fundamentals of writing for video production. The course provides students with an introductory understanding of storytelling before helping them develop writing skills for various types of video. Through a combination of lectures and group work in labs, students learn writing techniques for various promotional, informational, and corporate video formats. The course examines principles of audience, attitude, and appeal as they relate to commercials and promotions. It also introduces advertising rules and regulations at the cursory level. Throughout, concepts of mood, production design, photographic composition, screen direction, and more, from other courses inform the visual aesthetic contained in students’ writing.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course draws from the fields of Visual Design, Visual Communication, Graphic Design, and Visual Literacy to introduce students to principles that will aid them in producing effective images that impart specific meaning to targeted audiences. The course also extends those principles to the areas of visual storytelling, pre-visualization for production, and production design to further enhance students’ skills in communicating meaning through video production. The course covers diverse topics such as elements and principles of art and design, photographic manipulation, and story.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course introduces all the necessary production elements that are required to create a television or video production. Students will be exposed to general business concepts, such as the need for various agreements to govern the relationships between parties involved with a production, the purpose of schedules and budgets and methods for tracking completion of objectives. Students will also experience the uniquely important role communication plays in the planning and production of television and video productions.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course will introduce students to the use of computers for non-linear video editing in the television industry. Students will develop skills in the effective use of computer resources in a server-based, multiple-user post-production environment. Students will be introduced to management and conversion of media files, navigation and effective working practices.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

In this course, students will learn basic computer terminology, components of hardware, and software applications as used in the broadcasting industry. Students will learn concepts of spreadsheets and charting, word processing, presentations and graphics, the Internet, and current operating systems through practical exercises. The broadcast industry relies on networked environments to operate effectively, in all stages of production. Students will gain a basic understanding of networking principles and how to set-up, troubleshoot, and operate a simple computer network.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course will focus on developing writing and oral communication skills that relate to broadcasting industries. Students will learn how to communicate effectively as professionals, or as members of a team, in a broadcasting workplace. Included within this will be skills development in writing (and reading) and speaking (and listening). The course will also provide practice in grammar and mechanics as needed.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

Explores the importance of harmonious relationships and the skills and methods for achieving them. Broadcasting involves unusually close interaction among its participants who work together to provide information, entertainment and revenues.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course introduces the student to the Canadian and British Columbia television and video production milieu. Included in this will be an overview of regulators and regulatory issues and their relevance to production and distribution including intellectual property rights and management. Other organizations, associations, and unions that form the industry landscape will be discussed with emphasis on how the production and distribution industries inter-relate and the various roles that graduates can fill. Students will also learn about the various production funding sources and agencies in Canada and BC.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course builds on the fundamental knowledge and skills learned in BCST 1120, Television and Video Production 1. This course provides participants with advanced knowledge of the components of television and video production and how they interrelate. Upon completion of BCST 2120, students will have an intermediate working knowledge of professional broadcast equipment such as cameras, switchers, microphones, audio mixers, and media servers. Through several projects, students will learn studio and field audio acquisition and lighting of studio and field productions, including scenes/sets and products, and electronic news gathering/electronic field production equipment. Students will learn to plan and execute both live productions and electronic field productions. Students will operate portable, studio, and control room production equipment.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 1120 and BCST 1125 and BCST 1223

Building on BCST 1223 Production Planning, this course will cover in more detail, and with less direct instructor guidance, the logistical and organizational aspects necessary for any production. Students will prepare a script breakdown identifying the requirements needed to complete the production. They will learn how to prepare and read a production budget, and how to work with contingencies. Students will learn how to create and manage a production schedule. Production contracts, licenses, clearances and releases will be revisited and students will gain a better understanding of which ones are appropriate for specific situations on specific productions.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 1223

This course introduces students to the production of a local television newscast. With limited supervision, television students will work in conjunction with Broadcast and Online Journalism program students to produce, shoot, and edit local news stories as well as produce a live recorded newscast and an on-air graphics package. Under direct and constant supervision, students will engage in activities that simulate a real-world newscast within a local television station.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course introduces the relationship between the human eye, the physics of light, the psychology of the brain, and the operation of current television and video systems. Students will study signal paths from camera and lens, through recording methods, measuring and testing equipment, and production equipment, to final display. Through this they will acquire a firm understanding of how a video signal is created, saved, manipulated, and displayed.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in BCST 1101

This course introduces the fundamentals of dramatic writing and documentary research. Students generate original story ideas, then develop one idea from its concept through to a first draft film or television script. Students also learn basic documentary research skills and treatment preparation. Writing assignments also include character sketches and a story treatment.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 1124

This course builds on the principles of non-linear editing which was introduced in BCST 2207 Introduction to Non-Linear Editing. The students will learn intermediate techniques of non-linear video editing. Students will learn how editing can be used to advance visual stories through the effects it has on the audience. Students will also develop technical skills in areas of assistant editing and media management, conversion, and export in a server-based, multiple-user post-production environment.
Prerequisite(s):

• 50% in BCST 2207

This course builds upon the basics of business communication techniques taught in COMM 1112 Communications for Television and Video Production. It emphasizes the writing and research skills needed by professionals in television and video production. Students will develop writing skills by writing industry-specific production proposals and will develop research skills as they work their way through units on effective reading, time management, critical thinking, and advanced research techniques. Topics covered include proposals, persuasive messages, pitching, and industry-specific research on production funding. Also, students will receive introductory training on basic employment skills.
Prerequisite(s):

• COMM 1212

​This course focuses on the use of computer software packages in photographic manipulation and to refine post-production of video production. The course teaches students basic motion graphics and digital visual effects used in TV and film productions. Through a number of projects, students will learn about 2D and 3D animation, vector-based masking and rotoscoping, building virtual sets along with cameras and lights, and animating titles. The course examines the visual effects component of post-production, from non-linear editing to Visual Effects and back to non-linear editing. Students will learn how to import, organize, and manage various types of media files and how to create Visual Effects projects, manage and manipulate media within projects, and develop 2D and 3D animation of elements within projects. The course also provides an overview of outputting and posting completed works to the Web.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 1125 and BCST 2207 and BUSA 1620

This modular course is designed to build upon the visual storytelling skills that students developed in previous production courses. Through the various modules the students will learn aesthetic and technical production requirements to produce single-camera narrative productions, live-streamed and live-recorded multi-camera switched productions, and local television newscasts including news-gathering camera operation and editing. Focus is given to the preparation and planning, teamwork, and technical knowledge and ability (lighting, camera operation, audio, post-production, technical facility set-up, etc.) that goes into these various types of production.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 2120 and BCST 2123 and BCST 2219

This course builds on the principles of non-linear editing which have been developed in BCST 3318 Non-Linear Video Editing. Students will learn how to use non-linear audio editing equipment and current industry software, as well as the techniques of gathering, editing, mixing, and applying effects to audio. Students will work individually on supplied audio to learn the skills required to produce a finished soundtrack. The audio from original material produced in other courses will form the basis of group projects within this course. Student groups will produce a finished soundtrack for output and layback to the locked picture video (produced in another course).
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 3318

In this course, students will learn how to polish and re-write scripts that are being prepared for production in BCST 4120 Television and Video Production 4. Through the process of “polishing” students will learn how to prepare “shooting scripts.” Students will also study storytelling concepts used in unscripted production.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 2224

This course guides students through the operation and coordination of the post-production phase of video and television projects. Students will learn a variety of post-production concepts that are broader than non-linear editing tasks. They will learn to colour correct video images to attain a desired look to set the mood or tell the story. Students will also learn how to prepare video productions for other phases of post-production such as audio mastering and visual effects and how to receive finished materials for inclusion in their projects.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 2218 and BCST 3318

​This course introduces advanced visual effects techniques with emphasis on higher-quality execution. Students will gain a thorough understanding of motion graphics and Visual Effects used in television and video production projects. By integrating live action, virtual sets, animation and visual effects students will learn how to enhance the visual style of a shot or a production and contribute to the telling of a visual story.
Prerequisite(s):

• MDIA 2218

This modular course is designed to further expand students’ visual storytelling skills developed in BCST 3120 Television and Video Production 3. Through the various modules the students will learn to apply, with less instructor supervision, previously developed aesthetic and technical production skills to produce original single-camera narrative productions, live-streamed and live-recorded multi-camera switched productions, and videos for real clients. Students will also learn how to analyse the needs of a real world client, develop and propose a production idea, schedule and budget, and then produce videos that meet the client’s needs, while managing client expectations within limited budgets and timelines. At the end of the course, the students will have developed intermediate or industry entry-level skills in a variety of roles.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 3120

This course offers students an opportunity to apply their learned skills in industry, in a practical setting. In this four-week industrial experience students visit a workplace to observe, practice, work, and learn in actual industry situations. With an employer of their choice, students arrange a practicum in which they will apply the skills learned in the Diploma in Television and Video Production Program on a daily basis. This placement could be with a television station, a production house, a post production house, or in a business which services the television and video production industry. All placements are reviewed and approved by the instructor prior to the student attending the industry placement. This real-world experience complements the training and experience students have received through the course of the program, providing them with final preparation and signifying that they are ready to begin their careers.
Prerequisite(s):

• BCST 3120

This course presents a basic understanding of Canadian law as it relates to media, including the workings of the legal and administrative systems. Students will learn about tort law (emphasizing defamation and privacy issues), law of contracts, e-commerce, licensing agreements, employment, agency, forms of business organization and intellectual property including copyrights, trademarks, domain names, patents, and trade secrets.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

The television industry today requires individuals who possess a good working knowledge of basic business concepts. This course is designed to provide the student with an insight into setting up and running a company or operating as an independent contractor in the television production field. Small business topics covered include: preparing a business plan, developing a marketing plan, identifying target markets, cash flow and finance, and forms of employment.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course builds upon the introductory employment communication skills developed in COMM 2212. Through various exercises such as cold calling, informational interviewing, role playing, and research, students will learn how to approach potential employers, conduct themselves in job interviews while seeking work, and be effective team members in industrial settings.
Prerequisite(s):

• COMM 2212