Volume One: Fundamentals

The Video Coach Series begins with the "Shooter's Guide," a thorough, easy-to-follow DVD which has become a "must-have" tool for Broadcast Journalism teachers across the nation. Appx. 50 min.

Chapter 1: Essential Equipment

From headphones to tripods, this chapter covers all the equipment your students will need to get started shooting news packages and stories. It's a lot simpler than you might think and it doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars to get started.

Chapter 2: Wide, Medium, Tight

Learn how and why to shoot a variety of wide, medium, and tight shots when covering news in the field, and how this helps to communicate in a visual medium. This chapter will form an underlying foundation for more advanced concepts.

Chapter 3: Sequences

Students will learn the art of crafting sequences and why they are important in the world of video production. This chapter also discusses the rules for continuity, matched action, and the importance of visualizing a sequence before pressing record.

Chapter 4: Composition

There is more to shooting video than pointing a camera and pressing the red button, at least there should be. Students will get plenty of visual examples and practical techniques for composing shots and learning the art of visual expression.

Chapter 5: Top Ten Shooting Tips

Production equipment is constantly changing, but the basics of visual storytelling have been the same for decades. This chapter highlights the ten timeless techniques every videographer should know how to do. These tips will surely outlast the DVD they're recorded on.

Bonus: Chapter Quizzes

To help re-emphasize the most important concepts, each chapter features a quiz. Take the quiz or skip past it to the next section. The quizzes are full of visual examples and are aimed at making students capable of critiquing their own work.

Bonus: Presentation Mode

A simple way to reteach the material on Volume One. Every visual example from each chapter is accessable from a bonus menu for use as a teaching aid in the classroom.

Bonus: 10 Lesson Plans for Teachers

There is no substitute for hands-on experience. That is why Volume One comes with 10 .pdf lesson plans to get your students practicing what they've seen.