Ready Camera One: We’re Live! is a group contract designed primarily for students interested in exploring visual literacy, television production, performance and media criticism. Students will be introduced to both media deconstruction and media production skills through a series of lecture/screenings, workshops and design problems that focus primarily on collaborative multi-camera studio production. No prior media production experience is required.
We will take a critical, performative and historical approach as we examine and even emulate the production style and lessons from the early history of 20th century live television. Students will be expected to perform in front of as well as behind the camera and will explore the logistics and aesthetics of multi-camera direction and design. We will investigate the aesthetics and implications of live performance and multi-camera production for new media as well.
This program will also examine the politics of representation, i.e., who gets the camera, who appears on the screen, and who has the power. Therefore, students who choose to enroll should be vitally and sincerely interested in the issues and ideas concerning the representation of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation in the media. We will specifically study the role of visual humor as it applies to representation and stereotyping in the mass media. Activities also will include training in the multi-camera TV studio facility, instruction in basic performance and writing for television, and a survey of visual design principles.
Early Television Recording, 1933
