Senior Work Guidelines

From the time they declare the major, FMMC majors should begin considering what form of senior project they want to undertake and should take classes in the major (and possibly outside the major) accordingly. Students should consult regularly with their advisors prior to undertaking the senior tutorial and throughout their coursework in the major.

Senior Tutorial Overview

The senior tutorial is a project development course in the fall, where students will conceive of, research, and take all necessary steps to be prepared to produce a project in the winter term. The nature of the project development is dependent on the specific form that a student is working on, as discussed below. It is expected that students who succeed in developing their project will produce final versions for public presentation in winter term by taking FMMC0701, but approval to produce the project in winter is contingent on the approval of the faculty in charge of the senior tutorial. Producing the project in winter is not required to graduate as a FMMC major, but it is required to be considered for departmental honors.

In the senior tutorial, each student will prepare to produce an independent senior work project that will take the form of a video, a screenplay, a critical essay, a multimedia project, an audio project, a videographic or remix essay, or another form to be determined in consultation with faculty. Students must have completed the required prerequisite courses to undertake a project in a given form. The specific development parameters to be completed by the end of fall semester, and relevant prerequisites for each format are as follows:  

• Critical essay (written): Proposal (5–8 pages), annotated bibliography, completed primary research, draft of intro.
  Prereqs: completed courses relevant to their topic of research. Critical essays typically are 35–45 pages long, based upon original research.
   
• Critical essay (multimedia): Proposal (5–8 pages), annotated bibliography, primary research complete, platform analysis and choice, proof of concept.
  Prereqs: completed courses relevant to their topic of research, as well as coursework or experience in relevant multimedia formats.
   
• Screenwriting (feature): Letter of intent, outline or treatment, beat sheet, character outlines, full background research as needed, draft of first act (20–25 pages).
  Prereqs: Screenwriting and Advanced Screenwriting, or another approved advanced writing course; Filmmaking is recommended. Finished screenwriting consists of 70–120 pages of original writing on an original feature film.
   
• Screenwriting (television): Letter of intent, one-page synopsis of season, treatment or outline of pilot, beat sheet of pilot, character outlines, full background research as needed, draft of first 15 pages of pilot, show bible and episode outline.
  Prereqs: Screenwriting and Advanced Screenwriting, or another approved advanced writing course; Filmmaking is recommended. Finished screenwriting consists of 70–120 pages of original writing on an original television series.
   
• Short narrative video: Full revised script, script breakdowns, lookbook, location folder, casting completed, locations secured, crew completed, budget, shooting and post-production schedule, distribution plan.
  Prereqs: Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Advanced Filmmaking; Advanced Screenwriting is highly recommended. The maximum length for videos is 15 minutes.
   
• Short documentary video: Letter of intent, full write-up, lookbook, research dossier, pre-interviews and location scouting, full production plan including schedule and logistics, crew completed, budget, distribution plan.
  Prereqs: Filmmaking and Screenwriting; Advanced Filmmaking and/or Advanced Screenwriting are highly recommended; a course focused on documentary (such as FMMC0205) is highly recommended. The maximum length for videos is 15 minutes.
   
• Videographic essays/remix projects: Proposal, annotated bibliography/videography, research complete, media ripped, test exercises/experiments, trailer.
  Prereqs: completed relevant courses, such as Videographic Film and Media Studies; Fan Video; Remix Culture.
   
• Podcast/audio project: Letter of intent, full write-up, research dossier, preinterviews, full production plan—schedule and logistics, crew completed, budget, distribution plan.
  Prereqs: Introduction to Podcasting or Sound Aesthetics and Production.
   
• Animated short video: Full revised script, script breakdowns, lookbook(s), collaborators secured, production schedule, proof-of-concept character models, location design, animatic, distribution plan.
  Prereqs: 3D Computer Animation or its equivalent.
   
• Other formats: Other forms will be considered by the faculty supervising the tutorial, with parameters and prerequisites to be determined in consultation with the student.

Evaluation

Students in the senior tutorial will be evaluated on the quality of their development materials, their process in developing their projects, a reflective self-evaluation of their process, and their contributions to the course community via presentations, peer feedback, and collaborations. Formal collaboration between two students on projects is encouraged, but the nature of the collaboration must be carefully articulated, and the collaboration must be approved by the senior tutorial instructor.

Secondary Advisor

In addition to the senior tutorial instructor, students will select a secondary advisor from the faculty (in FMMC or another department) who has some expertise in the area in which the student is working. This secondary advisor will offer the student additional guidance about the project development during the tutorial.

Project Completion

Students who make satisfactory progress toward preparing their projects in the senior tutorial will be able to enroll in FMMC0701 during winter term to complete the project. The project will be supervised by either the faculty running the fall senior tutorial, or the secondary advisor. Completing the project is not required for FMMC majors, but it is required to be considered for departmental honors.

Completed projects will be evaluated based on the quality of the finished project, the effectiveness and professionalism of their process, their collaboration and support of peers, and the insights from a three-to-five-page self-evaluation on process.

Students not completing their own senior projects may serve as collaborators on other students’ video projects by enrolling in Collaborative Video Projects during winter term. Collaborators will either serve at least two significant roles in one project, or one significant role in at least two projects.

Each student’s project will include a public presentation component. For video makers, there will be a screening of senior projects in the second week of the spring semester, allowing for a larger audience than in winter term; however, the project grade will be determined based on the submission completed in winter. For non-video projects, students will present their work publicly during the last week of winter term. All students will be encouraged to present their work at the Spring Student Symposium, and video makers will be asked to submit qualified work to relevant festivals and competitions.

Honors

Departmental honors will be determined by a student’s overall GPA in the major, and by the quality of the student’s culminating work on the senior project. Normally, a GPA of 3.7 in the major is required for consideration for honors. A designation of highest honors will be reserved each year for that graduating senior who has done particularly distinguished work in the major.