Fall 2016-- Special Topic: "Advertising Content Production" This course is centered on the practical, technical and legal requirements for a creating cross platform media project from preproduction to delivery. Working collaboratively, students will create, present and execute ideas for a piece of branded content as well as develop complementary ideas for social, digital or experiential execution that will contribute to a campaign. As a class, we will explore the process it takes to bring your idea into production. How do you prepare to shoot your work? What are the steps involved and what are the most common mistakes made? We will examine idea of crowd-sourcing your footage vs. directing talent and scenes. We will discuss the different types of editorial, animation/VFX and audio engineering software available and how this has made cutting and enhancing spots easier than ever. Important details such as: talent recruitment, fee negotiation, music licensing and audio production as well as the legal aspects of marketing/content production will be covered as well. Focus will be on real world commercial production. How to deal with common production issues, maintain creative integrity all while addressing client needs. We will invite guest speakers in to share their knowledge and take field trips to local film/video/audio facilities to provide introduction/insight to industry and possible future employment opportunities.

Spring 2017-- Special Topic: "Defending The User Experience: Building Social Media Strategies With Impact" Explores the changing user behaviors and expectations of various social networks in relation to business goals and challenges in order to inform impactful social media strategies that emphasize user experience. This class will highlight the creative nature of interpreting user behavior into audience insights and how these insights are transformed into a holistic social strategy. Students will become experts at determining the social media mix and appropriate content approach and paid social media opportunities for a brand's specific needs. Students will be guided by industry expert lectures and in-class exercises derived from agency experiences #IRL.