Basic Specifications

Audience:	Produce the video at a level understandable by an "average" student in this class.
Teamwork:	You can complete this assignment on your own or in cooperation with one other student in the class. If you do it as a team, you should also submit a statement, approved by both of you, explaining how the work was divided.
Style:	The video should open with a clear title, and should end with a list of credits, which will include your information sources and acknowledgement of any help that you received in research and production. Otherwise, you will have a lot of freedom in the format, and the video can includes many different kinds of material -- video clips that were shot by you and/or imported from other sources (with proper acknowledgement), still photos and graphics, background voice-overs and music, etc.
Length:	About 5-10 minutes.
Dates:	Turn in a topic statement (one-two paragraphs), a plan for the video, and a preliminary bibliography of information sources by September 20. Depending on the nature of your project, you may also find it helpful to include a storyboard in your initial plan. The finished video is due November 27, and should be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo. Send me a link to the final product and any other supporting material submitted electronically as an email attachment to steve_gardner@baylor.edu.

Objectives

Driven by improvements in technology and changes in demand from the general public, video content is used more and more in marketing, education, entertainment, and other forms of communication. A well-executed video can be a valuable part of your portfolio when you are searching for employment and other opportunities. If your video is done well, it should serve several purposes:

• Application: You will have an opportunity to apply concepts and explore topics learned in this course.
• Focus:  You will gain in-depth knowledge of one subject. If you produce your video on, say, the global market for robots, you may become an authority on that particular subject.
• Research:  You will need to perform research for the video in roughly the same that you would for a term paper, so you will gain additional experience performing library and on-line research. To find the most current and complete information on your topic, you will need to consult a wide range of research sources.
• Video Production: Your grade will depend, in part, on the quality of the lighting, shooting, sound, titling, and editing of the video. If you were producing this video for an employer, it would be clear that you need to do it as professionally as possible. This will give you an opportunity to learn and develop those skills

Topics

Several different kinds of topics are acceptable for your video. They include the following:

1. A film on the international business experience and strategy of a particular company. This may include background information about the company, clips from your interviews with company executives, information about the markets the company has entered, challenges it has encountered, and prospects for the future.
2. A film analyzing the global market for a particular product group, such as automobiles, smart phones, legal services, whatever. What companies and countries are the major producers/exporters? What countries are the major importers? How has the market changed over time, and what are the expectations for the future? How has the industry been affected by changes in technology, national/global regulations, international trade agreements, and the development of alternative products? Does this industry seem to present interesting investment opportunities?
3. A film analyzing technical or ethical issues involved in international trade and investment. For example, a film about the Global Sullivan Principles could include a brief biography of Rev. Leon Sullivan, a discussion of how the principles were developed in response to apartheid, how they have been adapted in the modern world, and how they have led to other international codes of conduct.
4. Many other options are possible. If you have an idea for some other kind of project that would apply the material covered in this course, come in during office hours and talk to me about it.
   
   

Production Methods and Style

Your video should address your topic as clearly, informatively, and professionally as possible, taking into account your current level of skill and access to video/audio equipment and technology:

1. As already mentioned, your video should open with a clear title, and should end with a list of credits, which will include your information sources and acknowledgement of any help that you received in research and production. The content should be based on a clear plan and organization, and any narrative sections should be based on edited scripts.
   
   
2. The video can be shot with your smart phone or pad if that's the best video camera available to you. For good video quality, you will need to pay attention to lighting, backgrounds, and steadiness of the camera. For good audio quality, you should avoid background noise (loud air conditioners, fans, and other sounds unrelated to the video), and take test shots to be sure that interview subjects or other speakers are picked up well by the microphone.
   
   
3. In addition to video that is shot for the project, you can also incorporate still photos and graphics and video and, within limits and with proper acknowledgements, video imported from other sources (such as YouTube). In the end, however, this should be your ORIGINAL creation, so material imported from other sources should be used sparingly and incorporated into a final product that is essentially new.
   
   
4. When it's done professionally and in good taste, the video can include humor, music, and other elements to make the final product more engaging and effective.
   
   
5. I STRONGLY recommend for you to explore the services, hardware, and software that are available to you at the Techpoint Media Lab in Moody Library. You can reserve the use of their video/audio booths and equipment online at this site.
   

Grading

Your grade on the paper will depend on its satisfaction of the purposes listed above. In particular:

33.3%	Relevance of topic and application of course concepts.
33.3%	Documentation: Your information in your video should be drawn from a large number and broad variety of sources.
33.3%	Presentation: I understand that this is not a video production class, but your project will still be examined for the quality of its videography, sound, editing, and clarity of its content.

Plagiarism and Other Dishonorable Conduct

According to the Baylor Student Disciplinary Procedure, students found guilty of misconduct are subject to a range of sanctions, including expulsion from the university.  According to the Baylor University Honor Code, dishonorable conduct includes (among other items) the following:

1. Offering for course credit as one's own work, in whole or in part, the work of another.
2. Incorporating into one's work offered for course credit passages taken either word for word or in substance from a work of another, unless the student credits the original author and identifies the original author's work with quotation marks, footnotes, or another appropriate written explanation.
3. Offering for course credit one's own work, but work that one has previously offered for course credit in another course, unless one secures permission to do so prior to submission from the instructor in whose course the work is being offered.
4. Offering for course credit work prepared in collaboration with another, unless the student secures the instructor's permission in advance of submission. A student does not prepare work in collaboration with another if he or she merely discusses with another a matter relevant to the work in question.

As mentioned above, you can incorporate material from many other sources, but they must be carefully acknowleged, copyrights must be respected, and the final product should be new and original.

Information Sources 

The research that you should perform for production of this video is very similar to the research that you would perform for a term paper, except for the fact that you probably will make fuller use of other video and photography, and you will need to learn the basics of video production.

Video Production
For a general introduction to student video production, look here, and for a short and free course, look here.

For video editing software, Adobe Premiere is the industry standard used by many video producers. It works on both PCs and Macs, and is available for your use on some Baylor campus computers, including those in the Techpoint Media Lab in Moody Library. It's also available for purchase at a discounted price in the Baylor Bookstore. A good alternative is Lightworks, which is free for non-commercial use, and is also cross-platform on Macs and PCs.

To upload your video to YouTube, you will need to create a free acount, and then follow the instructions that you can find here and here.

Books
Books usually are your best source for "the big picture" and background information.  However, but some of that information is usually out of date soon after the book is published.  That's why you need to supplement books with the other current sources that are given below. Your main bibliographic source for books in the Baylor Library is the BearCat search engine.  We have online access to the Handbooks in Economics Series.

Periodicals
These will provide more in-depth information, and will give you access to the latest research.  EconLit is the best bibliographic search engine for articles in advanced economics journals. Look here to find out whether Baylor has full-text online access to the particular journals you need. If we don't have immediate print or online access to a journal, you can obtain most other articles within a few days through Interlibrary Loan.
 
Online Resources
See Baylor's full list of online databases in business here.

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