Syllabus of Masters of Arts (Electronic Media) in Mumbai University

Master in Arts - Electronic Media

Semester I
Communication and Media Theory (2 credits, 32 hours)
Global Electronic Media (2 credits, 32 hours)
Electronic Media Criticism (2 credits, 32 hours)
Contemporary media - Journalism, Public Relations and Advertising

Semester II
Computational Skills
Writing Skills
Electronic Media and Reporting
The Commerce of Electronic Media

Semester III
Web Technologies
Video Production and Programming
Audio Production and Programming
Multimedia Production

Semester IV
Project Work- The project will be a Convergence Project.

Detailed Syllabus

Semester I

Communication and Media Theory (2 credits, 32 hours)
Theories of communication, Media history, Media and society, Language and media, Technology and media, Media and politics, Issues and Ideas in contemporary media, Advertisement, Media in India, Media in Maharashtra, Media in Mumbai, Folk media, Cinema, Television, Theatre, Media Theories – Framing, Indexing, Social Responsibility, etc.

Global Electronic Media (2 credits, 32 hours)
Electronic Media and Global Journalism, Backpack Journalism, MacBride Report, New World Communication Order, Parachute and Immersion Journalism, Ethics and the Law in Global Reporting, Ethics and the Law with respect to Electronic Media, News Agencies, India and the world, Issues, ideas and challenges before India, What makes news?, News and newsmakers in India, Electronic Media in the Third World, Electronic Media in various countries.

Electronic Media Criticism (2 credits, 32 hours)
What is Criticism, The Essence of Criticism, Critical Functions, Criticism and the Communication Process, Knowledge Processing, Tonal and Talent Ingredients, Stage-Molding Ingredients, Busieness Gratifications, Audience Gratifications, Reality Programming, Depiction Analysis, Structural Analysis, Probing Ethics and Values, Aesthetics and Art, The Logic of Aesthetic Form, Composite Criticism

Contemporary media - Journalism, Public Relations and Advertising (2 credits, 32 hours)
An introduction to the history and evolution, the inter-relations and interdependency, ethics, challenges and opportunities of globalisation, civilization, tribalisation, corporatisation, commercialisation, privatization, opportunities of technological convergence, the changing face of ideology, politics, society and economics, modernization and evolving democracy, interrogation of development including the millennium development goals, urbanisation, the interrogation of the 'public space' and the definition of 'people', branding and identity, language, religion, caste, class and gender as a contested space, issues, ideas and challenges to function of policing the society, Public Relations and Electronic Media, Corporate Communication, Electronic Media relations and symbiotic relationship of public relations and electronic media professionals .

Semester II

Computational Skills (2 credits, 32 hours)
Computer Fundamentals, Computer Software and Hardware, Studio Hardware, Computer Operation Skills, Office Software, Databases, Introduction to Programming, Programming in C, JavaScript, HTML, Programming a Web page, Introduction to PHP, Introduction to ASP, Keywords and Internet Search, Search Engine Optimization, Designing Meta Tags, Using Unicode.

Writing Skills (2 credits, 32 hours)
Précis Writing, Comprehension, Tenses and Person, Writing for the Newspaper, Writing News for the Radio, Writing Skits for the Radio, Writing for Television, Writing for the Internet, Science Communication, Communication for the differently-abled, Low literacy media, Educational media, Interactive Communication, Environmental Science Communication, Multimedia Technologies

Electronic Media and Reporting (2 credits, 32 hours)
The Role of a Reporter, What makes news, Finding a story, The Importance of research, Developing and Maintaining Contacts, Dress Codes and Etiquettes, Interviewing Skills, The Grammar of Radio and Television, The Grammar of Internet Reporting, Defamation and Copyright, Using Modern Technology on the field, Gatekeeping, Research on the Internet, Co-opetition, Filing your story, Multi-tasking, Backpack Journalism, Convergence, The Right to Privacy, Freedom of speech and expression

The Commerce of Electronic Media (2 credits, 32 hours)
Internet and the flow of Ad revenues, The importance of search engines, advertising on the internet, Internet promotions, Importance of Blogs, the Business of blogs, Blogs as a tool for corporate promotions, blogs for social networking, blogs to build up contacts in the field, Social Networking sites, Facebook, MySpace and Linked In, Social networking sites and business, ad revenues from blogs and social networking sites, Internet as a Mass Medium, The Television Business, Television Programming, Production houses, Advertising on the Television, The reach of television, Television and Politics, HR policies in Electronic Media Organisations, Television as a Mass Medium, Mobiles as the new Mass Medium, Writing / Creating content for Mobiles, The business of mobile communication, advertising on mobile medium.

Semester III

Web Technologies (2 credits, 32 hours)
Web Designing – Frontpage and Dreamweaver, Designing a web page without the graphic user interface, Frames, Layers, Search Engine Optimization, WAP, HTML and DHTML, Using JavaScript, Do not reinvent the wheel, Embedding Java Applets, Using Activex Controls, Embedding Video and Audio into web pages, Embedding streaming media, Using YouTube, Creating Forms, Learning basic PHP and MYSQL, Creating Database and using it in the web design, Creating a website for Mobile phones, Creating a news site, creating a brochure site, designing a portal interface, using vernacular language in web sites, dynamic fonts, creating a vernacular medium website, creating a blog and a facebook site and promoting it.

Video Production and Programming (2 credits, 32 hours)
Film theory and history, Film and Video formats, Handling the Camera, Types of shots, Types of angles, Shot Breakup, Writing/adapting a story, Developing a Character, Writing a screenplay, Writing the shooting script, Framing a shot, thinking about a news story – what makes news, interviewing in a studio environment, interviewing on the field, framing a news story for television broadcast, shooting a story, editing a story, making feature and newsclip versions, capturing video, the Grammar of Edit, Fades, dissolves and transitions, Encode and Decode, Encoding the video for television, encoding the video for DVD and VCD, video compression technologies, encoding the video for i-pods and mobile devices, embedding the video on a web page, the politics of channels

Audio Production and Programming (2 credits, 32 hours)
The sound theory, sound formats, sound formats for the web, recording equipment, recording on the field, the importance of good sound quality, capturing sound on the computer, editing sound, applying noise filters, using multiple tracks, mixing different tracks, mono and stereo sound, left and right channels, Introduction to 5:1 sound track, SFX, changing the tone and pitch of the recorded voice, to reverb or not to reverb, encoding sound to different formats, creating an Audio CD, creating MP3, creating Real Audio, embedding sound in a web page, preventing download of embedded sound

Multimedia Production (2 credits, 32 hours)
The importance of Graphics in today's world, re-learning Power point, creating a Power point presentation, embedding sound and video in Power point, Using CorelDraw, Exporting graphics from CorelDraw, 2 D Animation, learning Flash, creating stand-alone flash applications and movies, creating flash banners, creating flash elements for the web page, creating banner ads, using flash for film making and special effects, making a high quality flash movie for importing into Film Editing softwares, Introduction to 3D animation, 3D Max, Special effects in Maya, Compositing, Using Adobe After Effects, using After Effects in Film Edits, Adobe director, creating an interactive presentation using Director and Flash, Flash and Direction for Social and Educational Communication, Creating an Interactive CD ROM

Semester IV

Project Work- The project will be a Media Convergence Project. (8 Credits, 32 Weeks)
The students shall be given a choice of three subjects out of which they shall choose one. The student shall research the subject thoroughly and produce the following on that subject:

1. Story in a skit format for Radio

2. Video documentary for the television in Beta format

3. Video for the internet – streaming formats

4. Video for mobile phones and devices

5. Create a DVD and VCD, both with menus for the same.

6. Create and Audio CD and an MP3 CD

7. Create a website for project and embed the video and audio.

8. Create a blog and a Facebook site for promoting the video.

9. Create promotional material in print to promote your product.

The project will be evaluated as per the following time line and the credits will be awarded accordingly.

32 weeks

1. First Week : The student shall within one week of choosing the subject, make a presentation on the theme of the project which shall include material by researching it on the internet. The presentation shall be in Powerpoint format.

2. Eighth Week: The student shall complete an exhaustive, comprehensive research on the subject and make the second presentation.

3. Sixteenth Week: The students shall present the complete story and the script along with a detailed story board and shooting script. The student shall also present a detailed production plan and budget.

4. Twenty-fourth week: The student shall present the first draft / cut of the project.

5. Thirtith Week: The student shall submit the second draft / cut of the project.

6. Thirty-second Week: The final project shall be submitted in all formats, including the website, blog, community sites, DVDs and VCDs, and portable formats.