Innovation in College Media

Last week, I submitted an itemized list for the multimedia storytelling class at Eastern Illinois University (see here for syllabus and here for FAQ). Below the fold, I'm pasting the list I sent to my department head. Each "kit" costs about $400, and we plan to have one kit per student by the time the class is up and running.

The biggest issue with coming up with the kits was the video camera. There were only two entry-level video cameras that has a mic input, and none with a headphone input as well. As this is a beginning class, it was hard to justify the additional hundreds of dollars that would be necessary to get gear with both mic and headphone inputs.

These kits would also be useful for a campus media outlet that wants to get into multimedia in an inexpensive manner.

So here's the list. Feel free to add comments below.

Canon ZR800 Mini DV Camcorder ($189.00):

Backup Battery ($59.95)

Nady sp5 Microphone ($24.99 for 3):

microphone cable ($11.79):

Camera Bag: Lowpro Nova 1 AW ($25.08):

Impact #800 Tripod with 3-way Panhead (24.95 ea.):

or

Slik SDV-20 Tripod (24.95 ea.):

Olympus WS-300M 256MB Digital Voice Recorder ($59.99)

Put together, the price for each kit is:

$189.00 Camera
$9.00 Mic
$11.79 Cable
$25.08 Bag
$24.95 Tripod
$59.99 Audio Recorder
$59.95 Spare Battery
---------
$379.76

Disclaimer: Prices and availability may vary by the time of purchase.