Summer Film School

Documentary Filmmaking A-Z

An intensive program working with independent documentary filmmakers.

June 3 – July 3, 2013

During the month of June, MassArt offers a unique, intensive, sequential documentary filmmaking program with award-winning filmmakers that is like a mini-film school. This year, the program has expanded with a new class devoted exclusively to sound. Take the full program and learn what might take more than a year otherwise. Or take any single class or combination of classes that fits your experience or needs. For students from out of town or interested in focusing only on their class(es), a residential option is available in MassArt's Artists Residence located across the street from studio classrooms and one block from the Museum of Fine Arts.

June 3 – 7: Documentary Video Boot Camp with David Tames
June 10 – 14: The Documentary Camera with Stephen Maing
June 17 – 21: Documentary Sound with Eric Masunaga
June 24 – 28: Editing the Documentary with Julie Wang Mallozzi 
July 1 - 3: Producing the Documentary with Maria Agui Carter

Course Descriptions

Documentary Video Boot Camp
The full production experience in fast motion: project definition, project planning, camera, editing, and presentation. All with an introduction to context and history of independent documentary production, all in one week. Open to all levels.

The Documentary Camera
Hand-held camera, sit down interviews, observational, location filming— the camera tells the story. Learn to do more than just capture a moment. Think about how to frame the story through the camera and what that means for how the viewer experiences it. Basic camera knowledge or Documentary Video Boot Camp suggested.

Sound for Documentary
Sound is at least half the picture. Learn successful approaches to sound through analysis, hands-on recording, mixing and editing demos and exercises and assignments.

Editing the Documentary
Editing is essentially directing in post-production. Work with experienced editors to explore editing techniques and styles as they relate to documentary production. Even for non-editors, understanding editing is a great way to be better prepared for and do a better job in production. Basic knowledge of digital editing required.

Producing the Documentary
Intensive prep for anyone serious about making their own documentary. Learn how the pros prepare for production: planning, writing, budgeting, fundraising. Open to all levels.

Faculty

David Tames has worked in documentary and narrative film for over 14 years as director, cinematographer, and editor. He is a graduate of MassArt's Dynamic Media Institute and MIT's Media Lab and serves on the Board of Filmmakers Collaborative. He is Studio Manager for the Studio Foundation Program at MassArt. www.kino-eye.com

Steve Maing has worked in documentary and narrative film as director, cinematographer, and editor. His film, High Tech, Low Life, a documentary about two Chinese citizen journalists, was funded by the Independent Television Service and Sundance Documentary Fund, and was a selection at Tribeca All Access in 2009. The film is premieried and competed in the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival World Documentary Competition, played in IFFBoston and had an international premiere at Hot Docs, in Toronto. Steve's other films and projects have won awards and screened in festivals and on public television across the US. www.stephenmaing.com

Eric Masunaga is a composer, sound recordist and sound mixer, who has worked on location, on set and in post-production on feature and documentary film. For the past 10 years he has been Finishing Supervisor for Modulus Studios, a pciture mastering and 5.1 surround mixing facility in Brighton, MA. His credits include the sound mixes for indie director Andrew Bujalksi's films. www.modul.us

Julie Mallozzi is an independent filmmaker whose works have been screened at festivals and in theaters throughout the US and broadcast on PBS, and she has also been a producer for a number of PBS programs. Julie studied filmmaking as an undergraduate at Harvard, where she has also taught, and has an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. www.juliemallozzi.com

María Agui Carter is originally from Ecuador and produces films for PBS and Cable. She is an advocate for Latino and social issue filmmakers, serving as Chair of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and past Chair of the Filmmaker's Collaborative.  She has been the winner of a George Peabody Gardner, a Warren, a CPB/PBS, and a Rockefeller Fellowship, among others, and has served as a visiting scholar/artist at Harvard, Tulane and Brandeis.  Her recent projects are No Job For a Woman (producer), airing on PBS world in March 2013, and her latest independent film Rebel (writer, director, producer) premiering as a National Prime Time special on PBS in May 2013. www.iguanafilms.com

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