Massachusetts College of Art and Design | Continuing Education | Summer 2008 Courses

DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to video production and editing with the emphasis on creating personal work. Through in-class workshops and assignments students will develop basic skills in working with cameras, and in editing while becoming familiar with video’s unique technical and aesthetic qualities. Production topics covered include lighting, shooting and audio recording for video. Video post-production topics covered include non-linear editing (using Final Cut Pro) and output to appropriate formats for distribution.

INSTRUCTOR
Janet Gilmore received her MFA from MassArt. Her exhibitions include San Francisco Cinemateque, Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Mexico City, The Collective for Living Cinema, NYC, The Artist Space, NYC, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival.

SPECIAL SCHEDULE
Sa (9a-5p): Jun 21, 28, Jul 12, 19, 26
Th (6-10p): Jul 10, 17, 24, 31

DESCRIPTION
This class will explore the language and artistry of documentary film through critical viewing and hands on studio production. Beginning with screenings and discussions of documentaries using non-verbal approaches (ie. no voice over or narration or interviews) as inspiration, students will undertake a series of hands-on production exercises that illuminate storytelling and structure techniques by creating short film in and outside of class. A final set of screenings production, and editing exercises will explore the use of spoken language in film, reviewing creative uses of the interview and the voice over. Students will have access to the school’s DV cameras and edit equipment, or may use their own.

INSTRUCTOR
Maria Agui Carter is writer, producer and director of Iguana Films, Newton, MA, an independent documentary film production company specializing in Latino culture, politics and history. She is also a visiting scholar at Brandeis University. She was formerly a Rockefeller Fellow at Tulane University and a Warren Fellow at Harvard University. She also was producer/director of documentaries at WGBH. Ms. Carter holds a BA from Harvard University. Her current work, REBEL, now in post-production is a film about a Cuban woman who fought in the American Civil War disguised as a man. She is also a writing consultant and freelance proposal writer for documentaries.

SPECIAL SCHEDULE
Tu-F, 5:30-9:30p, Sa/Su: 10a-6p

DESCRIPTION
This workshop is about exploring video technique through exploration of self. Students will be asked to respond to a series of personal questions using a video camera with particular, imposed constraints. The successful self-portrait demands different and seemingly contradictory skills: refine and master your approach, but abandon yourself to intuition and a sense of confidence; balance self-criticism with humor; be close enough to yourself but still maintain a distance, be able to examine your surroundingsin a way that is at once concrete and metaphoric. Paradoxically, in this workshop, we will work in groups. Evenings will be devoted to shooting and the weekend will be for retakes and editing a short finished piece. Participants should have a basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro or Avid Xpress.

INSTRUCTOR
Henri Herre is a French filmmaker who began his career in narrative film. He directed two features and a number of short films which have won awards and screened in festivals around the world including Cannes, Montreal, Sao Paolo, Pesaro, Melbourne and others. He has also made documentary, experimental, social issue and scientific films which have been distributed world-wide and also won numerous awards. He has taught for the FEMIS, the European graduate school for film directors and technicians, and has also taught numerous workshops, including scriptwriting, directing actors, and direction. Henri Herre has a degree in Philosophy and is currently an artist-in-residence at Harvard University.

DESCRIPTION
Point of view, the hand that holds the camera, the filmmaker’s unconscious… these are all as important as story and narrative in creating the emotional power of a film. Just as there are workshops to learn screenwriting or narrative film, this course is a collective research into that which escapes easy definition—how camera technique can help define emotion. As a group, we will experiment with different technical approaches to filming by asking a series of questions such as: How is it that different filmmakers, with the same camera, in the same place, with the same intention, evoke entirely different feelings? How is one fixed space totally transformed by point of view? How is a panoramic shot emotional or not? Through a series of practical exercises, we will think about the camera as a veritable character in a film, with a body, a personality, and of course, an eye. Students can bring their own mini-DV or HDV cameras and suitable tripods, or use equipment from MassArt.

INSTRUCTOR
Henri Herre is a French filmmaker who began his career in narrative film. He directed two features and a number of short films which have won awards and screened in festivals around the world including Cannes, Montreal, Sao Paolo, Pesaro, Melbourne and others. He has also made documentary, experimental, social issue and scientific films which have been distributed world-wide and also won numerous awards. He has taught for the FEMIS, the European graduate school for film directors and technicians, and has also taught numerous workshops, including scriptwriting, directing actors, and direction. Henri Herre has a degree in Philosophy and is currently an artist-in-residence at Harvard University.

DESCRIPTION
Whether one is making a cinéma vérité profile, historical documentary, or any other narrative nonfiction work, key factors related to the success of your project are determined even before the cameras roll. In this class students will learn the basics of pre-preproduction using traditional and new media tools and strategies to move their documentary projects from the idea stage to documentary treatment. Using case studies for guidance, research, story development, casting, logistics, scheduling, budgeting, and what makes a winning proposal narrative will be explored.

INSTRUCTOR
Tracy Heather Strain is a documentary filmmaker and producer. She has produced and directed for PBS’ American Experience, was a co-producer of the independent film Adrift, by Tom Curran, was producer/director/writer for a segment of California Newsreel’s series, Race: The Power of an Illusion and was producer/director/writer of Bright Like a Sun and The Dream Keepers for Blackside’s I’ll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts, which won a George Foster Peabody Award among other honors. Strain has also been an associate producer and researcher on many award-winning series, including PBS’ The Great Depression and America’s War on Poverty. She has also worked in narrative film for the distribution company Cinecom and was an art department coordinator on Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala. She is currently developing a feature-length documentary which she will direct about the late playwright Lorraine Hansberry. She holds an AB from Wellesley College and EdM from Harvard University.

DESCRIPTION
Camera craft enables the filmmaker to tell their story with an individual creative voice. To go beyond the generic image qualities of a camera set to "automatic", you will need basics on technical matters, framing and camera movement. Small group exercises will introduce various camera controls to assess their creative potential. Balanced and unbalanced framings will be tried. Camera movement will center on control of attention, fluidity of point of view, relative subjectivity, and dynamism. We will view and analyze fiction and non-fictions films to see how these elements of camera craft are used to meet differing creative goals. We will use MassArt’s DVX-100 cameras and tripods. Photography, videography or other image making experience is a plus but not essential. It is essential to have a love of motion pictures and a burning desire to make your own, whether long or short.

INSTRUCTOR
Tom Robotham is a Director of Photography in the International Cinematographers Guild, based in Hollywood. He has lit and shot feature films, commercials, music videos and documentary and corporate projects. He has written, produced, directed and edited commercials, PSAs and narrative shorts. He received his BA in Visual Arts from Hampshire College and studied sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His sculptures are in corporate and private collections. robotham.com

SPECIAL SCHEDULE
June 17-July 1: Tue & Thu, 6-9pm; and June 14, 21, 28: Sat, 4-9pm

DESCRIPTION
This course focuses on low cost methods for manipulating digital video and creating special effects. We will explore computer effects using Final Cut Studio and Adobe After Effects as well as effects than can be created shooting in studio. We will look at concepts and techniques of non-linear editing, use of jump cuts, time shifts, transitions, alteration of speed and direction, blue/green screen shoot, chroma-keying, use of alpha channels, work with multiple layers, masking and tracking. In studio, we will explore lighting methods for simple scenes and blue/green screen shoots. The studio space will serve as a lab for experimentation to move objects with invisible yarns, shoot from unusual perspectives and invent individual methods of manipulation. Students will create a final project choosing one or more appropriate effects based on their level of expertise and interest which will be compiled using DVD Studio Pro. Students should have a basic understanding of video production, and it is recommended that students bring their own Firewire drive.

INSTRUCTOR
Janne Holtermann is a video artist. She received a Diploma FH with a focus on media arts from Multhesius Academy of Fine Arts, Kiel, Germany. She also studied fine arts at the University Complutense, Madrid, Spain. She is currently an MFA candidate at MassArt. She has exhibited and curated exhibitions in Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

DESCRIPTION
This course is an overview of non-linear editing using Apple’s Final Cut Pro and covers digitizing, editing and final output. Source material is provided, but students are encouraged to bring their own mini-DV media. Prerequisite: knowledge of Macintosh operating system.

INSTRUCTOR
Janet Gilmore received her MFA from MassArt. Her exhibitions include San Francisco Cinemateque, Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Mexico City, The Collective for Living Cinema, NYC, The Artist Space, NYC, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival.

DESCRIPTION
This course takes a more in-depth look at the art of editing using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Techniques will include motion effects, compositing, project management and finishing techniques. Students must have a basic working knowledge of Final Cut Pro and are asked to provide their own mini DV media to work with in class. Pre-requisite: basic working knowledge of Final Cut Pro.

INSTRUCTOR
Janet Gilmore received her MFA from MassArt. Her exhibitions include San Francisco Cinemateque, Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Mexico City, The Collective for Living Cinema, NYC, The Artist Space, NYC, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival.

DESCRIPTION
This workshop will follow the development of a documentary film currently in final cut stages that will be internationally released and is scheduled for public television release this fall. Highlighting several sequences, the class will look at these sequences in various stages of completion and discuss the decisions that affected its progression. This includes decisions on interview bite choices, archival and b-roll choices, as well as music and motion/title graphic choices. The class will also offer the opportunity for students to bring their own media, or shoot some basic interview material to work on specific editing issues using Final Cut Pro. Basic Working knowledge of Final Cut Pro is necessary.

INSTRUCTOR
Tim Raycroft is a video editor for Northern Light Productions, Boston, MA. He has a BA from Denison University and an MFA in Film from Syracuse University. His projects include offline and online editing for broadcast programs, museum films and documentaries. His technical skills include Avid Media Composer and Express and Adobe After Effects.