Approved Electives
Lafayette College
DOC 150: Introduction to Documentary Storymaking Instructor: Andy Smith
Monday 7:00-10:00 PM (248 North Third Street, Williams Art Campus). This course is an introduction to digital documentary storymaking. It merges the critical study of documentary media with the hands-on construction of documentary stories waiting to be found in local communities. Working with tools of the documentary arts—video, still images, audio, writing—students will acquire the foundational skills of media production and effective storytelling while absorbing and analyzing rich examples of documentary storytelling over time and place. Students will encounter a variety of notable documentary examples and forms, grapple with the ethics of documentary practice, practice documentary activities and produce documentary media.
FAMS 201: Making Media I Instructor: Nandini Sikand
Monday/Wednesday 1:10 pm – 4:00 pm (248 N. 3rd St-Williams Art Campus MEDIA I).
This course introduces students to the creative and technical aspects of media production, and is designed to provide a basic understanding of framing, composition, audio, and storytelling through the use of sound and image. Students will learn the fundamentals of lighting, audio recording, and digital video cameras. We will also study aspects of pre-production and production through hands-on assignments, readings, screenings, discussion of assigned exercises, and in-class workshops with camera and lighting equipment. No prior production experience necessary.
Prerequisite: FAMS 101 or permission of instructor
FAMS 202: Making Media 2 Instructor: A. MacHose
Tuesday/Thursday 1:10 pm -4:00 pm (248 N. 3rd St-Williams Art Campus MEDIA I).
This hands-on production course is the second half of the media production sequence begun in FAMS 201. It builds on the fundamentals of lighting, sound, and camera. Students will further develop their digital filmmaking techniques as well as learn to edit in Final Cut Pro. They will work on individual and collaborative media assignments that will culminate in a public screening at the end of the semester.
Prerequisite: FAMS 201or permission of instructor
Lehigh University
COM 197: Sports Documentary Instructor: Jack Lule
Summer Session 1 (May 23-June 29) Online Class
The sports documentary has become increasingly popular and important. Through the sports documentary, some of society’s most significant concerns are portrayed and discussed, including issues of race, gender, terrorism, inequality and more. Too, the sports documentary has adapted to various media, from film to television to online, from the multi-volume work of Ken Burns to ESPN’s “30 for 30.” This course examines and critiques the social, cultural, political and economic implications of the sports documentary in contemporary culture.
Muhlenberg College
COM 231-01: Documentary Research Multiple Sections Walson 115
Monday/Wednesday 9:30-10:45 am Instructor: Kate Ranieri
Monday/Wednesday 11 am-12:15 pm Instructor: Kate Ranieri
Tuesday/Thursday 11 am-12:15 pm Instructor: Roberta Meek
Tuesday/Thursday 2-3:15 pm Instructor: Lora Taub-Pervizpour
Explores the American tradition of social documentary, focusing on milestone projects, including the work of James Agee and Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, William Carlos Williams, and Robert Coles. Oral, visual, and textual modes of production are examined. Special focus is given to new digital forms of representation and their impact on production, distribution, and consumption. Framing this investigation are the ethical issues that emerge when rendering and representing individuals’ lives. Students are introduced to the fundamental skills of investigative research, interviewing, gathering and interpreting information, and using print and electronic archives. Students research and produce their own multi-media documentary projects.
Prerequisite: COM 201 or permission of instructor. Students must also register a lab section.
COM 251: Intro To MovieMaking Instructor: David Tafler
Tuesday/Thursday 3:30 pm -4:45 pm Walson 115
Introduces basic concepts of time-based visual media (film, video, digital) with an emphasis on the perception, operation, and experience of moving images, kinesics, and the structure and aesthetics of cinematic language. Students will learn how to work with cameras and audio and post-production equipment.
Meets general academic requirement AR.
COM 344: Documentary Film & Social Justice Instructor: Kate Ranieri
Prerequisite(s): COM 251 – Introduction to Moviemaking.
Monday/Wednesday 11 am – 12:15 pm Trexler Library Room B-06
This special topics course offers a timely look at the sometimes spontaneous work of documenting social movements. With the 2017 Women’s March of Washington (and sister marches around the world) as the focus, students will contribute to campus efforts to document this historic event. In collaboration with Trexler Library Special Collections, library and instructional technology experts, students will collect march posters and other materials and build an archive and exhibit from these documentary artifacts. Students in the course will gain hands on experience in oral history interviewing and conduct short oral histories with march participants for inclusion in the archive. From these archival sources, students will create original multimedia documentary projects that explore notions of gender, history, activism, and social change. Throughout the course, this experiential learning project will be informed by studies of the ways that archives and documentary have recorded and contributed to movements for social change.
FLM 387 Art of Video Editing Instructor: Aggie Ebrahimi-Bazaz
Tuesday/Thursday 11 am – 12:15 pm Walson 115
While editing was historically seen as merely a nuts-and-bolts technical pursuit, it has increasingly proven indispensable to the artistic process. Applying theoretical and practical frameworks, we will consider pacing, rhythm, sequencing, continuity, sound, color and other elements in an editor’s arsenal, to explore the many ways that editing contributes to story and concept development. How, for example, can an edit align with and accentuate the dynamics of a scripted scene? What are the demands of nonfiction editing, and in what ways might these two modes align? Students will explore the art of editing through hands-on exercises using Adobe Premiere Pro.
