Storytelling with Study Abroad

Again this spring we worked with students at ACU’s campus in Leipzig, Germany, as well as with on-site faculty Derek and Rachel Brown to take digital storytelling overseas. Students spent two days in workshops developing scripts, recording audio, and editing stories on iPads or laptops.

This group of students as well as the Oxford group were also incredibly generous in showing us around their host cities as we collected footage for a Study Abroad film we’ll release this summer.

Here are just a couple of their stories.

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FilmFest Workshops this Fall

Today wrapped up a series of workshops offered in the Learning Studio this November. This is the third year Canon has sponsored the student film competition with camera bodies and pro-series lenses.

  • Paul McAniff from Canon kicked off the series with an introduction to DSLR filmmaking (you can find his talk and slides here).

  • Then Matt Bardwell and Nathan Driskell from the Learning Studio led a director’s masterclass on David Fincher. Participants walked the process of setting, lighting, and shooting a scene with actors from the Department of Theatre performing the opening scene from The Social Network. Thanks to Seth Womack and Connie Esch for a memorable afternoon.
  • Finally, this week Nathan Driskell offered an introduction to film editing with Adobe’s Premiere Pro. Nathan and Matt have been using Premiere for the bulk of their video work this year including multi-camera work for Cornerstone.

Thanks to all of the students who joined us for workshops this fall. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Canon Pro Video workshop kicks off FilmFest

Thanks to Paul McAniff from Canon for joining us at ACU for a couple days to introduce students to DSLR video. The workshop was the first of several the Learning Studio will be hosting to prepare FilmFest participants to shoot, light, and edit films this November.

For those unable to join us, here are the slides and video of the presentation.

For a quick review of controls of cameras that will be available to FilmFest participants, check out our Tutorials page.

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The next workshop will be November 13th where participants will help shoot the opening scene from David Fincher’s The Social Network. 

 

 

Night Shooting in West, West Texas

Thanks to all of you who joined us this weekend in Marfa for a phenomenal workshop with Scott Martin. Scott is a professional photographer out of San Antonio who for the past several years has focused on night photography in workshops in Big Bend, Yosemite, and points beyond. We were delighted to get on his schedule and had a remarkable group.

For those who couldn’t join us, here are links to some of Scott’s work highlighted in Wired magazine. Really stunning images.

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Faculty end semester with Digital Storytelling

Thanks to a great group of faculty, we ended our first year with a great storytelling and media training experience. We welcomed back Mary Ann McNair from the Center for Digital Storytelling to work with ACU faculty Al Haley and Jennifer Shewmaker facilitating the three-day workshop. This is our third workshop this year working with staff from the CDS, and faculty from across campus continue to be challenged by the format to produce original content and reflect on the role of media in the broader curriculum.

Thanks to faculty participants for investing their time and creativity in the workshop. Here’s a glimpse into the experience.

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Digital Stories – May 2012

Kent Smith

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