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MassArt’s Summer Film School, 2010
Summer is upon us and I would like to remind you there is still time to register for most of the Summer Film School classes at MassArt. If you don’t live in the Boston area, MassArt is offering an...
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2010 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment
If you live in the Boston area, here’s an idea for what to do this weekend: The 2010 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment! Consider making a day of it and come out and visit on one of the public visitation...
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Expanded Cinema: Still fresh after forty years
A few months ago I pulled Gene Youngblood’s classic Expanded Cinema (E.P. Dutton & Company, 1970, available online) off the shelf and read it again. The pages in my well worn softcover edition were...
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Making Media Now 2010
Important Update: Making Media Now has been rescheduled to the Spring of 2011. Filmmakers Collaborative felt that in order to make it the best conference possible, and to meet the expectations from...
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Distribution U. crash course on Crowd Funding, Audience Building & Distribution
Distribution U. looks like a wonderful event for independent filmmakers who are trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of the changing distribution landscape. This will be a one-day crash...
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Cinema will eventually become a flexible means of writing
In 1948 Alexandre Astruc, a filmmaker and theorist, suggested the notion of caméra-stylo (camera pen) in his essay, “The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La Caméra-Stylo,” which appears in the book, The...
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Ten glimpses into the crystal ball: the future of documentary
I’ve been contemplating the evolution of the documentary this summer and I was delighted to see that The MediaGuardian’s recent Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011 coverage includes ten articles providing a...
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Seven Macro Trends (RioSeminars 2011 Presentation)
I promised during my keynote presentation on Monday, October 10, 2011 at RioSeminars 2011 that I would post my slides and some notes before Sunday at midnight, so here it is: 7 Macro Trends,...
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Researching Macro Trends
While I was preparing my presentation, “Seven Macro Trends,” I reached out to people I thought might have some ideas and/or examples I should weave into my presentation. I’m indebted to their wonderful...
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Making Media Now 2012: Thriving in a Changing Landscape
The Making Media Now conference organized by Filmmakers Collaborative has become the annual must-attend event for New England media makers. This year the event will mark Filmmaker’s Collaborative’s...
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Principles of Interaction Design for Interactive Documentary Makers
Content production methodologies are converging with the strategies and tactics of interaction design. The latest mobile phones and tablets provide a wonderful platform for delivering intimate...
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FiLMiC Pro transforms iPhone into sweet and respectable video camera
The iPhone is capable of producing surprising good video and as a result, quite a few documentary makers are using their iPhones as their go-to B camera and in some cases even as their primary camera....
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Sound for documentary, Part 1: Eight fundamental concepts
Between widespread access to affordable camcorders and the rising ubiquity of mobile phones with good video cameras, along with the ascendancy of YouTube as a major media diffusion platform, it’s...
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Join me for Making Media Now 2013 in Boston, May 3, 2013
I hope you’ll join me this year on Friday, May 3rd at Massachusetts College of Art and Design for Making Media Now 2013, the annual must-attend conference for documentary media makers presented by...
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The 2013 Summer Documentary Film School at MassArt
If you are looking for an intensive and focused introduction to the process of making documentary films this summer, I encourage you to investigate the Summer Documentary Film School at MassArt. I...
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Smartphone Shorts (follow-up notes)
Yesterday I gave a presentation titled “Smartphone Shorts” at Tufts University which was part of the Boston International Kids Film Festival program. This post provides follow-up notes I promised to...
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10 reasons why making documentaries is better than making fiction films
Peter Broderick, who helps filmmakers “explore uncharted frontiers and avoid dangerous pitfalls and predators,” gave a wonderful talk this morning at Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the many gems in his...
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Smartphone Movie-Making Workshop Follow-up
On Saturday, November 8, 2014 I conducted a workshop at the Boston International Kids Film Festival at Tufts University, this is the follow-up I promised to post immediately after the workshop. I put...
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Some quotes on documentary, cinema, and art that don’t fit in a tweet
Several years ago when I was working on my MFA at MassArt I began collecting quotes related to my thesis work, and here are some of my favorites, in no particular order. Do you have any favorite quotes...
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Four approaches to structuring micro-documentaries
A micro-documentary differs from a long-form documentary in terms of length, structure, and quite often, purpose. While most long-form documentaries tell a story with a classic three act narrative...
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Release forms for documentary productions
On a professional documentary production, obtaining proper written permissions is the responsibility of the producer and can prevent complicated problems down the line in the event the project is...
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Two entry-level, versatile, compact, sound recording kits for your consideration
I’m often asked by my students what’s a good sound recording starter kit that provides the most bang for the buck on a tight budget. In response to this question, I’ve assembled the following kits...
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Dangerous Documentaries: Reducing Risk when Telling Truth to Power
Many of the most important issues facing our society are also those that powerful people or institutions don’t want made public. Documentary filmmakers who tell truth to power often face aggressive...
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Steadicam Volt: An intriguing smartphone stabilizer
I’ve been investigating 3-axis gimbal stabilizers for smartphones and have held off purchasing one because I just don’t like how sloppy they feel, there’s a lot of lag in the motion, you pan, and then...
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Notes on smartphone documentary moviemaking
This post is provided as a follow-up to the “Video Clinic” session on February 8, 2018 in support of Bobette’s Buster’s “8 Minutes and Under” workshop at Northeastern University, Spring 2018. Let me...
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