MIDDLEBURY — The Vermont Folklife Center is hosting a daylong workshop, “Documentary Video Production, on Friday, June 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. led by New York documentary filmmaker Myles Jewell.
Visual media saturate our everyday lives, and video documentary — when well crafted and thoughtfully composed — can be a powerful means of sharing human experience.
Starting with brainstorming, predicting story structure and organizing shoots, to the implementation of shoots and how to assemble a crew, through the editing and distribution process, this workshop is an introduction to the full process of creating a video documentary. The workshop will look at the process of filmmaking as a whole, without the time-consuming constraints of hands-on technical training or the use of equipment.
Intended for anyone interested in the value of nonfiction storytelling, particularly in the visual form, the workshop offers the first step of a longer, intensive process. The methods taught will look at historical approaches to nonfiction media, and how form and content inform the process of storytelling. The workshop will also look at the logistics and ethics involved in embarking on this process.
Myles Jewell is the Vermont Folklife Center’s Education Outreach/Media Instructor and a freelance filmmaker. He earned a master of arts from New York University with an advanced certificate in the Program of Culture and Media, which includes technical training in Documentary and Ethnographic filmmaking.
After graduate school, Jewell began making documentaries (www.strangleholdthemovie.com, www.tylerjewell.com) and experimental films full time (www.mylesdavidjewell.com). To supplement his filmmaking career, he also developed media literacy workshops to promote minimal resource filmmaking in disenfranchised areas.
The tuition for this workshop is $95, and the registration deadline is June 1. Registration forms are available online at www.vermontfolklifecenter.org, or people can register by calling 802-388-4964. This workshop will be held at the Vermont Folklife Center headquarters building at 88 Main St. in downtown Middlebury.