Discovering the art of documentary storytelling at Skidmore

Audio Piece Transcript

Christine: When you watch something on TV — a video — 80% of the emotion that you feel when you’re watching that, comes from what you hear.

Charlotte: Really?

Christine: Yes. So being able to mix something and edit something and master it in a way where you’re able to express and translate emotion is just so powerful. Whether it’s in audio storytelling or video storytelling, the ability to make somebody feel something is just such a skill.

Charlotte: The John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, lovingly known as MDOCS to its students and faculty, offers a space for storytellers of all media; whether it be audio, film, photography, writing, or spoken word, MDOCS “serves Skidmore and the surrounding community through courses, workshops, and project support in the art of non-fiction."  

My name is Charlotte Mahn, and I am a member of Skidmore College’s class of 2025. This past spring, I took Intro to Audio Documentary, a course offered by the MDOCS program. MDOCS is not a major nor a minor, it is simply a space for students to explore their creativity. I am an English major with an economics minor, and I am always intrigued by storytelling. I took this audio documentary class to dip my toes into the world of public radio and podcasting, and I found a passion for it. 

The class was taught by Christine O’Donnell, a Saratoga Springs native and experienced journalist. That’s who you heard at the beginning of this. Christine has her own podcast production company in downtown Saratoga Springs, just five minutes from Skidmore’s campus. I am working there as an intern this summer. Bright Sighted, her podcast company, tells stories intended to brighten someone’s day. 

Christine: I don’t shy away from difficult stories, but I wanna stay with the story so we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Charlotte: I sat down with her to talk about her experience as a professor in the MDOCS program. 

Christine: And honestly, it was such a great experience for me because we had such a wonderful class. Like, I just think that — and it’s also something that I was hoping would happen. I don’t know if you remember the first day of class, but I was like "I want this to be like a safe place where we can share our stories with each other and feel like it’s a safe space to share our stories"  — to share stories that matter, we have to go deep.

We have to share things that may feel vulnerable or sensitive, and you just gotta be real. You gotta be authentic, and so the more comfortable everybody in the class felt with each other, the higher the quality of the storytelling was going to be.

I think that through the class, like, people really got to know each other. And I felt like I really got to know all — I feel like I got to know you and the other students and that was just, it was a privilege, it was great.

Charlotte: Christine’s instincts for what makes good storytelling are clear — vulnerability is scary but essential for good stories, and what I loved so much about the class was the safe space she provided. I find this safety in many of my other classes at Skidmore, no matter the department. What was special about this class, though, was how close we all became.  

Charlotte: I don’t know. There was an intimacy in that class that I haven’t really found anywhere else at Skidmore. People were just okay to like put themselves out there and tell their story. And like, by the end, the pieces that people were producing; I’m like ‘people have to hear this they have to like understand like how cool it is.’ It was a great way to connect with people and also get a grade for it.

Skidmore is a place for anyone, but the MDOCS lab is for anyone who wants to tell a story. Whether it’s your own or someone else’s, you can count on a place to tell it. You can count on people to care about it.  

MDOCS also sponsors the Storytellers Institute, “a five-week residency program hosted at Skidmore College. For the month of June, the institute welcomes its Fellows to work on independent projects and engage in an annual theme. Residency spots are open to professional documentary practitioners (visiting fellows) and Skidmore College students, faculty and staff. The residency provides an intensely focused period of time for the Fellows to work independently and collaboratively in order to hone their craft and advance their current projects." 

Thank you for listening, and to find more information on Skidmore College, the MDOCS program, or the Storytellers Institute visit www.skidmore.edu.