MDOCS 2016 Fall Course List

In Fall 2016 MDOCS will offer a range of courses designed to support beginners to committed documentary media makers.  There are courses for someone interested in adding basic production skills to apply to current course work and more intensive project-based courses for students looking to further challenge themselves in the art of documentary.

Production Fundamentals

• DS 113A Interviewing (1 credit)
• DS 116A  Virtual Reality (1)
• DS202A Workshop: Public Service Announcement Videos (1)

Documentary Studies

• DS 201 Principles of Documentary (3)
• EN 228/DS 202A Salmagundi Workshop for Archive-Based Media Stories (4)
• DS 251C Introduction to Audio Documentary (3)
• DS 251D Documentary Film Production (4)
• DS 251B Storytelling for the Screen I (2)
• DS 302C From Story to Screen: Film Crew Production (3)
• DS 351C Advanced Audio/Multimedia Documentary (3)
• DS 302A Video Projects (1)
  

MDOCS continues to support all skill levels coming from different disciplinary backgrounds. The gateway course, "Principles of Documentary," taught by MDOCS Director Jordana Dym, offers an introduction to approaches and ethics of documentary storytelling by exploring documentary work across sound, still and moving image, and other multimedia practices. 

For students interested in building basic multimedia production skills, MDOCS offers "Interviewing 101,"  taught by co-founder of the Sound and Story Project Eileen McAdam; "Storytelling for the Screen I" with screenwriter Nicole Coady; and a workshop with Jordana Dym and Eli Ruben '16 in which students will develop basic video production skills by producing public service announcements for college or community programs.

Students will find exciting new multifaceted courses that combine a solid research discipline with video production skills. The Salmagundi Workshop for Archive-Based Media Stories, co-listed with English and taught by Marc Woodworth and Ron Taylor, is a hands-on workshop dedicated to creating and developing media content inspired by Salmagundi, the independent international quarterly housed at Skidmore.

For a first-time offering, filmmaker and Mellon Fellow Nicky Tavares brings Video and Virtual Reality, a workshop delving into the rapidly evolving landscape of virtual reality from its early beginnings in the 1960s to its resurgence in the 1990s to today. In this brand-new course students will create two original immersive projects: one individual photography project and one group video project.

MDOCS is keeping up with students eager to further develop their skills by offering some more advanced production courses such as "Documentary Film Production," a 4-credit course taught by Nicky Tavares that focuses on the critical and technical skills involved in the production of nonfiction video. Basic shooting and editing techniques will be covered as well as an introduction to a wide range of production methods and creative strategies that encourage exploration in all aspects of the medium. Eileen McAdam will also offer "Intro to Audio Documentary."

In addition, MDOCS now brings two advanced production courses for skilled students to enhance their knowledge and tackle more sophisticated projects. Audio creator Adam Tinkle brings "Advanced Audio," and "Multimedia Doc" welcomes students already adept in one or more digital editing platforms to produce a series of their own large-scale audio-centric documentary projects. In these projects, students use the basic toolkit of audio/radio documentary (field recording, interviewing, narration), and extend its expressive potential through integration with cutting-edge multimedia. Students will design and realize projects that include audio, video, digital and multimedia pieces for presentation online.

Finally, for students advancing projects across the curriculum who seek individual support with the media element of their work, MDOCS offers "Video Projects," taught for a second time by filmmaker and Media Services specialist Ron Taylor.

Also new this semester is MDOCS' first crew-based production course, "From Story to Screen," taught by Nicole Coady and Vickie Riley, which allows advanced production students to register as a position on a three- to five-person production crew (writer, cinematographer, sound designer), and create a collaborative 5–10 minute, research-based film.

All documentary studies courses and cross-listings count towards Skidmore's new minor in media and film studies. 

Registration opens APRIL 5. For additional class details and related offerings in other programs, see MDOCS' full listing of Fall 2016 classes.