Non-Fiction Story Telling in Pictures, Moving and Still – The Basics &
Beyond

ENVIR ST 402, sec. 6, 3 credits. Friday, 1:00-3:30 pm.
No prerequisites. Permission of instructor required.
For application, see http://www.arts.wisc.edu/artsinstitute/air/helfand/application.htm

This course requires students to look at the world around them and develop the ability to create compelling and dramatic stories in which real people are the characters and real life is the plot. Issues that define documentary -- access, trust, ethics, objectivity and point-of-view—are addressed in practice and serve as a complement to theoretical issues covered in Green Screen. The course provides students with hands-on training in a variety of skills associated with documentary production (conducting primary research, interviewing, directing, videography, sound recording, and editing).

A major focus of this course will be on understanding the editing process – in theory and practice -- as a powerful and dynamic tool for shaping and re-shaping a story or narrative arc. Equally, the concept of point-of-view will be emphasized, translating the student’s personal
“voice” or a character’s distinct point-of-view into visual and narrative choices.

Coursework consists of three production exercises, each one building on the next. This collaborative set of projects will offer students the opportunity to develop different stories around a single set of concepts, a subject, character, or ongoing event.

One of the projects and a highlight of the course will be the production of a series of 90 second trailers or PSA's that will be shown during the international environmental film festival, Tales From Planet Earth, to take place in Madison from Nov. 2-4, 2007.