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Storytelling with Images and Sound: A Series of Hands-On Workshops in Filmmaking

November 30, 2021

In this series of four workshops, participants will gain skills in the basic principles of filmmaking: narration, cinematography, editing, and sound.  

In the first session we will explore camera angles, framing, point of view, camera movement and shooting for editing.  We will examine a finished short documentary by peeling back the layers, deconstructing it to gain an intimate insight into all the elements it contains: multiple video and audio tracks, narrative spine, music and sound effects, transitions, and graphics.  By deconstructing a finished segment, you will learn how to construct your own narrative with images and sound.  We will also dive into the core elements of the plot.

In the second session we will shoot group projects with a producer, director of cinematography, cinematographer, audio technician, and actors.  Every participant will have a chance to experience each of these roles.  We will create stories using storyboards and then go on location to shoot our stories using the storyboards as our roadmap.   After the location shoot, we will review and log our footage to prepare for editing.  

In the third session we will edit what we shot.  We will learn how to edit in Adobe Premiere using video, audio, sound effects, music and graphics.  At the end of this session we will project the finished group projects on a big screen to enjoy with popcorn!

In the fourth session each participant will produce a very short individual project of their choice.  At the end of this session we will project each of these projects on the big screen with more popcorn and engage in lively discussion and constructive critique.

By the end of these four sessions participants will have the knowledge and basic skills to produce your own mini-documentary and where applicable, be able to teach your students the basic principles of story-telling with images and sound.

Equipment: The principles of story-telling with images and sound are the same irrespective of the equipment you have available to you. In this workshop we will learn those principles with a multitude of HD cameras, including the Canon Cinema EOS C70, DSLRs, Go Pros, and iPhones.  Audio equipment will include wireless microphone systems and shotgun microphones.  To get the most out of the workshop, we encourage participants to bring a laptop with the trial version of Adobe Premiere editing software installed (30 day free-trial).  We will have several editing stations with the Adobe editing software available to edit the group projects.

Assignments: Each participant will produce a group (maximum 3 minutes in length) and individual (maximum 2 minutes in length) project.  More information will be distributed on the first day of the workshop.  

Groups will be formed based on experience and specific interest in certain aspects or roles in filmmaking. 

Individual projects may consist of re-editing and personalizing the group project, using footage from this and past workshops to create your own piece or you can use your own footage to produce whatever you’d like.  

Dates: September 14, 16, 21, 23, 2021   

Time 4:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Fee: $160

Contact:  Marianne Landrith, Program Director, Pima County School Superintendent’s Office marianne.landrith@pima.gov

Presenter:  Dan Duncan

Documentary Filmmaker Daniel Duncan, M.A., has won many major awards including twenty-five Rocky Mountain Emmys in directing, cinematography, editing, documentary, and feature categories. He has also been honored with four Arizona Press Club awards, an Associated Press International award, a Best of the West award, a gold Addy and in May of 2010 was inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television and Arts. For 19 years he was the Director/Co-Producer of The Desert Speaks, a PBS documentary series. He is currently the Producer/Director of the PBS distributed series: In The Americas with David Yetman. He is also an instructor/coordinator of HD video workshops in Arizona, Oaxaca, Mexico, and northeastern Brazil.  Please visit the following website: Intheamericas.org


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