Continuing Studies Overview

Frequently Asked Questions

Certificate in Documentary Studies

Courses Offered for the Upcoming Term

Current and Past Term Courses

Workshops and Institutes





Past Term Courses



GENERAL INFORMATION | Course Levels and Lab Fees

Documentary Studies courses are marked “All Levels,” “Beginning,” “Intermediate,” or “Advanced” to assist students in determining the most appropriate course in which to enroll. The specific designations are defined as follows:

1. All levels – This course is open to all skill levels.

2. Beginning – No experience needed to take a course with this designation.

3. Intermediate – This level assumes students have taken the Intro class in the subject and are able to work independently with software, within the darkroom, etc.

4. Advanced – This level assumes students have taken the Intro and Intermediate courses to acquire a comfort level working independently with the medium.

A CDS lab fee of $85 is included in the cost of courses where indicated; this fee covers the use of darkroom and editing facilities for the duration of the course. Students who are enrolled in other courses and who wish to use these facilities must pay the $85 lab fee and complete registration/orientation with the CDS Photography and Digital Arts Associate in order to use the labs. Students need only pay ONE lab fee per term. Certificate students working on their final projects may pay the lab fee and use the lab(s) if they have enrolled in the Final Project Seminar within the calendar year.

Please note: Students are expected to supply their own equipment and paper, unless stated otherwise. For further equipment recommendations, please contact Harlan Campbell, CDS Photography and Digital Arts Associate, at harlan.campbell@duke.edu.

If you are uncertain which level is most appropriate for you, or have questions regarding course lab fees, please contact April Walton, Learning Outreach Director, at awalton@duke.edu or 919-660–3670.

REQUIRED COURSES

Introductory Seminar in Documentary Studies | Beginning
Joy Salyers

This required course is designed for students in the Certificate in Documentary Studies program or those who plan to enroll. Photography, video, oral history, writing, ethnography, and community partnerships—Documentary Studies is interdisciplinary and multifaceted in nature, encompassing many genres and numerous means of interacting with the world and its peoples. We emphasize not only methodologies but also philosophies and ethics of fieldwork in different settings. Students will explore examples of fieldwork and, at the final meeting, will present preliminary projects of their own.

Thursdays, February 5–March 26
6–8:30 p.m. (20 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $245
Course ID: 12191

Joy M.G. Salyers is a folklorist, writer, and anti-racism educator. She consults with individuals and groups on a variety of topics—her specialties include using oral history, experiential learning, and creativity to bridge community divisions, develop identity, and combat prejudice. She is trained to use stories and writing to connect and to heal. Her personal fieldwork includes documenting personal life histories, writing poetry from family stories, and collaborating with members of a modern performance community.



Final Project Seminar In Documentary Studies | Advanced
Nancy Kalow

The seminar will consist of group discussions about each student’s project and progress toward completion, along with guided planning on taking projects to their intended audiences.

Participants who successfully complete their project during this course will be awarded the Certificate in Documentary Studies.

Students who have met all other requirements and who have done substantial work toward their intended final projects are encouraged to request admission to this seminar by sending an email to awalton@duke.edu (subject line “CDS Final Seminar”). Prior to approval, CDS will be in contact with students to discuss their final projects. Approved participants will be notified and given registration instructions. (Limit 8)

Please note: This class is available to certificate students and by approval only. The deadline to request admission into the course is March 3. On Friday, May 15, students will share final presentations.

Tuesdays, March 24–May 5
7–9 p.m. (14 hours)
Certificate graduation presentations on Friday, May 15
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $245
Course ID: 12192

Nancy Kalow is a folklorist, filmmaker, and documentarian of communities and cultural expression. Some of her video work can be viewed for free at Folkstreams, the Web site for films on American vernacular and folk culture.

SPECIAL TOPICS

Creating a Multimedia Documentary Exhibit: A Hands-On Project | All Levels
Georgann Eubanks and Donna Campbell

Participants will help conceive, research, and gather materials to be used in a permanent multimedia exhibition documenting the colorful life of longtime Durham arts maven Ella Fountain Pratt. Pratt, who passed away in the summer of 2008, was a dynamic and innovative arts advocate and cultural entrepreneur, and in her memory, the Durham Arts Council has set aside a gallery area in their downtown headquarters to commemorate her spirit and her long service to the Duke and Durham communities. As a young woman in Mississippi, Pratt was a dancer, but in 1956 she launched her long career as an arts administrator at Duke University. As Director of Cultural Services, she brought such international artists as soprano Leontyne Price, folk singer Pete Seeger, guitarist Doc Watson, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal to perform on campus. She also brought opera to downtown Durham, producing a performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen in Brightleaf Square. Even before her retirement from Duke in 1984, she was the visionary force behind the Durham Arts Council’s two major outreach programs, the Emerging Artists Grants and the Creative Arts in Public/Private Schools, which she oversaw until her death at age 94.

With the instructor’s guidance and encouragement, the class team will develop a strategy for researching disparate sources of information on Pratt and then gather photos, transcripts of interviews, news stories, existing video footage, and determine interview subjects for a short video. In the course of this collection process, the group will inevitably encounter the particular demands of this form of documentary, including copyrights and permissions, digitizing historic photos and footage from multiple technologies, discovering key themes and narrative threads, developing materials that speak to multiple audiences for the exhibit, all the while addressing the goals of the key stakeholders (family, funders, university, and community).

Thursdays, January 8–29
6:30–8:30 p.m. (8 hours)
Course fee: $185
Class ID: 12193

Georgann Eubanks and Donna Campbell are the managing partners of Minnow Media, LLC, a full-service multimedia production company based in Carrboro. Eubanks has written profiles and promotional materials for the last 25 years and once hosted a local radio program for three years. Early in her career, Campbell founded Lake Norman Magazine near Charlotte, became Knight Ridder’s first female publisher, and then moved into documentary production for public television, for which she has won numerous awards. Between them, Eubanks and Campbell have interviewed a range of “famous” subjects, including Michael Jordan, William Styron, Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou, Ruth and Billy Graham, and Walter Cronkite, but their favorite subjects are usually the result of serendipity—the folks they meet in their travels throughout rural North Carolina. For more information, see www.minnowmedia.net.



Documenting the Sacred | All Levels
Dawn Dreyer

When we document the sacred, do we seek to understand, venerate, demystify, or debunk? Is it best to approach a subject with faith or skepticism? In Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Kathleen Norris writes, “As a poet I am used to saying what I don’t thoroughly comprehend.” In this course, I’d like us to enter into the act of creating documentary art with a similar sense of questioning, vulnerability, and wonder, even as we maintain a critical perspective. In our time together, we will engage with work by writers and other artists who have endeavored to document the sacred; respectfully share our own perspectives on faith; and consider how our belief systems affect the way we see and portray others. Students will complete a short documentary exercise in the medium of their choice; this assignment can be part of an ongoing project or the beginning of something new. I anticipate (with pleasure) that each of us will bring our own definition of the “sacred” to our work and to this course.

Mondays, February 9–March 30
6:30–8:30 p.m. (16 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $225 Enroll also in 12197: $215
Course ID: 12196

Dawn K. Dreyer is a community-based, mixed-media conceptual artist/activist. Dawn’s creative work is grounded in her radical faith and her passion for social justice. She is currently in production on the animated documentary short Bipolar Girl Rules the World and Other Stories. Last year, Dawn spent nine months as an artist-in-residence at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. From 2000 to 2007, Dawn worked at the Center for Documentary Studies, first coordinating public programs, then as Learning Outreach Director. She also was the board president for the Southern Documentary Fund from 2002 to 2007.



NEW! American Islam: Black American Identity, Community, and History | All Levels
Youssef J. Carter

This course will examine how various African American Orthodox Muslim communities developed in the latter part of the twentieth century and how African American identity affects the practice of Islam in America. Through open discussions, looking at original sources such as historical monographs and journal articles, and engaging with various speakers, we will get a glimpse of how African American Muslims have formed and documented community and identity while considering race, religion, and gender.

Mondays, February 23–April 13
6–8:30 p.m. (20 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $235
Course ID: 12198

The academic interests of Youssef J. Carter are twentieth-century African American history and the African Diaspora. His research focuses on documenting social activism and the processes of community development among black Orthodox Muslims in America in relation to the larger currents of Islamic revivalism in the last half of the twentieth century. Currently, he’s completing his thesis project, a historical narrative of the Islamic Party in North America, concentrating on how the nature of black identity affects the motive to form organizations or movements that possess a social-political center. His work highlights the importance and presence of black Islam in the past to bring its rich history into the present.



NEW! Bringing Your Soul to the Work | All Levels
Michelle Lanier

Race, ethnicity, regional identity, gender, age, faith, sexuality, socioeconomics—all of the identity threads that weave together to create our human selves—impact the ways in which we engage as documentarians.

This course explores the following questions: How can documentarians bring their personal lives, their “hidden journeys,” to their work in ways that are useful? What does it mean to be a documentarian of color? What does it mean to document the “other”? How do we go about documenting our own communities and families?

We will explore notions of “vulnerable observation,” as practiced by Ruth Behar, as well as a methodology of “spirit-centered ethnography,” which honors the ethnographer’s faith practices as a part of the documentary process.

This course is discussion-based and includes the opportunity for “reading” films, photographs, audio examples, texts, and one historic site—to the extent that these materials support the path of class discussions. We will choose our materials in a way that honors the wisdom of all participants.

Thursdays, March 12–April 2
6:30–8:30 p.m. (10 hours)
Saturday field trip to Historic Stagville, March 28, 12–2 p.m.
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $185 Enroll also in 12196: $175
Course ID: 12197

As Curator of Cultural History with North Carolina’s State Historic Sites, Michelle Lanier uses her background as an oral historian and a folklorist to connect communities around the state’s rich cultural resources. She also brings the ethical issues of public history into the classroom as an instructor with Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies. Michelle’s spirit-centered ethnographic research on contemporary Gullah burial traditions, completed through UNC–Chapel Hill’s Curriculum in Folklore, paved the way for her to become a liaison to the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.

AUDIO

Make That Audio Documentary: Intro to Sound Recording and Digital Mixing | Beginning
John Blythe

Documentary audio isn’t just about getting on the radio! Knowing how to record and edit audio creates multimedia opportunities for all kinds of documentary artists, and there are many new venues (such as podcasting) for sharing work. In this class, students will make short audio documentaries using their own recordings. We will begin with the basics of interviewing and making “good” recordings and end by learning to edit sound using Pro Tools digital software.

Please note: Students must provide their own recorder (preferably digital), headphones, and microphone. They will also need to provide a FireWire external storage device. Students should have their equipment when the class begins.

Tuesdays, February 3–April 7 (no class on February 10 and March 10)
7–9 p.m. (16 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $250 (lab fee of $85 is included in tuition and is valid for the duration of the class)
Course ID: 12199

John Blythe is a Chapel Hill–based journalist and independent producer. His radio career has included stints as a producer/director at North Carolina Public Radio (WUNC) and as a producer/reporter in New York (WFUV), where his work won a Golden Reel award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Public Radio News Directors Incorporated award. His reports also have aired on NPR’s Justice Talking and on several British radio networks. Blythe has worked as a newspaper reporter, Web editor, and magazine researcher.



Audio Postcards | All Levels
Jennifer Deer 
 
The NPR Web site describes audio postcards this way: “This is sound that is not just ambience. It’s the audio equivalent of that four-color photo. It should really make listeners feel they were there.”
The audio postcard is a short format, but a meaty one. Through an elegant layering of voices and ambient and natural sound, the postcard allows audio documentary to do what it does best: place the listener smack in the middle of the sights, sounds, smells, and mood of a place or an event. The principles of the postcard can be applied to all your audio projects, and will come in handy in all other mediums as well.

This workshop is open to all levels, and is a good entry point for those just beginning their exploration into audio as a medium as well as for those wishing to hone their audio skills. We will spend the morning listening to and discussing the mechanics and applications of the postcard—then we’ll head out and see what it takes to make one. If you own recording equipment, bring it. Students will work in groups. 
 
Saturday, March 7
11 a.m.–6 p.m. (6 hours) 
One-hour break; please bring a bag lunch.
Course fee: $135 
Course ID: 12200 
 
Jennifer Deer is a writer, performer, audio producer, and graduate student living in Durham. Her work for radio has been aired on such nationally syndicated programs as NPR’s All Things Considered, Day to Day, and Weekend America. She co-curates the audio documentary podcast Web site www.BigShed.org.


 
The Personal Narrative in Radio | All Levels
Jennifer Deer 
 
This one-day course will be an introduction to first-person narrative in the medium of audio. In addition to auditioning a diversity of first-person radio essays, we will address the various aspects of this form, including writing, voicing, editing, and the use of sound. Special emphasis will be given to tools for working through writing blocks, the challenge of narration, and creating a story with sound. Students should come with an idea for a piece.
 
Saturday, March 28 
11 a.m.–6 p.m. (6 hours) 
One-hour break, please bring a bag lunch.
Course fee: $135 
Course ID: 12201 
 
Jennifer Deer is a writer, performer, audio producer, and graduate student living in Durham. Her work for radio has been aired on such nationally syndicated programs as NPR’s All Things Considered, Day to Day, and Weekend America. She co-curates the audio documentary podcast Web site www.BigShed.org.







PHOTOGRAPHY

NEW! Documentary Portraiture: A View from Two Sides | All Levels
Abigail Blosser

How would you describe your experience of creating someone’s portrait? How would the subject describe his or her experience with you?

This class will be a theoretical and practical exploration of portraiture from both the subject’s and the photographer’s perspectives. Through examination of your individual practice as a photographer, you will learn to merge documentary approaches with the aesthetic choices involved in making portraits. A photographer’s intentions, relationships between photographers and subjects, sensitivity to surroundings, and an awareness of expressive possibilities will be explored in class. We will also address practical aspects of portraiture, such as working with different types of cameras and lighting. Students will develop their own artistic voices through shooting assignments, as well as by engaging in weekly discussions, examining portraits, and reviewing works-in-progress.

Wednesdays, January 21–March 4, and one Saturday class (between Wednesday sessions; date to be determined)
6:30—8:30 p.m. (16 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $255
Class ID: 12202

Abigail Blosser is a practicing artist and photographer. Her art has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States, including the Kennedy Museum, the Reese Museum, and at Duke University. She earned her M.F.A. in photography from Ohio University and has taught photography to students of all ages. Her work can be viewed on her Web site: abigailblosserphotography.com.



NEW! A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Negotiated Meanings | All Levels
Meg Daniels

This course will teach students to use documentary images to construct meaning as they create and “see” credible shots in still photography. The differences between credible photographs and those used for recording information will be examined, along with practices that utlize photography in consumer culture, family and ethnic studies, tourism, and other genres. Students will also apply the techniques they learn to further personal photographic and career goals (i.e. incorporating images in sociological, anthropological, and other fields of research).

Friday–Sunday, February 20–22
Begins Friday, 6–9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. –5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1–5 p.m. (13 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $225
Class ID: 12203

Meg Daniels has a B.F.A. in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and an M.S. in adult and community college education from NC State. She has taught photography throughout the state of North Carolina, and has worked as a freelance photographer and photojournalist for various magazines and newspapers, including the Raleigh News and Observer, Mothering Magazine, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. She currently specializes in documentary wedding photography, portraiture, and editorial photography. Samples of her work can be seen at www.megdanielsphoto.com.



NEW! Taking It to the Next Level: Documentary Photographic Composition and Content | Advanced
MJ Sharp

Where to go from here?! How do you begin to “build” amazing pictures after you’ve become comfortable with your camera equipment and its various settings? How do you make your images “snap” while keeping in mind the technical how-to’s of getting there, such as exposure, lighting, and lens choices? If you’re beginning to ponder these questions and others related to the creation of “visual metaphors,” this class is for you!

Wednesdays, March 11–May 13
6–8 p.m. (20 hours)
Course fee: $285
Course ID: 12204

MJ Sharp has been a working photojournalist and fine art photographer for 15 years. Recently, her work was included in Jill Waterman’s book, Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success. Samples of her work can be seen at www.mjsharp.com.



Introduction to Darkroom Photography in Black & White | Beginning
Ava Johnson

Nothing beats the magic of processing your own film and making your own prints in a wet darkroom. This class will introduce students to the beauty of traditional black-and-white image making, from exposing black-and-white negative film to producing final prints. Please bring your film camera to the first class. Any style of film is just fine, with older models often being much easier to use and understand. So dig around in the back of that closet and bring in the oldest thing you can find!

Please note: Access to darkroom and photo chemicals is included in the cost of the course, but you must buy your own film and paper, readily available at any of the four pro camera stores in the area.

Thursdays, March 12–April 30
6–8 p.m. (16 hours)
Materials fee: $10
Course fee: $225 (lab fee of $85 is included in tuition and is valid for the duration of the class)
Course ID: 12205

Ava Johnson is a performer, artist, and activist living in Durham. She received her B.F.A. in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design and her M.F.A. in studio art from UNC–Chapel Hill. When not questioning mainstream thinking or making up funny songs, she is the public information coordinator at the Center for Documentary Studies and one of the founding performers of the Cuntry Kings drag/performance group.



Legal Issues for Photography | All Levels
Daniel Ellison

This course will provide an introduction to copyright issues specifically of concern to photographers. Who owns the rights to your photographs? Who owns the rights to archival and other old photographs? The class will also discuss “rights of publicity” and “rights of privacy.” A variety of release forms and other contracts will be reviewed. Students will be expected to bring in samples of their own photographs for discussion of their work and their work process.

Saturday, April 4
11 a.m.–1 p.m. (2 hours)
Cost of Materials: $10 (exact amount due at class)
Course fee: $75
Course ID: 12207

Daniel Ellison is an attorney in private practice in Durham. He has been working with artists and nonprofit arts organizations for more than twenty years. A longtime supporter of the Center for Documentary Studies, he is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of arts law issues. He is a past president and executive director of the North Carolina Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and former chair of the North Carolina State Bar Association’s Arts Law Committee. He developed Durham Arts Place, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary of providing affordable artist studio spaces. Dan also teaches a course in the Duke Theater Studies Department on legal issues for the performing arts.



Large Format Photography | All Levels
Lisa Satterwhite

A course in black-and-white photography that explores the unique creative latitude of large format: a collaborative and contemplative process that is genuinely liberating for the artistic sensibility. Used in classic documentary and by modern masters, contact prints from large format negatives are unparalleled in luminosity and intensity. Students will be given 4 x 5 view cameras, technical instruction in exposure and adjustments that control depth of field and perspective, and will work in the darkroom to make fine gelatin silver prints from their large format negatives. Emphasis is on technical proficiency and personal visual language. The only prerequisite is a spirit for adventure!

Please note: Access to the darkroom and photo chemicals is included in the cost of the course. However, you must buy your own film and paper, readily available from two camera stores in the area or from on-line photography supply stores. We will use Kodak Tri-X 4 x 5 sheet film ISO 320 (TXP #4164).

Tuesdays, April 21–June 9
6-8 p.m. (16 hours)
Course fee: $225 (lab fee of $85 is included in tuition and is valid for the duration of the class)
Course ID: 12341

Lisa Satterwhite, an artist and a biologist, holds a B.A. in fine art and art history from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. in cell biology from Johns Hopkins University.  While a cancer research fellow at Princeton University, she studied photography in the Program for Visual Arts, and since that time has used photography and basic research to tackle issues of health inequity and social justice. Her current photography documents cultural erasure from unrestricted land development in the mountains of N.C. and explores a sense of home, belonging, and stewardship.

VIDEO

Documentary Video Editing with Final Cut Pro | Intermediate
Simone Keith

Learn and discuss video editing techniques using the advanced features in Final Cut Pro. Find out what makes a smooth cut, understand the proper use of effects and transitions, and explore sound mixing while editing your next documentary project. Basic Final Cut Pro skills are required, and access to a portable FireWire hard drive is desirable. Required Text: In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch. Recommended Text: Final Cut Pro HD for Dummies.

Mondays, February 2–March 23
6:30–9 p.m. (20 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $265 (lab fee of $85 is included in tuition and is valid for the duration of the class)
Course ID: 12208

Simone Keith started her career as news editor and videotape operator. After accepting an invitation to spend a year in Ecuador to train young nationals in production, she returned to the U.S. to work for UNC-TV. It was this exposure to documentaries that led her to produce her first independent feature, Heavier Than Air, a short about Brazilian aviator Santos-Dumont and his claim to have been the first in flight. She currently works at NC State University, where she is the videographer/editor of the award-winning weekly gardening show In the Garden with Bryce Lane. She also serves as creative director and principal cinematographer of Pára Tudo Productions, which she founded in 2006.



Introduction to Documentary Video Production | Beginning
Chris Potter

Students will learn how to shoot good quality video. The footage they bring to the edit sessions will be intended for an audience to see and hear.

Please note: The basic camera, lighting, and audio techniques covered in this course don’t require expensive equipment. While any video camera will work, students will be best served by a camera with an external microphone jack, a headphone jack, and the capacity for manual control of exposure and white balance. If you buy a tripod, make sure it’s a video tripod with as smooth a panhead as possible. Please contact instructor with any questions about purchasing equipment.

Wednesdays, February 4–March 18
6:30–9 p.m. (17.5 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $250 (lab fee of $85 is included in tuition and is valid for the duration of the class)
Course ID: 12209

Chris Potter studied documentary film and video techniques at the Rice University Media Center. He has produced and directed commercial, industrial, and public service videos for more than twenty-five years. He recently completed a documentary video on the Tillery resettlement community in northeastern North Carolina.



Directing Your Documentary | Intermediate
Randolph Benson

Making documentary films is more than pointing a camera at a subject, recording an event, or conveying interesting information. Your film will be a historical document that not only tells the story of your subject, but reflects you as an artist. Directing a film means making difficult choices, from initial story concept to first screening. These choices, similar to those made by narrative fiction filmmakers, involve the range of available tools and techniques. Use this course to prepare for the choices you will make about how best to design your production, develop your aesthetic, and capture your story on film. Through selected film clips, readings, in-class production instruction, and weekly assignments, you will gain an understanding of the art of directing a documentary film while developing the skills you’ll need to fulfill your vision. By the end of the term, you will be expected to complete a “mini-documentary” of approximately two to three minutes in length, combining all of the methods and techniques learned in the course. You will need access to a video camera and a tripod.

Date: Wednesdays, February 4–April 1
7–9 p.m. (18 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $250
Course ID: 12210

Randolph Benson is a graduate of Wake Forest University and of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking. His film Man and Dog has appeared in eighteen film festivals in seven countries and has garnered numerous awards, most notably a Gold Medal in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards. His work has been featured on the Bravo Network, the Independent Film Channel (Split Screen), WTTW-Chicago, UNC-TV (North Carolina Visions), and Telewizja Polska S.A.-Poland. He also received an Eastman Kodak Excellence in Filmmaking Award at the Cannes Film Festival.



Introduction to Documentary Video Editing | Beginning
Erika Simon

How do you craft footage into a story—better yet, your story? We’ll analyze documentaries to learn basic editing conventions and study the effects of stylistic choices. Through weekly homework assignments, students will learn to use Final Cut Pro and share their work in class. Students will edit supplied footage to create their own take on the “same” story, burn a sample DVD, and output their edited work onto mini-DV tape.

Please note: Students must bring a camcorder to class on two specified dates, as well as bring a USB-2 or FireWire hard drive to every class. No experience is necessary but basic computer skills are required. Students should expect a lot of homework between classes.

Thursdays, February 12–April 9 (no class 3/12)
7–9 p.m. (16 hours)
Materials fee: $10 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $250
Course ID: 12211

Erika Simon has been teaching Final Cut Pro to beginners at CDS since 2003. She edited Gatewood: Facing the White Canvas and directed and edited SAF’s Levante: Theater for Social Change and a PSA that aired on Univisión. She recently edited Green Jobs Revolution as an extra for the Everything’s Cool DVD. Her final project for the CDS Certificate in Documentary Studies program won the 2006 Carrboro Film Festival Audience Award. She is a recipient of the Martha Nell Hardy Award for Outstanding Teaching at UNC–Chapel Hill.



Distribution and Marketing for Documentary Films | All Levels
Mimi Kelly

This course looks at who buys films both large and small, and the nature of those deals. We will review deal points when contracting with distributors, as well as ways of marketing in order to create a bidding war for your film. Markets and marketing techniques will also be examined.

Wednesdays, March 11–April 15
6:30–8:30 p.m. (12 hours)
Materials fees: $25 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $275
Class ID: 12212

Mimi Kelly is a producer/director/writer of film and television, and CEO of Kelly and Company. Her career encompasses feature films at Columbia Pictures and documentary work at PBS and CBS in New York. From these experiences Kelly and Company evolved to produce commercials, documentaries, features, and corporate work. Her clients include an array of small and large businesses for profit and not-for-profit: NBC, Pfizer, Exxon, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Proctor & Gamble, and Newsweek, among others.



Documentary in the Digital Age: Publishing Your Video Documentary on the Web | Intermediate
Carol Thomson

You have your short video doc finished and you want it to be seen. The Internet is one way to reach an unlimited audience, but you aren’t a Webmaster and you don’t know where to start. Learn the basics of preparing video for the Web, loading video to a Web page, and establishing a low-cost and easy Web presence by creating your own Blog. In this one-day workshop, we will discuss video compression techniques and pitfalls, and walk through the steps of creating a Blog. Video formats discussed include QuickTime and Flash video.

Students will bring a short video clip in on an external drive (three minutes or less) ready to import in Final Cut Pro and will then compress the video and publish it on a newly created Blog. Experience with Final Cut Pro required. Instructions will be emailed to students prior to the workshop on how to create a source video clip and load it on a hard drive.

Saturday, April 25
11 a.m.–6 p.m. (6 hours)
One-hour break, please bring a bag lunch.
Materials fee: $5 (exact amount due at first class)
Course fee: $150
Course ID: 12213

Carol Thomson has been creating Web sites and multimedia works since 2000 when she began her documentary studies in Australia. Carol completed her Certificate in Documentary Studies at the Center for Documentary Studies in 2005. She is working on a multimedia documentary, Bridging Rails to Trails: Stories of the American Tobacco Trail, which will be published on the Web and as a CD-ROM. A work-in-progress version can be seen at http://bridgingrailstotrails.com. Thomson’s Web and multimedia company, FireStream Media, LLC, is located in downtown Durham.

WORKSHOPS AND INSTITUTES

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Untitled, from the series Raising Helana. Photograph by Lissa Gotwals, from her project for the continuing studies course Final Project Seminar in Documentary Studies. Gotwals's work from this series was published in issue 03 of Blueeyes Magazine.