Documentaries in HiDef

A Workshop on Broadcast-Quality Documentary Production

Oaxaca, Mexico, July 5-16

 

 

This 10-day workshop focuses on the production of broadcast-quality High Definition documentaries. Emmy-award winners videographer and editor Dan Duncan and host David Yetman from the PBS and Discovery Channel Series “The Desert Speaks” will direct the workshop. Participants will be divided by experience into groups no larger than 5 and receive instruction in filming on location and in post-production editing to produce a final broadcast quality documentary.

 

Participants will have the opportunity to film in such places as Oaxaca City, Teotitlán del Valle, the Mixteca, and Oaxaca's desert valleys and on such topics as Oaxaca’s street musicians and the colonial organs of Oaxaca’s pueblos. Other video projects will be considered

 

Participants will join in seminar sessions and on-location visits to the CIESAS (Mexico’s Institute of research in Social Anthropology) Laboratorio Visual and INHA (Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology) program of ethnographic documentaries. Evenings will feature the presentation of documentaries and discussion with the producers. These will include James Cullingham, Toronto-based documentary producer and Ph.D. student at York University, and Ethelia Ruz, INHA ethnographic documentary producer. Participants who have produced documentaries are encouraged to bring them to the workshop for screening and discussion.

 

Participants receive a certificate of completion at the end of the workshop.

 

Costs and logistics:

The participation fee for the workshop is $1950 dollars that includes the use of the latest high definition video and sound equipment and editing programs, and the cost of field trips (with translators when necessary). Some financial aide is available on a competitive basis. For an additional cost, participants can request housing with a Mexican family ($17 US  a night for separate bedroom and breakfast) or hotel ($60 US a night for room in a  moderate priced hotel within walking distance of the workshop). For travel arrangements, there are flights to Oaxaca from Mexico City or convenient bus travel of 5 hours. The workshop staff can provide additional information.

 

Application

 

For additional information, contact:

 William H. Beezley

Department of History

University of Arizona

Tucson, Az 85721

beezley@u.arizona.edu