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Camera Assistant Workshop Wrap-Up

The always-popular Camera Assistant for Film & HD Workshop with Doug Hart was a hit again this year! Students in the class had the opportunity to work with ARRI and Panavision's latest film and digital camera gear. The attraction of using and learning about these sponsors' equipment proved irresistible, drawing international students from Singapore to Uruguay.

For this class, which wrapped up on June 19, ARRI and Panavision sent representatives to teach participants how to use the plethora of cameras they brought with them. Offerings from ARRI included the D21 Digital Camera System,  435 Xtreme 35mm Camera, 16mm 416 Plus Camera Package. Panavision came with their Genesis Digital Camera Package and the Platinum 35mm camera with Primo Zoom and Prime Lenses.

Doug Hart will be teaching another session of the Camera Assistant for Film & HD September 5-11. 

 

Instructor Screens "Alleluia Junction" at Rockland Strand this Saturday

Still from "Alleluia Junction"For two weeks, local filmmaker and MMW instructor Dana Rae Warren documented a Maine-based community choir as they traveled and sung their way across Russia. The resulting one-hour film, produced in conjunction with Moody Mountain Media, will be screened at the Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine this Saturday, July 3 at 1:30pm.

Alleluia Junction follows the eighty-member Rachmaninoff choir as they travel throughout the country performing to enthusiastic Russian audiences. Crossing Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, they arrive in the Russian Far East for the Fourth of July with a new understanding of what it means to be an American, as well as a citizen of the world. To get a preview, watch the trailer.

The free screening is part of a special day of events in Rockland including a train ride, screening of historical train footage, and a reception with live music after the film. Details can be found on the Strand's website. 

Dana Rae Warren is a filmmaker, teacher, speaker, and consultant with more than 15 years in the television documentary and independent film worlds. This year she teaches Story Structure and Post Production  July 4 -10 and September 26 - October 2.

Will Yurman Brings His Multimedia Expertise to Maine

With the ever-growing popularity of multimedia as a way of telling stories, MMW is lucky to have instructors like Will Yurman as part of the faculty.

Will has extensive experience in multimedia storytelling, having combined images and audio for years, and recently adding video to the mix.  His work features strong visual content, driven by natural sound and the subject's voice. He has been recognized several times in the Best of Photography and Picture of the Year International competitions for his still photography and multimedia work. 

His latest project, A Family at Play, follows the Beckwith-Cohen family as they all perform in the Rochester Children's Theatre production of Peter Pan. The piece, which is sequenced into three acts, explores the dynamics and influence the theater has on the family.

Will comes to Maine this summer to share his knowledge and experience with students in Introduction to Multimedia, August 1- 7, and One Man Band, August 8-14.

 

Dana Duke Returns to Rockport

Dana Duke returns this summer to Maine Media Workshops to teach the popular Location Lighting class once again!

 

After a ten-year hiatus from teaching at the school, we are excited to welcome him back to campus August 22-28. In his workshop, students learn how to use existing natural and artificial light to capture the essence of a portrait, interior or street scene.

 

Dana has had a successful career shooting commercially with a studio in New York City for 25 years before moving to Sullivan County. He has photographed portraits and industrial situations for magazines such as Life, Discover, Time and Fortune, and has traveled the world shooting for major Fortune 500 companies and clients like AT&T, American Express and the New York Stock Exchange. 

VA Approves MMCollege Programs for GI Bill Funds

Post 9/11 GI BillThe U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has approved Maine Media College’s Professional Certificate Program and MFA degree program as education programs for the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Military personnel seeking training in the fields of filmmaking, photography, and multimedia may now apply for tuition assistance for their education at MMC through the VA.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill (also known as chapter 33 benefits) became effective August 1, 2009 and according to the VA website, is “the most comprehensive education benefit package since the original GI Bill was signed into law in 1944”. Veterans who performed active service duty after September 10, 2001, as well as current military members and eligible dependents, may be considered for the new benefits, which vary depending on term of service and other factors but can cover a significant portion of tuition, fees and books as well as a housing allowance.

"We are looking forward to welcoming even more students from the armed services to our campus," says MMC Dean Elizabeth Greenberg, "these programs are ideal for those looking to either make a career change to the media arts or to fulfill a the goal of achieving an MFA."

MMC Admissions Information

Registration for the 2011 - 2012 Professional Certificate program is open now. Applications for the MFA program are accepted on a rolling basis. For complete information visit the MMC website.

John Goodman Featured in Tate Modern Exhibition

MMW Instructor John Goodman has been creating iconic images for decades, and his work is currently featured in an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. 

 

Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, on view through October 3, strives to call attention to images that reveal illicit behaviors and subjects through surveillance footage and sly photography. John's piece featured in the exhibition, Tremont Street #3, Boston, was taken in 1978 during the transformation of the Combat Zone in Boston. He captured the provocative vitality of the time and place with his photographs.

 

Some of Goodman's other images taken during the same era, including the one pictured above, were featured in a March 2010 exhibition entitled not recent COLOR at the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston. 

 

John has been teaching at Maine Media for the last 15 years and this summer leads his In Search of the Personal workshop July 25-31. 

Karen Kasmauski Completes Grant for Good Project

After being awarded the first "Grant for Good" sponsored by Getty Images, Karen Kasmauski has recently finished the project she set out to complete with the assistance of the grant. 

Her chosen subject was SOCM, which once stood for Save Our Cumberland Mountains, but now represents Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment. Karen documented the evolution of the grassroots organization as it addressed environmental, racial and economic issues.

 

In her official statement on the Grants for Good website, Karen says,  "I wanted to show the often-quiet process of change at the grass roots level. I wanted to show the long-term commitment those in the organization make in the interest of securing social change." 

 

This summer Karen co-teaches  Developing the Narrative Project, August 1-7, with her husband and National Geographic Magazine’s Managing Editor for Special Editions, Bill Douthitt. 

Multimedia Instructor Creates Moving Piece for New York Times

Nancy DonaldsonNew multimedia instructor Nancy Donaldson recently produced a powerful project for the New York Times entitled Fear Grips a Family. The piece describes the pain of an extended family in Colombia plagued by early-onset Alzheimer's, and how scientists hope to find answers by studying that family. 

 

"The story of this extended family is incredibly sad and was hard to work on, but I felt privileged to be a part of telling their story." Nancy says of the project. "For a project like this, collaboration is essential. We had a small team in place that worked together from the beginning of the reporting through the final editing of the multimedia."

 

Nancy will be at Maine Media Workshops for her first summer teaching Advanced Multimedia Techniques, July 25-31. Her class will explore the expectations, techniques and tools of high-caliber multimedia projects. 

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