Rhetoric In Film: Three Explorations Of Influence In Documentaries And Digital Stories, Emily Knapp

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is made up of three distinct articles, two written with the intention of publication while the third consists of a digital story and subsequent reflection on the process of creation. The first article serves to answer the question “Do documentary films inspire activism?” by analyzing data gained after surveying 266 members of the James Madison University community. The results suggest that viewers are moved to emotion when witnessing struggle but that they are moved to action when said action directly impacts their own life. The second article is a rhetorical analysis of the 2013 documentary film Blackfish. …

Mdocs Poster-Fall 2018, Course Offerings, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Fall 2018 Course Offerings:

Documentary Fundamentals:

• Documentary Storytelling
• Intro to Audio Documentary
• Documentary and Narrative Screenwriting

• Storytelling: Video
• Storytelling: Game Development
• Storytelling: Mapping

• The Artist Interview
• Festival Curation

The Market, Claudia Zamora Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The Market is a short science fiction essay film that explores ideas and values attached to the “local food” movement, and how they manifest themselves in the act of consumption at a farmers’ market in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Study Abroad Blog: A Comprehensive Exploration Into Country And Culture, Kristin Zimney

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This writing serves as the reflective/contextual essay component of my creative thesis project. My creative project includes a detailed study abroad blog with photos, videos, and translated interviews I conducted with Salamanca locals regarding certain aspects of Spanish culture. This essay details the workings, text, and video content of my study abroad blog, and is intended to inform on a deeper basis with supporting research, the topics covered in the interviews.

Moulins: Down The Arctic Drain, Jonathon Nugent Carlson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This observation-style nonfiction documentary film follows a National Science Foundation expedition to the Greenland ice sheet. The bivouac lasted for 25 continuous days. University of Arkansas Professor of Geosciences Matt Covington, Ph.D. teamed up with University of South Florida Professor Jason Gulley, Ph.D. to plan, propose, and ultimately accomplish the research goals of the expedition with the assistance of Ph.D. student Celia Trunz, M.S., and experienced expeditionary team member Vickie Siegel. As an observational-style documentary film, all scientific background information imparted herein is taken directly from interviews conducted with Professor Covington, to minimize opining.

The film begins in mid-flight, as …

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-02, Palestinian Voices: Lyd In Exile, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 2, 6pm

Free and open to the public

Location: Somers Room

The Palestinian Voices series is organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a talk by Rami Younis and Sarah Friedland, and a screening of their work-in-progress documentary Lyd In Exile. Younis and Friedland have spent over three years researching and filming Lyd In Exile, and are in post-production. They will screen clips from their film and …

Mdocs Poster-Spring 2018, Course List, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

Spring 2018 Classes Documentary Studies

Production Fundamentals

• DS 116A - Storytelling: Map Design and Spatial Visualization (1 cr)
• DS 116B - 360 Degree Audio Video and Photogrammetry (2 cr) -- NEW!!

Documentary Studies

• DS 201 - Principles of Documentary (3 cr)
• DS 251D - Documentary Film Production: Form and Content (4 cr)
• DS 251C - Documenting Makers:Writing and Filming Artist Profiles (3 cr)
• DS 251C - Participatory Documentary, Socially Engaged Art and Community Media (3 cr) -- NEW!!
• DS 302D - From Story to Screen: Crew-Based Film Doc and Narrative Production (4 cr)
• DS 351B - Documentary Practice in Photography …

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-01, Zines Workshop, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 4, 12pm

Location:BerhardAtrium

Free and open to the public

On Wednesday, April 4, from 12:00 – 5:00 pm, join Evelyn Wang '19, Museum Store Associate, and Sean Fuller, Store and Publications Manager, for a zine making workshop focusing on the history of zines. Participants will learn two zine making methods: a simple one-page zine and a fold and staple pamphlet style. All materials will be provided.

This event is part of a series of drop-in zine making workshops occurring every Wednesday in April from 12:00 – 5:00 pm. The workshops will be held in the exhibition to be with …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-27, Jason Houston, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM (ET) Palamountain Hall Davis Auditorium

"Exploring how we live on the planet”

Photographer Jason Houston has spent over 20 years photographing community, culture, and how we live on the planet for editorial and NGO clients and personal projects. His engaged, long-term approach to complex issues captures informed, authentic narratives that help educate the public and guide social and environmental change. Recent projects include a global survey of conservation enterprises and a campaign for the protection of 10 million hectares in the Amazon for indigenous people in isolation and initial contact. He …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-22, No Mas Bebes, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

No Más Bebés tells the story of a little-known but landmark event in reproductive justice, when a small group of Mexican immigrant women sued county doctors, the state, and the U.S. government after they were sterilized while giving birth at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Marginalized and fearful, many of these mothers spoke no English, and charged that they had been coerced into tubal ligation — having their tubes tied — by doctors during the late stages of labor. Often the procedure was performed after asking the mothers under duress.

The mothers’ cause …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-21, Free To Rock, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Wednesday, March 21, 2018 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET) PALMTN Davis Auditorium

FREE TO ROCK is a documentary film directed by 4-time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Rock & Roll spread like an uncontrollable virus across Eastern Europe despite Communist attempts to outlaw it. Thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western freedoms and embraced this music as the Sound of Freedom, helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. Free to Rock features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West and the Soviet Union …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-02, Oral History For Social Justice With Amy Starecheski, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

TALK: Curating Oral History for the 21st Century: Listening Out Loud, Listening with the Eyes and the Body
Thursday, March 1, 3:40 pm – 5:00 pm
Skidmore College, Filene Hall, Room 119

The talk will highlight the dilemmas and the potential of curating oral history for a broad contemporary audience, highlighting Columbia University’s Oral History Master’s Program as an example of an application that bridges archival and public use, media and the textual, audio walking tours as a means to return aural/oral history to place and the body, and a few recent short video and documentary projects by OHMA students, …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-06, Issam Nassar, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

February 6, 6pm

Location: Payne Room

Free and open to the public.

In conjunction with the exhibition This Place

Part of the Palestinian Voices series, organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a lecture by Issam Nassar on the history of Palestinian photography. Nassar is a historian of the Modern Middle East and of Photography at Illinois State University. His work focuses on the modern Middle East and the history …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-05, Voice As Documentary Audibility With Pooja Rangan, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Monday, February 5, 2018 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM (ET) PALMTN Emerson Auditorium In the field of documentary, voice, rather than point of view, is the prevailing metaphor for a filmmaker’s unique perspective, signaling the documentary genre’s textual emphasis on spoken words, as well as its social ethic of “giving voice.” Rangan’s talk will unpack the humanitarian resonances of this metaphor, as elaborated in her book Immediations: The Humanitarian Impulse in Documentary (Duke UP 2017), reframing voice as an audibility: a product of auditory forms and practices such as documentary that discipline unspoken norms of speaking and listening. Her talk …

Mdocs Poster-2018 Spring, Photography Workshop With Eric Jenks, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Friday, February 16th, 2018 @ 2-4pm:

Document your world: Learn how to compose a compelling photograph using your own camera

Friday, April 13th, 2018 @ 2-4:30pm:

Photo Editing: Bring 3-5 pictures for an introduction to editing with Photoshop

Join Skidmore alum and photographer Eric Jenks for a hands-on workshop on taking and editing compelling photos with any camera.

No experience required!

These workshops are for anyone planning to study abroad, travel over spring break, or explore or document closer to home, and those who have photos ready to share.