Overwiew
Immerse yourself in the heart of New York City as our class delves into its vibrant essence.
From bustling streets and iconic bridges to tranquil parks and bustling subway stations, the tapestry of this metropolis is rich with narratives waiting to be explored. Each corner, each neighborhood, whispers tales of its own.
The goal of the course is to produce a video piece, with the city as a source of context, characters and stories.
Vertical or horizontal, with your phone or dslr, that is up to you. We are going to show you how storytelling works through shooting images, editing, sound design, and music.
We want to push your creative vision, and help you create a story in 60 seconds, which is not easy but fun.
Join us as we embark on a journey to uncover the hidden gems and untold stories that define the essence of this remarkable urban landscape. Together, let us craft narratives that celebrate the diversity, energy, and spirit of New York City.
We’ll listen, talk, interview each other and others, listen and watch and critique our work as a group. We’ll look at cool projects on the web and talk about what makes them work or not work.
This class is led by two experienced filmmakers and image creators. We have told many stories and we want to tell you how we did it and what we’ve learned about it.
Course Goals
We want you to have fun creating and enjoy the course, this is what we want you to get from it:
- To understand the new dynamics in visual storytelling, social media has changed the game and we are going to analyze this.
- To discover the new tendencies in image making and what the audiences are looking for.
- To analyze the differences between horizontal and vertical shooting, both formats can bring up amazing stories.
- To write a script, storyline, a pitch or any reference you need to create your story. Remember everything starts with an idea on the paper, the wall or a text app.
- To develop your editing skills to tell compelling stories, the get the attention of the audience, understand rhythm and pacing.
- To gain a greater understanding of sound, especially as it relates to modern visual journalism.
- To examine the usefulness and power of the human voice and other sounds when used to create multimedia journalism.
- To learn how to tell a story in 60 seconds, the idea that all stories have a beginning, a middle and an ending (not necessarily in that order).
- To talk about structure in storytelling, to help you understand how to get an audience attention and ride with them through your story.
- To understand that emotion is key in the art of storytelling, we will give you tools to create and use it.
Class schedule
The class will go from Monday to Friday
The first three days we are going to talk about storytelling, shooting techniques, image making and discuss about content created on different platforms and why they are successful.
We are going to start developing an idea and put it on paper, working a storyline on the wall. Write a screenplay. We will show you how it works.
We are going to review many examples and talk about the art of creating images, videos, sound and stories. With the help of a series of exercises we are going to prepare the shooting of our projects.
In the middle of the week, we are going to transition to editing and go deep on how it works and what it means.
Wednesday will be our main day for shooting, we are going to have our projects ready for shooting, with New York as canvas we are looking forward to the amazing stories we will create.
Thursday and Friday we are going to go deep in postproduction. With our hands on the editing suite or your phones, we are going to teach you how to build your story in the timeline, work with sound and music.
At the end of the day on Friday, we are going to have a critique, we are going to discuss everyone’s project and talk about them. Always with the idea of building and learning.
The class will end with dinner were we will have the opportunity to share our experience and enjoy with the group, that will wrap our course.
Meet your instructors
Bob Sacha
Bob Sacha is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and former video storytelling professor at Newmark J school (or whatever) who has walked NYC for 43 years.
Luis Zerón
Luis Zerón is an editor who has shaped global hits like Netflix’s Triptych and Dark Desire. A member of the AMAE and faculty at Maine Media College, he has edited acclaimed series, films, and documentaries, including the Emmy-winning Sr. Ávila.
You will need
To shoot: your phone or a camera.
To edit: your laptop with Premiere Pro (https://www.adobe.com/) installed or if you prefer your phone or laptop with CapCut (https://www.capcut.com/) which is free and user friendly.
To create: A story in mind
Dates: Monday July 14 to Friday July 19
Place: To be Confirmed
Tuition: To be confirmed