Documenting Justice is a specialized interdisciplinary course in documentary filmmaking that focuses on topics of social justice. Students devote two semesters to completing the class, which involves study in film theory, documentary history, nonfiction storytelling techniques, and the ethics of documentary and culminates in the creation of an original short documentary film. The class is designed for non-film majors, but those with production experience are encouraged to apply as well. Two films produced as a part of the international division of this course will screen at the Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free.

The fall semester of the course is dedicated to instruction, exercises, and readings that familiarize students with the fundamentals of video production and their application to documentary. Assignments in production, theory, and criticism help students understand the practical and ethical issues in documentary filmmaking. By the end of the first semester, students will be comfortable with the techniques of production and will select topics for their films.

During the spring semester, students work in pairs to shoot and edit a documentary film. Demonstrating a concern for justice in Alabama, such pieces may focus on an individual, a relationship, an occurrence, an institution, a sub-culture, or a worldview. Students will become well acquainted with their subjects through extensive fieldwork, interviews, and research. In producing the final film, students will have access to state-of-the-art digital video cameras and post-production facilities at the College of Communication & Information Studies. The completed films premiere at a public screening in either Birmingham or Tuscaloosa at the end of the semester.

An award-winning group of filmmakers collaborate as instructors in this team-taught course: Andy Grace, director of Documenting Justice and member of the University of Alabama Department of Telecommunication & Film, and Rachel Morgan, adjunct instructor at UA and instructor of radio and TV at Lawson State Community College. The course also includes guest lectures from other professionals with expertise in documentary filmmaking.

Documenting Justice: International
Students complete the first semester before travelling, in conjunction with students enrolled in the Alabama section of Documenting Justice. During the spring semester or summer term, students take a camera and travel abroad – developing a film topic, working with their subjects, and capturing footage. During the following fall semester, students edit their films. A public screening is held in Tuscaloosa each November. (NOTE: Documenting Justice does not provide funds for international travel. Travel funding and arrangements are the responsibility of the student.)

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Monday, October 17th at 5:00 p.m. – Reception to be followed by 5:30 screening
Tuesday, October 18 at 10:00 a.m. – Screening for High School Students
Both events at Alma Bryant High School in Bayou La Batre, Alabama

The fictional home of the title character in the movie Forest Gump, in reality Bayou La Batre is one of the small communities in south Mobile County that the chamber of commerce calls “The seafood capital of Alabama.”

It is a traditional American community—patriotic, hard working, self-sufficient, and a little insular, but also a place where people without hesitation come to the aid of neighbors in need. It is eccentric and playful in the way that coastal communities can be, and like America, distinctly multi-cultural.

Since the Revolutionary War this fishing village in coastal Mobile County has been a point of entry for waves of immigrants asking for nothing more than their own shot at The American Dream. But when Hurricane Katrina displaced 2000 of the town’s 2300 residents in 2005 only to be followed by the oil spill, they were only the latest in a century long series of often catastrophic threats to its survival.

In the Path of the Storms is a story of persistence in the face of adversity. It is the portrait of a unique and authentic coastal culture struggling to preserve its heritage, sense of identity and vanishing way of life, as seen through the lives of a small, ethnically diverse group of its members each struggling against daunting obstacles of their own.

Among those featured:

• Shrimper Henry Alexander and seafood shop owner Rodney Lyons who talk about the values associated with the traditional seafood culture and the contemporary economic pressures that culture faces.
• Nancy McCall whose ancestors came to find an alternative to life as sharecroppers in Mississippi. Like their French Canadian and Eastern European neighbors, African Americans came to nearby Coden in search of self determination.
• Heang Chhun is a Cambodian refugee whose wife and two children were killed as they fled the Communist Khmer Rouge. He has now built a new life in Bayou La Batre and founded a self help group for his fellow countrymen there.
• Regina Benjamin, the child of a single parent from nearby Daphne, bypassed more lucrative opportunities to focus her medical practice on the underinsured. After Katrina destroyed her clinic she went into debt to rebuild it while buying medication for refuges out of her own pocket.

As the documentary traces its history, these and others personify the character and values of the community and its constituent cultures as it faces natural, social, and economic challenges. In the end it reaches a contemporary crossroads and must define its own identity to have a chance at preserving it.

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Re-Committed, starring William Mason and Andrew Carey, has been selected for screening at three festivals across the United States.

A class project produced by a group of University of Alabama telecommunication and film students has been picked to screen at the New York Television Festival’s Independent Pilot Competition.

“It’s truly an honor to have a student production chosen as an official selection in this festival,” said Adam Schwartz, assistant professor of telecommunication and film. “This festival is the premiere independent television festival, giving official selections access to studio and network executives, pitch sessions, etc.”

Of 48 total selections for the Independent Pilot Competition, only three were student submissions. “To see UA right up there with other totally independent ‘professional’ projects is incredibly rewarding,” Schwartz said.

The TCF 451 Advanced Television Production class, under Schwartz’s guidance, produced a 22-minute comedy television pilot called “Re-Committed.” With the exception of Schwartz, the entire production crew and most of the cast was composed of UA students.

The pilot centers around the fictional Jamal Anderson, who is sent back to high school by his psychiatrist after being treated for hallucination-like daydreams and constant visions of his imaginary friend Bo. Jamal encounters a plethora of unique high school characters and quickly learns that recommitting himself to high school will not be easy.

The cast of the pilot is as follows:

William Mason, a TCF major from Birmingham, as Jamal Anderson
Andrew P. Carey, a TCF major from Mobile, as Bo
Blake Minor, a TCF major from Cottondale,as Clifton
Clifton Lewis, a TCF major from Tuscaloosa, as Talon Knyghtehauck
Lauren Adams, an English major from Roswell, Ga., as Dixie
Stephen Brunson, an acting MFA student from Canyon, Texas, as Mr. Bentley
Sara-Margaret Cates, an education major from Northport, as the principal
Laura Dotson, a human environmental sciences major from Tuscaloosa, as Kathrine Anderson
Rick Dowling, a 1985 TCF graduate and instructional developer for the UA Faculty Resource Center, as Dr. Francis Perkins

The crew of the pilot (all members of Schwartz’s Fall 2010 TCF 451 class):

Producers: Clayton Collins, a TCF major from Anniston; Kate Longfield, a TCF major from Fairhope; and Heath Williamson, a TCF major from Mobile
Writers: Andrew P. Carey, a TCF major from Mobile, and Heath Williamson, a TCF major from Mobile
Director: Marcus Tortorici, a TCF major from Indian Springs
1st Assistant Director: Lindy Lovvorn, a TCF major from Carrollton, Ga.
Director of Photography: Micah Russell, a computer science major from Huntsville
Production Designer: Kristen Freeland, a TCF major from Gulf Shores
Editor: Hamilton Henson, a TCF major from Toney
Gaffer: Matt Phillips, a TCF major from Jemison
Key Grip: Andrew P. Carey, a TCF major from Mobile
Sound Mixer/Designer: Chris “Chop” Dunham, a TCF major from Birmingham
Camera Operator: Alex Armistead, a TCF major from Tuscaloosa
Executive Producer: Adam Schwartz, assistant professor of media production, from Irondale

The pilot also was selected to screen at the 2011 International Television Festival in Los Angeles and Birmingham’s 13th Annual Sidewalk Film Festival, Aug. 26-28.

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Hosts of The Iron Bowl Hour, Reed and Will Lochamy visit the spot in Birmingham's Linn Park where representatives from Alabama and Auburn buried a hatchet in 1948.

The football rivalry between the University of Alabama and Auburn University culminates in the Iron Bowl each year but it is talked about all over the state year-round. A new series coming to WVUA/WUOA-TV pokes fun at all the talk.

The Iron Bowl Hour is a thirty minute weekly series which will premiere on Friday, September 2nd at 6:30 p.m. It will air again each Friday night and each Saturday at 10:30 a.m. through the football season. Program hosts, Will and Reed Lochamy are the creators of “Oh Brother,” a weekly radio show/podcast on Birmingham Mountain Radio.

Series directors Rob Briscoe and Gray Lloyd have just released this trailer:

WVUA 7 and WUOA 23 are commercial television stations operated by the University of Alabama in the College of Communication and Information Sciences. Their broadcasts can be seen from Mississippi to Georgia across the Birmingham television market on cable, Direct TV, Dish Net, U-Verse, and Over-the-Air. Their broadcast antenna is located on Red Mountain in Birmingham and they reach an estimated 1.8 million viewers in the market and up to 3 million viewers within their whole broadcast area.

For more information:
WVUA/WUOA-TV
Oh Brother Radio
The Iron Bowl Hour on Facebook

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Action from Knocking Girls Down

Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival -
Saturday, August 27th, 2011 -
8:45 p.m. at Alabama Power Auditorium –

They talk about mutual support, self-determination, and the satisfaction of a good smack well-delivered. Best known as a 1970’s entertainment spectacle not unlike professional wrestling, roller derby has been reborn as a predominantly female amateur hobby-sport with teams in roughly 200 American cities. The participants are a new breed of surprisingly well educated, middle class professionals for whom the activity is not only an outlet for physical expression but can also be a refuge and a community.

The sport personifies many of the culture’s conflicting images and ideas about women–including those of sexuality, body image, aggression and power. The new players bring a variety of attitudes to those issues but their common interest in the sport reflects a shared rejection of narrowly defined gender role boundaries.

Knocking Girls Down is a documentary about members of The Tragic City Rollers, the two year old Birmingham team. On the roster there’s a librarian working on a master’s degree, an RN at Children’s Hospital, and a metro police officer who’s also a mom. The documentary follows a season with the team on and off the track to discover not only how the game is played but why, and what the characters’ experiences have to say about gender roles in our culture.

The narrative follows the team as it prepares for and travels to “bouts” around the south, but focuses on two key match-ups. The bout at 5th ranked Raleigh, North Carolina is a milestone. TCR has narrowly beaten the only other ranked club they have ever played, and this is the final measure of whether the fledgling team has really arrived. Huntsville is Birmingham’s cross state rival, but was also the group that mentored Tragic City when it was first organized, and at their first meeting Birmingham narrowly lost on a disputed call.

What’s at stake on the track is more than victory for its own sake. It is the survival of the team itself as they struggle to build the necessary fan base and sponsor support. It is a business venture owned and operated by the women themselves. And for them, that too is part of its appeal. But it means that when they are not competing they are often pitching and promoting. Such is the case when the film follows them to an ultimate fighting event at a downtown Birmingham auditorium. As they skate around in their derby costumes to hand out flyers, they are attempting to appeal to the same crowd. But even as they are ambivalent about marketing with sex and violence they find themselves upstaged by the blood in the ring and the bikini clad models in the lobby.

The team’s star speedster, known as The Schnott Nose Kid, is a four foot ten, 90 pound police officer who patrols a high crime Birmingham district in the middle of the night alone, and raises two children by day. She takes pride in having proved herself in a job that values strength and toughness. But as she struggles with personal and professional problems there is a growing sense of her fragility, and she draws comfort from the team as a community. “At work you have camaraderie with the blue family,” she concedes, “but nothing will beat this…there is a sisterhood.”

Temper Tantrum is struggling to find a good part time job to help put herself through college in Child Psychology while planning for her impending marriage. Her interest in children, self esteem and roller derby are linked. “I’ve always been the fat kid,” she says. “I won’t enter into a sob story, but I took abuse. This is balance for me. It’s changed me. Empowered me. It’s made me more apt to stand up for myself.” But a midseason rule change sidelines Temper. If she doesn’t get faster, she may never be able to play. She struggles with ways to adapt as the film progresses, and also with a growing perception that, sisterhood or not, there may be a personal conflict with the coach.

As for the coach, Dixie Thrash is also a player, the team’s founder, and the force that binds it still. She makes fun of her “white trash” rural background but earned an English degree after forays into Marine Biology, Psychology, Philosophy, Computer Science and Women’s Studies. But she prefers hourly wage jobs that allow her to put her time and energy into her avocation. “My heart lies in derby rather than money”, she says. With the team she is hard driving, often profane, at times seemingly abusive. “She’s mean sometimes, admits Schnotty, “unbearably mean. Maybe she glues us together, and we want to beat her up, but I love her to death.”

In the final period of the neck and neck bout with Huntsville Schnotty sustains a season ending injury three days before, in the midst of a divorce, she is set to move out of her home. The team pulls out a narrow win as she is carried out of the arena and then shows up on her doorstep to help with the move. “It’s a family”, says the Schnott Nose Kid. “I’ll beat you up tomorrow; you beat me up the next day. And it’s OK, because you still love each other.”

For more information about Knocking Girls Down, click here.

For information about the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, click here.

(Co-directors Michael Letcher and Nick Rymer are my colleagues at The University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio.)

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University of Alabama Telecommunication and Film media production student Xavier Burgin, a senior from Columbus, Miss., was awarded a $5,000 scholarship as winner of the inaugural 3D Movie Award at the Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale, held June 23-26 in Hollywood, Calif.

“Portrait of the Storm” provided an up-close look at the tornado that swept through Tuscaloosa on April 27 and included personal accounts from survivors as scenes of the devastation filled the screen.

“I wanted to make this because this is something the media will talk about for a few months and then move on,” Burgin said. “People start forgetting what happened, but this is still going on. It’s sort of what we’ve seen happen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And I felt like Alabama and Tuscaloosa especially will at some point have that same problem, so I wanted to bring attention to this plight. Stuff is still happening, we are still rebuilding, and it will be some time before we get back to what we were before.”

Burgin originally won Best Drama for his movie “Bottom of a Glass” at The University of Alabama’s local Campus MovieFest competition in February. His movie competed for awards at the international level, and Burgin, a member of Campus MovieFest’s Distinguished Filmmakers Network (DFN), was offered the opportunity to use a Panasonic 3D camera to enter the first ever student 3D film festival hosted by Campus MovieFest, Panasonic and the International 3D Society (I3DS).

Burgin pitched his original 3D film idea of doing a narrative to the CMF 3D Review Team in early April, but after the tornado hit in Tuscaloosa on April 27, he spoke with the CMF staff and changed his film topic. UA Studio Art student Sumerlin Brandon composed an original score for the film, which will be part of a tornado documentary being prepared by a group of students under the direction of TCF professor Dr. Rachel Raimist.

“The fact that this project was the first-place winner, out of 50 CMF teams selected to compete, is not surprising,” Raimist said. “Xavier told a compelling story with beautifully shot imagery. He merged the strength of 3D (showing dimensionality and depth) with camera movement (achieved using TCF equipment). He borrowed a TCF Glidetrack, a tripod with a tripod head seated atop a sliding rod that you push slowly, to achieve short tracking shots and maximized his ability to take the audience inside the story. Who has ever seen some intimate images of destruction? Who has been so closely and visually inside the aftermath of such a powerful storm? By layering personal narratives through voice-over, with powerful imagery and a beautifully haunting soundtrack, Xavier produced a film that deserved to win.”

“Bottom of a Glass” also competed in the Best Drama category. Other team members were Rene Gromotka, a sophomore from Stuttgart, Germany, majoring in mechanical engineering; and Joe Will Field, a sophomore from Tuscaloosa.

Several other students were awarded top honors at the 2011 Campus MovieFest finale including the teams who created the comedy “Sugarbaby” and the clay animation movie “Blue Barry.”

“Sugarybaby” was honored as a Top 5 Comedy and as one of the Top 28 films out of hundreds at the finale. Students who worked on the film “Sugarbaby” include Andrew Carey, a May 2011 graduate from Mobile who majored in telecommunication and film; Micah Russell, a senior from Huntsville majoring in telecommunications and film; Hamilton Henson, a senior from Toney majoring in telecommunications and film; Kayla Terry, a May 2011 graduate from Tuscaloosa who majored in public relations; and Christopher Dumas, a senior from Mobile majoring in theatre.

“Blue Barry,” was also honored as one of the Top 28 films at the finale. Students who worked on the film “Blue Barry” include Thomas Coiner, a senior from Nixo, Mo., majoring in telecommunication and film; and Sarah Selleck, a senior from Hoover, majoring in nursing.

“I am very proud of all of the TCF media production students who compete in Campus Movie Fest,” Raimist said. “I get excited when TCF students compete in CMF. I see them put the theory and methods that we teach through classroom exercises to the test. I see the students work hard and collaboratively, and I see them make deadlines.”

Campus MovieFest, the world’s largest student film festival, brought together hundreds of students from 75 universities worldwide to compete for Best Picture, Comedy, Drama, Wild Card Audience Choice, Golden Tripod Awards and the first event CMF 3D Award.

The Ferguson Center and Campus MovieFest have partnered together for four years to bring the world-renowned Campus MovieFest student film festival to The University of Alabama campus. The Ferguson Center staff promotes CMF on campus and serves as the location for equipment drop-off and pick up as well as the site for the red carpet finale where the top films on campus are announced.

Money for travel to the International Grand Finale was provided to students by the Ferguson Center, Creative Campus Initiative and the Blount Undergraduate Initiative.

The Ferguson Center supports, supplements and complements the overall academic, research and service mission of The University of Alabama by offering a wide variety of high-quality services, collaborative programming and leisure time activities.

For more information about the Ferguson Center, visit ferguson.ua.edu or call 348-7487. For more information about Campus MovieFest, visit www.campusmoviefest.com or email media@campusmoviefest.com.

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Denny Chimes on the University of Alabama campus appears in the background of three Emmy awards

Discovering Alabama: Oil Spill received two regional Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Atlanta on June 20th, 2011. Last year, the long-running series known for celebrating the natural wonders of Alabama won its first Emmy for Discovering Alabama: Space. Although not a news-oriented series, when the oil began spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, it was impossible to ignore the long term questions that left many wondering about the impact. Time has passed. News crews have moved on to new stories. Yet this documentary reminds us that this story is far from over. Natural history doesn’t have the luxury to just forget.

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The shots in a film scene are usually not recorded in the exact order they will appear in the scene. Shots from one camera angle are recorded, then the camera is moved to another camera angle. Sometimes shots which appear back-to-back in the finished film are actually recorded on different days. Continuity from shot to shot is an important aspect of film making. Filmmakers must make sure that the actors’ makeup and wardrobe, as well as all of the scenery and props remain the same from shot to shot.

One of my students sent me a link to this video following a discussion of continuity. I think it makes the point pretty well.

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Winners of the 2011 Campus MovieFest Film Festival at The University of Alabama were announced February 10th at the Red Carpet Finale at the Ferguson Center Theater. All recipients of the top awards for Best Picture, Best Comedy and Best Drama received a free version of Final Cut Pro Studio, an iPod and were invited to the Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale in Los Angeles, Calif. this summer.

BEST PICTURE

Best Picture was awarded to the film “Sugarbaby,” the story of a guy Mark who is trying to break up with his (hopefully soon-to-be ex) girlfriend Stacy, but she is not going to let him go easily when she reveals a big surprise. “Sugarbaby” was created by the group Bob Lob Laws. Group member Hamilton Henson works with me at the Center for Public TV & Radio and can be seen in the background wearing headphones. Congratulations Hamilton! Watch “Sugarbaby.”

BEST COMEDY

Best Comedy was awarded to the film “Mind Games,” the classic story of boy chases girl with a comedic twist. Most films are driven by dialogue, but not this film. This film strictly shows what the characters are thinking. The characters bodies might be saying one thing, but their minds are saying something else.”MInd Game” also won the award for MOST POPULAR by obtaining the most YouTube views during the past week. This film was created by the group Fast Forward. Watch “Mind Games.”

BEST DRAMA

Best Drama was awarded to the film “Bottom of the Glass,” the story of how an unique protagonist loses everything he’s loved in the blink of an eye. With nothing to live for he fills his life with a collection of self-deprecation to fill the empty void. His life seems lost until someone comes along to remind him that life is worth living even after tragedy. “Bottom of the Glass” was created by the group Que The Lights. Watch “Bottom of the Glass.”

BAMA DINING FAN FAVORITE

This year, the Ferguson Center and Bama Dining teamed up to award a team with fun prizes based on the number of votes they received during the two days prior to the finale. Fans could vote as many times as they wanted by text, twitter or web voting. The Bama Dining Fan Favorite award was given to the film “Blue Barry.” Barry, a blue bird, takes on the scummiest of parking lot birds in this stop-action thriller. The clay animation movie was created by the team The Coiner Production. Thomas Coiner is a survivor of my Intro to Media Production class and has worked with me at the Center for Public TV & Radio. Congratulations Thomas! Watch “Blue Barry.”

MAX’S PERSONAL AWARD

I’d also like to congratulate one of my current students, Kathleen Davis. Her group’s production, “In Search of Comedy” turned out well despite the fact that I was out of town when Kathleen contacted me to help her find locations. Way to go Kathleen! Watch “In Search of Comedy.”

GOLDEN TRIPOD AWARDS

Participants were also recognized for specific talents and specific aspects of their movies with the Golden Tripod Awards:

Best Director: Thomas Coiner with “Blue Barry”

Best Cinematography: “Hustle”
Matt Phillips, another survivor of my class worked on this one. Congratulations Matt!

Best Soundtrack: “That’s Why Your Name Isn’t Dante”

AT&T RETHINK POSSIBLE AWARDS

Three semifinalists were also announced for the AT&T Rethink Possible award, which gives them the chance to compete for one of the five spots to pitch their work to Hollywood executives. The finalists include:

“Blue Barry,” “Bottom of the Glass” and “A Certain Woman.”

Campus MovieFest is the world’s largest student film festival and has traveled across the country providing college students with all the equipment they need to create a short film for free in one week. This is the fourth year that Campus MovieFest has come to UA.

For more information about Campus MovieFest or to see the CMF movies, visit www.campusmoviefest.com.

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Campus MovieFest (CMF), the world’s largest student film festival, is coming to The University of Alabama Feb. 1 as part of its tenth annual world tour. Students who sign up for CMF at the Ferguson Center will receive everything they need to make a five minute movie – including an Apple laptop, Panasonic HD video camera and an AT&T phone – all for free.

Any student at UA is welcome to participate, and they get all the training and support they need. Participating students experience a unique opportunity to express themselves, learn about filmmaking, gain exposure and of course, have a lot of fun and have the opportunity to win more than $300,000 in great prizes including iPads, cash, trips to Hollywood pitch meetings and more!

Students can sign up online at www.campusmoviefest.com before moviemaking launches at UA on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Students can pick up their equipment on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in the Ferguson Center second floor TV lounge from 12 to 5 p.m. Students then have one week to film and edit their movies and are free to create a movie about anything they would like. We encourage students to consider some of our special categories – including the following:

* Elfenworks Social Justice category, which focuses on domestic poverty and justice issues around the US and awards $20,000 in cash grants;
* The AT&T Rethink Possible Award, which provides winning students with cash and industry luminary support to start creating a feature film

Movies are turned in on Feb. 7 and then judged by a panel consisting of UA students, faculty and staff. On Thursday, Feb. 10, the top 16 movies will be shown at a red carpet finale at the Ferguson Center Theater at 7:30 p.m. The winners from UA advance to the CMF International Grand Finale in Hollywood, Calif.

CMF began ten years ago when four students at Emory University provided fellow students with everything they needed to make movies in one week. Since then, more than 350,000 students have received all the necessary technology and training to tell their stories for free thanks to corporate partners and schools. Past winners have walked away with more than $2 million in prizes and seen their films on the big screens at CMF events nationwide, at Cannes, at Paramount Studios and on millions of smaller screens – including AT&T mobile devices, in-flight on Virgin America and online.

For more information about Campus MovieFest or to see the best CMF movies, visit www.campusmoviefest.com.

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