MDOCS - John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative
Program Overview
The John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), embeds documentary within the intellectual and cultural life of Skidmore and Saratoga Springs. MDOCS models an expansive approach to the nonfiction arts, asking how varied forms of storytelling can enhance our capacities for mutual understanding, innovative artistry, public engagement, and social impact.
It offers a variety of theory- and skill-based courses, spanning many documentary mediums (filmmaking, audio, archives, exhibitions, photography, writing, emerging technologies, etc.), maintains an enhanced production/post-production workspace (DOCLab), and hosts and supports numerous events presenting documentary work and practice.
Unusual for an academic program, MDOCS also engages deeply with non-Skidmore communities, primarily through the Storytellers’ Institute, a summer residency program that brings together students and working artists, and the Co-creation Initiative, a fund and support structure for community partners who wish to collaborate on nonfiction projects with members of the Skidmore community.
The program was founded in 2014, thanks to an endowment from Moore family members Jim and Sue Towne, under the leadership of inaugural Director Jordana Dym (2014-2018) and Mellon Fellow Nicky Tavares.
Director of the Documentary Studies Collaborative: Adam Tinkle
Assistant Director and Lecturer: Jesse O’Connell
Director of the Storytellers’ Institute: Sarah Friedland
Documentarian in Community Co-Creation and Lecturer: Angela Beallor
Program Coordinator: Andrea Casey
Current Teaching Faculty
MDOCS/Media and Film Studies: Adam Tinkle
MDOCS: Sarah Friedland
Tang Teaching Museum: Ian Berry
Lecturers: Angela Beallor, Angus McCullough, Olivia McKee, Jesse O'Connell, Emily Vallee, Nicole Van Slyke
Storytelling Toolkit
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
Presentation of geographic spatial information begins with maps made following good design. What makes a good map design in terms of color composition, scale, and density of information? How does one present multiple scales and time series? Good design is only the beginning. Once content is mapped, how and with what media can the visual information be best presented? This course will explore map design and appropriate use of increasingly complex presentation strategies starting with PowerPoint, followed by Google map engines and embedded internet applications and culminating with ArcGIS Online driven story mapping. Students with prior GIS experience will be able to create their own map data, while those uninitiated in GIS will be able to use existing data sets to achieve powerful and appropriate visualizations. The course allows for those with significant presentations at the end of the semester, such as capstone projects, to apply visualization and presentation methods gained in this course in those projects.
Fundamentals of storytelling. Any storyteller, whether evidence-based or creative, needs a toolkit of skills to present a story. These skill-up classes offer students an introduction to basic production and/or post-production skills used in evidence-based or creative storytelling. Students will either bring existing content and apply the new skill, or work with project materials supplied by the faculty member.
An introduction to local, national, and global documentary traditions in film, sound, photography, exhibition and multimedia, through readings, screenings, classroom discussion, and engagement with practitioners. Students will engage with theoretical and practical issues related to documentary work, including critical analysis of existing work and of the distinct ethical and aesthetic concerns associated with developing and telling stories that matter. The course emphasizes how the narrative, analytical, and structural frames of audio, visual, and written media shape the work, its audience, and impact. Rather than focusing on the production of a documentary in any one form, students get a hands-on experience of various media, and an overview of technical aspects, to help them prepare for extended work in one or more documentary media.
A topical workshop or lab/studio experience sponsored through documentary studies. DS 202 may be linked to a regular course offered or as a freestanding academic experience.
An exploration of participatory approaches to documentary, performance, and artistic creation within the wider landscape of socially-engaged art or Social Practice Art. The socially-engaged or participatory art methodologies enlist non-artists as collaborators alongside professional artists, question the line that divides these two categories, and critique exclusivity and elitism within art itself. In both studying and creating Social Practice Art, student will consider questions such as How is access to the means of cultural production related to agency and power? How does art articulate or create community? What is or should be the place of creativity in the lives of individuals and societies?
An introduction to the technologies, tools, and skills of creating audio documentaries. Working individually and in small production teams, students will produce original sound works for radio broadcast and podcast and listen to and critically analyze examples in the medium. Students will also learn to research and report a story, observe ethical guidelines and legal norms of permissions, and apply different methods of sculpting an audio experience, telling stories, and representing reality. The course assumes no prior knowledge of audio technologies.
Topically organized courses covering methods, approaches and issues within documentary studies at the intermediate level. The specific approaches to be explored will vary from course to course, but all topics courses will engage both theory and practice.
An advanced topical workshop or lab/studio experience sponsored through documentary studies. DS 302 may be linked to a regular course offered or as a free-standing academic experience.
Topically organized courses covering methods, approaches, and issues within documentary studies at the advanced level. The specific approaches to be explored will vary from course to course, but all topics courses will engage both theory and practice.
An opportunity for qualified students to pursue independent study or research in Documentary Studies under the supervision of an appropriate faculty member. The written study proposal must be approved by the MDOCS director.
An opportunity to work on the Skidmore-Saratoga Memory Project with a faculty member and/or documentarian. Students will gain practical experience in documentary research, writing, production or post-production. This course is intended for those interested in applying and enhancing skills acquired in Documentary Studies workshops or courses, or within their majors, while advancing the projects supported by MDOCS and/or Skidmore College faculty. Permission of instructor is required.
Professional opportunity for advanced students whose curricular foundations and cocurricular experience have prepared them for more autonomous professional work related to documentary studies. With faculty sponsorship and the director's approval, students may extend their educational experience into such areas as filmmaking, sound recording, exhibition, archives, and other professional areas.
The study of how filmmakers and documentarians, authors and artists, musicians, makers, marketers and storytellers protect their ideas, expressive works, and creative endeavors from being copied or stolen by others, especially in the digital age. Students will consider the legal and ethical issues these individuals confront as they produce their creative projects, particularly creations which incorporate other media content. Employing interdisciplinary methods and approaches, students will explore the legal, ethical, and practical issues involved in varying media production forms (video/film, photography, music/audio, documentary, web and exhibit-based narratives, etc.) for fiction and non-fiction storytelling. Students will develop approaches which synthesize underlying policies and best practices in order to challenge assumptions at the intersection of storytelling, business, art, law and creative expression.
An exploration of the artist interview as a form of original art historical research. Students will learn how oral histories can function in a museum collection archive. Working in teams, students will closely examine and research artworks in the Tang Museum collection, prepare questions for the artists, and create videotaped interviews. Students will learn different methodological approaches to the interview and consider such questions as: how does editing play a role in making meaning; who defines the meaning of an artwork; and is the artist always the best source about his or her own work?
An interdisciplinary investigation of the possibility of truth and objectivity in documentary film. Students will examine the history of documentary practice and theory, including topics such as mimetic theory, narrative realism, scientific truth, juridical truth, institutional truth, film truth, direct cinema, self-reflexive cinema, and constructivism. The course will integrate methods from philosophy, aesthetics, and film studies.