This text was initially printed in UCSB’s ‘The Present’.
Every summer season, the Coastal Media Undertaking filmmaking bootcamp at UC Santa Barbara culminates with lengthy days and nights of enhancing and ultimate touches forward of a public displaying of student-crafted documentaries, every an environmental brief that’s conceptualized, shot, edited and screened in simply 9 weeks.
This yr’s movies mirror a spread of storytelling as numerous because the aspiring filmmakers themselves — from marine mammal die offs and a celeb sea otter to sand sculptures and what may very well be intriguingly described as Latinx surf membership meets Chumash tomol paddle meets Black scientist scuba diver. The movies will probably be screened from 7–9 p.m., Friday, Aug. 25, on the Pollock Theater. The occasion is free and open to the general public; reserved tickets are really helpful.
Sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Heart, the Coastal Media Undertaking is an intensive 12-credit course supplied via UCSB’s Division of Movie and Media Research. “The category is an unimaginable alternative for college kids to study environmental filmmaking,” stated Chris Jenkins, the division’s head of manufacturing.
Friday’s occasion will showcase 4 movies: “841” follows the present occasions surrounding an unruly sea otter mingling with surfers in Northern California; following a connoisseur and a sculptor, “Sand Symphony” explores the coast via a creative guise; “The Salt on Our Pores and skin” connects communities as they personal and reclaim their ocean narratives; and “Stranded” covers the lethal impression of domoic acid on 1000’s of marine mammals in Southern California.
This summer season, the category opened with an exploration of movie idea within the context of documentary filmmaking taught by Summer time Grey, an assistant professor of environmental research.
“I train on the nexus of documentary research and significant environmental justice, emphasizing the politics of illustration,” Grey stated. “College students use this important lens in their very own movies all through the ideation and manufacturing course of. Within the first week, we used what’s referred to as inquiry-based studying to create an asset library of concepts and sources, from which college students generated idea maps for movie concepts earlier than they teamed up within the third week” to type manufacturing teams primarily based on their pursuits.
Grey’s coursework overlapped with that of Jenkins and lecturer Ian Kellett, each of whom taught the technical nuts and bolts of taking pictures and enhancing.
“Mainly, at first there’s a number of emphasis on brainstorming, important considering and analysis,” Kellett stated. “From there, it’s about gathering footage that’s easy, measurable, attainable, reasonable and well timed. From idea to supply in 9 weeks is comparatively quick, so college students should study to shoot and edit concurrently.” The general public screening occasion, he added, “actually places the fireplace beneath their pants to complete their work and put it on the market.”
The category additionally spent 5 days on Santa Cruz Island, sleeping and cooking on the UC subject station, and scouting the seashores and coastal canyons on “video scavenger hunts” whereas studying to collaborate, Kellett stated. “Working collectively on the island created very highly effective group dynamics.”
Canon just lately got here aboard as a Coastal Media Undertaking sponsor, outfitting the category with the most recent digital camera our bodies and lenses. The cameras’ face-detection autofocus function carried out exceptionally whereas photographing birds and different wild animals, in accordance with Kellett. The newest in image-stabilization expertise additionally got here in useful whereas college students shot from transferring automobiles and watercraft.
Different notable expertise upgrades included software program that mechanically transcribes soundbites from video however also can edit the video with changes to the transcription. An AI software additionally got here into play, as nicely, as college students in a single occasion have been ready to make use of podcast software program to recreate a soundbite that was initially unusable due to an excessive amount of background noise.
“College students get to work with top-notch gear and passionate instructors,” Jenkins stated, “they usually have a unbelievable time whereas gaining an intensive understanding of the challenges in documentary storytelling.”
