Media Art: The Short Documentary

Today we will continue our look at documentaries by watching a segment of the 1st episode of one of my all-time favorite series from Showtime called This American Life which stems from the public radio show on WBEZ Chicago. 

The stories are all personal and engaging and they utilize a few different techniques that help tell the stories which we'll discuss tomorrow in class.  Above is a short clip of Ira Glass, the host and creator of the show working with Google in creating their recent Google doodle, something you should all be familiar with after creating your own for the Doodle for Google contest last week.

In April we will each create our own short documentary so keep that in mind while watching.  We'll be talking about the basics of storytelling and the different documentary terminology and styles.  Before we begin you need a story and that's often the toughest part so think about the stories that you, you friends, and your family tell others and start there.  I'll be creating a story with you so you'll get to see the process before you go through it!