EXPLORATIONS IN NEOREALISM
Ages 16-29
Spring 2017, Morgan State University
In this collaborative storytelling and filmmaking workshop, student fellows will conceptualize, script, storyboard, perform, and produce short neorealist films. The neorealist style emerged in Italy following World War II, with films such as Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, and extended its influence to American films from forties film noir to Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, and newer films such as Wendy and Lucy and Ballast. The storylines are fictional, but the films are characterized by their naturalism, often using non-professional actors, and emphasizing location photography and episodic storytelling. Fellows will work in teams and take a “by any means necessary” approach to their projects, drawing on available resources. The workshop will provide an introduction to three-act narrative form, basic cinematography and editing, and the phases of content production that are the building blocks of narrative film, including (1) Scripting and Pre-visualization (2) Production (3) Post-production and Exhibition. Fellows will also be introduced to Adobe Creative Cloud, including Premiere and After Effects, and to simple scoring with original music and sound design as a “finishing” technique to enhance moving image mood and theme. Their films will be shared at a public screening and on the program website. Fellows should bring a bag lunch. Limited to 14 student fellows.
Explorations in Neorealism is a co-production of Baltimore Youth Film Arts and Morgan State University.
Keith Mehlinger is Director of the Digital Media Center and Coordinator of the Screenwriting and Animation program (SWAN) at Morgan State University. A producer/writer/director, he produced episodes of the syndicated series, Story of a People, and recently completed a short documentary about parents of sons lost to street violence for the Morgan multimedia project, Mother's Lament.
David Lee Roberts Jr., an award-winning television producer and documentary filmmaker, is Adjunct Professor in the Screenwriting and Animation (SWAN) program at Morgan State University. Television credits include Metro Focus, and film credits include the upcoming features Covenant of Peace, about the Washington, D.C. juvenile justice system, and Charm City, about Baltimore community reform and engagement.
Jessica Pettiford is an undergraduate in the Screenwriting and Animation (SWAN) program at Morgan State University. She hopes to improve her own skills in filmmaking and animation while working with others and helping them learn something new.
