NO SUCH THING AS B-ROLL: VISUAL ART IN DOCUMENTARY
Ages 16-29
Fall 2022, JHU-MICA Film Centre
The term “B-roll”—supplementary footage in a documentary—implies second importance, B to the A; that there must be something better. At a minimum B-roll adds visual interest, but at its best it shapes the viewer’s experience of the narrative and of the world of the film in profound ways. It doesn’t select images simply to illustrate or even to contextualize interview material; it delivers and suggests ideas in ways that only moving images can. In this workshop, student fellows will explore the real possibilities of B-roll. They’ll aim high, seeking framings and edits that alter perception, that engage their audience with the unexpected and make them see in new ways. In a collaborative film about niche professions, they’ll experiment with extreme close-ups, extended takes, unusual angles, and editing grounded in aesthetics rather than narrative continuity. They’ll turn their cameras on a bicycle repair shop, a silk screen studio, a pigeon fancier, creating not an educational film, but a transformative visual experience that reveals something of both subject and filmmaker. Their work will be shared on the program website and at a public exhibition. Limited to 8 student fellows.
Charles Cohen's recent documentary films include Riding Wild, which follows a group of BMXers into Baltimore's urban wilderness, and The Crooked Tune, an Old Time Fiddler in a Modern World. He holds an MFA in Film and Digital Media from American University and has written for The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, and Baltimore City Paper.
Murtaza Hathiyari is pursuing a graduate degree in robotics at Johns Hopkins. An experimentalist who believes in the power of expression, he is certain everything has an intriguing story behind it to dig into.
Estefany Lara is a Salvadoran-born writer and filmmaker based in Baltimore. Estefany believes in the power of storytelling to connect and honor individual voices.
