OBJECTS OF AFFECTION: PERSONAL FILMMAKING
Ages 16-29
Spring 2019, Baltimore City Community College, 710 E. Lombard Street
This personal filmmaking workshop will explore the roles objects play in our lives and in our storytelling. Concrete items can make tangible the abstract: they might embody a memory, reflect identity, or represent a relationship. A toy, a piece of jewelry or clothing, a drawing made in childhood; something inherited, given, or found might carry a range of meanings, and a value beyond itself. Fellows will begin with an object and draw from it a story about themselves or about someone close to them, or perhaps the story of the object itself, whether real or imagined. They might pursue the history of an object through interviews with people to whom it also has meaning, and/or they might enrich their visual narratives with additional materials, such as photographs, letters, or even additional objects. Working with video footage and audio created during the workshop, as well as cellphone footage shot between meetings, they’ll assemble individual short films. They’ll learn the basics of videography, including shot composition, audio recording, and editing; and they’ll refine critical thinking and storytelling skills. Each fellow will create a short (2-3 minutes) film to be shared at a public screening and on the program website. Limited to 8 student fellows.
Objects of Affection is a co-production of Baltimore Youth Film Arts and Root Branch Productions.
Vonnya Pettigrew is CEO of Root Branch Productions & Film Academy. A writer and filmmaker, she has produced content for a wide range of clients, including the Discovery Channel, Disney, and Starz.
Jimmy Powell, Jr., an alumnus of the Maryland Institute College of Art, is a freelance videographer and editor. His clients include the NAACP, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and the University of Maryland Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Erica White, a Baltimore native, has been working with young people for twenty years, helping them turn their energies toward something positive, and supporting them in using their voices in meaningful ways.
