Workshops












































































































































Rooms at the Durham Arts Council

Adaron: ground level, right wing
Duke Power: 2nd floor, right wing
PSI Theater: 2nd floor, middle

Limited Space Workshops

Limited space workshops are: Flash Animation for Websites (12 spaces), Editing with Final Cut Pro (12 space), and Stop Motion (Animation) on the Fly (8). Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Or, to sign up for a tentative spot, you can send an email to msfilms[at]hotmail.com. Your space will be confirmed when you purchase your pass (please let our volunteer know you need to have your space confirmed). We will hold it until the beginning of the workshop, at which time we will give to someone on the waiting list if you aren't present.


[click here for schedule overview]

Moviemaking 101: An Overview of the Basics
[SAT noon - 1 pm in Adaron]
Ever wonder what goes into making a film?  In this workshop we will get you started with the very basics, giving a general overview of how to go about making a small gauge film.  We'll discuss everything from pre-production to post-production for those who have no experience in filmmaking but would like to give it a try, or for those who are just curious. We'll discuss everything from how to get film, get it developed, and transfer it to video, to what a boom is for, the basic crew you'll need to make your first movie, essential lighting tips, and more!
Nayeli Garci-Crespo is THRILLED to have finally finished her Ph.D. in Duke Literature's Film/Video/Digital program.  She has taught film and video production courses and workshops at Duke and in the area, and has also been a teaching assistant for local animator Fred Burns' courses for several years.  Nayeli has worked as a freelance editor and director of photography on several films and videos.  In 2002 she directed and edited the nationally-broadcasted Duke ACC institutional spot.  She is a member of Freewater Productions, a filmmaking collective that she headed for two years.  Her titles include Blue Skies, Vanishing Point, and Grace. This is her 4th year presenting at Ms. Films!

Flash Animation for Websites with Amanda Larson
[SAT 1:15 - 3:15pm in Adaron]
Get a demo on how to use Flash 5 to create a simple interactive website!
Flash creates animated movies, so you can apply concepts you'll learn here to Motion, After Effects, Live Type and any other animation and compositing programs that use keyframing and tweening. 
Limited to 12 spaces.
Amanda Larson is a producer and editor based in Seattle , WA who teaches a wonderful series of editing and animation classes. We met Amanda on the Ms. Films West Coast tour in October and had the pleasure of attending one of her stop motion animation classes and were impressed by the class, the range of her projects, and her passion for teaching and empowering people to try out various mediamaking.

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Cut & Paste as Resistance: Creating Recycled Media with Pat Doyen
[SAT 3:30 - 5pm in Adaron]
Just stumbled onto some cool footage at a garage sale? Or looking to  take back the interpretation of our lives from the mainstream media? We have tools and materials all around us that we can use to document our world and to rethink and re-present how we are viewed and how we view our world through media. In this workshop, we'll explore the various sources of recycled media and how you can use it, including film and video (home movies, archival materials, found footage) to reuse and create new media. We'll look at what others have done, discuss some of the ethical and  practical issues involved, and brainstorm ways you can use specific  footage. mobile devices (camera phones, ipods) as subversive tools in radical action. We'll talk about what you can use and how, where to find it, copyright issues to be aware of, how to create projects from scratch and how to incorporate various media into your project. We'll also discuss sharing and swapping materials you have and what to do with your project. Both sound and images will be discussed. No media making  experience is necessary, but if you're working on a project bring a  sample or be prepared to talk about it. Handouts of resources will be  provided.
Pat Doyen holds degrees in film and media studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is currently in the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation program at George Eastman House in Rochester , NY . Her films have been screened at festivals around the world. She is a contributor to the Ms. Films DIY Guide to Film & Video, a curator for Trailer Park Fest, and this is her third year facilitating workshops at the Ms. Films Festival.

Craftivism: A New Approach to do-it-yourself activism with Betsy Greer
[SAT 3:30 - 5pm in Adaron]
Explore a hands-on approach to activism and talk about how what we create in our every day lives can be part of making change. We'll discuss different ways to get involved, to use your skills and interests in building community, and create something together!
Betsy Greer is an artist and activist currently living in North Carolina . While her interests vary widely, her work always comes back to a developing a sense of self complete with ideosyncracies and the importance of community dialogue. Recently she has been working on promoting the idea of ethical wool production and researching the cultural importance of all things handmade.

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The Revolution Will Be Photocopied: Zinemaking for Activism in Everyday Life with Niku Arbabi and Taylor Ball [SUN 11am - 12:30pm in Adaron]
[Zine: pronounced ZEEN, n: self-published and distributed, usually low-budget, magazine]
Why is self-publishing a conduit for making radical change? How can we connect with our community at a grassroots level without our message being mediated and altered by mainstream media? How do we make our voices heard if we don't have access to corporate media? In this workshop, we'll discuss these questions and more to explore the role, and possibilities, of zines in making change in our communities. We'll give a brief history of zines making change and will have a round-table discussion and brainstorm ways they can be used. You'll see examples of political, activist, media, resource zines, and more. Participants will also receive zines and resources, and will be on their way to entering the wonderful world of zines and zinemaking!
Niku Arbabi has facilitated zine workshops independently and for events and organizations including Rock Camp for Girls, SEEDS, and the Chapel Hill Book Fair. Her zines include Radical South, Polaroid-Celluloid, and the Ms. Films DIY Guide to Film & Video. Niku is also the director of Ms. Films, a crafter, and an advocate for doing it yourself.
Taylor Ball lives in Fredericksburg , Virginia and has published his zine Cultor-Sore for almost ten years and has been running the zine distro Parcell Press for a little over two years.  Parcell Press is the umbrella project for not only wholesale/retail zine distribution, but for zine and book publishing as well.  Supporting his own self-published works to the works of other zinesters and artists, Parcell Press is devoted to bringing zines into as many eager hands as possible and increasing the legitimacy of independent publishing in a corporate publishing world.

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Stop-Motion on the Fly (intensive) with Amanda Larson
Learn how to use inexpensive downloadable video capture programs to make stop-motion movies. You can animate anything that you can put in front of a camera: clay, cutouts, drawings, your earrings, a cup of coffee!
Limited to 8 spaces.
Please bring something you want to animate! It could be something you made in the Craftivism workshop Saturday or something from around the house.

Editing with Final Cut Pro with Shambhavi Kaul
[SUN 1-4pm at the Center for Documentary Studies]
In this hands-on workshop, participants will use existing footage to learn the basics of digital video editing with Final Cut Pro. This workshop will take place in the media lab at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University .
Shambhavi Kaul has worked both nationally and internationally as a freelance editor and film-maker. She recently finished her first feature length documentary on country music legend, David Allan Coe. She currently resides in Durham , where she runs Hard Light , a film, video and web production company.
Limited to 12 spaces.
At the Center for Documentary Studies.

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Ladyfesto Dir. Anne Cremieux
[SAT 1:15 - 3:15pm in the PSI Theater]
Ladyfesto was shot during Ladyfest Philly, a women's arts festival, in March 2003. The main organizers are interviewed as well as artists and attendees. They talk about the war in Iraq that broke out when the festival started, feminism, arts and crafts, consensus-based organizing, inclusion, and the sisterly city of Philadelphia . Both an account of the festival and a guide to DIY political and artistic organizing.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Anne Cremieux about independent women's festivals and conferences such as Ladyfest, the Southern Girls Convention, Ms. Films, etc. that both showcase the work of women and offer tools of empowerment in a variety of media. We will also discuss the role of media in events such as these, and the audience will be invited to ask questions and make comments as well.

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Living Room: Space & Place in Infoshop Culture
[SAT 11am - 1pm in PSI Theater]
Living Room: Space & Place in Infoshop Culture is a documentary that explores the need for a physical public space, using the infoshop as a case study; its function, and the relationship between physical places such as infoshops and the building and sustainability of activist communities. The documentary visits various infoshops around the country, focusing on the Lucy Parsons Center in Boston , Breakdown Book Collective & Community Space in Denver , Jane Doe Books in Brooklyn (RIP), the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, The Back to Back Worker-run Cafe in Portland , OR , and the Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia .

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with members of Internationalist Books, our own infoshop in Chapel Hill , and others in the underground publishing and infoshop communities.

"We live in a society where public places that people feel like they are an active part of and can use for non-economic purposes are increasingly rare. Public spaces where people can go in order to feel like a part of a community and to participate in creating a transformational culture of resistance to the dominant society are even more rare. One exception to this general scarcity of alternative public spaces is the emergence of Info-shops in urban centers across the United States - and indeed around the world. Info-shops are community spaces that facilitate access to traditionally marginalized information while providing a physical space for people to build creative projects of resistance to current forms of destruction and domination."

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