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A journal of social practice & professional engagement for the Antioch community
 

Perspective: Coleman ’23 at Sharp Productions in Los Angeles

When my mentor, Jennifer Sharp, asked me “what are you expecting to get out of your co-op experience?” The one word that came to mind is perspective. I want to get an accurate idea of what it takes to create a visual portal, to tell stories with a human element. To my surprise, I have gotten perspective and so much more! I started off winter ’22 in Los Angeles, where Jennifer and I went over goals and expectations for our time together.

I am associate producer on a documentary, “Anecdotals” that Jennifer is working on.

Logline: While the vaccine debate grows more politicized and divided, those with adverse reactions get stuck in the middle.

My responsibilities include researching soundbites to be used in the documentary, sending emails to request the rights to use the soundbites, and watching countless hours of interviews and organizing them to make editing easier in post-production.

I found these tasks to be rewarding, as I am working on my own documentary “A Super Heroine”.

Logline: Millennial women of color are breaking generational curses and finding their place in society: their secret, autonomy.

One highlight so far has been filming a fundraising video for Jennifer’s documentary, we received our first $25,000 donor within 5 days!

 

I even got a chance to see Orion’s Belt, a popular winter constellation!

 

As I move on to the next phase of this co-op, I feel equipped, supported, and prepared.

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<p class="p1">Hello, my name is Frank Adam Fortino. I am in my fourth and final year at Antioch College, and on track to graduate with a Liberal Arts bachelor's degree in art focused in media studies. I have spent my college career thus far, as well as my past three co-ops studying the art that is film and video making; from its history to actually creating works myself.</p> <p class="p1">I have worked for filmmakers such as Rea Tajiri (Philadelphia) and Ken Burns (Walpole, New Hampshire) who have helped me gain better understandings of the documentary form, as well as story telling in general. I have travelled to far places (Andros Island in the Bahamas) with film equipment I had to sneak in my pants to carry it aboard an overweight plane.</p> <p class="p1">I have studied and worked with found footage, animation, and essayistic forms. I have researched the links between avant-garde and conventional filmmaking (comparing Maya Derren to Christopher Nolan and <i>Sherlock Jr.</i> to <i>Un Chien Andalou</i>) and have grown very fond of experimental tactics used to convey stories through film and video.</p> <p class="p1">To highlight my passion and excitement for film, I will be organizing and hosting a film festival called <i>30(ish) Frames Per Second: A Yellow Springs Film Festival</i> (www.30ishfilmfest.com) in June of 2017. For the festival, we will be celebrating works with essayistic qualities that deal with social justice issues in some capacity.</p> <p class="p1">Along with my ever-growing fascination for movies and media, I have a strong connection to the ideal of living off of the food I grow myself, in a home that is self-sustaining, and harmless to the environment. To realize this, for my final co-op I have travelled to West Ireland to glasraí farms to live and work with a family who has very similar ideals to my own. They are teaching my how to farm, and live sustainably, and in return, I use the skills they teach me on their farm. Along with immersing myself in a culture different from my own, I am learning skills that will follow me beyond the classroom, and into the way I want to live my life.</p>

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