Student Historical Documentaries Premiere On Campus and Online!

Upper School student filmmakers recently shared their final projects from the Creating Historical Documentaries course, co-taught by Visual Arts and Graphic Design teacher Travis Chandler and Upper School History teacher Dan Greenstone.

Students enrolled in this course spent the fall semester immersed in the practical work and skills required to research, write, film, edit and produce a documentary about an important historical event, moment, crisis or social justice cause. As part of this course, Chandler and Greenstone led them through close analysis of a range of important historical documentaries and helped them recognize qualities of exceptional films exhibited in each example. Class members then combined this new visual knowledge with writing, research and storytelling techniques and had direct involvement with all aspects of pre-production, shooting, lighting, interviewing, editing and more to create professional-quality videos.

Chandler and Greenstone have been independently recognized for their films outside the classroom, and student work created in their class has been nominated for external awards as well.

Students shared their projects as part of their “finals” this week with parents/guardians, students, faculty and staff.

You can view this year’s films below and take in a showcase of prior work created by students in this course here or below.