Digital Journalist's Platypus Workshops

The Digital Journalist will be hosting four domestic Platypus Workshops this year.

These 9-day workshops teach high-definition digital shooting and editing, with an emphasis on storytelling. More than 200 photojournalists have attended since their inception in 1999, and graduates have gone on to create television documentaries, Web videos and even films. (One graduate was an Oscar nominee in 2006.)

There are two ways to attend a workshop. As a Shooter you are the storyteller. You get to use a new Canon HD camera, wireless and on-camera mikes from Sennheiser, tripods from Libec and an Apple laptop MacBook Pro with the latest version of Final Cut Pro for editing. You may work alone, or with a Producer (see below), to create the class exercises and a final 3-5 minute documentary or news story.

Everyone who joins the class will learn about the newest HD (High Definition Digital Video) camera, field sound recording, cinematic storytelling, the use of lenses, tripods, and Apple's latest Final Cut Pro editing software.

As a Producer you do what the name implies in broadcast. Producers attend all classes, team up with shooters to "produce" the various segments of the course work: research stories, make arrangements, conduct the interviews, go out on the field exercises and co-produce the final project . . . as a team. The Producer and the Shooter both come back to the edit bay and cut the projects together.

The workshops are taught by award-winning photojournalists Dirck Halstead and PF Bentley.

TUITION: Shooter: $1,995. Producer or educator: $995. Student: $750. (10% discount for NPPA and ASMP members).

SCHEDULE:

MAY 1 – 10: PORTLAND, ORE.

To register for Portland, contact David Lyman .

JULY 26 – AUGUST 4 (session 1): MAINE

AUGUST 6 – 15 (session 2): MAINE

To Register for Maine, contact Kerry L. Curren .