95 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155 617-627-2155 [email protected]—ase.tufts.edu/cms
Welcome to the Fall 2013 CMS Newsletter!
In this issue you’ll find our usual blend of features about CMS classes, profiles of alumni, and news about CMS events. We have also continued the trend of asking our students to write more of the articles, which gives them additional journalism experience and often helps them to make some interesting and useful contacts.
We want to hear from you! Please let us know if you have ideas for features, and make sure you send us updates on your professional endeavors, as well as your whereabouts.
Inside this Issue
CMS News — pages 2-3
Alumni News and Profiles — pages 4-9
CMS Events — pages 10-14
Internships — page 15
Students gather in the projection booth in Tisch Library, From the Classroom — pages 16-18 prior to the annual film screenings for the class “Producing Films for Social Change” (See page 16)
CMS Newsletter Send us your news! Changed jobs? Gone back to school? Moved? We want to hear from you. Email us at
Do you know someone who might be interested in receiving this newsletter? Volume 6, Issue 1 Feel free to pass it along. Fall 2013
2 CMS News
Notes from the CMS Director
Julie Dobrow CMS Director
Greetings from CMS! Communications and Media Studies Program Tufts University As ever, it’s been a busy semester for us. We have a large senior 95 Talbot Avenue class with whom we’re working, we’ve had many interesting events and we’ve been involved with a number of new Medford, MA 02155 partnerships across the university and beyond. [email protected]
You will read in this edition of the CMS Newsletter about some of the events we’ve held on campus. You’ll go inside our Producing Director Films for Social Change class and learn more about why this Julie Dobrow intense and intensive course continues to be one of our “signature [email protected] courses.” You’ll hear about some of the new initiatives that are making us very excited and very optimistic about the future of 617-627-4744 film and media studies at Tufts.
This fall we launched a new administrative structure at CMS. Program Administrator John Ciampa has become our Program Administrator and is with us full-time. Leslie Goldberg has become our Internship John Ciampa Administrator and is with us three days a week. Though there’s [email protected] always lots for us to do, our little admin team, aided by three 617-627-2155 wonderful work study students, manages to support a program that seems to grow with every successive semester.
Please let us know what you’re doing – we love to hear from Internship Administrator alums! And I cannot tell you the number of times that I rely on Leslie Goldberg, J84 our growing database of alumni in the media industries for help, [email protected] advice, and ideas. 617-627-2007 John and Leslie join me in wishing each of you and your families a wonderful holiday season, and all the best for a healthy, happy, Student Assistants and productive 2014! Gracie McKenzie, A15 Kacey Taylor, A14 Lauren Witte, A14 Sol Gittleman Chair In an exciting and major step to move film and media studies at Tufts forward, the university has announced the establishment of the Sol Gittleman Professorship in Film and Media Studies.
Over the past year, a group of faculty from many departments has worked to formulate proposals that will solidify and advance film and media studies at Tufts. One of these initiatives has been developing a position description for the new Gittleman chair. Members of this large interdisciplinary group have been appointed to a search committee, and the search has now commenced.
Nancy Bauer, one of the Deans for Academic Affairs in the School of Arts and Sciences, stated, “We are thrilled that the first holder of a professorship named after the iconic Sol Gittleman will be in a subject near and dear to Sol’s heart. The launch of a new program in Film and Media Studies with the hire of a high-profile appointment will signal to the Tufts Community and the world our steadfast and very strong commitment, at a time when Universities are struggling with flat budgets, to supporting the humanities and the arts on our campus."
2 3 New CMS partnership with Tufts Medical School
The need for clear and effective communication around health issues is arguably one of the most important needs of 21st century life. To meet this need and to better prepare students for the increasing job opportunities in the field, in the spring 2014 semester Tufts will launch a new B/MS in Health Communication. This program, a joint endeavor between the Tufts School of Medicine and the College of Arts & Sciences, will enable qualified undergraduates to get both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years, by starting to accumulate relevant graduate coursework at an accelerated pace.
The program will allow students to delve into many different modes of health communication—from public health campaigns to one-on-one patient-provider dialogue to new media. The focus of the program will be getting students to understand the theories of communication that undergird the science, as well as providing students with courses that develop the research skills necessary to identify target audiences and their needs, along with the writing and presentation skills required to deliver the message. In addition, the program will provide students with many opportunities to apply what they have learned in field-based placements.
CMS Director Julie Dobrow has worked with a team at the Tufts Medical School, including Sue Gallagher, the director of the health communication program, and Professor Linda Hudson, along with Professor Linda Sprague Martinez from the Community Health program, to develop and launch the program.
Gallagher stated, “The new B-MSHCOM program is a logical partnership between the Tufts Medical School, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, and the School of Arts and Sciences’ Community Health Program and the Communication and Media Studies Program. The program provides undergraduate students with a new career path in health communication and competence-based practical skills that are in high demand in the field of health and medicine. The TUSM program is the oldest health communication program in the country and has added several course that address the new media landscape of e-health, medical health and social media. TUSM added this dual degree program to shorten the time to degree completion and improve the competitiveness of graduates in the marketplace.”
Click here for more information about the Health Communication program.
CMS Alumni Board member in the news!
Click the logo to the right to watch filmmaker Josh Seftel, A90, on his hilarious new Web series about conversations with his mother. My Mom on Movies has been making waves on YouTube and was recently featured in The Boston Globe Magazine and on CBS Sunday Morning.
CMS on the Web Please take a moment to visit our website, where you’ll find photos, useful links, and video files from many of our events. If you have a career update, please send it to John Ciampa.
You can also visit our Facebook page by clicking on the icon above.
3 4 Alumni News Digital man
By Kacey Taylor, A14
Though Glenn Engler, A83, G89, may describe himself as a “husband, father, sports junkie” on his blog, he’s much more than that: he's one of the leading thinkers in the digital marketing field, the global chief of staff and director of corporate strategy at Edelman, the ex-CEO of Digital Influence Group, and the former president of Digitas.
He’s also an ever-faithful Jumbo, dedicated to giving back to Tufts by offering eager students his advice, along with the opportunity to join his social network as they look to enter the marketing field.
Engler’s time as a Jumbo began during his sophomore year, when he transferred to Tufts from Grinnell College to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics. He loved math, history and problem solving, and saw economics as the perfect blend of all three. During his last semester of school, he took a full-time job at Epsilon, where he traveled around the country predicting population growth rates. This was just the start to what he calls a “meandering path” of jobs in economic forecasting, marketing, then database marketing, which eventually led him to a five-year career in management strategy consulting.
With the growth of the internet bubble in the early-2000s, Engler moved into digital marketing, and was appointed senior vice president of Digitas prior to becoming president of the company’s Boston region, overseeing roughly 900 people in three different cities. After spending a decade at Digitas, Engler joined Digital Influence Group (DIG) as its Engler gives advice to a Tufts student during a CMS CEO, making the shift from the largest digital agency in the event held earlier this year called “Advertising and world to a smaller one with a more specific focus on social Marketing the the Digital Age.” media. Earlier this month, he began the next chapter of his career as global chief of staff and the newly-created role of director of corporate strategy at Edelman, the largest PR agency in the world, recently named Global Agency of the Year for 2013 by The Holmes Report.
No matter where his career has taken him, Engler remembers his roots as a Jumbo by revisiting campus to share his knowledge and expertise to both students and faculty. Each semester, Gail Bambrick, G79, G90, Tufts’ senior marketing communications writer and the instructor for the CMS courses “Public Relations and Marketing: Unraveling the Spin” and “Social Marketing,” invites Engler to speak to her students about his career and how to leverage the power of social media.
“Glenn is the most engaging speaker I’ve ever seen,” said Bambrick. “I think it is because he has such enthusiasm for what he does, and it’s contagious. Students get a tremendous amount out of his speech. Everyone intellectually falls in love with him.”
Engler is also a frequent speaker at other Tufts events: in just the last year, he has spoken at the Tufts Alumni Summit, the Tufts Idea Exchange (TEX), at a CMS panel on new directions in advertising and marketing, and to over 50 Tufts administrators at a university-wide conference.
4 5
Engler believes that communication is absolutely critical in the marketing field. “If you can't speak, can’t write, can’t play in teams, then you’re wonderfully book smart but I’m not sure you’re going to be a catalyst in a business,” he said. He feels that a liberal arts education allows students to explore their passions while gaining critical communication skills, and that the CMS program complements any major, as it helps promote these skills through hands-on learning.
Engler’s number-one piece of advice to students looking to enter the marketing and communications fields is to make their personalities shine. When he interviews a potential candidate, he's not concerned about the daily tasks of their previous internships; he's looking for what makes them tick and what they are passionate about. One creative way a student can showcase his or her personality and unique interests, according to Engler, is through a personal blog. He feels he can learn more about someone by reading their blog than he ever could by looking at a resume. Engler’s own blog, “Random Patterns of Thoughts,” features posts on everything from visits to the dentist to his obsessions with the workout program P90X, as well as his commentary on the latest marketing trends.
In each of his presentations, Engler stresses the importance of giving people something they can use when sharing on social media. True to form, Engler follows his own advice, starting off each of his lectures with the following: “I can promise you, you will not leave this class tonight without learning at least one thing.”
It’s a promise he has yet to break.
Alumni profile, Anna Bick, A12
By Gracie McKenzie, A15
Planning Delta Air Line’s in-flight messages with its CEO, shooting interviews with the organ-playing geneticist from Aerosmith, checking up on her colleagues from the summer she interned at Cannes—it’s all in a day’s work for Anna Bick, A12.
“I’m never bored, that’s for sure,” the production manager and associate producer, who now works at Seftel Productions, said. But before attending Tufts, Bick never thought she’d be a producer. In fact, she never intended to end up at Tufts at all.
Throughout the college application process, Bick thought she wanted to attend a small, rural liberal arts college, but realized just before the deadline that she was looking for a different atmosphere: “Not in the middle of the city, like NYU, but in a more urban area,” she said.
As a high school student, Bick wanted to major in film, but Anna Bick on a film set in Japan when she discovered Tufts’ suburban setting and walked across campus for the first time, she “fell in love.” “I could be a film minor, and pursue a different major, so that I could get a well-rounded education,” she said.
Attending Tufts also allowed Bick to pursue all of her academic interests: in addition to film, she was interested in veterinary medicine. Once she matriculated, Bick joined the Tufts dance community, selected a major in psychology, and continued to focus on filmmaking, creating her own independent projects and participating in film and television internships during her breaks. In one instance, after attending an information session sophomore year, she was chosen to intern at the Cannes International Film Festival in France, gaining valuable experience at one of the world’s top film events.
5 6
Back at Tufts in the fall, Bick signed up for a class that would deeply alter the course of her career, through she didn’t know it at the time. In the CMS course “Producing Films for Social Change,” students are assigned to groups of four based on their interest in a film topic on some issue of social significance (see a profile of this year’s “Producing Films” class on page 16). Over the course of the semester, the group collaborates to pitch, shoot, produce, write, direct and edit one 10- to 20-minute documentary—a tall order for even a professional company— in just over three months.
At Tufts, it happens every year.
Bick and her partners produced a film that profiled the Jamaica Plain-based organization City Life/Vida Urbana, which aims to protect people who have undergone foreclosure. The final film focused on one specific part of this complicated issue: a bank policy that stated that if a landlord was foreclosed, all the property’s tenants had to be evicted before it could be resold.
“There were neighborhoods that were completely empty,” Bick described, “because all these buildings had been emptied for reselling, but were never resold. Our film thesis was that these buildings should be sold to a new landlord with the old tenants in them. The Harvard Law School agreed with us, and we had some economists back up our argument—it just made sense.”
The film turned out well—so well, in fact, that City Life/Vida Urbana still uses it to teach new workers about their message. More importantly for Bick, though, through the project she learned about her own skills and preferences.
“I loved the editing part of that,” she explained, “but it was from that class that I saw that the portion of the editing that I enjoyed was more creating the story than a lot of the technical things… the class expects so much out of you—it’s insane. But it was also such a great experience because they don’t hold your hand too much.”
According to Bick, this is unique to Tufts: other schools’ film programs generally allow for much more preparation time and/or designate specific roles to each group member, rather than allowing them to explore each of the various aspects of production. Without a Tufts education, Bick never would have discovered her love for crafting a film’s story, even if she’s no longer the one behind the keyboard. She also asserts that her classes outside of CMS prepared her for her current career by giving her a rounded liberal arts education.
“The job that I do now, you have to have a lot of film knowledge and a lot of technical knowledge,” she said. “But in producing, you also really need to have good research and writing skills. We all complained about the pre- requisites when we had to do them, but the writing and research skills that you learn in classes prepare you for jobs.”
And the benefits of a Tufts education encompass more than academic programs or distribution requirements. After graduation, Bick moved to New York City. She applied for jobs, now in film and television production instead of editing. When she survived through the third round of interviews for one position, she emailed Tufts alumnus Joshua Seftel, A90, whose name she had gotten from CMS Director Julie Dobrow. She was only asking for advice on how to present herself in the interview, but the meeting turned out to be much more productive than Bick had expected.
“Two or three weeks later,” she said, “he ended up having an opening at his company, and he called me back to interview me for the job. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I preferred to do this rather than the other job, so it went on from there.”
The transition to the real world can be difficult, but she states that with humility and perseverance, students, especially Tufts students, can find success.
She said, “Coming out of Tufts, it’s easy to think you can conquer the world… and you can, but you can’t have too big of a head. No job is too small… and never be bored. You can always be doing something.”
6 7 Alumni profile, Lisa Granshaw, A09
By Lauren Witte, A14
Lisa Granshaw, A09, is the person every media student should want to know.
In addition to her role as a freelance writer, writing about fashion, pop culture, and entertainment, Granshaw founded her own company, Media Career Consulting, LLC, last summer. This company is a new take on the consulting field, offering those hoping to break into the mass media communication professions to learn how.
The inspiration for the business is close to Tufts University’s heart—Granshaw was inspired to start it after speaking on the Communications and Media Studies internship panel, an annual assemblage of CMS students brought together to offer insights on media internships to fellow Jumbos. Granshaw loved the feeling of helping others and giving input on the many internships—all five of them—she participated in as a student. In addition to internships at WBZ News and ABC News, while at Tufts, she wrote for the Observer and the Tufts Daily, and was active in Tufts University Television, WMFO, and Tufts Freeform Radio, all of which taught her to take on various and simultaneous challenges. The internships, combined with these extracurricular experiences, pushed her to become more involved in media, and ultimately led her toward a career in it.
Prior to starting her business, Granshaw climbed the ladder of media positions while continuing to help others. She began her post-college life as a mentor at NBC along with her job in guest relations as an NBC page in New York City. As a page, she had the opportunity to apply for different assignments that allowed her to get a feel for different parts of the industry, which led to a job as a production assistant at NBC Nightly News. This got her into writing, which is what Granshaw most liked about reporting. She then served as a digital producer and writer for NBC, working on videos and stories published on TODAY.com, before becoming a freelance writer and forming Media Careers Consulting.
So far, Granshaw has loved the challenge, independence, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with owning Granshaw returned to campus this fall to offer career advice for the annual her own business and being her own boss. “Jobs in Media” event, cosponsored by CMS and the Tufts Career Center.
“It’s rewarding seeing the results of my work, knowing that I put my all into it,” she said.
Finding out a client got a job or internship and is now succeeding (and seeing her own results take hold in the process), instills a sense of pride in Granshaw. As her business operates in the 21st century, much of Granshaw’s focus is about building her clients an online presence, or helping them establish a personal brand online, something she said anyone can do, especially while still in college.
She said the web is where the media is headed—computer, social media, and technological skills are what employers are looking for now.
7 8
In contrast to this move from book to screen, Granshaw clearly remembers hailing the book during her time at Tufts, specifically the CMS internship binders, binders full of various internship listings sorted by type and place kept in the CMS office. She credits them with helping her obtain internships, and distinctly remembers sitting upstairs in the CMS library looking through them (she asks if they still exist—they do, but not for long! See related article on page 15). Granshaw also credits, more importantly, the CMS staff with inspiring her to move forward with a career in the media, noting how accessible the department staff is. “I also love how often students help each other,” she said. “The binders are a clear example of that; students helping other students succeed – that kind of atmosphere is great.” Whether it was being able to pop in and sit down with former CMS Associate Director Susan Eisenhauer, J71, or just absorb the open nature of the department, Granshaw said she felt welcomed and supported.
This supportive mantra, along with the other lessons Granshaw learned at Tufts, still resonate for her today. “I really just want to give back and increase the ways I’m able to give back,” she said. “I would like to see my consulting company branch out more. I’d like to travel more, work more on campuses, and develop my blog, so that it is a destination place for advice.”
While much of the media is focused on the next big thing and how individuals may benefit, Granshaw has her eye on others, looking to help others establish media careers while giving back to the industry she loves.
Editor’s note: Granshaw’s blog, “Lessons from the Newsroom,” can be viewed at http://www.mediacareerconsulting.com/ newsroom-blog/. For more information on Media Career Consulting, LLC, visit http://www.mediacareerconsulting.com/.
Alumni Updates Jon Adler, A08, is working at CNN in New York.
Matt Bai, A90, is now the national political correspondent for Yahoo News.
Arielle Baran, A13, is an assistant account executive at Derris and Company, a boutique PR firm in New York.
Ben Bell, A08, is working at ABC News in New York.
Ned Berger, A10, is working as a community coordinator at Nickelodeon in New York.
Jen Bokoff, A08, is the director of GrantCraft at the Foundation Center in New York.
Erin Bucak, A09, is living in Turkey and acting in a television show on the nation's Fox Network.
Crystal Bui, A11, recently founded the MAi Ohana Hawaii Center for Leadership and Youth Development.
Elliott Davis, A13, is working as a public relations and marketing intern at Development Counsellors International in New York.
Stephanie Fischer, A13, is an assistant in the television talent department at ICM in Los Angeles.
Lisa Granshaw, A12, is a freelance writer whose work has been published by The Huffington Post, MSN, Salon, Yahoo!, and Mashable, among others. She recently started Media Career Consulting LLC, a service aimed at helping recent graduates kick-start their media careers.
Madeline Hall, A13, is spending a year on a Fullbright, teaching in Turkey, and considering which of her many interests to follow in a graduate program.
Mervett Hefyan, A13, is working as an analyst at Innerscope Research, a biometric market research company in Boston.
8 9 Alumni Updates (cont.)
Brionna Jimerson, A13, is a program coordinator for Dateline NBC in New York. Previously, Jimerson served as our 2013 David Burke intern at Boston’s WBUR.
Ben Kochman, A13, is a staff writer for The Bronx Reporter in New York.
Alissa Krinsky, J92, is the director of communications for Invenergy LLC, a wind energy company in Chicago.
Elizabeth Landers, A13, is a freelance desk assistant at CNN’s New York bureau.
Hui Lim, A11, is a digital executive with Newcast in Singapore, the social media and branded content specialist division of ZenithOptimedia.
Kaitlyn Leidl, A13, is working at WNET in New York.
Justin McCallum, A13, is a freelance photographer and writer living in New York, and also the online production manager at Musee Magazine.
Sarah Nash, A11, is enrolled in Columbia University's Graduate School, as well as interning at Edelman in New York.
Laurie Rabin, A13, is working as a research and production assistant at Nick Jr.
Tess Shapanka, A13, is working as a market research analyst at MaPS in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Sara Sorcher, A09, a national security writer at the National Journal, recently published a story on the sexual-assault epidemic plaguing the armed forces.
Harry "Muffin" Waksberg, A09, recently wrote and starred in a webseries that premiered at Cinefamily on Fairfax, a theater in Los Angeles, on October 6.
Alumni, send us your news!
Changed jobs? Gone back to school? Moved? We want to hear from you.
Email us at [email protected].
Do you know someone who might be interested in receiving this newsletter?
Feel free to pass it along!
9 10 CMS Fall 2013 Events
CMS Events – Fall 2013 Editor’s note: The next few pages contain a summary of the Fall 2013 slate of CMS-sponsored and cosponsored events, including several expanded entries that go beyond the who, what, when, where, and why.
So you want to land a job in L.A.? Networking tips from a recent graduate Very few of our alums struck such an immediate connection with students as Sarah Ullman, A10, did when she visited campus on Sept. 18 to talk about “landing” a job in L.A. The food, of course, helped to break the ice, as Ullman was thrilled to re-experience a hulking sandwich from Dave’s Fresh Pasta in Davis Square: “They played a large part in my college experience,” she said. But students were able to quench much more than just their appetites at this brown bag affair: Ullman dished out an endless array of job-finding tidbits – punctuated by her energetic and infectious delivery – to a room full of eager students hankering for good tips.
Ullman develops programming for an online video production company called Maker Studios Inc. She describes Maker as a “digital content studio,” combining the functionality of both a talent agency and a traditional studio. Working with some of today’s biggest artists, Maker has established more than 1,000 YouTube channels that, collectively, receive several billion views per month. Part of what
Sarah Ullman came to campus in September . Ullman does is conduct audience research, using her findings to create programming schedules that are optimized for each client, who run the gamut from Kevin Smith to Snoop Dog, including dozens of other artists and entertainers that command large audiences on the Web.
Part of what made this event so effective and engaging was the conversational tone Ullman set. Rather than simply talk to a roomful of students, she actively engaged them, seminar-style, capturing their attention and giving them realistic expectations about potential careers in the ultra-competitive L.A. job market—through first-hand accounts and often humorous stories.
“The town is all about relationships,” she said. “My first job was all about understanding the lay of the land. It’s this whole Web of people trying to push a boulder up a hill. Now I know the structure, I know how to do it.”
Thanks to Ullman’s visit, now some of our students do, as well.
What Really Happens at Sundance? Susan Zuckerman Williams, J83, media attorney at the Los Angeles law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP visited the Hill on October 16 in something of a twist for CMS. The experienced media attorney spoke to students about the legal aspects of the media industry and offered them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of this important but often overlooked side of Hollywood.
10 11
On the Air Anyone reading the CMS Newsletter knows that it’s not easy to break into the media world today. To continue helping our students learn how to parlay their wonderful Tufts liberal arts educations into meaningful careers in the media businesses, CMS teamed up with the Office of Advancement and the Tufts Career Center to offer the first annual “On the Air” event on October 19. This inaugural program brought a number of seasoned Tufts alums who represent different areas of the television industry back to campus, along with some younger alums who have landed jobs in this field, to speak to current students about a range of topics.
Alumni Neal Shapiro, A80, CEO of WNET/Channel 13 (the nation’s largest public television station); Nancy Glass, J77, the president of Nancy Glass Productions, a producer and provider of reality-based cable and network programming; Alex Marin, A92, senior vice president for distribution of SONY Pictures Television; Todd Kessler, A80, a television writer, and Sharon Hall, J86, executive vice president for Alcon Entertainment, spoke to the 80- plus students who turned out on a Saturday morning about the changing nature of television. Breakout sessions with these alums, as well as with Ally Gimbel, A10, and Hillary Sieber, A12, from WNET and Brionna Jimerson, A13, from Dateline NBC, enabled current students to hear tips from industry insiders about what they do, and how to get into the field.
Meghan Mongeau, AG12, the assistant director in the office of special events who helped to plan the two-day event, stated that, “The inaugural On the Air event was a tremendous success. The level of enthusiasm from both alumni and students was outstanding. Alumni were thrilled to be mentoring students on potential careers and exploration media avenues. Students were engaged in each of the individual sessions and the generosity of the alumni’s time and spirit made a remarkable difference to students interested in careers in the media. The outcome of this event is a testament to the interest in this field and the strong future of the Communication and Media Studies program.”
Kosta Alexis, associate director of development for Arts & Sciences, added that many of the alums told him that they wished such a program had been in existence when they were at Tufts. “They are so excited that CMS exists now, and they’re eager to keep helping out with events like this.” Mongeau concluded that this event had been so successful that “There is already another event scheduled for October 25 2014 – save the date!”
A collection of students, alums, faculty and staff made for a highly-successful “On the Air” event.
11 12
CMS Internship Panel This annual October collaboration with the Tufts Career Center is based on the premise that some of the most effective networking comes from peer-to-peer contact. Featuring a panel of student communication interns discussing their experiences—and how they were able to land their coveted spots—this event is always a big draw for budding interns. This year’s student-panelists and their respective internship sites are listed below. More photos and a recording of the event is available on our website here. Mackenzie Brewster, A16, Harpers Bazaar Nicole Blank, A15, Walden Media Kaitlin Deveau, A14, Jack Morton This year’s CMS Internship Panel Jeremy Ravinsky, A14, Christian Science Monitor Kaveh Veyssi, A14, Charles River Media Rachel Zimmer, A15, WKBW
Boston International Children's Film Festival On Friday, November 1, the curtains at the Somerville Theatre went up and the first annual Boston International Kids Film Festival began. The festival (BIKFF) was the brainchild of Tufts alumna Kathryn Dietz, J76, and her colleagues at the Waltham-based Filmmakers Collaborative. Dietz serves as the executive director of Filmmakers Collaborative.
Dietz approached CMS Director Julie Dobrow to see if Tufts would be willing to participate. “I said yes without hesitation” Dobrow recounted, “I could see from the start that the film festival could serve a need to screen quality films from around the world for, by and about kids, and that working with BIKFF could develop some incredible opportunities for our students.”
The philosophy of BIKFF is different from other film festivals, explained Dietz and Laura Azevado, Filmmakers Collaborative’s associate director and co- festival director, because “we aimed to pair issues of media literacy along with screening films.” To do this, the team worked with Dobrow to brainstorm a number of workshops that would cover a range of topics and would be open to the public. In the end, half a dozen workshops on topics ranging from “Deconstructing Ads” to “Smartphone Shorts” to “Cyberbullying 101” were offered on the Tufts campus.
Some of the workshops were facilitated by Dobrow’s graduate students in child development. Danielle Stacey, G14, a master’s student who co-led a workshop on “Social Media Bootcamp for Parents,” stated that, “Facilitating a workshop on issues related to adolescent social media use through the BIKFF was Having fun at the Boston Kid’s Film Festival a great experience both personally and professionally. The role of technology has advanced so rapidly in our lives. I'm always curious to hear how people are adapting to these changes, especially parents. As a researcher of children's technology and media use, the opportunity to speak one on one with parents really helped me bridge the gap between research and practice, an issue that is often overlooked in academic research. I valued the chance to speak with real parents dealing with real issues related to their child's social media use.”
12 13
In addition to the workshops, 48 different feature length films and shorts were shown at the Somerville Theatre over the period of three days. Films included a number from around the world: Amka and the Three Golden Rules from Mongolia; Tuskevar from Hungary; Ravi and Jane from Australia; Morsey and Mop from Singapore and Lady Luck from the United Kingdom, among others. The festival also featured a screening of Making of Malala, the story of Pakistani education advocate Malala Yousafvai, and Girl Rising, a documentary about nine girls from different parts of the world who face significant challenges. Young Canadian filmmaker Slater Jewell-Kemker screened her documentary on the global youth climate change movement, An Inconvenient Youth. Jewell-Kemker was awarded the first Peggy Charren Award for Excellence for her exemplary work on this important topic and efforts to use film to effect change.
Jahmol’s Vision for Youth Peace, a documentary by Tufts alum Tony Bennis, A79, was a featured film, as was Walden Media’ release, The Watsons go to Birmingham (alums Carey Granat, A90, and Micheal Flaherty, A90, started Walden). A number of Tufts student films were also screened.
Dobrow, Dietz, and Azevado were all enthusiastic about the response to BIKFF. Dietz stated, “I was very happy with the turnout for the BIKFF, especially considering that it was the first year launch of an entirely new program. We'll make some course corrections next year in terms of scheduling (we were a little overambitious), but the core of what we'll offer will be the same because it's what's needed: thought-provoking workshops on media literacy and skills, paired with great films from around the world that are for, by, and about kids.”
“We’ve learned some lessons and next year will be bigger, broader and better than ever!” promised Dobrow.
A Camera of Her Own - “La camera oscura” “A Camera of Her Own: Women Filmmakers Today,” a series CMS sponsors along with the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, along with Drama and Dance, continued this semester with the screening of La Cámera Oscura on November 8. Argentinian filmmaker Maria Victoria Menis joined us at the Tufts screening of her award-winning 2008 film.
Jobs in Media Similar in format to our Internship Panel, our annual “Jobs in Media” event features a group of experienced professionals who offer first-hand accounts and expert advice about finding a job amid today's media landscape. Always a popular event each November, CMS and the Tufts Career Center make it a point to invite panelists from a broad range of communication fields. Students glean essential insights from this event about the experience and skills they should acquire to secure jobs, along with tips on how to make themselves marketable to prospective employers. Members of this year’s panel are listed below. You can also visit our website for more information on the this event, which includes photo galleries and audio clips.
Michelle Bonanno, Senior Publicist, Houghton Mifflin Kathryn Dietz, J76, Executive Director, Filmmakers Collaborative Lisa Granshaw, A09, Founder and CEO, Media Career Consulting LLC Brianna Lieberman, G13, Senior Associate, Strategic Communications at Verisk Health Jesse Littlewood, Project Manager, Echoditto Patrice Taddonio, A06, Publicity Account Manager, WGBH Terence Tran, A12, Analyst for Strategy & Analysis, Digitas Brianna Liebermann, G13 (right), offers advice to a student during the “Jobs in Media” event.
13 14
Double Standards and Double Lives: on writing a biography of "unlikeable" women CMS Director Julie Dobrow gave a lecture as part of the WGSS Faculty Forum Series. She spoke about her current project, a dual mother/daughter biography of Emily Dickinson's editors, Mabel Loomis Todd, and Millicent Todd Bingham.
Funny: A Multimedia Comedic Presentation by David Misch “Knowing how comedy works affects the way you experience it and do it,” said David Misch, a man of many talents and more than a few creative exploits, when he visited campus for a multimedia presentation on December 2.
Misch has worn more hats than what most of us have in our closets: He’s a writer of both books and television; a stand-up and behind- the-scenes comic; a teacher and public speaker; a stage actor and performer; even a singer-songwriter (check out the early-70s local favorite “Somerville,” a folk relic that’s guaranteed to garner a few laughs from former Jumbos).
His credits are also many and varied—from Mork and Mindy to Saturday Night Live to The Muppets Take Manhattan—there’s a fair chance you’ve probably laughed at one of his jokes without even knowing it. His latest book, Funny: The Book / Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Comedy, explores the various facets of comedy as a true art form, including its historical and anthropological roots. Misch goes so far as to link comedy to Kant and Socrates, which made for some unexpectedly heady material during his visit to Tufts. Misch even frames comedy as a biological need for humans; something that is as vital to our good health as the four food groups.
“Comedy is God,” is one of Misch’s tenets, a belief of his that’s probably best summed up by his own words: “Even just jokes that seem simple and straightforward have linguistic and emotional complexities that are equal to drama in being challenging, rewarding, and I believe, profound.”
David Misch in black and white and in color; his lecture provided students with a multihued look at comedy.
14 15 Internships CMS internships and winternships going strong
Students interning in the communication fields this fall got valuable hands-on experience and had a lot of fun, working in companies as varied as television news stations and nonprofit organizations. Enrolled through the for-credit CMS course EXP99, interns planned special events for School the World; logged the Red Sox World Series games at WBZ-TV; participated in advertising and public relations campaigns at Cone Communications, Hill Holliday, and Arnold Worldwide; researched and wrote articles for the Boston Business Journal and the Christian Science Monitor; managed social media campaigns at Frontline and Fablevision; helped produce films for Charles River Media, and so much more.
The internship program made other great strides this fall with the creation of an online, searchable database of internship openings. This new system, built using the program Filemaker, is scheduled to launch in January 2014, and will eventually replace the paper “binders” students must currently peruse in order to find opportunities that match their interests.
Students will be able to search the database using a range of criteria, including fields of interest, location, hours, and more, and the CMS department will be able to quickly and efficiently update internship listings. Ultimately, the system will be accessible via a password-protected link, so students will no longer have to come to the CMS office from nine to five; they can search for openings from home, off hours, and even while studying abroad. We are very excited about this new system and the opportunities it will offer our students to find exciting and career- enhancing internships.
For more information about the database, or about obtaining a for-credit spring or summer internship, contact Leslie Goldberg at [email protected] or John Ciampa at [email protected].
Winternships 2014 At this writing we are getting ready to send off thirty-five fabulous Tufts undergraduates to twenty-seven different media companies in four cities as part of the 2014 Winternship program.
Once again, competition for these slots was stiff: we read over 250 applications for the 35 positions. Students applying represented all four class years and many majors in both Arts & Sciences and Engineering.
The Winternship positions represent all media fields, ranging from print to digital, news to entertainment, public TV and radio to the very much for profit sector. We have positions in three different film companies on the east and west coast, three talent agencies, several advertising agencies and a number of non-profits that use media as a central way of getting their message out. Perhaps the coolest new sites for us in 2014 will be Bustle.com, a hip new online women’s magazine looking to “redefine what "women's interest" looks like” sponsored by Meredith Turits, A09; winternships at Fullscreen Media, a company that offers to “supercharge your YouTube presence,” sponsored by Dan Rosen, A10, and at Maker Studios (“a producer and distributor of online materials for milennials”) sponsored by Sarah Ullman, A09; a winternship following Sara Sorcher, A09, at National Journal; and a new site for us at the Center for Leadership and Youth Innovation in Honolulu, offered by Crystal Bui, A11.
Thanks to all of our alums in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., and Honolulu who are sponsoring this year’s Winterns!
15 16 From the Classroom Changing the world, one film at a time
By John Ciampa
The potentially transformative power of a film to impart change lies at the heart of the CMS course “Producing Films for Social Change,” a class that teaches students not only the rudiments of how to make a compelling film, but also how to play the role of journalist, activist, storyteller, and critical thinker. While developing each of these important skills, maintaining an understanding of one’s audience – and of how to funnel these competencies into the ideal mixture required by the documentary format – becomes critical to the creation of a film powerful enough to serve as a catalyst for action.
“The class offers a multifaceted approach to film,” said Don Schechter, A01, G03, an experienced lecturer at Tufts with close ties to CMS and the Experimental College. “And we draw from a broad range of material.”
In addition to his work at Tufts, Schechter doubles as the driving force behind Charles River Media Group, a small but diversified film production company based in Newton, Massachusetts that he started almost as soon as he descended from the Hill 10 years ago. A filmmaker by trade and at heart, it’s safe to say that Schechter’s work has become his lifeblood, a passion which he clearly parlays into his pedagogy.
“There’s a good bit of focus in the class on the technical aspects of filmmaking, but there are also elements of journalism and newsmagazine production we teach. Having a background in the history of documentary film is also important; I feel you have to first respect the genre before you can know what you’re doing.”
Together with assistant instructor Lai San Ho, A13, Schechter began the course in boot camp-like fashion, sending students out to their environs this fall almost immediately to create short practice films as a means for students to understand their abilities and, perhaps even more importantly, their own limits. It’s an intuitive, hands-on approach to immersive learning – the kind that often comes from teachers who’ve paid their vocational dues outside of the classroom. Students get the experience of having their very own film premiere in the class. “We were 12 novice filmmakers thrown into the fire,” said Peter Balonen-Rosen, A14, a CMS minor who worked with two other classmates on the film Clamped for his final project.
Their film is a probing look inside the life of an undocumented immigrant forced to wear a permanent tracking bracelet around her ankle. The camera follows her throughout her days, tracing her long bus rides out to the Boston suburbs as she checks in with her immigration officer. This ability to seek out and follow a story was something students had to learn before they were finished buying textbooks for the class.
“We got out there quickly, filming these mini-documentaries in-and-around campus. [Don and Lai San] really helped us learn the basics of creating a film, and getting out into the real world is how many of us got our ideas and chose our topics.”
16 17
Choosing a topic was the first and most obvious hurdle for each of the four filming groups, which ranged from three to four students each. But as Balonen-Rosen recalled, the task was a bit easier because of the journalistic skills students had acquired at the course’s outset.
“Our group ventured off-campus in search of a story and stumbled onto an immigration rally, which is how we met our subject and learned about the tracking device she was forced to wear. We knew immediately that this was an important topic, a story that had to be told.”
The structure of the course follows a loose format where the first half is centered on establishing a groundwork of understanding; a mixture of documentary film history and theory, coupled with a bevy of weekend filming and editing assignments that build tangible skills. Benchmark works such as Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies, Errol Several people who appeared in the film Clamped joined the Morris’ The Thin Blue Line, and the Maysles filmmakers on stage to answer questions from the audience. brothers’ Gimme Shelter illustrate to students the visceral power of the documentary genre.
“We’d watch each of these films and discuss them; they were like these ideal models that gave us a set of standards we wanted to reach,” said Menglan Chen, A16, who collaborated on a film called Turning the Tide, about how climate change is motivating activism in an East Boston neighborhood. “Don did a great job explaining various film styles and techniques to us. Once we understood them, we could see how all the pieces would fit together to make a good documentary.”
The assignments were often demanding – exercises based not only in trial and error, but also on the premise of failure. The first class assignment required students to break into two groups and create five-minute films that included multiple scenes, locations, and events. There were no interviews and no edits allowed, just a series of video recordings aimed at creating a narrative – something akin to free-form storytelling at its purest.
The results of these early exercises were rough, but , Schechter said, that was the point.
“You have to fail sometimes to learn, but I’d rather see that failure come in some of these preliminary projects,” he said. “That’s why I wanted them to do a series of short films in the beginning; they needed a basis from which to learn.”
The setup seemed to work. By the time students honed their filmmaking skills through these and The capacity crowd at Tisch Library’s film theater other workshop-type assignments on editing and lighting, they were poised to take on their final assignments: creating documentaries from scratch that were suitable for a public audience, complete with pre-production, research, screenwriting, and logging work – all the elements required for professional start-to-finish filmmaking.
17 18
“Finding the right topic can be an issue for some of the filming teams, but that’s also part of the skill-building process,” said Schechter. “Then they also have to establish a point of view, which is solely up to them.”
That point of view is what gives many of the films a contentious, advocative bent – qualities that suit the course’s namesake.
Similarly persuasive, the two other films from this year’s class included USDA Incorporated, a story about how small, sustainable farm owners are learning to survive amid increasingly stringent organic farming regulations and the pressures of corporate product control. While In Our Backyard chronicled the efforts of a mother looking to find answers and raise awareness in the aftermath of the tragic shooting death of her son, as city officials tried to look past the event to avoid negative publicity.
All four films required hours upon hours of shooting, editing, and post-production work. When combined with all the training and theoretical requirements, the sheer scope of the class can be more than a bit daunting for students.
“In a way it’s almost an unfair class because of what they have to learn and then produce in such a short period of time,” admitted Schechter. Students look on intently during the film fest. But by the time of the end-of-the-semester film festival, in which all four films were screened to a packed theater at Tisch Library, the payoff seemed worth it. The atmosphere was charged, with some students still high on energy from the frenzy of finishing their films.
“We were busy editing up until the night before,” said Balonen-Rosen, who is now working for the Somerville Neighborhood News, a local access television news program.
The filmmakers brought friends, family members, and in some cases those who appeared in their films. After each screening, audience members gleaned additional insights into the four stories and the filmmaking process by asking questions to both students and even some of the films’ protagonists.
After the festival, the impact on both Chen and Balonen-Rosen was profound; a result of the hard-won accomplishment of having created films that made a difference.
“The class itself was very challenging but very rewarding,” Balonen-Rosen said. “I really enjoyed the journalistic aspects of it, and I can see myself using that in the future as I continue to work in media production.”
“The class was really supportive,” added Chen. “We worked together for the whole semester, and then followed each other until the work was done; this class is the reason why I’d like to continue to work in documentary.”
Editor’s note: Producing Films for Social Change is a course that has been offered with support from the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service since its inception almost a decade ago. CMS Director Julie Dobrow explained that “Producing Films is one of CMS’ ‘signature courses’ – enabling students to marry their interest in filmmaking with their desire to make a difference in the world. In the years that we’ve offered this class the one word students use most often to describe their experience in it is ‘transformative.’”
You can see previous years’ films produced by this class by clicking here.
This fall’s films will be up on our website early in 2014. 18