Monday, June 22, 2009

Freedom Forum offers multimedia boot camp Aug. 9-14 in Nashville

Journalism educators, professionals and students can develop and hone their skills in audio, photo and video storytelling at a Multimedia Boot Camp taught by the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, Aug. 9-14, in Nashville, Tenn.

Tuition is $850, payable in advance. Low-cost housing at Extended Stay/Vanderbilt is available for an additional $71.40 per night. Registrations will be accepted until July 19, but will be cut off as soon as classroom capacity is reached. Applications and additional information are available at www.freedomforumdiversity.org. Questions may be directed to lead instructor Val Hoeppner at vhoeppner@freedomforum.org or 615/426-7160.

The hands-on training program is modeled after the Freedom Forum’s acclaimed multimedia curriculum and is equivalent to a 2-credit-hour college course. It is designed for those with limited or no multimedia experience. The schedule is intense. The boot camp opens at 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 9, and adjourns at 2 p.m., Friday, Aug. 14. Most days, instruction will begin at 8:30 a.m., continue throughout the morning, afternoon and evening.

The training will occur at the Diversity Institute’s state-of-the-art school facilities in the Freedom Forum’s John Seigenthaler Center, 1207 18th Ave. South, Nashville, Tenn. Tuition covers all supplies, use of multimedia equipment and software during training, and a take-away binder filled with step-by-step guides to producing audio, video, Soundslides and other multimedia projects.

Participants will learn how to:

• Produce multimedia on a budget, buy the right gear and find cheap ways to record and edit audio.
• Use basic tools in Adobe Photoshop: toning, cropping and text.
• Produce a Soundslides project.
• Produce two video projects, using Final Cut for storytelling and editing.
• Apply and sharpen newly-acquired multimedia skills and instruct and coach others.

The Diversity Institute, a non-profit Tennessee corporation, was established and funded by the Freedom Forum to be a school dedicated to recruiting, training, mentoring and retaining a diverse workforce in the newsrooms of the United States. It has offices and conducts programs at the John Seigenthaler Center in Nashville, at the Al Neuharth Media Center on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion, S.D., and at the Freedom Forum headquarters and NEWSEUM in Washington, D.C.