About the Program

Participants may choose to plug into these massive events or to simply attempt change inside of their own imperfect universes. You might want to address an injustice in your profession, or local government, or a destructive trend in your neighborhood. You might want to organize all the people who are passionate about challenging an unfair subway fare increase, or create a personal video about the impact of bullying, or document examples of gender inequality at your workplace. The list is endless.

• What You'll Learn

  In an intensive, weekly format, you and fellow participants will learn the methods of filmmaking and how to apply them to the practice of real world activism. Through targeted assignments, relevant guest speakers, collaboration, review, and doing, you'll be empowered to conceive and create your own activist project to launch into the world.

• First Semester

  The Language of Activism

  Participants spend the first semester deconstructing best examples of activist media initiatives to understand how and why they worked. Guest creators will be brought in for interviews to help us understand the rules of the road pertaining to effective media creation for a particular cause. Topics include Storytelling as a Powerful Tool for Social Change, Citizen Journalism, Understanding Your Cause and the Solution, Different Genres such as Documentary, Narrative, Humor, Satire, Witness, Evidence, Outreach.
  
  The Language of Film
  You'll learn how to tell a compelling story through precise writing, producing, shooting, interviewing, sound recording, lighting and editing your work to say precisely what you mean. Increasingly complex exercises will be assigned to develop particular skills required for students to successfully create the work they want to do. Topics include:  Producing/Pre-Production, Mise En Scene, Composition, Continuity of Action, the 180-degree Rule, How Shots become Scenes, How Scenes become Films, How to Conduct Effective Interviews, Phone Accessories for Obtaining Good Sound and Image, The Power of Sound Design, Best Methods for Narration, Fundamentals of Editing.

• Second Semester

  The Practice of Social Impact Filmmaking

  You and your fellow activists will develop projects that attempt to influence actual change in the world through activities such as Planning, Creating and Distributing an Activist Video, Connecting to Other Organizations and Individuals, Understanding Methods of Distribution, Exploring the Assets and Pitfalls of every Social Media Platform, Collaborating with Communities, Involving the Press, Organizing Actions, Raising Money, Understanding Safety, Security and Ethics. Students participate in regular critiques of their work-in-progress and receive guidance and mentorship from industry professionals in frequent lectures.

• Your Guides

  Jonathan Brandeis

  A seasoned filmmaker in multiple genres across all platforms, Jonathan Brandeis has demonstrated a passion for the creation of politically centric media for both chronicling and motivating change across decades. His start in documentary film was as an independent news cameraman for WOR-TV embedded with the Irish Republican Army in Belfast during the hunger strikes and subsequent riots of 1981. Moving forward, he obtained mastery in nearly all aspects of filmmaking from picture, sound and light to writing, producing, directing and managing projects with large staffs or as a soloist bringing in feature-length documentaries.
  
  In projects such as Dissonance and Harmony, a highly competitive PBS initiative for 12 films about Arab-American relations, to American Bellydancer, an official selection at three American film festivals, to Stand Up, an official selection at the Hamptons Documentary Festival, to a film centered around a band of Montauk ex-surfers called Paddlers for Humanity, Jon has focused on stories that explore enduring change across a variety of socially relevant topics.
  
  Karen Offitzer

  Founder and former Program Director of the MFA in Creative Writing at National University, Karen Offitzer received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, and a Masters in Public Administration and Organizational Leadership from New York University. 

  Her short fiction and essays have appeared in several literary journals and magazines, and she has received grants and awards for her short documentary work, most notably for her short, I Am Not Who You Think I Am, exploring the effect of a year-long free humanities education program on the lives of those who were homeless and working poor. She currently serves as the Director of the Undergraduate Filmmaking Program at Stony Brook University.
  
  Simone Pero

  Emmy-nominated producer Simone Pero is president and founder of the social impact film marketing and production company, For Impact Productions. Named by Cynopsis Media as a 2019 Top Woman in Media in Community Building, she is an active leader in the media and entertainment industry, currently serving as the Advisory Board Chair of New York Women in Film & Television, and is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and Women Independent Producers.

  Pero’s producing portfolio includes a number of visionary projects including The Tale, starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn, and Common distributed by HBO Films and nominated for 25 awards including two Emmy’s and a Golden Globe and This Changes Everything, the 2019 acclaimed documentary featuring Meryl Streep, Geena Davis and renowned television producer/writer Shonda Rhimes. Pero is currently in development on a documentary investigating gender bias on Wall Street, three issue-driven narratives around wildlife conservation, racial injustice, and workplace discrimination, and is an executive producer on a soon-to-be released film about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Pero serves on the faculty at the Stony Brook University Killer Films MFA in Film program and holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs and Policy.

• Fellowships

  In Fall 2020, we will award a handful of Robert Sklar Diversity Fellowships for incoming students, particularly to those activist students who can contribute to the diversity of Stony Brook.