Documentarian and Maestro Burt Westdorp works his magic at the (Mac) keyboard
Twenty or more individuals experienced a virtual “creative free time” this past week all week at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies specialty workshop – “Digging In”. A talented faculty of documentary luminaries descended from the four corners of the U.S. mainland and Canada to inspire, conjole, and lead aspirants who took a week out of their lives to raise their game. The leadership for this event was supplied by The Big Shed – a Canadian based production house of producers, editors, programmers, and designers.
The unexpected …
— a faculty who was looking as forward to this event as the students, maybe even more so
— formal instruction on how to mindfully concentrate for maximum creative productivity
–upfront recommendations of recreational resources to stretch the body before and after stretching the mind
–freshly and beautifully prepared nutritious daily lunches by the event’s resident chef
–“an over the top” comfortable working environment with well supplied and comfortable media labs
–other supportive students who were willingly and genuinely interested in sharing their projects
–and wanted to learn and hear about yours
–plenty of coffee
–a facility open every evening until 9:00 p.m.
–an attentive resident technical guru to help one navigate any where one wanted to go
–international participants with widely diverse backgrounds and interests
–spontaneous music and dance in the evenings
–hand churned home-made peach ice cream “on the porch” on Thursday night
— freshly cut flowers on the dining table
— a morning sun washing over the front porch
Highly recommended for audio producers, photographers, writers, filmmakers, and media makers who want to make meaningful progress on their work … happens every year once a year at CDS.