Post Travel Class #3 - Third Drafts

Friday, July 8, marked the last official class meeting of the 2011 Navajo Oral History project. Students met via Interactive Television connection between the Winona State University campus in Winona, Minnesota, and the Tsaile, Arizona, campus of Diné College, the tribal college of the Navajo Nation.

The students involved in the class viewed the third drafts of the documentary films they had been working on for more than month. The documentaries focus on four Navajo elders the students interviewed during June.

After this last class meeting, the documentary projects will get final tweaks to get them ready for duplicating and eventual publication.

The finished projects will be turned in to Prof. Tom Grier on Friday, July 15. Grier will get them ready for duplication and have professionally produced DVDs made. In October, the students will host two receptions to premiere the 2011 documentaries. One reception will be held at Winona State University, and another will be held at Diné College.

The dates for the receptions have been set:

Thursday, Oct. 6, 5 p.m. at Winona State University

Monday, Oct. 10, 5 p.m. at Diné College

These events are open to the public and are meant to honor the work of the students and the lives of the featured elders.

Post Travel Class #2 - Second Drafts

The 2011 Navajo Oral History project students met for a second time after their field work was complete.

The four teams presented the second drafts of the documentaries they are creating about Navajo elders they interviewed during two and a half weeks of field work.

The drafts are really looking good. Professor Miranda Haskie and I were quite impressed with the hard work of the student teams, and the quality of the documentaries. All class participants watched the drafts and offered constructive criticism to make them even better.

Minor corrections will be needed to some of the audio and a few video edits. In a few cases, the students will be incorporating more b-roll or still photo images in their pieces. Narration scripts are being written and will be recorded this week.

We have one more class period planned for Friday, July 8, to view the completed projects.

Once they are done, the projects will be mastered for DVD duplication. Each featured elder and their families will get copies of the DVD, and copies will be archived at the Navajo Nation Museum, Navajo Nation Library, as well as the libraries at Diné College and Winona State University.

Receptions are being planned for early October to premiere the documentaries. Receptions will be held at both Winona State University and at Diné College. Following the premieres, the media versions of each documentary will be available for viewing on Winona360.org, the WSU Mass Communication department's web site.