The Art of Digital Storytelling with Rod Harlan
Where digital photography meets inspired videography

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Monday 12th July – Friday 16th July 2010

The island of Maui, one of the most beautiful islands known to man, is described the world over as THE photographer’s paradise, offering unique opportunities for capturing the most breathtaking images. Known as the Valley Island, it is most famous for its impressively diverse, stunning and picturesque climates and for the 15th time selected as “Best Island in the World” by Conde Nast Traveler!

The Art of Digital Storytelling workshop on Maui offers a unique opportunity to spend 5 consecutive days on a convergence course of digital photography and digital video to produce your own digital story. Participants get the best of both worlds in this workshop with complete hands on photography and videography field work on some of the most stunning locations on Maui. This is followed by focused classroom learning, post-processing, production and effects training using many popular software applications including those found in the Adobe Suite. By the end of this workshop you will combine all of your work to create a compelling story you can take home and proudly share with your colleagues and friends!

In the magical location that is Maui, supported by a one-of-a-kind workshop, you can elevate your photography and videography to new heights as each day presents you with new adventures. Winding roads lead to grand Volcanoes, heavenly Hana, lush rain forests and palm-shaded powdery white sandy beaches. Conversely, in several areas you'll find the isle’s lava is pulverized into small stones resembling a black sand beach. At higher elevations Haleakala National Park presents lunar-like craters to first time visitors. Hawaii’s culture offers visitors luaus, hula shows and special Hawaiian and ethnic celebrations full of colorful imagery just waiting to be captured. In short, Maui offers you a magical, one-of-a-kind experience and when combined with this workshop offers an incredible opportunity to capture the true spirit of Hawaii, adding your own creative flair to your work in one of the most sought-after locations in the world.

Leading the workshop is Rod Harlan, a pioneer and international figure in the world of digital videography and photography. Rod is the Founder and Director of Education for the Digital Video Professionals Association (DVPA), Dynamic Media Editor for Layers Magazine and an Instructor for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Conference & Expo and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and Photoshop World Conference amongst many others. He has over 20 years of experience in the field and his teaching is second to none.

You can check out his Twitter page here: http://www.Twitter.com/RodHarlan

Rod is joined by Randy Hufford of the Institute of Visual Arts on Maui. Randy has been a very prolific commercial photographer working for such clients as Mercedes Benz, Time Magazine, Surfing Magazine, Peterson's Photographic Magazine, and numerous hotel chains like RitzCarlton and Marriott hotels. His photographic expertise has earned him his Master of Photography and Craftsman degrees with the Professional Photographers of America and has been recognized twice by Kodak with the Kodak Photographic Excellence Award.

During his 35 years of living and working on the island of Maui, Randy has discovered all of the best photographic spots to make our workshop truly special. We are extremely fortunate to have Randy as our guide as well as instructor for producing the best photographic prints possible. He IS the "Print Master".

Your 5-day course schedule balances outdoor field trips with indoor classroom training to maximize your learning potential. Weather always plays a big part in determining which locations we will go to and when. Although we have published start times we do not always adhere to a strict schedule if circumstances dictate a change. Here are some of the possible locations we might visit (along with lens suggestions) weather permitting:

Haleakala Crater - both sunrise and sunset
(located in Haleakala National Park!)
wide angle 

Bamboo Forest - afternoon
wide angle

Beaches - both sunrise and sunset
wide and tele

Volcanic lava flow - sunset
wide and tele

Surfing - sunrise
tele

Windsurfing - sunset
tele

Upcountry Maui - sunrise
macro, wide, tele

Model shoot at private house
Tele, macro

Exotic Rainforest 
wide, macro

Plunging Waterfalls
Wide and tele

Seascapes
wide and tele

QUICK DAILY OUTLINE
Monday
08AM Meet at Grandma’s Coffee House for Breakfast
10AM-01PM Class Time
01PM-02PM Lunch
02PM-04PM Class Time
04PM-0?PM Shoot Sunset

Tuesday
** 04AM Optional Sunrise shoot
10AM-01PM Class Time
01PM-02PM Lunch
02PM-06PM Class Time

Wednesday
05AM Sunrise shoot
10AM-01PM Class Time
01PM-02PM Lunch
02PM-05PM Class Time
** Optional 05PM Shoot Sunset

Thursday
10AM-01PM Class Time
01PM-02PM Lunch
02PM-04PM Class Time
04PM-0?PM Shoot Sunset

Friday
** 05AM Optional Sunrise shoot
10AM-01PM Class Time
01PM-02PM Lunch
02PM-05PM Class Preparation of final projects and Presentations

PROPOSED SCHEDULE
Day 1 Monday July 12th
We will start with a group breakfast at 8am provided by IVAMAUI at Grandma’s Coffee house located at “the Shops of Keokea” in Keokea. We will than proceed to Institute of Visual Arts Maui located in Kula, just minutes from Grandma’s Coffee house. This first class room experience will allow us to mingle, get to know each other and learn about shooting suggestions and techniques. Lunch will be available from Chef Rebecca around 1pm. We then will then conclude with a slide show revealing opportunities of locations on Maui (see above). Around 4pm we will depart to our sunset location. Please note that weather-depending we change our locations at the last minute in order to provide the greatest opportunity to capture the most beautiful light. Optional lab time available for you to download and work on your images and video at IVAMAUI in lieu of participating in sunrise or sunset shoots. Lab will be open 8 to 10am and 4 to 6pm.

Day 2 Tuesday July 13th
Tuesday is the OPTIONAL Early Morning sunrise shoot. Again, this is dependent on the weather, optimum lighting conditions and is chosen the previous afternoon.

We will also look at our Sunset pictures and video, evaluate, see how we can improve them, and begin learning the techniques that we will need to develop our perfect story.

Day 3 Wednesday July 14th
Wednesday is our sunrise shoot and we will usually meet at 4am at IVAMAUI or other location to car pool and gather together as many of us as possible to head out to our location. Breakfast is a European breakfast with us meeting at 10am at IVAMAUI for our next class room session. Lunch will be at 1pm with the lunch prepared by Chef Rebecca. From 2pm to 4pm more educational workflow teaching time.

Day 4 Thursday July 15th
This is the day we start putting everything we've learned so far together as we begin building our final project. We'll have more classroom and lab time until around 4pm when we will depart to our sunset location. Optional lab time available for you to download and work on your images and video at IVAMAUI in lieu of participating in sunrise or sunset shoots. Lab will be open 8 to 10am and 4 to 6pm.

Day 5 Friday July 16th
Friday is another OPTIONAL Early Morning sunrise shoot.

We'll spend the morning in the last of our instructional class time. The afternoon is reserved for you to finish up your projects and to make your presentations to the class for critique. It will be exciting, encouraging and fulfilling all at the same time!

What To Expect
Rod’s workshop is tailored to the creative enthusiast who has some experience working with creative tools in a digital environment, but who wants to learn a new skill-set and take those skills to a new level!

Rod and his assistants will guide you through the process of shooting both video & photos on location, through post-processing of your media to get the best results, and on to combining all elements for the most dynamic presentation, until you discover the best ways to deliver your masterpiece… and all while sharing key tips, tricks and techniques the Pros use to set their work apart from other digital producers. Whether you want to make yourself standout in this very competitive industry or are simply looking to improve your own productions for your own enjoyment, you'll have a fantastic time learning from one of the most experienced Gurus in the industry in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

The Art of Digital Storytelling class is $1495
(Additional Sunrise/Sunset shoots $99 each)

The Workshop includes Lunch all 5 days and includes Breakfast at Grandmas Monday morning and European breakfast on early morning shoots including Optional mornings Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

We will have an assistant available each day to output 1 portfolio print each day for each student 11x14. Student must supply image, with name of each piece on their own flash drive by 4 pm each day in order to get the portfolio print for that day.

Requirements for Class
Laptop loaded with the following software:
- Photoshop CS3, CS4, or CS5
- Non-Linear Editor (Premiere Pro, Final Cut, iMovie, Avid, etc)
Helpful but not Mandatory:
- Adobe Video Suite apps including After Effects
- Adobe Lightroom

HARDWARE (bring as much as you have!)
-DSLR Camera body with video
-DSLR Camera body without video
-HD Video Camera
-Back up body if you so desire
-Wide angle or wide angle zoom lens (I highly recommend a 24-70mm for both Canon and Nikon shooters)
-Relatively short telephoto zoom (recommend something like a 70-200mm)
-Other lens choices you might find useful
-macro
-super wide angle or fish-eye
-longer telephoto (out to maybe 400mm)
-flash
-Camera battery and backup (some shoots will last multiple hours)
-expect a much higher battery usage rate if working live view -- and I'll have y'all using it a lot)
-battery charger
-Compact Flash or SD cards to support long shoots. They are hands down the best available. Remember your usage will be much higher if shooting HDR, pano, and HD video.
-any Video DSLR shooting aids and mounts (from Zacuto, Red Rock Micro, etc)
-stable tripod
-solid ball-head (if you have a panorama attachment/kit bring it along.  Quick warning, once you start shooting panos you will do it all the time!
-cable release
-intervalometer if you have one (works great on your backup camera for shooting a time lapse "movie")
-foul weather gear for you and your equipment. I don't use anything fancy. I typically carry a towel and a few large trash bags.
-card reader
-laptop or mobile storage device
-sunscreen
-hat
-sunglasses
-cold weather gear for Mount Haleakala, gloves, hat, coat

*While English is the primary language of the workshop, foreign language support will be available from the course co-coordinators including fluent speakers of French, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish, and German for international participants. We hope you join us on this life-changing adventure!

Additional Info / Detailed Information for Professionals.

Some of the many classes & topics that Rod will cover during this 5 Day Intensive Workshop:

New Features in CS5 for Digital StoryTelling
Learn the best features in the Adobe CS5 Suite to add to your storytelling arsenal. Rod will present real world examples and show you how to best use these tools and techniques to improve your productions.

Shooting Video with your DSLR
We'll look at the technical challenges that DSLR Video presents including editing natively, camera movement, audio synch, low light videography, combining with other video formats and much more.

Special FX for TV/Film/Web Adobe Creative Suite
Whether you're using Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, or other apps, they all have their bag of tricks. However, what “special” techniques are you missing up your sleeves? Come and learn a handful of FX that will help you achieve future success.

Photoshop Extended for Video
Photoshop Extended offers many new options that work well for motion graphics designers. Join Rod as he walks you through the many new facets found in the king of design programs.  From importing video layers to working the Timeline, setting keyframes, animating layers, applying filters to video, creating video smart objects, rendering animations to video, choosing the right codec and much more! Photoshop Extended will change how you work with video and build animation elements.

Photoshop Motion Design Recipes
Rod walks you through motion design techniques in Photoshop that you can immediately incorporate into your day-to-day design and Digital Storytelling needs. Rod will specifically focus on animation and motion graphics techniques that turn Photoshop Extended into an After Effects substitute. This class is great for anyone who has a Photoshop skill set and wants to get into motion graphics. 

Fast Start with Adobe After Effects
This is your chance to take a good look under the hood of Adobe After Effects, one of the most powerful and popular dynamic design applications on the market today. Get an intense overview of the program and answers to any questions you may have, all while learning great tips and techniques from an experienced industry professional.

Blending & Painting with Video in Photoshop Extended
Learn how to import your video footage directly into Photoshop Extended and then transform it using blending & painting techniques to create exciting visual effects in only a few minutes. You'll be amazed at how quick and easy it is to use a Photoshop workflow on your video files.

Color Correcting Photos for the Screen
Learn the secrets the Pros use to make their images POP on screen. See how Camera Raw, Filters and Blending modes can really enhance and even recover images from disaster.

Perfect Alpha Channels with Photoshop
Learn how to use channels, layer masks, and selection tools to extract images and create alpha channels that play friendly with video applications. Great transparency starts with perfect layer masks. It's essential to master this important skill in order to achieve better composites.

Photoshop Most Wanted Effects
The majority of effects used on a day-to-day basis in most projects are pretty basic. The techniques and methods are recipes that change little from project to project. But if you don’t know the basic recipes, you’re in big trouble! In this session, we will run through a short-list of some of the most commonly used techniques. We will break down how they are put together, and where and how they are applied. In the end, you will see that the underlying work in the majority of effects is pretty simple and that a basic knowledge of these techniques allows you to tackle a great range of work.

Pressure's ON! Producing the Best Story
From the importance of pre-production to scouting locations, dissecting a script, adjusting set design, knowing what personnel and equipment you need, understanding your location and your location lighting, tracking continuity and much more... we'll cover whatever you need to learn that gives you the knowledge and confidence to produce the Ultimate Multimedia Project!

Using Media in Social Media Marketing
Go beyond the step-based tutorials for specific applications and master how to use media to grow your business. In this class you'll learn how to take the graphics, videos, and animations you've created in programs like Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects and use them to increase your reach on social media networks like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Twitter Apps & Services
There are thousands of Twitter apps and Twitter services that you can use to enhance your business and make your social media marketing easier. There are ones for: Analytics, Advertising, Automation, Multimedia, Music, Networking, Productivity, Search, Shopping, Sales, Travel and so much more. We'll look at some of the best that you'll want to add to your repertoire right away!

Tweeting with Authority
In this session with Rod you’ll learn strategies to increase your reach on Twitter.  Learn how to build a strong network and then leverage it to get your message out.  You’ll also discover a multitude of Twitter services to make your social media management easier and more productive while achieving better results.

…and much, much more!!