Digital Stories and Documentaries

November 18, 2024

students document markets in Ho Chi Minh City

students from the 2023 Dartmouth x Fulbright University Vietnam immersion

From Ho Chi Minh to Hanover

Picture this: motorbikes rumble past, diesel fumes waft in their wake. The sun’s heat penetrates your clothes. Humidity cloaks you in an extra layer. It’s 9am in a Ho Chi Minh City market. Hawkers splash water across their fruits and vegetables to make them sparkle in the sunshine. Brilliant variations of green, yellow, orange, and red cluster in front of you. You recognize some produce, but not all. The air is thick, vibrant, alive. You have three weeks to make a 10-15 minute documentary about food culture and the urban experience. There’s so much to see, do. You delight in this opportunity, though you need help bringing your ideas to life. You remember that Susan Simon, the Multimedia Instructional Designer at Dartmouth Libraries’ Jones Media Center, is on this trip with you. Her expertise, advice, and genuine feedback is at your fingertips. So, you tap into it.

This scenario is more than just an imagined one. Though the settings may vary, for over two decades, Susan has taught and supported students with ideating, developing, and producing unique and compelling stories using digital media. In her role at Dartmouth Libraries, she deepens the Dartmouth community’s understanding of the power of media: not just by consuming it, but creating it. As the creative powerhouse behind Dartmouth's digital storytelling initiatives, her impact reaches multiple academic disciplines and has taken her, along with her students, across the globe.

susan simon takes a selfie with students from Ed Miller's 2023 Vietnam class

Susan Simon with students from the 2023 Dartmouth x Fulbright University Vietnam immersion

One of Susan’s long-standing and rewarding collaborations is with Ed Miller and Sujin Eom’s class, ASCL 70.22 Developing Vietnam: History, Environment, and Culture. A high point of the class is traveling to Vietnam, and while there, co-writing research papers and co-producing documentaries. In 2023, Susan joined Ed and the students in Vietnam for a more direct, hands-on, and impactful filming and production experience. This December, she will travel again to Vietnam, joining Ed, Sujin, and a new group of 23 Dartmouth students.

What’s different this time around is how Ed and Sujin, in partnership with the Frank J. Guarini Institute for International Education, expanded the curriculum and student learning experience. For the first time, Dartmouth hosted an introductory, four-day intensive inviting the Fulbright University Vietnam students to Hanover for a preliminary round of meetings and filmmaking. Together, the Fulbright and Dartmouth students were to research a Dartmouth-specific subject and then create a one-to-three minute documentary by the morning of day four. This introductory assignment acted as practice for the longer documentaries they’ll create together in Vietnam.

students gather in The LINK for the final mini film showing

"ASCL 70.22 Developing Vietnam: History, Environment, and Culture" gather to show their final mini films in The LINK

But these students aren’t expert filmmakers – yet. So, in her sessions, Susan shared how best to create mini media projects. She suggested they welcome the “stumbling” nature of first starting a project and to “thrive, have fun, laugh a bit, relax, and do good work.” She encouraged them to notice and lean into each other’s strengths and lift each other up, while reminding them that this group work is setting them up for a lifetime of group projects! Susan also honed in on tips and tricks for excellent, engaging, and entertaining documentary filmmaking and storytelling, bolstering their confidence with the challenge to "know the rules first to then break them well."

Red Po, a member of the “Urbanista” film team, wrote how his experience at Dartmouth was “unforgettable.” He shared that Susan’s “energy and lecture [were] magical gifts from Dartmouth.” Red Po learned “loads” from Susan’s lecture and enjoyed discussing and shooting the film with his friends.

As an Arts student, I'm really serious about the film part of the final assignment. Having the opportunity to make my first documentary film with careful research is one of my biggest reasons for choosing this Developing Vietnam course. As a result, I am passionate about learning more to make a meticulously, tightly constructed film.

Red Po, Fulbright University Vietnam student

Wendel Cox presents to one of the Dartmouth x Fulbright University Vietnam project teams

Wendel Cox and one of the Dartmouth x Fulbright University Vietnam project teams

Not only did Susan teach documentary filmmaking at a lightning pace (and the students created funny and informative mini films as a result), other Libraries staff brought their expertise to the week. Robbie Abel, the Jones Memorial Digital Media Fellow, offered hands-on support throughout the week as students shot and edited their films. Wendel Cox, Research & Learning Librarian for Humanities & Social Sciences, led sessions to support them in their information-finding and research process. Wendel demonstrated how to best search for historical content that would inform and inspire their story. He also shared with them how, from what they find, they can build upon the research they started during the four-day intensive until their research papers are due in December. Wendel also reminded the students about avoiding scope creep. “You can't do everything, but you can do a lot.” He also advised to “be joyous in your research and information seeking” because you may stumble upon fantastic information that appears at first as a distraction or segue, but ends up being inspiring.

At the end of the four days, the students gathered in The LINK to watch their final mini-documentaries about Dartmouth life and culture.

In the closing comments before the Fulbright students boarded a bus to Boston, the Fulbright team shared thanks to everyone at Dartmouth who helped to make this immersive experience possible. They expressed their excitement about the week’s results, their hopes for how this gathering could be the first of many more, and "the start of something much, much bigger!"

Visit Jones Media Center to Begin Your Digital Storytelling Journey

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