TWN Production Workshop Director

Herman Lew, cinematographer and professor received his BA from the State University of Los Angeles and his MFA from NYU.  He is an associate professor and the director of the B.F.A. Film & Video Program in the Department of Media and Communications at the City College of New York.   He has been a director of photography for over 65 films, documentaries and commercials, as well as dance, experimental projects and museum installations.  He has been the recipient of a New York Foundation For The Arts Fellowship and has received grants from the New York State Council On The Arts for his own film and video projects. Among his recent productions is (En)Countering Bias, a documentary on Asian American performer activists. Since 1989, Herman has been the director of the nationally recognized Film & Video Production Workshop program at Third World Newsreel.

Workshop FAQs

What types of videos can be made in the workshop?

Dramatic, documentary, experimental and various cross genres. Regardless of the formal structure, projects must be kept short, simple and manageable to keep production time and expenses down.

What other costs are associated with the Production Workshop?

The workshop provides basic production equipment. Other production costs such as extra stock, transportation, food, props, etc. are at the participants' expense.

When are applications available and when will I be notified of acceptance/rejection?

Applications are up on our website early in the year and the deadline for this year's completed applications is March 5th, 2012. Second round interviews are conducted soon after and people will be notified immediately of acceptance or rejection.

How competitive is the application process?

We want as many people as possible to have access to the application process. However, only about half of the applicants are contacted for a second round of personal interviews for the 9 available slots. If necessary, interviews can be conducted over the phone for out of city/state applicants.

Are there other training programs that TWN offers?

The TWN Production Workshop is project driven and the only production training program that TWN offers. It is conducted once a year and starts in late winter / early spring. However, TWN also offers two other workshop programs that are not project driven or primarily production oriented: Intro to Final Cut Pro Nonlinear Editing & Media Literacy Workshop and the Evening Seminar Series. The Final Cut Pro workshop is a 6 week program conducted twice a year, once in the winter and again in the spring. The cost is $300 and participation is by registration. The Evening Seminar Series is a 6 week workshop with each week covering a different media topic or issue, from proposal writing to budgeting to practical tips in production. The Evening Seminar series also runs twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. The cost is $20 (student/low income rate avail) per session and participation is also by registration. For more information on these two workshops, call 212-947-9277 ext. 15 or email: workshop@twn.org

What kind of time commitment is necessary for the Production Workshop?

If your time is limited or you have other commitments, it will be very difficult to fully benefit from the Production Workshop. In addition to the regular Thursday evening meetings, participants are also required to attend the Wednesday Night Seminar Series (Production Workshop members do not have to pay for the Wednesday Workshop Series). There is also a tremendous amount of work in pre-production and post-production that each participant must accomplish outside of the regularly attended Thursday and Wednesday sessions. In addition, because people often work during the weekday, most productions are shot on the weekends or in the evenings so you must be available and flexible with your time. Workshop participants are also required to do a Community Service Project where members provide some kind of service, i.e. shoot an event, screen films or videos, conduct a media workshop, etc. for a grassroots community organization. It must be emphasized that the Production Workshop is not a "school" situation where one meets for class once a week, takes notes and then comes back again the following week. It is a project driven and production orientated program where one must be committed to learning basic production skills while making progressive media projects.

What have past participants done after the Production Workshop?

Past participants have produced, written and directed feature films, documentaries and experimental works. They have worked as cinematographers, editors and other technical positions on fictional films, documentaries, commercials, music videos, etc. They have been Academy Award nominees. They have been accepted to graduate film programs at NYU, UCLA, CCNY and Columbia University and have attended AFI, IFP and the Sundance Directors and Writing labs. They have started their own production companies and film collectives. They have produced community based video & film projects and training programs....the list goes on. Workshop graduates include: Loira Limbal (Estilo Hip Hop), Byron Hurt (Beyond Beats and Rhymes)Grace Lee (The Grace Lee Project), Ada Griffin (A Litany for Survival:The Life and Work of Audre Lorde), Randy Redroad (Doe Boy), Renata Gangemi (Professor, Ramapo College), Alice Wu (Saving Face), Jamal Josephs (30 Days, Professor, Columbia Univ.), Renee Tajima-Pena (Calavera Highway, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, Professor, UC Santa Cruz).