Residency Artist - Media

Andrea Torrice

509 Riddle Rd.
Cincinnati, OH  45220
Phone: (513) 751-7050
Email: atorrice@mindspring.com
Website: www.torriceproductions.com

I am a documentary storyteller. My goal is to inspire adults and children to learn how to use video and print to craft compelling non-fiction stories. Everyone has an important story to tell about their lives, families, schools and community. I work with junior high, high schools students and adult communities and help the develop skills to communicate nonfiction stories. For young children, (6-8th graders) I start by showing them photos and videos that they then can copy or get ideas from. I provide a question for them to answer. (Past projects included: Why is the food in the cafeteria so good this year? Or what's it like to speak a different language then the country you live in?) We learn how to investigate a subject, conduct interviews and write a script. I then work with them to create a "story map" out of writings, photos, pictures and video materials. Digital cameras and computers are required. For high school students, I teach basic of journalism skills - how to research a story, how to do an interview, how to use the internet to gather facts, how, how to put this information together to make a story interesting. I teach basic video camera and editing techniques. I help students define a story, shoot it with a camera, and how to narrate or use music. Students have produced stories about their town, their school, their families. I encourage them to see how their stories are part of a larger world that they live in. The product can be a 3 minute news style reports or short, webisodes. Pending equipment availability, I also teach camera, sound and basic video editing. This usually takes two weeks and we can then upload what we created on Youtube.

I have worked with students and adults in making short videos about history, current events, the environment, artists, musical events, and theater. I have also helped communities craft oral history video and audio projects.

I started my career as a researcher for the Lehrer Newshour 20 years ago and then worked as a journalist and documentary producer for the Current and Cultural Affairs departments of the PBS affiliate KQED TV in California. For the past ten years, I have run my own production company in Cincinnati, and have produced award-winning documentaries and webvideos for national PBS, National Geographic, WTN and One WorldTV. I have also worked with many arts and non profit organizations creating educational videos, oral histories, multi media and exhibition videos.