Student work by Caroline Gilchrist featured in post thumbnail
CMDP 4810-001 Advanced Documentary Practices
Teacher: Eric Coombs Esmail
Semester of Spring 2026
Screened Sep. 10th, 2026. Suicide Awareness Day
Objectives:
Students will apply the technical resources and skills outlined in the course to produce projects from start to finish. These include media production projects that require written components and in-class presentations. Projects will have individual and collaborative components, requiring verbal and written demonstration of students’ comprehension of practical techniques and concepts. Students will be exposed to various uses of media in functional, artistic, and intellectual applications. Tangible outcomes of this course include a body of short documentary media works and technical reference material for future projects. All student work will be exhibited and discussed with instructor and peers.
Final Film:
About: Our 5 person team of media students created Episode 1 of a 3 part series of student films covering a Fall 2025 Enviornmental Design course at CU Boulder. The Enviornmental Design students (ENVD) designed Suicide Memorials with the following objectives:
1. Design a Memorial Dedicated to Victims and Survivors of Suicide (Remembrance)
2. Design a Non-Denominational Suicide Chapel (Reflection)
3. Sunset to Sunrise: Design an overnight stay cabin at site (Healing and Rebirth)
Our team interviewed 3 of these students, as well as the teacher of the course.
Our team + roles:
Nick Rauscher – Director
Moses Markels – Producer
Ryan Lee – Cinematographer
McCarley Root – Audio
Nick Spilotro (me) – Editor
I primarily edited the project, but helped out elsewhere as needed. At the time of writing this post, I am unsure if the final production is CU academic property or not. You can watch my original draft below. Absent final color grading and audio editing.