Mary Beth Ross

Mary Beth Ross was born in Brooklyn NY, but lived much of her childhood, and later raised her own children, in the Syracuse NY area. There, she taught college English courses, worked briefly as journalist, and slightly longer as a  speechwriter. In the 1990's she joined the staff of The National Faculty as a Senior Program Officer in the Seattle Regional Office, then Associate Director for Communications in the New Orleans Office, and finally, Executive Director of the Little Rock Office. Her first movie was a "silent" 8mm film of New England scenes referenced in the literary images of Sylvia Plath's fiction and poetry. Ross was a member of the board of the Hotsprings Documentary Film Institute (Hotsprings AR), and is current president of the Charlotte Avid Users Group and a charter member of the Charlotte Film Community.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Ph.D. in English, Syracuse University, and 20+ years of classroom teaching experience

New York State Permanent License in Secondary English

Designed and taught Literature & Film course at SUNY College of Technology, Utica NY

Designed and taught History of Film, History of Black Film, and Intro to Videography in the honors program at Philander Smith College, Little Rock AR

VIDEOGRAPHY TRAINING

Workshop by Hollywood Film School

Workshop by the American Film Institute

Videography I & II, Film Editing, Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC)

Avid Media Composer complete online course

RELEVANT PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE (all pre-production, production, and post-production unless otherwise noted)

-  FOURCHE CREEK, a 30-minute documentary for Audubon Arkansas on its restoration of an urban waterway

- PIGNON, a 30-minute documentary on a mission-study trip to this Central Haitian city

- BIGGER THAN LIFE, a 30-minute documentary on the African-American artist and teacher, Jim Biggers, aired on Gaston County public-access TV

- REALMS, a  51-minute historical narrative set in 12th century France but filmed largely in Charlotte and Jamestown NC  (Chris Pittman and Sutton Yamanashi shot the footage on Sony EX1's mounted with nanoFlash recorders)

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Editing: Avid Xpress and Media Composer, Microsoft Movie Maker, Boris Continuum Complete

Shooting: Sony camcorders: PDX-10, HVR-V1U, and PMW-EX1; Convergent Design's nanoFlash recorder

REFERENCES (contact info available on request)

Bob Maier, instructor/coordinator of the Broadcast Technology program at Gaston College, Dallas NC

George Cochran, founding director of the Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) Film & Video program, Charlotte NC   

Chris Pittman, instructor in the CPCC Film & Video program and DP on narrative feature REALMS