A Portfolio, by Kelan Amme
Video and Audio Projects
On this page you will find projects that I have created or worked on that involve audio recordings or videography.
Reimagining the Voices of Our Past - Spring 2023
Since 2006, the Pennsylvania Past Players have looked to educate, agitate, and inspire Pennsylvanians and others alike to the history of notable figures who had an impact on a local, state, and national level. Founded by Lenwood Sloan, the Past Players have focused on telling the stories of African-American abolitionists, community leaders, and other movers and shakers who worked in Central Pennsylvania in recent years. Based out of the Dauphin County Library System, specifically the McCormick Riverfront Library and the T. Morris Chester Welcome Center in Harrisburg, the Players are living history actors who “spirit” themselves to our current time, reflecting and commenting on the lessons we can learn as we look to understand equity, parity, and justice for marginalized communities in historically and contemporarily. This documentary project is a step toward a greater partnership between Messiah University and the Dauphin County Library System as both organizations look to benefit from their shared mission of reconciliation and education.
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In this documentary, you will meet Lenwood Sloan, the founder of the Past Players and the persona of Martin J. Delaney, and Rev. Yvette Davis, DCLS board member and the persona of Harriet Smith. Narrated by Daisy Eckman, “Reimagining the Voices of Our Past” introduces you to the Past Players on a broader level, followed by how DCLS and the T. Morris Chester Welcome Center and Research Collection provide opportunities for new thought, outlining the life of Thomas Morris Chester in the process. The documentary continues by telling the story of the Gathering at the Crossroads Monument and how the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments affected the creation of the Past Players active today. Additionally, Davis and Sloan reflect on the Past players’ training process, including memorization and interpretation practices and the shortcomings they encountered. Sloan also reflects on how the Past Players have changed over time and how each persona was selected based on social, cultural, and historical importance to Central Pennsylvania. The documentary finishes by discussing how community projects like the T. Morris Chester Center and the Past Players are essential to telling diverse, equal, and inclusive stories and the vision for the future of the Pennsylvania Past Players.
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This documentary was produced by Kelan Amme for the McCormick Riverfront Library and the T. Morris Chester Welcome Center and Research Collection in partnership with the Center for Public Humanities at Messiah University. I would like to thank Lenwood Sloan, Yvette Davis, Tyler Caruso, Jacob Silliman, Nate Castellitto, Micah Turner, Daisy Eckman, Darin Amme, Dr. David Pettegrew, and Dr. Sarah Myers for their valuable contributions to the development of this project in its varying stages over the past year.
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Along the Chester Way - With the Pennsylvania Past Players - Fall 2022
The Along the Chester Way video collection was part of a collaborative effort between the Dauphin County Library System, The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism, and the Messiah University Center for Public and Digital Humanities to create a series of "virtual tour" videos that depict the Pennsylvania Past Players performing their walking, place-based tourism in a digital format. Alongside two other students, I created ten videos using a digital camera, audio recording, and video editing technology. We hoped to utilize Digital Humanities technologies and methodologies to better integrate community projects and partners with educational resources and student-led projects. Through these videos, we tell the story of famous African American figures who impacted the city of Harrisburg and fought for the equity, parody, and justice of African Americans who were enslaved, indentured, and persecuted during the nineteenth century.
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To view the playlist, please click here.
Gargoyle's of Princeton University Documentary - Spring 2022
In the spring of 2022, I had the opportunity to create a documentary highlighting the history of gargoyles, specifically on the campus of Princeton University.
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The reason I created this video was because I often walk around Princeton's campus and I remembered that somewhere in my home was a small booklet that provided readers with a walking tour of fourteen notable gargoyles scattered amongst the buildings. There were few publications going further in depth into gargoyles at Princeton besides the booklet so I felt inspired to create a digital tour where the viewer can learn the historical context around these stone creations and what they symbolize, both for the University and for society as a whole. Over my 2022 Easter break, my classmate, and partner for this project, Keli Ganey, traveled to Princeton to film each gargoyle and describe its significance using the original booklet as our main source for dialogue. After filming, I took all of our video and audio and edited it together for our final project. I also provided voiceovers for the gargoyles that we were unable to travel to locate due to time constraints. This project included preproduction research, the building of bibliographic source material, onsite production, post-production editing and content creation, and a final submission and review from our professor, Dr. Sarah Myers. Overall, this project was one of my first takes at producing public history content for a public audience and I am proud of how it turned out.
The video is too long to put on the website at the moment so here is a YouTube link: Gargoyle Documentary