Hannah Pullen

Hello Travelers,

I wanted to give y’all an update on one of the projects that I am working on.

One of my favorite projects that I am currently working on is a documentary-style video essay titled “The Woman in Bronze” about the disappearance of Kelli Ann Cox, a University of North Texas Senior, who was later found murdered over 200 miles away from Denton, Texas, where the university is located.

While this story is not the most enjoyable, it is an important one. The goal of the project is not only to spread awareness about a beautiful woman who has been overshadowed by other victims and forgotten by history, but also to show the danger that lurks around every corner. As someone who has experienced death, evil, and murderous intent firsthand, the spreading of awareness of such events can save a life.

I understand that this type of project would attract the attention of “Crime Junkies” and those who enjoy crime documentaries and anything on the Investigation Discovery channel (trust me, I’m also one of these people), but that is not the intended audience. The hope is that college-aged women and all types of students would have the opportunity to listen and learn about Kelli’s story. This would happen, hopefully, through the showing of the video in criminal justice classes throughout the state, as well as on college and university campuses.

At this point in the project, the interviews with family members and friends of Kelli who wished to participate have been completed. Transcripts of the interviews have also been completed. Currently, I am working on the rough outline of the documentary on DaVinci Resolve. At the same time, I am also in the process of writing the voiceover script for the documentary. I hope to have the script finished by the end of this week (Sunday, April 19) as well as the rough draft by next Wednesday. The recording of the script will be the next thing to start on my ever-growing to-do list.

The creation of a storyboard has been extremely helpful with the creation of the rough draft in the video editing software. So far, I have enjoyed playing with the video editing. As a Ph.D. student who specializes in Medieval Europe, it is very rare that I have the opportunity to work with video evidence and have the ability to meet with individuals who were directly impacted by an event.

Because the opportunity to tell historical studies through video essays and interviews does not come often for me, it has been quite a learning curve. While a lot of these lessons can only be learned through doing, it has taken me months to understand what to do and how to do it. I have been using resources like Ken Burns’ Masterclass, a crash course on how to create a historical documentary, as well as academic articles declaring the best practices for such a project. One of which is Mary Larson’s article “Shifting the Balance of Power: Oral History and Public History in the Digital Era.” As Mary Larson describes, the drop in the cost of audio and visual equipment has allowed for the creation of projects like this to become more accessible. One does not require professional equipment, like that used by Ken Burns, to create an impactful and informative historical documentary. The sharing of these types of stories has expanded to include not only written publications (articles, blog posts, etc.) but also video essays, podcasts, online exhibits, and more. As Dominique Santana explained, with the expansion of the internet, the discipline of public history has had to expand.

I hope to keep you guys updated as this project!

Happy Traveling!

Hannah ❤