Event Details

Matthew Piscitelli is a Project Archaeologist and Digital Media Manager at SEARCH as well as a Research Associate at The Field Museum in Chicago. He has 14 years of experience in archaeology, museum services, and grant administration. Prior to SEARCH, Matthew served as a Program Officer at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC. As Program Officer, he oversaw grant-making in archaeology and advised print, digital, and television teams on the topic. Matthew has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Peru, Bolivia, Greece, and the United States. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from Boston University in 2007 and both a master’s degree and doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Matthew is also a National Geographic explorer.

Daniel Fiore joined SEARCH in 2018 as a Content Producer with 15 years of experience in film, television, and advertising. He is responsible for brand management, media and public interpretation, and image documentation to demonstrate compliance for technical and safety standards. In 2012, Mr. Fiore was awarded an Emmy in Cinematography for his work on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch series. In addition, he served in an executive role at Discovery Communications Inc. for more than three years, where he developed numerous television series, such as Yukon Men and various Shark Week shows. Before his work in film and television, he worked in advertising with the agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who were regarded as “Agency of the Decade” at the time.

Storytelling is a universal language and video, as a collection of images and sounds, is the easiest, most visceral way to speak that language. Nevertheless, we rely more on photography and drawings as non-written ways to communicate our archaeological research. To stay competitive in today’s world of viral YouTube clips, TikTok, and Instagram Stories, we need to harness the power of video to share our knowledge of the past and the processes we use to understand it. This seminar will provide archaeologists with the tools they need to confidently and effectively capture, edit, and share video with professional and public audiences.

1. Explain why you should use video to document your research;
2. Explain the mechanics of capturing quality video;
3. Describe how to do simple/inexpensive post-production (for beginners); and
4. Describe how to leverage the power of video for your audience(s).