A Ball State University professor is leading a contingent of American college students in Italy to produce a television documentary about a historical cathedral dome in Florence.

Dom Caristi, telecommunications professor who heads up Ball State's digital storytelling program, and 32 college students from Ball State, the University of Kentucky, and Berea (Ky.) College are spending the next five weeks in Rome and Florence shooting and editing.

The 56-minute documentary is scheduled to air in 2005-06 on WIPB-TV, a Public Broadcasting System station licensed to Ball State that serves east central Indiana.

"A decade ago a class such as this would have been a logistical nightmare, given all the equipment that would have to be brought into the country," said Caristi, who taught a semester-long class in Italy in 2002. "With today's digital technology, the basic elements of shooting and film editing can be brought in a carry-on bag on an international flight. The digital camera we use is under a foot in length. Our students will be editing on a small laptop computer."

The trip is part of a program run by the Kentucky Institute for International Studies, of which Ball State is a member. Caristi is teaching classes on editing and video production as part of the project. Ten of the 32 students are from Ball State, including three graduate students who are taking on lead roles in producing the video.

"The documentary will be the epitome of project-based learning because the students are going to be 100 percent responsible for the documentary," Caristi said. "We have a great subject for the documentary because the design and construction of the dome of the Florence Cathedral has been the subject of many studies including Ross King's short book 'Brunelleschi's Dome.'"

This week, students will collect documentary material by shooting video at a variety of sites including the dome of the Pantheon, which served as a model for Brunelleschi's Dome. 

Caristi, who is writing about his experiences and posting them online at caristi.blogspot.com, said work begins in earnest next week when the students arrive in Florence.

"Working in teams, students will script, shoot and edit simultaneously," he said. "Most of the shooting will actually take place at the cathedral, but there are other Florentine venues with Brunelleschi's work, including the Bargello Museum, Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo and Santa Croce." 

With only a few weeks to put together a finished product, the students will be under constant pressure to be productive. By the time they return to the U.S., the documentary will be available in DVD format for use in college and high school classes across the country. 

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Caristi at dgcaristi@bsu.edu.)