By Gabbie Granoff '27
The shake of the camera, a mic in the frame, walking to the shot. To some, these might be imperfections, but for Tristan Smith those details are what makes documentaries so authentic. Smith, a UMass Journalism alum, has always had a love of storytelling, something he first unearthed during his time with the Journalism department.
“UMass laid the bricks down and MassLive built the house,” Smith said. “UMass prepared me for the real day-to-day work experience I got at MassLive. From there, MassLive just brought me the experience that you can’t get in a classroom.”
Smith started at UMass in 2020 after transferring from Quinnipiac and taking a year and a half off to work. During his short time at UMass, Smith wrote for The Amherst Wire and also had an article published in The Daily Collegian’s Black History Month issue. At The Wire, Smith was able to experiment with his writing. At The Collegian, Smith was able to interview and write a profile on John Bracey Jr. who helped to start the Afro-American studies department at UMass, one of the first of its kind in the country.
“This piece is my favorite thing I did at UMass actually,” Smith said. “He was a great man…I was blessed just to talk with him and profile him and get his story out there.”
After his graduation in 2021, Smith began to work as a reporter at MassLive, and it was there where he discovered his love for documentaries*. Smith covered a variety of topics, including Maura Healy being inducted into the governor’s office, crime and education. As time passed, Smith began to feel like he was not serving his talents and passions correctly. He decided to pivot and pursue his master’s degree in News and Documentary at NYU.
Smith was always into documentaries but was inspired to pursue it after writing his profile on Bracey and other profiles for MassLive. He felt there was a more captivating way to present these stories and engage the public.
“Not everybody wants to sit down and read a 2500 word or 3000 word story,” Smith said. “In this current internet age we have real short term attention spans.”
Smith wants to reach young audiences, people of color and people of different religions through documentaries, and his passion for creating accessible documentaries has also driven his work.
“I feel like I’m doing more of a service to the people that I actually report on and profile by recording them and editing their lives and soundbites in a more consumable documentary format,” Smith said.
While working to complete his master’s, Smith produced short-length documentaries about housing issues, community groups and environmental disasters in New York City. He learned how to shoot, edit, record audio and develop stories. Smith earned his degree in December ‘24 and then worked as a documentary unit intern at CNN.
Smith also just completed his first feature documentary called “EACH.” The documentary follows three young men from Springfield, Massachusetts as they go through a unique court program that, if completed, allows them to walk out with a clean record.
To work in the journalism field, Smith says you need to have the passion for it. For Smith, it’s the opportunity to have new experiences and talk to new people that sparked his passion.
“It really does just boil down to how passionate you are about telling people’s stories and how fun it is,” he said. “You get to wake up every day and have a whole new assignment, a whole new story, a whole new job to do.”
Journalism student Samantha Craddock also contributed reporting to this story.