UL Moving Image Arts Spring Senior Showcase
The Moving Image Arts Program (MIA) will showcase students’ visual media Wednesday, May 15th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the LITE Center located at 537 Cajundome Blvd in Lafayette.
The screenings include a variety of visual genres including documentary, poetic essay, commercial media, and narrative shorts. The event is free and open to the public. Industry professionals, advertising agencies, independent production companies, and high school students contemplating a study in media content production are encouraged to attend. (Content approved for general audiences.)
“The work showcased is the final requirement to graduate”, says Conni Castille, the program’s director. “In the last year of their studies, students complete capstone projects following production processes that mimic the media industry. It is intended to be their calling card.”
The MIA program is designed to teach three areas of content production: Theory, Scholarship & Research; Application or Practicum; and Commercial/Business. In addition to the MIA courses, the interdisciplinary nature of the program offers students courses in Business (management, marketing, licensing, proposal writing, etc.), English (creative writing, film theory), Theater, Visual Arts, and Music.
“It was important that the program was placed in the College of Liberal Arts because we wanted to emphasize the value of storytelling and the humanities”, says Professor Charles Richard, the program’s founder. “The idea was to develop the independent media producer and filmmaker, and strong storytelling skills are important to any media.”
The program teaches cinematic language, and uses the English language as a metaphor to describe its application. It goes like this: With the English language, anything from a poem to a novel to a research paper can be written. Likewise, once visual language is mastered, anything from a commercial to a fictional movie to a visual poetic essay can be produced. “Everyone is on their screens these days”, notes Richard, “screens aren’t going away; cinematic language is the language of the future.”
“The Showcase also serves the students,” says Professor Virgile Beddok, Associate Professor in MIA. “It’s an opportunity to show off their creative ideas and aptitudes in various areas like editing, cinematography, writing, and sound design.”
Prior to a student’s final year in the program, he or she has had opportunities through internships and class assignments to create media for real-life projects and to work with professionals in the field. The capstone project serves as their calling card and is an invaluable addition to a student’s portfolio.