Ferris students’ work in visual storytelling will display for their university peers to enjoy at the Media Communications Association Student Showcase.
The showcase will unveil 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, in IRC 120, and is a part of the Big Rapids Festival of the Arts.
“We do this work because we’re storytellers,” said Ferris assistant professor of television and digital media production Joshua Pardon. “There’s no point in telling it if there’s no one there to experience it. We want someone on the other end. I think that students really like to see their work on a big screen. Someone may derive meaning from it that’s different from what you’ve intended but even if it’s temporary, you’ve made someone feel something.”
Two student showcases are held during the academic year: one in October and one in February. They include selected student work produced by the school of digital media.
“We have a lot of great storytelling pieces across a long list of genres,” said Ferris assistant professor of television and digital media production Nick Kuiper.
The showcase includes logo animation, short films, digital animation, documentaries, audio production work and public service announcements, according to Kuiper and Pardon.
“We started earmarking projects we thought were high quality to submit to festivals, competitions and the student showcase,” Kuiper said. “A student can also ask to be included.”
The show will conclude with the showing of a short film, “Periphery,” a recent award winner at the Grand Rapids 36-Hour Film Challenge.
“Students [in the program] get exposure to television, film, audio production, and our work wins awards,” Pardon said. “We submit a lot of student work to competitions and they’re recognized for the excellent work they produce. There’s a lot of quality faculty and networking that students can tap into.”
“I think students in the program love it because they’re allowed to be creative,” Kuiper said. “It’s a challenging program because you’re always working on projects. Students tend to build a camaraderie, a very cohesive group. You start building a sense of being able to take what you’ve created and show to other people the culmination of all that work.”