The School of Art & Visual Studies (SA/VS) held its 20th biannual Digital Media Blast on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Twenty-seven films were screened in the Worsham Cinema as a representation of the best time-based work from the spring semester classes A-S 285 Lens Arts; A-S 343 Animation; and A-S 346 Digital Video. Many SA/VS students got to view their creative work on the big screen for the first time, and one of the films (The Unlucky Ones by Maxxwel Megibben) was also juried into the UK Student Film Festival which was held on 4/26/24.
A-S 285 Lens Arts is an introductory class where students learn to use the tools of a DSLR camera for both still and moving image capture. In the second half of the semester, to practice those skills they recreate an art video of their choosing before making their own self-directed time-based project. A-S 346 Digital Video is an intermediate level class where students improve upon the shooting and editing skills learned in Lens Arts. One of the big projects in this class is a team project to recreate an entire movie trailer. Students take this on early in the semester which helps them hone their skills in audio and video capture & editing before creating a final self-directed film. This year the Digital Video class also participated in the UK Libraries 48 Hour Film Festival where two of their films were awarded prizes Social Influence by Benjamin Ingram and Maxxwel McGibben received the 2nd place award and Losing Sleep by David snow won 3rd place. The A-S 343 Animation class is a subtitled class, and thus repeatable, which is cross-disciplinary and introduces students into a variety of animation techniques.
Watch all of the 2024 Digital Media Blast films below.
“The Digital Media Blast is a great opportunity for us to celebrate our students’ achievements in film and animation. We have been showcasing our students’ films for over ten years each fall and spring semester. The shows are juried first by their peers and then by faculty, so it’s a great honor for them to be a part of this compilation of exemplary work.” - Professor Lee Ann Paynter. SA/VS offers many film and time-based media classes. In addition to the classes that were featured in the Digital Media Blast, students have opportunities to learn new filmmaking skills and techniques in the following classes: A-S 306 Cinematography: Lights, Camera, Action; A-S 347 Film, Video and Sonic Art Topics; A-S 446 Film, Video and Sonic Art Projects; A-S 546 Intermedia Studio. You can find out more about these classes and the three represented in the Blast here: https://finearts.uky.edu/savs/video-and-filmmaking
The College of Fine Arts offers an undergraduate certificate in Filmmaking: Production and Dramatic Writing from the Department of Theater and Dance that includes two scriptwriting courses and three film classes from SA/VS. You can find out more information and how to apply here: https://finearts.uky.edu/theatre-dance/filmmaking-production-and-dramatic-writing