Dafna Lemish
The 8th Berlin International Director’s Lounge film festival offered screenings of two Southern Illinois University Carbondale College of Mass Communication and Media Arts short films: We Want to Give You $40, Ask Us How by Deron Williams and Nudes Descending a Staircase No. 2 by H.D. Motyl.
We Want to Give You $40, Ask Us How was produced in 2010 by Deron Williams, a M.F. A. student. The three-minute film features a cash store located on Highway 13 in Carbondale, Ill.
“The sign read ‘We want to give you $40, ask us how,’ which sounds very proactive,” said Williams. “But it hides what the business is really trying to do.”
Williams said he tries to get at the dynamics of signs, and how signs tell us to do things that we do not necessarily want to do.
Williams’ film was shown as part of the Urban Research Area at the festival. Videos that explore urban space and what makes up public spaces were highlighted in this category, according to Williams.
This film uses a quasi-documentary, experimental mode, according to Williams. Feeling connected in environments that makes people feel disconnected is a theme that Williams plans to continue to focus on in future projects.
The film was also screened in 2011 at the Experiments in Cinema festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“The coolest part of this is that it is my first international screening,” said Williams. “It is so exciting. I am very happy my film was selected. This is certainly a stepping stone for my work.”
Nudes Descending a Staircase No. 2 is a film by H.D. Motyl, assistant professor in the Radio Television department, attended the festival for the screening of his film during the Director’s Lounge Selection #3 on Feb. 11.
“The work at the festival was really top-notch and I was honored to be included in it,” said Motyl. “Its a small festival but well supported by Berliners with sold-out screenings almost every night.”
Motyl’s film was Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting Nudes Descending a Staircase No. 2. The film uses images of male nudes descending a staircase. The video was then edited so that the final product appears as a collage of images, similar to the original painting.
“I took a series of moments and collapsed them into one,” said Motyl. “I use vertical and horizontal strips of the images and weave them together.”
The five-minute video took about three hours to shoot and well over 40 hours to edit.
“I wanted to create a video that would really looked like the painting,” said Motyl. “No one has really done this by fragmenting the images. I tried to mimic the idea that the body could be stretched.”
Motyl is planning to produces Nudes Descending a Staircase Nos. 1 and 3. No. 1 will be shot this spring using a stairwell in Faner Hall. Motyl said the theme of this video is dichotomy. He will use a man and a woman, as well as night and day filming.
Nudes No. 3 will be completely different than No. 1 and No. 2. Motyl hopes to gain access to the escalators in the Student Center.
“The directors of the festival were lovely, fun people and great hosts,” said Motyl. “We are already talking about collaborations and exchanges and, of course, next year's festival.”
Information about the Director’s Lounge film festival can be found online (click here). Photos from the event will be post at http://lounge.net/ very soon.
Greg Todd is easily finding his way around the Communications building despite having just started as the River Region Evening Edition news director on December 1. Todd is a graduate of the SIU Carbondale Radio-Television program. He is very pleased to be back at SIU.
“We did not have computers back then, but things are essentially the same- in the same locations,” said Todd. “It is nice to know people in the program already.”
Radio Television faculty member, Joey Helleny, WSIU television personality Jack Tichenor, and University Communications director Rod Seivers are all former classmates of Todd’s. It is through these ties that he first learned of the position with River Region Evening Edition.
“I have always liked the idea of teaching and I have family in the area,” said Todd. “This is an opportunity to give back to the program that I got so much from.”
Todd has had a very successful career in broadcast journalism. After gradating from SIU he started working for the ABC affiliate in Dubuque, Iowa doing the weather. He then went to the NBC affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio where he was the youngest news anchor at a top 100 station. Todd then returned to his hometown of Indianapolis to become a news anchor at the ABC affiliate and later went back to meteorology at KOMO in Seattle.
Prior to returning to Carbondale, Todd spent nine years as the managing editor and acting news director at XETV in San Diego. He also oversaw the station’s website and social media accounts.
“I was the student news director while I was at SIU,” said Todd. “I lived to work at the station. I must have gone to class sometime, but I mainly remember the great experience of the student news program.”
Todd credits the learning experience of hands on news production at SIU as the reason he was able to succeed in broadcast journalism at a young age.
“This is one of the few schools where students get real, on-air experience,” said Todd. “This gives the students a huge advantage when entering the workplace.”
Todd said he is taking time to get caught up on the River Region Evening Edition program and assessing strengths of the program, as well as areas of improvement. He will be teaching RTV 310 in the spring.
“People are so nice and welcoming here,” said Todd. “I am going to embrace the weather and appreciate the lack of traffic. I am just thrilled to be here.”
For more information at River Region Evening Edition you can visit: siutvnews.com.
Top photo: Greg Todd
Bottom photo: From the WSIU archives from the mid 70s that shows Greg Todd on the WSIU-TV News set at the desk, on the far left. Joey Helleny, RTV faculty, is standing at the weather map in the middle.
Professor Dafna Lemish, chair of the Radio-Television Department in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, participated in the First Global Symposium on Gender in Media in New York, NY on Sept. 23. The event was organized and hosted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media.
The Institute invited Lemish to attend the symposium and moderate a panel on Global Television. The panel showcased research and discussion about the best practices in gender representations in children’s television, according the Institute website. A second panel addressing issues of stereotypes in global filmmaking, and a keynote address from the Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning actor, Geena Davis were also a part of the event.
“The event was a collaboration between the Geena Davis Institute, and several organizations including CPB and had heavy presence of UN participants as well,” said Lemish. “This was a chance to meet with industry professionals, non-profit organization members, and academic audience members to discuss issues of gender in media.”
Davis, known for portraying strong female characters in films such as Thelma and Louise and A League of Their Own, founded the Institute in 2004. According to the Institute website, Davis started the foundation after viewing children’s television programs with her daughter. She was astonished by the lack of quality female characters in the programming. She hopes to raise awareness of issues related to gender in media and to advocate for more equality and quality in representation of women in media.
“I was asked to participate due to my research related to gender in media and children’s television,” said Lemish. “It was a very satisfying experience to meet with people in the industry and to see how this program raised awareness of gender equity. I feel the next time these professionals produce something they will think about these issues.”
Lemish said she was one of only two academic researchers participating in the panel discussions. While she was surprised to hear from so many participants that this information was new to them, she was still very pleased with the overall response.
Lemish, who wrote Screening Gender on Children’s Television, joined the SIU Carbondale College of Mass Communication and Media Arts in the summer 2010 as the R-TV Chair. She is also involved in a UNICEF project on how to produce good quality communication for children’s. This project is currently being launched globally.
For more information on the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media, you can visit the website at www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org. For more information on the UNICEF project that was launched on November 4th, continue to check the MCMA website or visit the following website www.unicef.org/cwc.
The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, School of Journalism, Department of Radio-Television, and the Global Media Research Center are pleased to present:
The Other Afghanistan: From the Ground Up
Thursday, October 6, 2011
6:00-7:30 pm
Communications Building, Room 1032
SIU Carbondale
Please join us for a conversation with Pulitzer Center journalist Anna Badkhen as she describes her immersion in Afghan villages, telling the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
Anna Badkhen writes about people in extremis. She is a journalist and the author of Peace Meals: Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories and Waiting for the Taliban. She has covered wars in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including The New Republic, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Boston Globe. Her wartime journalism won the 2007 Joel R. Seldin Award for reporting on civilians in war zones.
Badkhen has spent the past year and half traveling in northern Afghanistan on a grant from the Pulitzer Center on a project called "Afghanistan by Donkey". She felt that she could only understand the country if she slowed down and lived at an Afghan pace. She spent time doing the everyday things - laundry, preparing food, doing dishes- to give her an inside glimpse into the people and the challenges they faced.
The Pulitzer Center promotes in-depth engagement with global affairs through its sponsorship of quality international journalism across all media platforms and an innovative program of outreach and education.
FREE Event – Open to the Public
For more information, please visit www.gmrc.siu or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 618-459-6876.
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Students who are interested in learning more about the impact that media has on their lives can now earn a minor in Television Studies through Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Department of Radio-Television.
With the endless possibilities of available media outlets, it is essential to understand the ever-changing media landscape and culture. The minor will allow students, including those who do not plan to work in the industry or become media professionals, the opportunity to gain a “critical ability to understand how media is involved in their lives,” said Dafna Lemish, department chair.
“So much of the information we receive comes from the media and so much of what we know about the world is from the media,” she said. “In any profession a person goes into today they are probably going to have to be relying on the media or using media.”
The explosion of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and the increasing number of media platforms also makes it important that people realize the opportunities available, Lemish said. Television today is available through a variety of screens, including computers, and not just the old console television sets that many grew up watching.
“There is no profession today that somehow does not incorporate media in their promotions, analysis, and in getting their message out to the world,” she said. “There is nothing today that does not involve the media.”
The 15-hour minor includes one mandatory course, “Understanding Media,” which will provide a basic overview of electronic media, history, current issues and future trends, according to program material. The course will also look at media ethics and social ethics.
While students will not be specializing in production aspects of television, they do have the possibility of choosing a production course within the minor. Available courses within the minor include media production, news writing and digital graphics, and courses that deal with television studies, media programming, media industries and media promotion.
Another hope is that some students enrolled in the minor will turn that interest into a major, Lemish said.
The minor is an exciting addition to the college’s curriculum, Dean Gary P. Kolb said.
“Television, rapidly evolving, is still a dominant cultural force in our society,” he said. “In these days of 500 channels and endless on-demand options, television is a more vigorous and important medium of communication than ever before.
“We believe this new minor will be of interest to students in our college and around campus who want to understand and deconstruct this phenomenon to become educated and critical consumers of this medium,” he said. “We have on our faculty several world-class scholars who are experts in various facets of this area of study from production to financing to distribution to cultural impacts and they can provide a rich content for this new program.”
For more information on the Television Studies minor, contact Jean Kelley, academic adviser in the Department of Radio-Television, at 618/453-6902, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The most distinguished seniors at SIUC are individuals who have enriched the University community with their active involvement in all facets of campus life. Some of these activities include academic achievement, athletics, residential life, military services, greek life, and registered student organizations. The SIU Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Council are pleased to honor these students with a ceremony hosted by the Office of the Chancellor for the recipient and his/her family, a first year membership in the SIU Alumni Association at no charge, small gift, and a certificate of recognition.
Wade Morrison; Springfield, IL
College: Mass Communication and Media Arts
Major: Cinema and Photography
Minor: Chemistry
Gavin Murphy; Herrin, IL
College: Liberal Arts
College: Mass Communication and Media Arts
Double Major: Music Performance and Cinema
Krystal Saulsberry; Oak Park, IL
College: Mass Communication and Media Arts
Major: Advertising
Minors
Brittany Cheves; Algonquin, IL
College: Liberal Arts
Major: Speech Communication, Public Relations
Minors: Journalism, Philosphy
Phyllis Allen; Jerseyville, IL
College: Liberal Arts
Speech Communication
Minors: Finance, Journalism
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A symposium next week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will take a look at gender issues in children’s media.
David Kleeman, president of the American Center for Children and Media, is among the panelists for the discussion that will focus on gender equity in children’s cartoons and other television programming.
The discussion is from 3 to 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, in the Communications Building, Studio A. The topic, “Boys Are … Girls Are …: Gender Equity in Children’s Media,” is sponsored by SIUC’s Department of Radio-Television, the Global Media Research Center, WSIU, and the Women’s Studies program. Admission is free, and the public is welcome.
Dafna Lemish, professor and chair of the Department of Radio-Television, said research suggests that what children watch continues to reinforce stereotypes.
“It’s an issue because when you look at television programming for children around the world there is a very prominent inequality that starts with just the numbers -- in the number of characters who are boys and the number of characters who are girls, suggesting that girls are marginal to society” she said. "But it is not only the numbers -- but also the stereotypes associated with girls and boys that are the problem" she said.
Lemish, and Sarah Lewison, an assistant professor in radio-television, will also participate in the discussion. Rachel Gartner, news director for WSIU’s River Region Evening News, will moderate.
“Children see media, and television most of all, as a window to the world; if there are flaws in that window, they may not have the perspective, experience or media literacy to recognize them,” Kleeman said. “So, it’s content creators’ responsibility to reflect honestly the diversity in children’s world, and to avoid stereotypes or representations that could lead young people to conclude that they are not important, or are limited in their potential.”
International research, which Lemish was involved with, shows girls and women are under-represented in children’s television, he said.
“U.S. research shows that females are more limited in their range of roles, and often over-sexualized even in children’s and family shows and film,” Kleeman said.
Kleeman will show a selection of short clips from children’s television programs from other countries, drawn from the worldwide children’s television festival, PRIX JEUNESSE, which occurs every two years.
The festival doesn’t usually draw the most popular programs, but people submit shows “that reflect their culture or deal with substantive topics,” Kleeman said. He plans to use one hour of segments as a “conversation starter” with the audience “on the inter-relationship of culture and media and how it influences stories and portrayals around gender.”
For more information, call the Department of Radio-Television at 618/536-5454 or the Global Media Research Center at 618/453-7709.
Lemish said that Sunday, March 6, is UNICEF’s annual International Children’s Day of Broadcasting, where broadcasters throughout the world are encouraged to devote a day to quality programming for children.
From 8:30 to 9 a.m. on Sunday, WSIU-TV will air a compilation of approximately 20, one-minute spots produced by youth from around the world, most of which focus on the child’s everyday life, said Monica Tichenor, the public information and promotions coordinator for WSIU Public Broadcasting.
WSIU Radio is airing a series of special UNICEF radio features produced by African students associated with UNICEF’s youth radio initiative. The features explore what life is like growing up in Africa. The three- to five-minute features will air at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., starting Wednesday, March 2, and running through Friday, March 24, Tichenor said.
In addition, an interview by WSIU Radio’s Jennifer Fuller featuring Kleeman and Lemish is available on podcast at www.wsiu.org/
Kleeman will also discuss gender equity in broadcasting for women in an interview with Gartner that will air on WSIU-TV’s “InFocus,” which will air at 9 p.m., Friday, March 11. The segment will rebroadcast at 12:30 p.m., Sunday, March 13.
CARBONDALE - While blaxploitation films may not have received the attention they deserved in the past, Novotny Lawrence, Assistant Professor of Radio and Television at SIUC, hoped to change that in Carbondale.
The Varsity Center for the Arts hosted the Blaxploitation Movement Saturday with a double feature of the 1971 film "Shaft" and 1973 film "Coffy." Varsity board member David Coracy said the board is trying to bring a variety of artistic events to the theater such as the film feature and forms of performance art.
"Tonight marks the first night of what we hope is a long series of artistic per-formances," Coracy said.
Gary Kolb, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said Lawrence is becoming a world renowned scholar in the subject of blaxploitation cinema and is ecstatic that he is bringing attention to the films.
"(The film movement) hasn't got the kind of critical attention it should have and Novotny is bringing the attention that needed to be brought to these films," Kolb said.
"Shaft" stars Richard Roundtree, who attended SIUC, playing a private detective must work to find the missing daughter of a Harlem crime lord. "Coffy" stars Pam Grier as vigilante who declares war on drug dealers.
Lawrence said he hoped that the people who came to the films could learn and have a good time.
"I'm very excited to be able to recreate the experience and I hope the audience that shows up can understand the historical significance, enjoy the films and just have a good time in general," Lawrence said.
http://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_8d2ecca0-31b4-11e0-8948-001cc4c002e0.html
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