OPEN CRITIQUE NIGHT

Thursday, April 14, 6-9pm
Cinema Soundstage (Communications 1116)

There will be a sign up sheet on a first come, first served basis. All students and faculty are invited to participate.
Everyone is encouraged to bring finished work, or works-in-progress to share and critique.

For more information, contact Robert Spahr, Assistant Professor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 453-1488

Graduate students in the MCMA Interdisciplinary MFA program and MCMA faculty premiered a new sound artwork at an international festival on Oct. 15th. "Close Seconds,” was conceived by MFA students Josh Gumiela and Derek Smith and was performed live from the MCMA anechoic chamber via the Internet to the Future Places Festival in Porto, Portugal. Curated by Jay Needham, the piece also involved MCMA graduate students Justin Edgren, Will Roberts and Cinema and Photography Assistant Professor Robert Spahr. 

Danielle from Rockton - Cinema Major

My name's Danielle Williamson, I'm from Rockton, Illinois and I'm a senior in Cinema. (Bachelor of Arts in Cinema)

Well I really like the kind of D.I.Y. culture in film so I like the independent route, I like the experimental films avoiding the commercial and doing things as a small group or independently.

There's two really awesome classes that I took a couple years ago. I took Experimental Production with Cade Bursell and we learned how to hand-process film and we watched a lot of experimental films and I think that really opened my eyes to the experimental realm and it was good to do things with your hands.

Then I also took Live Art with Robert Spahr and that was awesome because it was like film integrated with performance art and since it was a media class it was open to more than just cinema students. So it was a nice mesh of people   to do collaborations.

I'm an employee through the cinema equipment room so I check out a lot of equipment to cinema students and it's a great opportunity because I'm on-campus working and I can familiarize myself with the    equipment more and I also get to see a lot of my peers on a day-to-day basis and kind of get to know people a little bit better that way.

There's a lot of projects going on in all of the different classes so I've helped out with other peers' films or I've also helped out with the Big Muddy Film Festival a couple of years in a row which is a great way to volunteer and it helps you get to experience a lot of other films like there's the pre-screening committee and you're    exposed to hundreds of films so you can kind of see what makes it into festivals, what doesn't, what people like to see.

Film Alternatives is a film club here on campus where we talk about films, we try to shoot films and it's also in conjunction with the Big Muddy so we try to get together to make advertisements for that.

I'm  one of the people in charge of Film Alternatives and what we like to do is try to get as many students    together just to talk about film and educate people    in production if they haven't been able to take the    class yet so I kind of see it as the older students   teaching the younger students, if they have questions just about coming into the program, things that they   will learn they kind of get a heads-up on or if they need help outside of the classroom we like   o think of it as an opportunity for us to all get together and help each other out.

The screenings here on campus are pretty nice too, we just got  a new auditorium at the library where we screened a lot of artists work, and also student work too. My plans for the future, I guess, I want to direct, I want to produce films in the independent world and do my   own personal projects.  I was thinking of maybe trying to get a job at a film festival outside of college and use film as way to connect to other people.

SIU is a really great place to learn film because unlike a lot of other schools I feel we have a really solid teaching staff who are committed to the students and really honestly know what they're talking about and really do care about the students work and improvement in the film world and I really love that about our program, they're very personable.

Room 9A, 9:00am - 12:00pm, unless noted otherwise

Final Cut Pro, Level 1 (Mark Stoffel) – October 1^st

This hands-on workshop is an introduction to the basic interface of FCP, will teach file organization, adjusting and customizing preferences and settings, basic editing functions, and how to output your project as a simple Quicktime movie.

Final Cut Pro, Level 2 (Mark Stoffel) – October 8^th

Topics of this Level 2 workshop could cover as much as: Capturing video and audio, various editing and trimming techniques (ripple, roll, slip and slide tools), audio editing, video compositing, basic color correction, video compositing, motion-keyframing, and whatever else pops up in the final Q & A part of the workshop.

HD Video Codecs: Differences, choices, purposes (Hong Zhou) – October 15^th

Learn about data compression and decompression in HD technology and their applications in media production. Find answers to questions you may have been wondering: What is HD? How does it work? What are some of the different HD cameras?

This is a repeat of last semester’s workshop – we just felt like more people need to know about this!

Creating Web Documents: Learning to code HTML and CSS (Robert Spahr) –October 22^nd

Have you ever coded raw HTML and CSS in a text editor? Did you know your emails travel at the speed of light? Have you considered how a web browser finds web sites? Do you know when the Internet was created and why? Have you ever wondered just how new is New Media? You will when you attend the Creating Web Documents Workshop.

Note: A repeat from last semester, due to popular demand!

Adobe Aftereffects, (Keith Jackson) – October 29^th

An introduction to understanding compositing, visual effects and motion graphics. using the popular layer based software “Adobe After Effects”. Industry professional and MCMA alumnus Keith Jackson will cover managing footage, viewing and editing layers, animating type, and more. The workshop will also guide students to understand After Effects process tree and workflow, from starting a new project to rendering out a finished movie.

Outputting, Compressing, Publishing of Video (Mark Stoffel) – November 5^th

This workshop deals with the very last, but perhaps most neglected step in your video production workflow. How does your project leave the timeline to conform to a vast choice of multi-media formats? Learn about the options available in FCP and “Compressor” to create the types of files needed for various publishing purposes.

ProTools – In a Nutshell (Mark Stoffel / Todd Herreman) – November 12^th

MCMA has over 30 ProTools editing stations – the audio production industry standard at your fingertips! Mark and Todd will introduce you to the ProTools interface and help you create an acoustic music multi-track recording project. You’ll track, add effects, mix, and output your project – all during this 3-hour workshop!

To reserve a seat for any these workshops, please e-mail Mark Stoffel: ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Please encourage students to check out the MCMA Spring 2011 Class Preview Day this Friday. It is a great opportunity for a "sneak peek" at what is being offered. Any help you can give in getting the word out would be appreciated.

Want the chance to check out a Spring 2011 course ahead of time? Take advantage of the College's Spring 2011 Class Preview Day  this Friday, October 29th in the COMM Building.

The following classes are being showcased. Each participant will be given a ticket upon the conclusion of any session which may be turned in for pizza at 12:30. Program brochures will be available in COMM 1032 the day of the event. 

This is a FREE program. 

Session I 11:00-11:20

MCMA 396/JRNL 419 Publishing on the WWW/Online Journalism         Stoner         COMM 1205

RT 489 003/MCMA 497 001 Gender, Militarization and Media                         Brooten       COMM 1032

JRNL 337 Video/Online Journalism                     Helleny        COMM 1122

Session II 11:30-11:50

RT 357 Media Promotion                          Wall                 RT Conf., Room

CP 260 Understanding Visual Media            Felleman         COMM 1122

MCMA 563 Globalization, Culture and Media    Brooten           COMM 1032

JRNL 410 Multimedia Project: Reports            Recktenwald   COMM 1205

Session III 12:00-12:20

JRNL 435 Advanced Graphic Communication                      Veenstra       COMM 1205

RT 489 001/MCMA 555 002 Media in the Lives of Childhood and Adolescents Lemish         COMM 1032

RT 305 Audience Research                       Wall             RT Conf. Room

CP 452 Screenwriting                  Rowley        COMM 1122

Lunch 12:30-12:55

Session IV 1:00- 1:20

RT 461/digital graphics classes Multimedia Production                     Lewison     COMM 1046

CP 102 Intro to Sound and Image Production                      Aguayo      COMM 1122

Session V 1:30- 1:50

RT 489 002 Blaxploitation Films of the 1970's     Lawrence       COMM 1046

CP 470D Generative Art                                 Spahr             COMM 1122

MCMA 555 004 Policy Reporting and Research        Freivogel       COMM 1032

Questions? Contact Deborah Tudor at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

College of Mass Communication and Media Arts

Class Preview Day
Friday February 26, 2010

This Friday we are holding a first-time special event called MCMA Class Preview Day to give students the opportunity to sample some of the cool classes we will be offering in the fall and to meet some of our wonderful instructors. We hope you join us on Friday for all or part of the day!

WHO: All students planning to take Fall 2010 classes

WHAT: College of Mass Communication and Media Arts Class Preview Day
Come check out some of the classes that will be offered in the Fall!

WHERE: SIUC Communications Building

WHEN: Friday, February 26 10am until 12:35pm

15 minute class preview sessions will run from 10am until noon, then again from 12:20 until 12:55. At noon there will be a 15 minute break with free pizza available. Look for signs to indicate where and when the various classes will be held.

Schedule for the Day

10:00-10:15am  CP 470D Photography Theory in the Light of the Cinema Walter Metz

COMM 1032
JRNL 396 Online Journalism Anita Stoner

COMM 1046
RT 325  Media Industries Paul Torre

COMM 1018
10:20-10:35am¬CP 102  Introduction to Sound and Image Production Angela Aguayo

COMM 1032
JRNL 435  Advanced Graphic Communication Aaron Veenstra

COMM 1046

10:40-10:55am CP 230 Introduction to Digital Photography Antonio Martinez

COMM 1032
RT 489  Media Industries ProSeminar Jim Wall

COMM 1046
11:00-11:15am CP 470D Web Production I: Creating Web Portfolios Robert Spahr

COMM 1032
MCMA 592 Proseminar John Hochheimer

COMM 1052
11:20-11:35am  RT 389 Corporation/Industry Media Workshop Eileen Meehan

COMM 1032
11:40-11:55am RT 477  Investigative Reporting for TV, Radio or Online Eileen Waldron

COMM 1032
RT 476  Creative Audio Producing Todd Herreman

COMM 1052
12-12:15pm Pizza Break
12:20-12:35pm RT 483 Script to Screen H.D. Motyl

COMM 1032
MCMA 560  History of Media Jake Podber