SMAD seniors to show off their projects

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … when SMAD seniors get to show off their semester-long projects. Their short films and documentaries, advertising campaigns, and web designs will be on display in events running through Dec. 15.

Take in some short films at SMADFEST!

Students who have spent the semester filming short movies will screen them at SMADFEST, a free event starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13th, in Grafton-Stovall Theater.

This event is planned by Prof. Rusty Greene and his SMAD 405 “Producing and Directing” class. Seniors in the Digital Video and Cinema concentration not only get hands-on experience producing and directing their films but also an understanding of motion picture promotion.  

“My role is to stimulate their imagination … and then to encourage them to follow through,” Greene said. “The thing that gives me the most joy is when the students are discovering that the process of storytelling matters to them and when they recognize how to do it.”

Creative Advertising students to show off campaigns

Groups of senior Creative Advertising concentration students will present their campaigns for brands such as Play-Doh, Converse, Now and Later, Smart Sweet, and Pop Shoppe at the event from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, in Harrison Hall 2105.

Those campaigns, produced by students in Dr. Talé Mitchell’s SMAD 443 course, will include ads on different platforms, such as print, social media, and even transit bus ads and billboards.

“Seeing the final project that they thought was impossible … is exciting for me,” Mitchell said “But the end project, they are so happy. They are so proud of themselves.” 

DocFest to feature mini-documentaries

DocFest wil be 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, at Court Square Theater in downtown Harrisonburg. It’s a chance for students, most of whom are in the Digital Video and Cinema (DVC) concentration, to showcase their 10-12 minute documentaries in front of an audience.

This event has been going on for eight years and is overseen by Prof. Shaun Wright, who teaches the SMAD 403 course.

“We try to have [students] focus on one person and what that one person is challenging themselves with or a goal that they have,” Wright said. “I think it’s much more compelling when you look at a person who is addressing and confronting that … because then we can follow them and it becomes a much more engaging story.”

Interactive Design students compete to help a client

Each semester, upper-level Interactive Design students complete a collaborative project with Computer Information Systems students from the College of Business. The ID and CIS students are introduced to a client who has a real-world potential project for them to address, then in the following week, the students divide into teams to begin to research and tackle the project.

Prof. Dave Wang oversaw the class and the public presentations of the projects on Dec. 3 in Hartman Hall. Each of the teams had 10 minutes of uninterrupted presentation time before judges asked questions.

Wang said the course is “multifaceted.”

“It’s definitely important that they get to practice their design skills and refine them along the way,” Wang said.