This
year marked the 10th anniversary of the Center’s annual conference, profiled in “The MTM Publication” now available online. As an emerging filmmaker, the conference stood out to me as providing a unique variety of resources for newcomers in the media industry. Topics ranged from understanding film festivals all the way to why social impact media makers should pay attention to games.
In addition to attending these panels, my work on the MTM conference publication made a big impression. It was my responsibility to highlight the conference in a visual manner for print and view online. As a young filmmaker, the publication consolidates essential information on the strategic use of creative graphics, transmedia, and other other non-traditional topics that I would otherwise have to research on my own.
The publication incorporates the unique seminars from 2014, but also an overview of the 10 years CMSI has been empowering media that matters. I hope that as I continue to do work for the Center that the growth of its media conference will inspire more young filmmakers to explore socially impactful art.
A particular learning moment that stood out to me this year was the session Radio Matters: How Sound Carries A Story. Russell Williams, two-time Academy Award winner for sound design in the films Glory and Dances with Wolves, moderated the discussion on sound. He challenged me as well as the rest of the audience to think more critically when it comes to sound design for radio and big screen projects.
How does careful sound design enhance your story? Sound has depth and just like visuals, it should have dimensions–such as when a filmmaker shoots various scenes at close-up, medium and wide. The sound recording should compliment those scenes with various sound ranges. One can add texture to their aesthetic by recording it at different distances to create sound dynamic when recording, for example, rain or other background noise. Rain sounds different overhead, when under an umbrella, or on a window pain. As yourself, where is the sound coming from?
These and other insights are available in the publication, our conference videos, and in ourrapporteurs reports from the last decade that extend learning beyond the classroom. They are essential resources for a filmmaker just beginning her journey.