Making Work That Can Make a Difference: Filmmaking as Community Engagement
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 | 9:45 am – 10:45 am | Drinko Library 402
Presented by Tijah Bumgarner
Assistant Professor, W. Page Pitt School of Journalism & Mass Communications
Lecture Abstract:
In a participatory act, students in the Advertising/Public Relations Video Production course not only make film projects as a class assignment, they also engage with the communities they are making work for and about. Community partners (clients), doing work for the greater good, such as Stepping Stones and the MU Collegiate Recovery Community, are invited into the classroom to share their needs for fundraising, awareness, promotion, and other needs. Based on these needs, students work together to create the necessary videos for an organization that may not have the funds to hire a production company.
Within a participatory framework, students learn not only the real-world fundamentals of filmmaking in technical aspects through hands-on learning, but also gain knowledge of their surrounding communities and the complex relations of representation, access, and story. When community partners act as “clients” in the class, they teach students valuable lessons about struggles and hopes within the state. Students learn about their surrounding communities and our client partners receive near professional-level videos to share about their organization. The hope is to teach students how to utilize their education to make work that can make a difference.