March is Women’s History Month. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is hosting some pretty awesome women and featuring their film, media, and artworks all month long. After closing out February with an event series on acclaimed filmmaker Julia Reichert, March brings the work of an early queer film influence of mine, filmmaker Cheryl Dunye to the screen. The Walker will also take a look back at the Women with Vision series, and continue the Indigenesis series focusing on indigenous film that opens with what reasons to be a fun new media adventure curated by Missy Whiteman.
A key component of this year’s programming is “Women with Vision: Then and Now.” The event series features the cinematic work of some of the women who participated in the Women With Vision showcase (also known in its early years as Women in the Director’s Chair). It also celebrates the curatorial work of Walker Senior Curator of Moving Image Sheryl Mousley. Minnesota’s own Film Fatales Melody Gilbert and Kelly Nathe, who curated many of the events in the series, will also be hosting a candid conversation with filmmakers about their journey. I might also note that among the filmmakers is Augsburg instructor Jila Nikpay!
Hanson is utilizing the program’s media lab to encode media for Walker Event.
Curating the work of filmmakers who identify as female, who are persisting as directors, cinematographers, and storytellers and creating space for people to see the films is important work. The film industry has notoriously discounted the work of women and persons of color. Movements like #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite have sought to bring about change. Events like those at the Walker this month are part of what is needed if a systematic change is going to occur. I know this first hand, as the Walker gave me one of my first film screenings as part of the Women in the Director’s Chair and the Jr. Home Girls Series many, many, years ago. It gave me hope as a young queer filmmaker that I could make a living creating films.
So, when we were asked to help transfer work for the event series, we were happy to offer our support. This kind of equity is exactly the kind of thing our program embraces and seeks to live out.
Please show your support at these events, many of which are free. Visit: walkerart.org for more details.
Written by Preston Peterson | Album Artwork provided by Kirby Gage
I had a chance to talk with Kirby Gage about a collaboration he did with other Augsburg students. The project “Be Saved” is an original song and music video by Kirby Gage featuring Zayguap. See what Gage and I talked about in my recounted interview.
Preston: What are your majors?
Gage: I am a New Media: Game Design & New Media: Promotional Communication double major, for the time being at least. My videographer Finn Elsmo is a Film Major. Isaiah (Zayguap) has taken this semester off, however, is pursuing a New Media: Promotional Communication major.
Preston: What Augsburg spaces or equipment were used to make the video?
Gage: We rented cameras from Augsburg a few times, for several different shoots. Thanks to Jenny Hanson, we were able to use the black box facility in the chapel on campus. In this room, there is an option for complete darkness and it allowed for interesting shots with different lighting.
Preston: What is “Be Saved” about?
Gage: I have a lot to talk about when it comes to the video. After I made this song, for my upcoming album Story Time I realized that I had something special to work with. The connection with Finn began when I was working with my partner Kim Lindgren. Together we run a clothing brand called Kold Heart Clothing. She suggested that Finn and I talk about making a music video together. The first time we met we did a shoot at Minnehaha Falls. It went super well and Finn and I knew we were going to have something cool here, we did some editing right away and sat on it for a while. We did this 4 more times before landing on a final edit. We then went to my home studio to record Isaiah’s section of the video. After a long process of editing and color correcting with Finn, the real challenge began. For this video, we wanted to try and do something unique. I decided to do hand-drawn animations and line edits throughout the entire video. Something I will do more of in the future. For the Animations, I would draw in my notebook whenever I had the chance, even in class sometimes. I then put those drawings into Photoshop and animated them frame by frame. I did the same thing in After Effects for the line edits going frame by frame and added the finalized edits there as well. The entire process of the video took a few hundred hours to complete. I had a lot of firsts here. I’m extremely happy with the way it turned out, and I’m super happy that people enjoy it!
None of this would’ve been possible without Finn Elsmo, Isaiah Lindsay, Kim Lindgren or Ben Poole. Also, a special thanks to Jenny Hanson and the New Media Department let us use their equipment and space for recording.
Preston: Where can people find you and the people involved online?
Gage: I have a few links if people are interested.
Spotify: Kirby Gage (Also on Apple Music, Sound Cloud, etc.)
Have you been to the Augsburg Speaking Lab yet? It has been recently revamped and is open for Spring Semester. I spoke with Speaking Lab tutor John DeWitt to talk about the lab and his experience.
When it comes to giving your speech, being comfortable and being yourself is key. According to John, your speech is “just words on a piece of paper” if you don’t actually give it. The diamond method is a more technical but very useful tip to help your speech. Speaker Michael Hudson wrote an article on LinkedIn explaining exactly what the diamond method is. Dressing for the occasion is also important when presenting a speech. John told me “when in doubt, dress well.” We also talked about the significance of ethos in a speech. You want to make sure you have authority and credibility on a topic so that the audience will be more open to your message. The last tip is one of the most important ones, practice. Practicing your speech and becoming extremely familiar with it is key to giving the speech effectively.
John’s 5 Quick Tips for Public Speaking
Be yourself and make sure to showcase your personality.
Use the diamond method when giving a speech.
Dress for the occasion.
Make sure you have ethos on a topic when choosing what your speech will be about.
Practice, practice, practice.
You can bring your finished or unfinished speech to the Speaking Lab to work on presentation or content of the speech. The Speaking Lab is open from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Make an appointment on the Speaking Lab website or walk-in during lab hours.
Written by John Dewitt | Photos by Marceleen Mosher
“The level of professionalism– far too much.” – Latrice Royal
So, you want to enter a speech competition? Great! Competitive speech is a great way to improve your speaking skills (other than coming in to meet me at our Speaking Lab in Foss 171C). It offers a healthy competition for those who are looking to push their speaking skills to the next level. I would like to inform you about how these tournaments play out.
In high school, I participated in competitive forensics. Common categories include but are not limited to prose, duo, poetry, persuasive, informational, after dinner, and drama. I participated in prose and duo. However, be fair warned about the professional, competitive culture within speech tournaments. We’re not in high school anymore. The competition is high and the competitors have been training with a coach for months (Don’t worry! We have coaches at Augsburg too! You can speak with either Bob Groven or David Lapakko for more details!). If you think you can go into the tournament by yourself with no help from a coach, I salute you.
Speech Competitors
Speech Competitors
Judges
Speech Competitors
Every speech is 10 minutes long. So, it is best that you drill (aka practice) your speech as many times as you can with a timer. They will dock points if you are not fully memorized. In the real world, when you are publicly speaking, the audience wants you to do well. No one goes into a speech waiting for you to fail. However, in this competition, everyone is waiting for you to slip-up. Well, it is a competition after all. They want that trophy! The culture is to be professional. In high school, this was a looser term. Now, in college, on our way to adulting, professionalism is the game. It is deemed as unprofessional to even talk to each other at these events. Unless it is a compliment loud enough for your judge to hear. Everyone is hyper-focused on themselves and doing well in their own speeches.
That said, competitive speech is a fun experience when you play the game for what it is. This is a competition! I loved speech in high school because it got me out of my comfort zone. Participating in Speech in college will not only heighten your public speaking skills but, at Augsburg, it will heighten your will power to trust yourself and build professional skills. You’ve got this!!
Jenna McNallie is first author on a research study to be published in Communication Quarterly Journal later this year. The article “Social media intensity and first-year college students’ academic self-efficacy in Flanders and the United States” discusses the connection between social media use and confidence among first-year college students. McNallie along with Elisabeth Timmermans (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Elizabeth Dorrance Hall (Michigan State University), Jan Van den Bulck (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), and Steven R. Wilson (University of South Florida) found that social media usage does play a role in first-year students’ self-efficacy (how much they believe in themselves), but a complex role. This role varies by social media platform as well as culture, as participants were from both the midwest and Belgium. To learn more about the research, email Jenna McNallie at mcnallie@augsburg.edu.
Written by Preston Peterson | Photos by Jenna McNallie
Augsburg University’s Center for Global Education and Experience is offering a semester-long study abroad opportunity in Cuernavaca, Mexico Fall 2020! The study abroad semester surrounds Communication and Media Studies: Migration & Social Change in Mexico. The program surrounds topics of responsible journalism, immigration, migration, the environment, marginalized groups and connections to media. The priority application deadline is March 1 and the final deadline is April 1.
The Great American Think-Off is a debate competition that happens every year in New York Mills, Minnesota. Communication Studies Associate Professor David Lapakko is a multi-year competitor and winner of this competition. Check out a recent conversation in the Sun Current for Lapakko’s thoughts on debate in society today and The Great American Think-Off.
Augsburg Communication, Film, and New Media department welcomes incoming adjunct instructor James Curry. He is an experienced producer, director, writer and editor with more than 25 years of involvement in the industry. This semester James is teaching Film Sight and Sound as well as Studio Production.
James Curry directed, produced, wrote, and edited the documentary Masterjam. In a press release, Masterjam is described as following “the fallout of a sibling’s suicide on a family, the accelerated deaths of the parents and the investigation into the root cause.”
When asked about his favorite part of teaching so far, Curry said “when student engagement and interest piques via discussion collectively and authentically and when individual responses shed new light on a personal perspective or an insight I’ve never encountered or imagined. Aha moments are always cool too when they resonate beyond one or two students.”
To see an excerpt from Masterjam and learn more, click the link below.
“OF OUR YOUTH” Directed by Samiera Abou-NasrAugsburg University film alum Samiera Abou-Nasr has a short film being featured in the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. She was interviewed by Minnesota Daily, a local student-run media and newsgroup, to talk about filmmaking and her experiences.
The Twin Cities Arab Film Festival is happening September 26-29. You can see “Of Our Youth” at the festival being held at St. Anthony Main Theatre in Northeast Minneapolis. Her short film will play in a block of other local films on Saturday, September 28 at 4 p.m. For more info and ticket information visit the MSP Film Society.
Editor’s Note: Did you miss the festival? You can watch “Of Our Youth” online. Find it featured under Student Work. You can also here Samiera and JC talk about the film during a red carpet interview at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
Four Auggies will be among those presenting at this week’s Undergraduate Communication Research Conference at the University of St. Thomas. Brandon Williams, Gareth Davis, Skye Rygh, and Max Stempf are among the scholars selected for inclusion at the conference this coming Friday, April 26th. Augsburg students will join 16 other participating schools, including Hamline, Macalester, Bethel, Gustavus, St. Kate’s, and the U of M. The conference features a series of student panels and a keynote address. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Mark Meisner, the executive director of the International Environmental Communication Association (IECA).
UCRC 2019 Augsburg Presenters and Topics
“Corporate Twitter: Cultural Branding in the Age of 280 Characters” by Gareth Davis
“Online Dating Sites: Tinder” by Brandon Williams
“Line 3 Replacement Project: Environmental Justice and Communication in Minnesota” by Skye Rygh
“Content Analysis: Are Certain Genders or Races Used to Persuade More in Newspaper Advertisements?” by Max Stumpf
![[Image with text] Sideview of a hand working a laptop. "The Communicator" appears over the image](http://www.augsburg.edu/communication/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2019/03/TheCommunicator10802.jpg)
![Film characters talking in a restaurant [Still image from the film]](https://www.augsburg.edu/communication/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2019/03/ofouryouth16x9-300x168.jpg)
