A two-day celebration of Integrated Digital Media and the creative vision of NYU Tandon students

There was no actual red carpet, but it would have been fitting. The occasion was a video festival of works by students in NYU Tandon’s Integrated Digital Media (IDM) program, held as part of a two-day event that also included a showcase of senior and thesis projects.

It was the culmination of a challenging year that found instructors discovering new ways to teach and students finding new ways to bring their visions to life.

Lauren Petty, who teaches a course in still and moving images that requires sequencing and continuity, had a unique set of challenges. “We had teams comprised of students in California, New York, Mexico, and China, all trying to collaborate,” she explained. “If someone in one place filmed a hand picking up an object, someone in another place might have had to film it being put down, and that called for careful editing. They did a great job, and that’s part of the advantage of teaching creative subjects to students with engineering mindsets; they have no fear of the software or the technical requirements.”

Maria Dyer, who teaches narrative cinema, concurred that there were both challenges and rewards during the semester. “Those using live actors couldn’t simply ask a classmate; if they had gone home to stay because of the pandemic, they had to recruit those living with them, which actually led to an interestingly diverse group of characters and settings; others used creative techniques that allowed them to play multiple roles themselves,” she said. “Whatever their situation, they worked hard and showed up, and these films are the result.”

Whether the film involved Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-style special effects, stop-motion stuffed animals, or quietly evocative animations, the students showed not only technical skill but emotional intelligence. “While this was probably not the semester the students had envisioned, they were generous and kind towards me and their classmates,” documentary-cinema instructor Monica Panzarino recalled. "The course explored a variety of documentary filmmaking modes including mainstream expository as well as more experimental forms like poetic, performative, desktop documentary, and fiction hybrid. Students brought their new knowledge of these forms when critiquing their fellow students."

The other projects — which included everything from an interactive video series about the Eastman Kodak Company to a multisensory experience meant to soothe nervous dental patients to a fictitious dating app that serves as a social critique of data use and digital footprints — can be viewed at idm.show/F2020

The scope and quality of the projects is evidence that the IDM program is meeting its mission to foster creative practice, design research, and multidisciplinary experimentation with emerging media technologies. Although the event was held virtually because of the COVID-19 crisis, it was just as festive and celebratory as any in-person showcase, and the students exhibited tenacity and flexibility in addition to their artistry and technical prowess.”   —  Industry Associate Professor and IDM Co-Director Scott Fitzgerald.

Becky James, who taught motion graphics, asserts that they also demonstrated employability. “I have students who dove deep into kinetic typography, which is everywhere in film titles and show bumpers,” she says. “Contrary to what many people believe about the impracticality of art and design courses, there are jobs out there; animation and motion graphics are fields that thrived in the pandemic, and IDM students are preparing for those positions.”

GRADUATE THESIS PROJECTS BY:

• Grant Ng
• Samantha Skinner
• Tongda Xu
• Jude Zhu

SENIOR PROJECTS BY: 

• Ali DeCesare
• Alice Berardi
• Cesar Alvarado
• Chester Ma
• Daniel Lee
• Dylan Henry
• Fiorabella Cogley
• Harrison Jiang
• Joseph Lee
• Linda Kamau
• Maya Goyle
• Phoebe Yin
• Shehara Ranashinghe
• Sophia Cohen
• Thomas Knoepffler
• Xiaoya Gao
• Yurou Zeng