Multimedia Major Takes Interest in Visual Media

Favorite JMC Course

Isaiah Tripp, junior sports board caster major, has taken many courses in the JMC Department. Professor Cade White, who teaches Tripp’s Introduction to Visual Media course, has to be his all-time favorite. One thing that made it stand out to Tripp was that the course is more projects based instead of your typical textbook work.

Some learning activities the course called for included:

• Photoshop
• Video graphing
• Visual Communication

Best memory
One of Tripp’s best memories was watching a film called The Presidents Men. It taught him a lot of journalism boundaries and skills for interviewing. Tripp also gave details how the movie taught him how to introduce the “big question.” “This is when you are interviewing someone and want to ask them a question you may feel is personal,” Tripp states,  “but instead of beating around the brush attack it straight on, do not ease into it.”

Career Goal
Sports broadcasting is in the field of news and sports which are broadcast for an audience, visual media helps with an aspect of graphically displaying news, sports, entertainment and any other media. It provides a live platform since broadcast methods include radio, television and the internet. Media displays pictures through visual text and/or sounds.

Faith and Works

Tripp shows faith through his academic work, by focusing on Christian activities such as capturing pictures of objects that symbolizes his faith. On video projects, Tripp says he’ll even use Christian music to convey his belief. Faith correlates with his career in terms of speaking truth and opinion on a platform to people.

“When broadcasting sports I’ll be on national display to talk about sports but that’s also a platform to express my faith.” Tripp says. “I’ll have the stage so people will have to listen and I’ll be represented through God.”

Bacon’s Bits About Post-Graduation

Cheryl Bacon, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Chair, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

“Graduation is a time when everyone focuses on career preparation, but I believe it’s more important to focus on life preparation.” – Cheryl Bacon

Bacon is a firm believer that your career is not your life. It certainly is a part of life, but it is not the only important factor. It was incredibly refreshing to speak to a woman who is so established in her career and hear her say that a career is only one single part of life.

Importance of Internships

Before a college student graduates, it is very important that this student has gone through some sort of internship. They need exposure to what a post-college career is going to be. If they graduate before gaining experience through an internship they should not jump right into a new job they should still plan to go through an internship. Bacon believes it will provide excellent exposure and preparation for a successful career.

Life is Not a Job

After graduation, Bacon shared with me that deciding where you are going to reside is one of the most important decisions you will make. Work is only a portion of the day. Deciding where you want to live, raise children and have a life can completely alter a person’s overall experience and allow for a positive lifestyle in the long run. Bacon’s specific advice was to join a church community where you can get involved with voluntary work and not just attend. Bacon shared that having a community where you live would greatly increase the satisfaction of the lifestyle a person will gain when managing a career and a family.

JMC alumni climb to the top

As you may know the annual Gutenberg Awards were on Oct. 9. This is a special event that recognizes distinguished professional achievements of Journalism and Mass Communication Department alumni.

 

Let’s start with one of the Gutenberg Award recipients for this year:

 

Randy Brewer (’93) is the Founder and Executive Producer for Revolution Pictures in Nashville, TN. This company partners with clients to concept and achieve any creative vision or business goal. They have won several major awards: the 2012 CMT Video of the Year – Carrie Underwood “Good Girl”; 201o CMT Collaborative VIdeo of the Year – Blake Shelton “Hillbilly Bone”; Ranked #15 – most streams of any video on MTV network. Some of Revolution Pictures services include: animation, casting, documentaries, and visual effects.

 

Wow, Randy really hit the jackpot!

 

Now let’s stroll down memory lane and look at some previous recipients:

 

Kate Vein (’99) is the Senior Vice President for Elevate Studios based in Chicago, IL. This company is a full-service digital agency focused on strategy, creativity and technology to empower brands for success. Sounds big-time if you ask me.

 

Cynthia Patterson Nellis (’86) is the Editor/Publisher for Women’s Fashion for About.com (part of the New York Times Company).

 

David Scotts (’96) is the Senior Editor of Motion Graphics for ColdWater Media located in Richardson. This one sounds most interesting to me because it is a company that makes documentary films and television series. I have always wanted to make documentaries, so if you went to school with David put in a good word for me!

 

These ACU alumni are just a few who have become successful in their field of JMC. I have always been a dreamer so to see these fellow graduates do so well gives me hope and inspiration to go after what I want!