DMS Student Showcase 2021

DMS 341 Intermediate Video

DMS 341 Header Image.

This course took place in the fall of 2020 and was an intensive workshop in fiction film production, with an emphasis on both hands-on practice of fiction filmmaking and in-depth study of the art of fiction filmmaking. 

Production projects helped students develop conceptual and technical proficiency, including knowledge of the development, production, and post production of fiction films. Screenings and class presentations deepened students’ understanding of fiction filmmaking and storytelling. The films shown here include final projects for the class.

Jedi Kang

How i died

Jedi Kang How I DIED Video

I have a dual citizenship situation because I was born in America when my parents were getting their PhD.s. I became the first and only American in my family. My parents never thought that I would live in the states, so my father thought it would be a good idea to give me a name inspired by his favorite movie series Star Wars. Fast forward 17 years later, I am a foreign exchange student in rural Minnesota where I am the only Asian kid but more interestingly named after a fantasy profession. I went by J.J. which is my Korean name and my “ENGLISH” name combined and I thought it reflected that stage of my life very well. When I came to college, I forgot to put my preferred name as J.J. and ended up being called my real name. Ironically my first college class was Sci-Fi literature. Starting college as a Jedi in Sci-fi class is as awkward as it sounds, and so was the rest of my freshman year living as a Jedi. After finishing freshman year, I needed to do my mandatory 2yrs in the Korean army which gave me a chance to reconnect with my Korean roots once again. After the army experience, I return to UB, but I didn’t want to make it the “Return of the Jedi”. I needed a new identity that would reflect my growth and cultural identity, but I also didn’t want to go to court for a new name. So I decided to just read it differently and tell everyone that it was a Korean name that is spelled like it. It reflected my cultural identity perfectly, not completely Korean nor American, an inbetweener. I wanted this film to be like a business card in video format so I wouldn’t have to explain my whole story to every single person I meet. I would just show them this.

Jedi Kang

let me tell you what happened

Jedi Kang Let Me Tell You What Happened

I took time off after taking my first productionclass due to being lazy on class signupday. There was a gap between learning to make videosto taking an intermediate course. I hadbeen making crappy documentaries with my friends duringthis time and thought documentarieswere my calling. We “borrowed” invasive species ofedible crawfish from a private pond andfilmed it.I had to convey the story with no dialogue due tothe assignment and thought of the bestidea. Poop humour is globally accepted as funny andcan be used as literal metaphor for“getting into shit”. I wanted this project to reflectmy life abroad in the US away from my parentswho are in Korea. The color palette starts out redand as the story progresses and the maincharacter gets further from his parents it turns green.Sort of like a green light for things to gobad and “get into shit”. The further I am away fromhome I tend to let my asshole ways take overand forget what my parents taught me all these years.The pooping in the end is the metaphorfor that, but also is based on my experience comingback from a family road trip when I was 13.Which is a very hopeless feeling of a soft serve icecream forcefully being made in your pants.The stop motion idea took place after watching LauraKraining’s stop motion filmMeridianPlane.I thought I needed to have something in stopmotion for this film.

2021 DMS Courses

  • DMS 341: Intermediate Video
    5/13/21
    This course took place in the fall of 2020 and was an intensive workshop in fiction film production, with an emphasis on both hands-on practice of fiction filmmaking and in-depth study of the art of fiction filmmaking. 
  • DMS 103 Basic Video (Section 1)
    5/14/21
    Basic Video is a beginner level production class on the uses of digital video, moving image, and media as a medium of artistic expression and communication. There is a mixture of history, theory, artistic practice, technique, analysis, and there is a distinctive focus on learning while making.
  • DMS 534 Media Archaeology
    5/11/21
    In this theory/practice seminar, students will interrogate the strain of scholarly and artistic practices concerned with the cultural and material histories of media technology known as media archaeology.
  • DMS 103 Basic Video (Section 2)
    5/12/21
    This course provides an introduction to the technical and aesthetic practice of video production and post-production, with a critical eye to both form and content. Through lectures, readings, exercises, and projects, as well as screenings of historical and contemporary film and video work, students will gain an understanding of film and video language and explore conceptual strategies for the development of creative approaches to digital video making.
  • DMS 462/562 Game Design
    5/12/21
    DMS 462 is a production course that allows students to explore the fabulous and sometimes frightening world of Game Design. Games are all around us in modern culture, ranging from video games to board and card games to sports to politics (Game of Thrones, anyone?) and beyond. 
  • DMS 201 Green Media
    5/11/21
    This course analyzes fictional and documentary media that investigate our relationship to nature: climate change, pollution, environmental justice, wildlife extinction. The course interprets the word media broadly to include film, games, social media, media-art, big data visualization, simulation and sensing. It examines the consciousness-raising power of film, media and journalism; traces the ecological impact of our obsession with the latest media device; and ponders the relationship between our feelings about our changing planet (denial, engagement, optimism, hopelessness) and our actions.
  • DMS 418/518 Landscape Projections
    8/18/22
    “Landscape Projections” is an advanced special topics course exploring landscape as a medium, predominantly through the lens of time-based media. “Projections” implies cinematic presentation, but we expand this idea of projection (from Latin projectio(n-), from proicere ‘throw forth’), exploring ideas around forecasts, mappings, visions, and transmission, as we consider a wide range of artists and filmmakers re-envisioning both the natural and manufactured landscape through cinematic geographies and spatial practices.
  • DMS 342 Intermediate Documentary Workshop
    5/13/21
    Intermediate Documentary is an intensive workshop in nonfiction film production, with an emphasis on both hands-on practice of documentary filmmaking and in-depth study of the art of nonfiction filmmaking. Production projects helpedstudents develop conceptual and technicalproficiency, including knowledge of the development, production, and post production ofnonfiction films. Readings, writing assignments, and class presentations will deepen students’understanding of nonfiction filmmaking and storytelling.
  • DMS 213 Immigration & Film (Section 2)
    5/21/21
    This course offers an introduction to South Korean drama and cinema with attention to
    Korean culture and history, TV/cinema/visual cultural analysis, and within the contexts Korean cultural global reach also understood as Hallyu or the Korean Wave. Students will study South Korean drama and film through thematics such as historical development, aesthetics, genre, auteur theory, stardom, subtitling, and the politics of distribution.
  • DMS 480 Social Media & Networks (Section 1)
    5/21/21
    In this online course, we will learn about, critique, and create social media and networks theory. Through media theory and case studies, we will analyze social media and networks; through online discussion, we will develop our ideas; and finally, through creation we will implement our learning into action. By the end of the course, you will have a better understanding and will be able to critically read, analyze, and write about social media from a variety of perspectives. Along with rigorous reading and writing, students will engage through creative making and collective presentations. In doing so, we adhere to learning through creating.
  • DMS 441 Advanced Video Production
    5/14/21
    This production course is designed to build on and further students’ conceptual and technical skills in video production. Through a combination of in-class workshops and exercises, assigned projects, and close attention to visual, creative motion picture ideation, students will strive to produce thoughtful, personally meaningful, technically proficient videos. 
  • DMS 302 Experimental Moving Image
    5/14/21
    “Experimental Moving Image” is an intermediate level undergraduate production class introducing students to alternative approaches to the moving image, from abstraction and collage, personal documentary and hybrid narratives, to stop-motion and video installation, across single and multiple screens.
  • DMS 606 Sound and Space
    5/11/21
    In this course, students interested in learning more about music and sound, and sound’s relationship with and existence ins pace, have been experimenting with creating virtual spaces. (This was particularly germane since the class took place over Zoom, an entirely virtual space.) We have analyzed how sound behaves in real spaces, both natural and human-built, with the goal of understanding how these spaces influence sound, and human perception. 
  • DMS 435/535 Scriptwriting
    5/15/21
    In this production workshop students concentrate on writing and editing script elements for all kinds of media including film, video, game, installation, AR, VR location- or web-based projects. The course explores traditional and experimental methods for generating and structuring text for any genre of fictional, documentary or hybrid work. Scripts include original writing, interviews, collaged or found fragments - which may be performed, heard or displayed in the final piece.
  • DMS 598 Project Supervision
    5/12/21
    Graduate Student Project Supervision taught by Margaret Rhee
  • DMS 448 Games, Gender & Culture
    5/12/21
    DMS 448: Games, Gender And Culture provides a comprehensive investigation of the emerging field of Games Studies, the critical analysis of games and interactive environments made possible by the computer. We will address different theoretical perspectivesthat view games and gaming as historical, social, cultural. aesthetic, technical, performative, and cognitive phenomenon. 
  • DMS 474 Media Theories and Approaches
    5/15/21
    Media theory investigates the technoculturaloperation of media, including media technologies and social practices. The basic question media theory must ask is “what is media?” If something is identified as media, is it always media or only under certain circumstances? For example, paint is a mediumwhen used for a painting, but what about on a wall or in a can? Air is a medium for sound and music, but what about when the world is silent? Fiber optic cables, wifi signals, and the internal operations of a computer delivering a film on a laptop are media, but so is the film. How do they relate? Conversely, what is not media?