FILM 160: The Final Frontier

Wow! We survived the first Corona Semester of 2020

Taking Media160 during the Spring 2020 semester set out to be an exciting journey during the late winter months. At the end of January 20', I was sitting in a cleaner lecture hall, my lab was small enough to actually look at everyone in the face...and smile. My Professors seemed like relatable professionals who would help answer my question: “why am I actually here?” , and with 27 days in, the new year was still new!

But then Coronavirus came just 8 weeks into the semester and 8 weeks later (current week of May 17), my perception on life has dramatically changed. In March 2020 when most of the country simultaneously moved to the remote learning setting, I felt very comfortable  showing up to class in my bathrobe. However the pressure to “show up” quickly set-in, because showing up now meant to be alert, engaged and enthused as if we never left the lab or lecture hall. 

For me, it was no longer that easy to show up.

Remote learning was very difficult for someone who did not originally choose to be an online student. Some days were actually better than most, but like my 2012 MacBook Pro, other days just didn't work. Given the warped circumstances, there were a lot of things that, in fact, did work.

Like the increase in care and compassion. 

College and University Professors have hundreds to thousands of undergrads to keep track of, and logging on to hear “Could we all just turn our camera’s on for a moment….I’d love to see your faces” from adjunct lab instructor, Jeremy Levin, was the ease a lot of us held on to, after anxiety quickly followed signing in. Or the moral gesture, of lowering the impact of a Final’s 50 questions to a Quiz’ 25, given by lecture Professor Michael Gitlin. 

Many students dealt with serious personal downfall since the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. Personally, if the Media Studies Professors weren’t as lenient, for the remainder of the semester, I’m not sure how I would’ve gotten through. Dealing with repeated phone calls from medical professionals and family members regarding my mother's status as a COVID-19 victim in the ICU, while siting in front of an open Blackboard screen was not always easy.

Due to the supports of staff and fellow students, pushing through was very necessary for me and I knew that I had to. At the start of the semester Levin inspired all of us to “dig deep” when telling visual stories. As a black female visual artist, I learned where my strengths were, in film: my perception. I also learned what I loved the most: the editing room-- making sure my perceptions are clearly translated through any medium. 

Working on projects during quarantine was fairly easy as my home studio featured enough creativity to make anything work. This semester also showed me how to dive into alternative ways of creating. The pandemic may have halted a few things, but it certainly has not stopped anything.

Certainly not the fire that burns within an artist.

I’m thankful Michael and Jeremy helped to strengthen skills that were already there while exploring new ones. I look forward to continuing my creative process and excited to expand my portfolio with the traditional medium of visual story-telling known as FILM.