Recently, at the 41st Annual MCA-I Media Festival, two Electronic Media Communications professors received awards for their work on an independent video project.It was titled “Myopia” and was the recipient of two Silver Reels from the MCA-I, or Media Communications Association – International, in both Audio/Sound Design and Writing. Each Silver Reel was a second place trophy among 90 entries.
H. Michael Sanders received the award for Writing, while he and William Boyle received a joint award for Audio/Sound Design.
The MCA-I is “an organization of media communications professionals that provides opportunities for networking, forums for education and resources for information,” according to www.mca-i.org.
Both professors felt privileged when their work was appreciated internationally. “It means something to us when we’re recognized by other people who are doing this kind of stuff,” said Sanders, who wrote and produced the video.
“Myopia” was born from Sanders’ restoration of old projects, which allowed him to find exciting new footage and sound effects, which were eventually mixed into the video.
However, the project was primarily unique in its sound design, mixing a poetry narration with so many sound effects that many audio tracks had to be mixed into single tracks to make room in the editing software.
“It makes us better educators. In this industry, you have to do it if you’re going to share those skills with your students,” said Boyle, who managed a majority of the technical processes for the project.
The MCA-I prefers projects that combine advancement in technology with creativity.
“What tends to get recognized in these kinds of competitions,” Boyle added, “.is the combination of technical execution with storytelling. Keeping the focus on storytelling and how the technology drives the storytelling is really more and more what we’re trying to be about in the program.”
Electronic Media faculty and staff have always taken pride in their active work in media production. “We have to maintain a level of expertise,” said Sanders, “and our ability to do work ourselves, and this is an example of the professionals in the department continuing to keep their technical skills sharp and their creative ability focused so we can effectively share those skills with students.