Topics: Emerging Media, College of Fine Arts, Immersive Learning
February 1, 2007
<b>Ball State senior James Roberts reviews a movie trailer students are producing to promote upcoming theater productions that eventually may be available for download to cell phones.</b>
Ball State students are creating movie trailers for on-campus theater productions in an immersive learning project through the
Institute of Digital Entertainment and Education (IDEE).
Since Generation Y has grown up in the digital age and regularly communicates through advanced technology, the Digital Education Option Pilot's focus is to make the trailers available to download on cell phones as a marketing tactic to increase attendance at theater productions, said Rodger Smith, associate professor for IDEE.
Senior James Roberts, a theater major, said the team is testing a program that converts the digital file of the trailer to a format that can be downloaded to cell phones.
Smith said one of the most significant parts of the project is opening doorways for students to present new media products that will enhance the small-screen experience for consumers.
"There is now an agency in Los Angeles dedicated to representing new media products," Smith said. "And they are looking for new ideas similar to what the students are doing."
Another primary objective of the project is to help students become better storytellers. Creating trailers gives students an opportunity to practice the same elements of a full-length feature film, but they can do it more often since the trailers are shorter, Smith said.
"It is excellent training," he added. "It's difficult to tell a complete story in 30 seconds, but it is essential to creating a longer story."
Students involved in the project have found that the entertainment industry is looking for strong, clear and concise stories. Trailers are a way the team can practice editing and filming elements that will enhance the story, Roberts said.
"If we can take a 30-second story to two minutes, we can expand the story further - possibly to a full-length feature film," he said.
And through the project, the students are exposed to the same technology used in the motion picture industry.
"To my knowledge Ball State is the only university creating trailers for theater productions," Roberts said. "The project is exposing us to techniques that industry executives want future employees to have."
In addition, he is working independently with students from Sichuan University in China. Through teleconferencing, Roberts is helping them understand the nature of and how to create movie trailers as part of their country's celebration of cinema.
The team is creating trailers for University Theatre's spring productions of "The Colored Museum," Feb. 15, 18 and 21, and "Urinetown," March 29, April 1 and 4. Last semester, the group created trailers for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Twilight: Los Angeles."
Funding is provided by the IDEE, one of four immersive learning institutes created at Ball State as a result of a $20 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to fund the Digital Exchange, an initiative expanding opportunities for students to participate in innovative, immersive educational experiences.
By Jody Kress