Students in Professor Donald Tarallo's  Advanced Graphic Design course work on their final projects with Professor Tarallo and a guest Designer.

This year's Visions, a juried honors exhibit of the Communications Media Department, opened with an Alumni Panel in the Ellis White White Lecture Hall. This lively discussion was followed by The Gallery Opening, Game Design Showcase, Reception, and a Film & Video Screening in Weston Auditorium. Thank you to the alumni, jurors, Communications Media faculty, students, and staff. The Exhibit will run until June 30, 2024. 

On Thursday, April 25 @ 7pm, the Communications Media Department will begin the run of  its Spring Theatrical production of Absurdist Alert! - Two one-act plays that point out the bizarre, delightful and surreal nature of life at the Wallace Theater for the Performing Arts in the McKay Complex at 67 Rindge Road. Admission is FREE and open to the public. Here, understudies took the stage presenting, “A Game,” written by Dennis E. Noble and directed by student Allison Thompson, and “The Zoo Story,” written by Edward Albee and directed by Theater Technical  Director Jo Nazro. Get more information, including schedule  here.

Humanities Professor Karina Bautista, and students in her Intermediate Spanish course, hosted our Young Falcons this morning as part of her Community Spanish Project. This  collaboration focused on the importance of medical terminology. Professor Kevin McCarthy , along with a student from his Podcast course, recorded the session for an upcoming episode of Perseverantia: Fitchburg State University Podcast Network. The network features the voices, experiences, and educational and extra-curricular life of the university community. Learn about the network here, listen here.

Students in Theater Professor Ellen (Cap) Corduan's Theatrical Stage Make Up course experiment with various make-up techniques, this lesson was classic whiteface clown. This lecture/laboratory course investigates the principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup and practical application. Students will apply, in a production setting, principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup. They will identify historical justification for period makeup and apply techniques for live animation, clowning and dramatic character.

Students in Dr. Robert Carr's Writings in Aesthetics course listen to a fellow student who discusses his recent portfolio defense, and then worked on their group and independent projects. Located at the interface between theory and production, this course is a writing intensive Communication Studies course that capitalizes on this vantage point to critically examine the professional arts comprising our curriculum, namely film, video, graphic design, photography, interactive media, and professional communication. Through weekly readings and writings, seminar discussions, presentations, and a term length qualitative research project, this writing intensive course bridges the theory/production dichotomy. 

Students in Theater Professor Mary Vreeland's  Acting for the Camera course, An intensive scene study course for the advanced student actor, spent their class time recording short commercial scripts for the camera. The scene was reviewed and Professor Vreeland and the rest of the class gave immediate feedback. 

Students in Professor Kevin McCarthy's Sound Design course, using an arsenal of props, add sounds to a movie clip. Foley artists devise and record the everyday sounds heard in films, television shows, and video games—noises like footsteps, a sword being drawn from a sheath, the swishing of clothing, or punches being thrown, etc. This course examines the elements of post-production sound design within the context of film and video production. This course blends the artistic and the technical. Students  use nonlinear editors, digital audio work stations and analog and digital recording equipment to design soundtracks for their film and video productions.

Students in Theater Professor Ellen (Cap) Corduan's Theatrical Stage Make Up course experiment with various make-up techniques in an effort to make themselves look decades older. One student exclaimed, "Wow, I look like my Grandmother!" This lecture/laboratory course investigates the principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup and practical application. Students will apply, in a production setting, principles, techniques and materials of character stage makeup. They will identify historical justification for period makeup and apply techniques for live animation, clowning and dramatic character.

The university's first ever "Writer in Residence" with  The New York Times bestselling author, and Fitchburg State University Alum, R.A. Salvatore '81, '91 continued today with Salvatore visiting classes. First, he stopped into Communications Media Professor Kyle Moody's History of Interactive Media and Games, and then visited English Studies Professor Kisha Tracy's World Lit I: Myths & Traditions course. In both, Salvatore discussed his journey as a writer, starting at Fitchburg State University, and all of the many places, opportunities, and experiences that  brought to him to where he is today. He also held Q & A sessions with the students.