###### tags: storyLab WOMGEN1127

# Event Report for WOMGEN1127 Section Workshop

By Abby-M


## Description

Thursday in the lab! Students from WOMGEN1127: Beyond the Sound Bite visited the Learning Lab to brainstorm tech and media options for their creative final projects. The workshop centered idea that every aesthetic choice plays a functional role, exposing students to different forms of media capture in the process.

First, as a large group, we demonstrated different camera angles, types of lighting, and depths of lenses, to see the tones they can achieve. For example, a camera that’s shooting from straight in front but slightly below creates a “superman” effect (the subject looks powerful and in control). Contrastingly, the same subject shot from above can create a feeling of helplessness and vulnerability. Students also explored the ways that lighting can impact tone - for example, creating spaces with a lot of shadow can create a mysterious, villainous shot.


Then, in four small groups, students learned about specific ways they could use the lab’s tools to meet their goals for their projects. They practiced speaking to the camera in the small studio, created montages and collages using the overhead camera, experimented with Canva as a production space for video editing and creating visual essays, and tested out the different effects of different microphones.


## Why it matters

When the information someone is analyzing is not textual (instead, it’s film, news footage, snips of YouTube videos, etc), reflecting in text form does not always make the most sense - a video essay or short film could be more appropriate. That being said, students have a lot of experience and supports when it comes to writing academic papers, but not so much with media rich projects. So, the Learning Lab fills that gap by providing crash courses in some of the tools that students might want to use in ways that are applicable to the setting. While students can't learn everything in an hour, they leave with concrete ideas, base knowledge of how to work in a new medium, and the knowledge that there are people who can help them!