Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Creative Project
- Creators: Rhodes, Gail
- Resource Type: Moving Image
Description
The sport of tennis is played in over 100 countries and over 256 Division I collegiate programs across the United States. Each program contains 8-10 individual athletes for both men's and women's rosters. When first observing a roster from any Division I program, people will see that many of the athletes are international. Courts of Cultures is a documentary about the lives of five select tennis athletes of how they have adjusted to life in the United States, the shift in cultures and the transition into playing in collegiate tennis. Makey Rakotomalala (France), Pierre Louis Dodens (Switzerland), Thomas Wright (Great Britain), Lauryn John-Baptiste (England), and Tereza Kolarova (Czech Republic) all share their experiences of coming to Arizona State University and give insight into what life adjustments they have made not only for the college lifestyle, but international living as well. Head coaches Matt Hill (men's) and Sheila McInerney (women's) also speak to the recruitment of international students and how new technology has made the process simpler. In many countries, you either have to go professional in tennis out of high school, or toss away the racquet and just go to college for academics. Being able to play tennis and go to school benefits these athletes because they are able to improve on their skills and earn a degree. Each athlete featured in this film has a different story and a different background, but they all find commonality on the tennis court. A worldwide sport that has brought worldwide talent to Tempe. Courts of Cultures was directed, photographed, edited, and produced by Blaine McCormick along with narration by Scotty Gange.
ContributorsMccormick, Blaine Robert (Author) / Kurland, Brett (Thesis director) / Fergus, Thomas (Committee member) / Rhodes, Gail (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
My creative project was the (aptly named) "Sketch Show," short series of sketches presented in order without greater context or structure. I challenged myself to push the limits of my creativity and be involved in every aspect of the production. I wrote, directed, shot, edited, acted, scored, and color graded 3 sketches. I chose sketch comedy as my genre of focus because it is one that I have loved my whole life, and wanted to try my hand at. My research process was expansive, as I studied many of the great sketch shows and tried to learn what makes them successful. I next wrote many sketches, and they were almost uniformly terrible. My rewrite and selection phase was very difficult as I struggled to identify which of my sketches were working best, and I still question the decisions I made. Regardless, the shooting process began and I continued to push myself through cinematography and especially acting, something I have the least experience in by far. I had acted in theatre in high school, but I quickly learned this was completely different and struggled to give myself the performance I had in my head. Finally in the edit, where I am most comfortable, I pushed myself one step further to score the project, something I had never done before. "Sketch Show" may not have turned out to be the project I intended, but it taught me more about writing and myself than any project ever has.
ContributorsRagatz, Caleb (Author) / Scott, Jason (Thesis director) / Maday, Gregory (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This thesis is a creative project involving video from all four years of my schooling at Arizona State University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Entering the Cronkite School for the first time, I did not possess any knowledge about computer video editing software or any on-camera experience. The video pieces are various clips of some of my best work during my time at ASU, including reports on various sports/sporting events for Cronkite News and the Walter Cronkite Sports Network (WCSN). The project combines some of my best on-camera work, video editing skills, and even some new additions such as music under-beds to the pseudo-documentary. Overall, it demonstrates progression from a lack of knowledge about the basics of sports journalism to being cognizant about the multiple facets of the industry. While working on this thesis project, I quickly realized I needed to put all of my skills and knowledge to the test, as I had to incorporate many elements into a long video. For an introduction and closing, I needed to create a script that captured a chronological progression of the journey without detracting from the main focus: the reel. A huge thank you to both my thesis director and my second committee member for their assistance in helping me turn this idea into a reality. I took a chance when committing to Arizona State, but after four years in the desert, I can say with full confidence this was the absolute best choice I could have made.
ContributorsBaron, Michael (Author) / Dieffenbach, Paola (Thesis director) / Rhodes, Gail (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05