BWW Interviews: Digi-EYE Showcases Ohio State Student Films

Students' artistic visions are set to come to life on the big screen in the Ohio State Department of Theatre's fourth Digi-EYE: Film and Video Showcase.

Presented in OSU's Thurber Theatre in the Drake Performance and Event Center, Digi-EYE features short visual digital media works created by undergraduate and graduate students.

The students hail from different majors and have created pieces that range from animation to documentaries and narratives, said Janet Parrott, Digi-EYE coordinator and an associate professor and director of graduate studies within the OSU Department of Theatre.

"It is a collection of student work that we want to share with a larger audience," Parrott said. "These are all assignments. Some of them are really simple. Some are about sound... some are about how you reveal information to an audience and when you choose to do that. It is about putting one image next to another to create meaning. Some of them are documentaries."

The show is approximately 90 minutes, and is currently set to feature 24 short films, Parrott added.

In addition to the screening of the shorts, audience members will have the opportunity to participate in brief Q&A sessions with the creators of the works.

Parrott said she thinks the showcase is an important learning experience for students.

"I always think it is great for students to see their work big, projected in front of an audience instead of on our computers in a lab, or projected in the classroom," she said. "This gives us the opportunity to see the work that they have done."

In addition to using the showcase as a teaching tool for students, Parrott said the showcase is also organized so that student work can be shared with a larger audience.

"What I really appreciate is the work that students are doing. These are not students making YouTube videos with their cellphones. They are really learning the language of images. They are learning cinematic language. They are learning how to make images together to create meaningful pieces," she said. "It is a wide range of student self-expression and I think it is really interesting and worth seeing."

Two Digi-EYE showings are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 6. and Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Shows are free and open to the public.

The Drake Performance and Event Center is located at 1849 Cannon Drive on OSU's main campus in Columbus, Ohio.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of OSU and Thomas Heban

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