STAC Alumni Showcase their Work in "Picture it!" Event

By Alexandra Kezek
                   
Professor Winship's Advanced Public Relations class recently held an event in the Romano Student Alumni Center called “Picture It!: Visual Storytelling for the Media.” The March 19 event took place at 7 p.m. and drew an audience of students and professors. Light refreshments were served as well as a networking hour between students and the speakers. The speakers were each in a professional field. And they explained in their presentations how they "pre-visualize" an idea and turn it into a final product.

William Prior, Professor Bill Prior's son, was one of the speakers. He owns his own production company called "Prior Productions." He has produced many music videos and documentaries, as well as commercials. He produced the Orange County Fair commercial in 2013 and 2014. In his presentation, he showed the audience a music video he produced for the band Rise Against The Machine.

He emphasized the importance of detail in his work. Prior stated that every angle makes a difference in video production. If the angle is not right, it can make the focus of the video look awkward and amateurish. He also stated that in filming people, particularly a band, the producer should get to know them to understand their rhythm in order for a music video to be a success.

Ted Gilmartin, a 2014 graduate of STAC who majored in Graphic Design, talked about how he and his brother, Alex, have produced many freelance videos. He explained what it is like to film a commercial from start to finish. A commercial less than a minute can take days to create. The factors that go into making a commercial are significant, like sound effects, color, angles, the scripts, and more.

However, since Ted is a twin, they both have an advantage. Ted described to the audience about the positives of working with his twin brother. They both have similar interests and aid in each others projects, and help act as different characters in each others projects. The twins are still involved in the STAC community, they produced STAC's Fire Safety Video. They are currently still producing and have been filming at live concerts.

Nick Mrnarevic is a STAC graduate from 2002 and is now a professional photographer. Starting his career at MTV, he worked in Production Management and became a professional photographer, he said, by accident. He enjoyed taking pictures but found what he was capable of from practice and requests from clients. He works for various companies like Live Nation, taking photos of professional bands and singers, which can be viewed on the website, livenation.com.

What is especially interesting is that Nick does not have a specific niche in photography. He does landscape, nature, portrait photos, and he photographed Fashion Week in New York City last year. His photography career is 24/7; he is constantly working on new projects.

The audience closely followed each speaker, asking questions regarding their occupations and school careers. Since all the speakers were STAC alumni, they shared the internship opportunities they received while attending STAC.