The Multimedia Resources Center (MRC) with its extraordinary media collection and its vast repository of multimedia tools has changed the way our students learn, collaborate, and create content in all disciplines.  A recent example of this involves UCI student Alexis Kim, whose use of the MRC inspired her passion in film-making.

Adam Angeles helps a student with the MRC's multimedia tools

Kim, a 3rd year Earth System Science major, came to the MRC for help with a three minute music video project on the ground breaking of the Anteater Garden and the story of the students involved in the effort.  She asked our MRC Multimedia Consultant Adam Angeles for help and advice on how she would be able to complete this task. He advised her on how she could use the resources available at the MRC to do so, as well as guiding her with tips on directing and producing.  Alexis also found valuable teammates at the MRC and she was able to recruit other aspiring filmmakers to work on the project. Using two MRC cameras, the tips from her multimedia consultation, and one of our multimedia stations, she was able to direct, shoot, and edit the video. 

"When I first started my documentary as a 3rd year, I didn't know a single thing about filming," said Kim, "but the Multimedia Resource Center literally provided me with the tools to get my hands soaking wet and learn filmmaking the quick and dirty way - by doing, by making films. It was my classroom outside of the classroom..."

The MRC inspired Alexis to pursue her passion for film making, and empowered her to create relationships with UCI faculty

This production experience energized Alexis and gave her the confidence she needed to further dedicate herself to a career in film-making. She subsequently developed a production internship with Film and Media Studies Professor Fatimah Rony and came back to the MRC to consult Adam on a regular basis to help her organize the resources she would need to produce a full-length documentary. Together, Alexis and Adam developed the focus of the film, and defined the main theme to be the self-empowering of a UCI student, and how the story of the Garden and its development serves as both an example and a metaphor for that idea.

The documentary is currently in production, and Alexis ambitiously wants to submit it to film festivals once it is completed. The MRC inspired Alexis to pursue her passion for film making, and empowered her to create relationships with UCI faculty, as well as other avid film students.

To learn more about the MRC and its services, please visit http://previous.lib.uci.edu/services/mrc/multimedia-resources-center.html.