LGBTQ+ and the Media was an interesting class for me because it was my first class in the communications department and the first class I took online. Due to COVID-19 all of my classes during the Spring 2021 semester included some element of online work and collaboration, but LGBTQ+ and the Media was heavily focused on digital learning and creating. For the majority of this course I learned about LGBTQ+ history and representation through watching movies, short films, and documentaries (some of which I had already seen before, whether because of my minor in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies or for my own entertainment, but it was an interesting mix of material). Toward the end of the semester we became filmmakers and wrote and filmed our own short films, successfully contributing to LGBTQ+ representation in the Media. This was a unique class because we began with learning about LGBTQ+ history and the history of film, then we discussed certain elements of short film, then we wrote our own short film scrips, divided into groups, storyboarded, created posters, and, finally, created our own short films to show at an end-of-the-semester student film festival. Every part of this process was something new and exciting and made this class an amazing experience overall.

There’s No Eye in Team by Rachel Boch, Kelly Jarratt, Nicole Ardovino, Jess Semmler, Via Adame, and Sydney Kaloustian was created on April 27, 2021. This short film project was a culmination of everything we learned in this course and allowed us to contribute to LGBTQ+ representation in the media.