COMMLab: A Production Class Like No Other
By: Hunter Stinnett
Ever wonder what it was like to be part of an award-winning team? Students from COMMLab know. They produced the video that made it possible for Longwood University to win the 2019 best campus traditions award from the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA).
Debuting in the fall of 2017, the students of COMM 434 COMMLab have been helping community organizations by writing, shooting, and editing videos for them. Originally developed by Dr. Ryan Stouffer and Professor Jeff Halliday, COMMLab is a course that creates videos for clients in and around the Farmville area. Even the course number itself, COMM 434, is a nod to the Farmville community.
According to Dr. Stouffer, “COMMLab was created to give students hands-on experience communicating with clients, producing professional videos, and enhancing student’s professional portfolios.” One of the unique components of COMMLab is that students work primarily for nonprofit agencies in the Farmville community because they oftentimes do not have the funds or resources to have a video professionally made.
The Process
Something that makes COMMLab stand apart from other media production courses is that it is offered every semester. By no surprise, the spring 2020 section of COMMLab filled in just under 90 minutes.
With a cap of 12, the students are then broken into four different groups, they will work with on projects for the entirety of the semester. Each group completes four different projects of the course of the semester for different clients. After selecting the clients, student groups reach out and set up a meeting to discuss what the client is interested in having produced. And after a contract is signed, the students begin writing and filming the video.
A current COMMLab student, Miranda Farley (’20) said she is “thankful for the opportunity to gain this experience in a class because it helps prepare [her] for jobs after graduation.” While students in COMMLab have only produced videos to date, they hope to expand their offerings in future semesters based on client needs.
COMMLab Clients
To date, COMMLab has worked with over 62 different clients.
According to Professor Halliday, one of the most unique clients COMMLab has worked with was The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR). The VCBR works to help sexually violent predators recover and provide them with the opportunity to return to their communities. COMMLab created an employee recruitment video for this facility that is now featured on the main page of their website.
Another recent client is the Longwood University Athletics Department. COMMLab created a program for them called Lancer Central that features 30 different episodes about the different athletic teams at the university. COMMLab has also worked with Susan Sullivan, Director of the University Center and Student Activities, to create a video about Longwood’s tradition of The G.A.M.E. This particular video was submitted to NACA won the competition in February of 2019 where Longwood was awarded the Best Campus Traditions under 5,000 students. Sullivan remarked that she is glad Longwood offers a “great academic class that university offices can call upon in a time of need.” She also said that COMMLab “allows students the opportunity to participate and create a unique tangible video that has the potential to be award winning.”
Digital Media alumnus, Nicole Del Rosario (’19) reached out to Dr. Stouffer saying, “thank you for creating a course that helped prepare me for the professional world.” Other alum have also reached out and said that their employers were impressed by the camera experience and professional portfolio so soon after graduation. Dr. Stouffer stated that he is “happy to provide an opportunity for creative freedom to students while also helping them build a professional portfolio.”
Finally, this semester one group of COMMLab students was tasked with creating a new introductory video for our very own Communication Studies department, working with Dr. Alec Hosterman and his intern. The video is going to be used during recruiting events as well as posted across the department’s different social media accounts. And without further ado, here it is:
Broadcasting Their Way Into the Future
At the end of each semester, COMMLab live broadcasts the senior poster session for communication students who go through COMM 460 Communication Research. This year will be the second annual broadcast of this event, where different students will explain their research and highlight their results. Parents, alumni, and other community members will be able to live stream the poster sessions on the Longwood University Communication Studies YouTube channel. This year’s live session will be held on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, starting at 10:00 a.m. EST.
COMMLab is a production course like no other at Longwood University. This course gives students the ability to serve the larger community while also learning skills that most have to wait until they are in the profession to learn. Dr. Stouffer gave thanks to Dr. Naomi Johnson-Tsigaridas, who was department chair when this course was created, for believing in the program and what it has to offer to students. Current department chair, Jeff Halliday, says, “this is a class that serves the university’s greater mission of creating citizen leaders.”
Make sure to check out some of the different videos COMMLab has produced which are linked below.
If you are interested in having COMMLab create a video for you, please reach out to Dr. Ryan Stouffer (stoufferrr@longwood.edu) or Professor Jeff Halliday (hallidayja@longwood.edu).