Communications 380

Communications 380 (LGBTQ+ and the Media)

Background:

I took this course spring semester of my Sophomore year. When I signed up for this class, I thought I was going to be learning about LGBTQ+ and the media (like social media), not actually having to create media ourselves. I have never really had any experience with creating short films, but I was kind of fun making one! I was pushed out of my comfort zone a little bit with this class but it ended up paying off in the end.

Benevolent Surprises:

This course helped me to understand more about the experiences of being LGBTQ+ by learning the history and present history of the community. At first, we watched short films, documentaries, and even movies to listen and learn about the various experiences of people who are LBGTQ+. Although I am not part of this community myself, I think this class helped me become a better ally to the community. When we moved on to writing scripts and producing our own 3-10 minute short film, I was a little hesitant. I had no experience writing a short film script, but I tried my best. I think that is why I was shocked when my script was 1 of the 5 picked to actually be produced into a short film. I was excited and so were my friends when I told them the good news. Some of my friends were in the class and they picked my film to help with! I even convinced some of my friends to act in the film.

Below is the final script for my film!

This script is centered around a girl who is trying to find answers to why her eye was blown up in an experiment gone wrong. Lizzie is the main character who is the girlfriend of Macy. I think a thriller film was good choice to feature LGBTQ+ characters because not many thrillers have people who are LGBTQ+ star as the main character. I also wrote the script like this because I thought it was important to show that the characters are more than just their sexual orientation or their sexual preference.