Eighty-five advertising students traveled to Chicago on November 30 to visit advertising agencies and tech firms to gain exposure to the contemporary advertising industry. In small groups, students were able to visit one advertising agency (DDB, Energy BBDO, Havas, or Highdive) and one tech firm (Adobe, Amazon, or Google). The trip was open to all advertising undergraduate and graduate students and computer science + advertising students.
The Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising sponsored the trip as part of its strategic goal to give students an introduction to the advertising industry early on in their degree program, so they can see how and where they may fit in the future. Students had the opportunity to tour the offices, meet with Illinois alumni and other professionals, and learn about each of the roles and professions within the industry. Students also enjoyed bonding with their fellow students and faculty and networking with the professionals.
“Going on the Chicago trip helped me to realize that I want to be an account executive, which is not something I knew before,” said Emma Johnson, a dual-degree junior majoring in advertising and communication. “I loved hearing from so many amazing people and also lots of UIUC alumni.”
“The Chicago immersion trip was a unique experience that I was eager to pursue because it gave me the chance to take steps to begin networking and further involve myself in the field of advertising as a freshman,” said Cooper Anderson. “After attending, I am much more confident that a career in advertising is the correct path for me and it excites me to see the opportunities that are ahead of me.”
Geno Schellenberger (BS ’20), senior communications manager at Havas and graduate student in the strategic brand communication master’s degree program, led students on a tour around their agency.
“The strong alumni connections are part of what’s remarkable about the University of Illinois Sandage Department of Advertising,” he said. “As a proud alum and communications lead at Havas Chicago, we will always welcome future advertising professionals to inspire and solidify their career choices.”
Students also met with alumni such as Pat Burke (BS ’95, advertising), executive creative director at Highdive advertising agency. Burke has created some of the top award-winning Super Bowl ads in 2022 and in 2021.
Thank you to Adobe, Amazon, DDB, Energy BBDO, Google, Havas, and Highdive for hosting Illinois advertising students.
November 9, 2024 | Vivian La, Communications Intern
The 2023-24 Roger Ebert Fellows, pictured with mentor Michael Phillips, are Stephanie Wayda, Caroline Tadla, and Hanna Brazas-Mata.
Three College of Media undergraduate students were chosen for this year’s Roger Ebert Fellows program, named after the late Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and University of Illinois journalism alumnus Roger Ebert. The fellows will work closely with Michael Phillips, film critic at the Chicago Tribune, to hone their writing and interview skills, sharpen their critical eye, and host a screening in 2024 with the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies.
This year’s Ebert Fellows are Hanna Brazas-Mata, Caroline Tadla, and Stephanie Wayda.
“With my help, they can learn to be their own best editors, no matter what kind of writing they end up doing in the future. And I hope I can introduce them to at least one or two terrific films they might not otherwise have discovered,” Phillips said.
The Ebert Fellows will participate in various activities throughout the year, such as developing their podcasting skills by working with the producers of the Filmspotting podcast in the studios of Chicago Public Radio. They’ll also cover Ebertfest for Illinois Public Media. And for the third year in a row, the Ebert Fellows will attend and cover the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, writing for RogerEbert.com.
Phillips is excited to work with the students’ strengths, making them “better, sharper, more persuasive versions of the writers and thinkers they are already,” he said.
He’ll be paying attention to each fellow’s particular interests, who might be especially valuable for them to meet, and what to experience first-hand.
Meet the 2023-2024 Ebert Fellows
Hanna Brazas-Mata is a junior in media and cinema studies who is looking forward to exploring different career paths through this fellowship.
“I love working with people, production, and writing, and I know all of those aspects of work will be explored in this fellowship,” she said. “Honestly, I see myself having many jobs in many different areas of the industry and this fellowship will give me a taste of that diversity in experience, and work that makes me so excited about my future.”
Brazas-Mata said being an Ebert Fellow is her biggest academic accomplishment and it’s a privilege to work with Phillips and the other fellows.
Her favorite film is Heathers, which reminds her of watching it on her mom’s VHS player.
“Heathers truly never gets old to me; it’s clever, funny, and is a dark twist on classic teen comedies. It also has some great one-liners and costumes,” Brazas-Mata said.
Caroline Tadla is a junior in media and cinema studies. Her dream is to become a screenwriter since she’s always had a passion for writing.
“It’s so encouraging to see the things you’re passionate about manifest into something serious. I’m very excited to gain exposure in the world of film and critical writing,” Tadla said.
After meeting the other fellows and Phillips, she said she’s happy to work with people with similar goals and interests.
She’s also looking forward to attending the True/False Documentary Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri.
Tadla’s favorite film is The Social Network because, as an aspiring screenwriter, “I love how fast-paced and clever the dialogue is as well as the unique narrative structure.”
Stephanie Wayda is a senior in journalism and said she’s interested in the film and entertainment space and this fellowship will help her see what she wants to specifically do.
“It will open the door to meeting new people and sharpen my skills,” Wayda said. “So I think it’ll be a really great, well-rounded experience.”
Wayda is interested in film production and development and is a part of Illini Film and Video Club.
“I am really honored to be a part of the program and uphold all of the history and meaning with Roger Ebert,” she said.
Wayda’s favorite films are those centered around women like Don’t Worry Darling and Promising Young Woman.
September 6, 2023 | Faith Lee, Communications Intern
Several Media students put the skills they learned in the classroom to good work this summer, applying their course knowledge to on-the-job training. At internships across the country, students gained valuable lessons that will help provide them with future academic and professional success. Here are just a few student experiences:
Vivian La Reporting Intern/Asian American Journalists Association Intern with Chicago Tribune
Vivian La, a senior in journalism, worked as a reporting intern with the Chicago Tribune, covering environmental issues such as the city’s poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires. La’s work also focused on climate change and how it has affected Chicagoans—from tick season to home flooding.
La also covered breaking news twice a week, including crime, weather, and various events. She had the opportunity to write about the Chicago Pride Parade and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. In addition, La was able to write one of her favorite pieces of the summer about the first LGBTQ+ pride parade held in Petersburg, Illinois.
La said she absorbed a lot of useful information from experienced journalists in the newsroom.
“There are a couple people who are on the younger side, who are just graduating college, but there are people there who have been nominated for Pulitzers,” La said. “Even just being in the office and listening to them talk to each other, or talk to me, or overhearing their phone interviews with people, you learn a lot just by sitting there and soaking in what people are saying to each other.”
Trent Miles Business Affairs Intern with AppleTV+
Trent Miles, a junior in media and cinema studies, worked as a contract administration intern with AppleTV+ in Los Angeles. In his position, Miles assisted in three departments supporting a senior executive in charge of securing feature film deals.
Due to the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, Miles had to work in the non-fiction programming department since production for scripted programming had stopped. Miles assisted sports executives in securing documentary deals by previewing submitted pitches and providing feedback on them.
A highlight of Miles’s time at AppleTV+ was being able to explore and find a passion for the non-fiction department.
“I came in wanting to do something in scripted, and then when I found out that scripted is not doing anything because of the strike, I guess I just naturally fell in love with non-scripted,” Miles said.
Paris Baptiste Marketing Intern with Music for All
Paris Baptiste, a second-year graduate student pursuing a master’s in advertising, spent her summer as an intern with Music for All, an event-based, nonprofit educational organization. She worked on several projects including research and creating social media posts.
Baptiste enjoyed having the opportunity to attend a band camp for one week during the internship as well as the chance to work on a small team.
“Because it was a smaller nonprofit, it was a smaller team, and I felt very heard and listened to and like an actual part of the team, which was very valuable,” Baptiste said.
As an undergraduate, Baptiste took ADV 290 (now ADV 201): Social Media and Personal Branding that was helpful during her time at Music for All.
“That course presented ways to write content, how to find content, and that really helped when I was kind of stuck writing the same thing over and over again to post on Instagram,” Baptiste said.
Nathan Lin Sales Intern with Procter & Gamble
Nathan Lin, a senior in communication in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences who is also pursuing a media sales certificate in advertising, relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer, where he joined Procter & Gamble as a sales intern. Lin assisted the fabric care division of the company to help increase profits and provided recommendations about product sales.
Lin, who credits several advertising courses with giving him the skills he needed to be a successful sales intern, says the experience will help boost his growing professional career.
“It was good work. I learned a lot,” Lin said. “I really learned how to sell and present. [I learned] it’s less about presenting and more about having a conversation with the buyer and being able to be persuasive and sell the products.”
Update 4/26/2024: Congratulations to the students who created Roomiversity for winning a combined total of $750 in the Cozad New Venture Challenge campuswide competition in Spring 2024!
Four students in the Spring 2023 ADV 409: Media Entrepreneurship course have won 2023 American Digital Design Awards presented by Graphic Design USA magazine. Congratulations to Caroline Azzo, Hope Fowler, and Lillie Ostarello, all juniors in advertising, as well as to Simran Shah, a master’s student in urban planning.
The four students teamed up to create a comprehensive pitch deck for a new mobile app they conceptualized called Roomiversity. Their Tinder-style app (@roomiversity on Instagram) would help college students meet and match with like-minded roommates. Terry Kasdan, adjunct lecturer in advertising who teaches ADV 409, encouraged the team to submit the brand identity they created for their business to Graphic Design USA magazine’s 23rd annual Digital Design Awards competition, and they won in the student work category.
The winners will be published this summer on GDUSA’s website, with select winners featured in their print magazine and annual awards issue in July. More than 2,000 entries were submitted this year, according to Graphic Design USA magazine’s publisher Gordon Kaye. The students’ work will be published alongside entries by Adobe, Molson/Coors, the NBA, Pepsi, and several other student entries from different universities that also won.
Sydney Wood, a senior in journalism, explains their role as a producer for the 217 Today podcast with Illinois Public Media, and creating audio stories for Illinois Student Newsroom at Illinois Public Media. Through JOUR 400: Newsroom Experience, Wood gained audio journalism skills, got stories aired on IPM, and assisted students in JOUR 280: IPM Radio Practicum.
Hear more from Wood in this College of Media video series where students discuss their roles in campus and community engagement projects.
Jen Li, a senior in computer science + advertising, discussed the work she did as a Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellow for the “Mis/Disinformation in Asian American Communities Research Project” led by Rachel Kuo, assistant professor of media and cinema studies. As part of the project, Li reviewed the process of conducting oral history interviews, working with her peers and family members, and held a Community Conversations workshop.
Hear Li discuss her work in this College of Media video series where students discuss their roles in campus and community engagement projects.
In Spring 2023, students in ADV 498: The Sandage Project worked on an advertising campaign for the nonprofit organization C-U at Home, which helps people who are experiencing homelessness by providing a safe environment and vital resources.
Ayah Aldadah, a senior in advertising and a media planner on the team, described their campaign as part of a College of Media video series where students discuss their roles in campus and community engagement projects.
Update 5/10/2023: The MACS Student Showcase program is now available to watch online:
See Program, Credits, and Timestamps
MACS 150: Intro to Digital Media Production 00:00:18 – Alma (Ethan Hill, Kara Yoo, and Ben Shlau) 00:04:33 – The Radio Doctor (Eleni Sakas, Caroline Tadla, Roderick Carbins, and Juliana Chang) 00:11:25 – The Indelible Goodbye (Andrew Stover, Ryan Pasterz, and Raegan Gooding) 00:16:07 – Strawberry (Paul Duarte-Noe, Jiyayi Jing, Yuhan Zhou, and Nick Chan) 00:20:33 – Drink of Fate (Gavin Schroeder, Joey Chan, and Emily Kunst) 00:24:23 – Specter’s Market (Jasper Chang, Miles Gregory, Amy Bradu, and Sierra McKeiver)
MACS 199: Documentary and Social Change 00:29:21 – One Big Midwestern University: “Anti-Transgender Hate Speech” (Ryan Boyd-Sharpe)
MACS 205: Introduction to Documentary 00:44:47 – Romanian Communist Propaganda – A Personal and Archival Perspective (Francesca Dumitrescu)
MACS 260: Film Production 00:55:43 – Ready Set Action (Mike Besler) 01:04:53 – The Bookkeeper (Mara Smith and Mark Magallanes) 01:13:05 – The Sharpie, the Sheet, and the Sapphic (Michelle Wang) 01:20:12 – Crumbs of Deception (Max Szykowny and Akkhiel Nambbiar) 01:26:34 – Still Damp (Jake Vanoss)
MACS 284: Animated Media from Mickey to GIFs 01:56:31 – How to Make a Song Out of Clay (Matt Fanelli) 01:58:27 – Fossils (Sam Fisher)
MACS 485: Making Video Essays 02:01:23 – Howl’s Moving Castle Moving (Nancy Jia) 02:05:21 – [Un]Framing Movement: [Non]Action Cinema of King Hu (Tingyu Chen)
MACS 370: Cinematography and Sound 02:08:49 – Time to Remember…Time to Forget (Cameron Taylor and Samarth Taneja) 02:19:08 – Life is No Picnic (Michelle Husain)
MACS 480: Advanced Filmmaking 02:31:49 – St. Anthony’s Fire (Michelle Husain, Mark Magallanes, Mara Smith, and Cameron Taylor)
The Department of Media & Cinema Studies presents the inaugural MACS Student Showcase, featuring faculty-curated work created by students in MACS classes throughout the academic year.
The event, which celebrates student media production, will be held on Saturday, May 6, at 7 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of Spurlock Museum. The showcase will screen more than a dozen film projects and a podcast excerpt representing eight different MACS courses, all produced by both individual and groups of students.
Derek Long, assistant professor of media and cinema studies, said the idea for the event originated from faculty discussions about the “sheer amount of excellent student work” coming out of the program.
“MACS faculty wanted to celebrate all the amazing experiential work that our students are doing in our program,” Long said. “As faculty, we wanted to put on an event showing off our students’ impressive work to a bigger audience than just their instructor and class.”
The showcase is also an opportunity to share the world premiere of the MACS 480: Advanced Filmmaking short St. Anthony’s Fire. Advanced Filmmaking, taught by Victor Font, lecturer of media and cinema studies, is one of the capstone production courses where students work as a production team for an entire semester to produce a professional 27-minute short film.
“As you can imagine, the students who have been working on St. Anthony’s Fire for months and months are very excited about being able to share their film with friends, family, and the general public for the first time,” Long said.
Faculty chose the best student-produced work received in their classes from last fall and this spring, aiming to showcase a variety of work, including projects that exemplified excellent technical and aesthetical aspects as well as a compelling subject or theme. Long said they also tried to represent a diverse range of genres, approaches, and student voices.
“Cutting all the work we receive in an academic year down to a selection of just over two hours was a big challenge,” he said. “There was lots of excellent student work that we just didn’t have time to include.”
Long said they hope to be able to include more podcast and digital media work in future showcases.
Joanna Raimo (BS ’22, MACS; pictured at right) and Gio Giles-Sanchez (BS ’22, MACS), creators of A Tint of Red,won the 2022 UIUC Student Film Festival Jury Award, selected by members of the College of Media faculty.
The pair’s film, a 21-minute psychological horror, was one of 19 short films and videos screened at the UIUC Student Film Festival last April at the Knight Auditorium at Spurlock Museum.
The annual event, which is organized, promoted, and produced by students in the MACS course “Film Festivals,” features films of all genres created by undergraduates, filmmaking clubs, and production classes across the University of Illinois campus.
The festival drew a crowd of more than 200 attendees in person and has nearly 400 views on the livestream channel. Watch the film fest recording here.
Jon Knipp, lecturer for the Film Festivals class, described A Tint of Red as a “rich, well-made film.”
“Among the jury’s comments was an appreciation of the film’s formal command and creative use of genre tropes,” Knipp said.
Paige Terando, a New Voices Intern and a freshman in media and cinema studies, talked to Raimo and Giles-Sanchez about the film’s origin, inspiration, and what it felt like to win the jury award in a recent interview.
What is your current job title and where do you work?
Joanna: I am a recent graduate from the College of Media with a degree in Media & Cinema Studies and English. I just finished my first post-college job, working on a political campaign for Congressman Brad Schneider, which was a temporary position. Now, I’m looking for other jobs and have expanded into a path into politics as well, which was not a path I expected to go down but have really enjoyed.
Gio: I am a recent graduate as well, also with a degree in Media & Cinema Studies. Currently, I am a weekend anchor, producer, and reporter for KOTA and KBN Black Hills Fox, in Rapid City, South Dakota.
What were some valuable takeaways you got out of helping organize the film festival through the MACS course?
Joanna: MACS 464 (now MACS 366) had only been around two or three years before being hit by COVID-19, and this was the first year that the festival happened with the turnout that was expected. Everyone who attended the festival that I spoke to said it was cool to see student filmmaking. I really enjoyed planning the festival as well. It was fun to see everyone in the class have their own piece. I did social media marketing for the film, which is something I can use in the future.
What inspired you to make the film A Tint of Red?
Gio: Originally, this script was one I wrote for fun, within a week over winter break. It came from all the different media I was consuming at the time, in particular a game called Layers of Fear. It inspired me to create a story with a similar theme: art and death. I had a fascination with artists and art galleries, which after some brainstorming, left me with the idea of artists being pressured into being perfect in the industry. In the beginning, this film was modeled to be a slasher film. After Joanna and I started talking and brainstorming other ideas, we changed the idea to a psychological horror.
What was the process behind making this film?
Joanna: My senior year was coming up, and I knew that I wanted to create something bigger. Being a MACS student allows you to be a part of many small projects, but for this, I really wanted to do something of my own. One day in class, Gio was telling me about a script he had written and I asked him if I could look at it. That led to me asking if I could direct and edit this into a piece. One of the challenges we faced with the horror genre is how dramatic it is. We were excited to play with the styling and makeup effects we had within the film. The original script Gio gave me was 50 pages long, which we unfortunately had to cut down, to make this a short film.
Gio: After Joanna showed such an interest in the script I wrote, I asked her if she would want to work on it with me, and she agreed. She helped dial the film back from a slasher to a look into the (mental illness) struggle of a fine arts student. We had found a balance: I prefer to write the story and have someone else put their touch on it, which allowed us both to connect.
What techniques or theories did you learn in various MACS courses that you applied to this film?
Joanna: We began working on A Tint of Red when we were in JOUR 317 with Ken Erdey. On Camera Performance for UI7 is a class I recommend to anyone interested in journalism or anchoring. Also, getting to know your professors and networking is so important to do while in school. Victor Font (MACS lecturer) throughout the years has taught me so much about production. He taught me to just film, always be filming. Professor Amanda Ciafone and Jonathan Knipp were a big part of helping support us. All these professors helped us find resources to further this project. A lot of the things you learned in class, you learn to apply on set, which makes it really special.
Gio: I often read about lighting in classes, like MACS 100 and actually being able to play around with those skills was really cool to work with. Using gel filters, fill lighting, key lighting all were a big thing I was able to take away from classes and from this film. Jorge Murga did an amazingly beautiful job with the lighting within this film.
On winning the Jury Prize:
Joanna: Receiving the Jury Award for the 2022 UIUC Student Film Festival means so much to me, my co-director Gio Giles-Sanchez, assistant director Angelle Cortes, and our cast and crew. We spent many, many hours outside of our busy academic schedules to create A Tint of Red for the student film festival. We were eager to showcase our skills and prove that we could not only complete a substantial and challenging project before graduation, but that we could do it creatively and do it well. Receiving this award makes it all feel worthwhile!
Illini Sports Night hosted a live pregame show at State Farm Center on February 19 before the Fighting Illini women’s basketball game—the first-ever collaboration between the B1G+ network and the student-produced broadcast. The half-hour show aired on B1G+, which livestreams non-televised games.
Emmie Larson, senior in journalism and executive producer of Illini Sports Night, said students prepared for their national broadcast for three weeks.
“It was awesome to see that hard work and preparation create a live show,” she said. “This is something we’ve all never done before. It was cool to know we were capable of doing that.”
The pregame show focused on the Illinois women’s basketball team and the Penn State team, featuring interviews with players on both teams, commentary from the student anchors, and a sit-down with Illinois women’s basketball head coach Shauna Green. (Watch their special broadcast below and see behind-the-scenes photos.)
Illini Sports Night is part of UI7 Newsroom, where students write, produce, and report on all sports at the University as part of the journalism curriculum at the College of Media.
“The Illini Sports Night team had the opportunity to expand the reach of the program on a national scale and gain invaluable experience that will serve them in their future career pursuits,” said Kenneth Erdey, instructor and technical coordinator for Richmond Studio, the site for the student broadcasts.
Adrian Carrasco, senior in journalism and producer of the show, said he’s learned a lot from this experience and from his peers.
“That’s the great thing about working here—everybody’s so prepared and on it,” he said.
While their pregame show at State Farm Center did have some unexpected elements, Carrasco said they all took it in stride and learned something new.
During their live show, former women’s basketball head coach Theresa Grentz was honored with a banner unveiling—something the Illini Sports Night team thought would happen after their show ended.
The team quickly adjusted the end of their show, with anchors remarking on the historical impact of the moment, before transitioning to B1G+ programming.
“As our job, we kind of have to be ready for everything,” Carrasco said. “We have to be ready to solve any issues that come and just be on our A-game.”
Larson said one of her biggest takeaways from the show was that you can never be too prepared.
“If you keep your head in the game, you can create something very cool and very successful,” she said.
