New Student Production Studio opens at Woodruff Library for video project needs

The newly created Student Production Studio, located on Level 1 of the Woodruff Library, is on-air and online, ready for reservations.

Junior Ian George, a member of the Emory Scholars Program, sits in front of the camera in the Woodruff Library’s Student Production Studio. Credit: Emory Libraries and Information Technology.

The studio gives student groups and classes a place to work on video, audio and photography production projects. It provides access to high-quality production equipment, professional-grade lighting, soundproof audio recording capabilities, and even a green screen to create post-production special effects. The studio is a project of the Emory Libraries and Information Technology Services (LITS).

Alex Kyrychenko, LITS educational technology center specialist in Student Digital Life and the Learning Commons coordinator, oversees the production studio and has worked to ensure that the state-of-the-art technology is easy to use; students must take a quiz on the studio policies and complete an in-person studio equipment training session prior to reserving the studio for the first time.

The studio is available to all Emory students, as well as for projects organized by Emory faculty and staff, and was used during the fall 2017 semester to record 14 interviews for the Emory First-Generation Oral History Project. Interdisciplinary Studies professor Aubrey Graham says students in her “Visual Culture” class, who toured the studio in January, are taking advantage of the studio’s resources to assemble parts of their final projects and independent work throughout this spring. Graham plans to use the studio for small group projects in her anthropology class “Anthropology of Social Media Movements” next fall. “My students are thrilled with all the resources Emory has on hand,” she says.

In the Podcasting for Health class, senior lecturer Sheila Tefft plans to pair 18 students to produce 8- to 10-minute multi-host podcasts; students will record their own two-person commentary to mix with sound bites from interviews. Tefft toured the studio with her class in March and is excited to have this resource available.

The PACE (Pre-Major Advising Connections at Emory) Program, run by Tina McDowell in the Office for Undergraduate Education, wants to use the production studio for PACE 101 (a required fall class for all first-year students). Peer leaders will make a 30- to 120-second video on a weekly topic for the class to discuss.

Abby Holst, the Emory Scholars Program coordinator, used the Student Production Studio to film five students who are members of Emory College Dean’s Achievement Scholars and the Emory Scholars Program. The videos will help publicize the program to current and incoming students and encourage them to apply. “The equipment was excellent, and Alex’s guidance was very helpful,” Holst says.

Student spaces for design and production have been cropping up at the Woodruff Library. The Student Production Studio is the latest offering from LITS that will enhance digital production, provide new ways to explore academic subjects, and result in a rich archive for Emory University.