Creative Media students hold immersive exhibition at Nescot

Nescot’s Media students held an immersive exhibition at the college last week, aimed at using boundary-pushing creative techniques to examine challenging subjects.

Fragmented Narratives opened at the college’s Flexible Space on Tuesday (March 7), with the students presenting their work to staff, visitors and families.

The second-year Level 3 students worked alone or in pairs to create and edit a 60-second experimental film, exploring topics including social anxiety, autism, diabetes, race and colonisation.

They then used props to set up an immersive viewing experience, and waited by their exhibits to answer their visitors’ questions.

Music Technology staff provided live music, and there were also drinks and canapes on-hand for visitors.

“We were all very impressed with how seriously the students took this project, and the quality of the end results,” said Louise Gaskin, Head of Creative Arts at Nescot.

“We designed this project as a way of challenging our students technically and creatively, as well as giving them a tight deadline and a lot of autonomy.

“This project is also a great opportunity for our students to push themselves emotionally with the subjects they chose, and philosophically as they think about the role that film-making can play in society.”

Abi Partington-Moran, the Curriculum and Standards Coordinator for Creative Media, praised the students’ dedication.

“The students thought hard about the range of skills and techniques they have learnt on the course, and how to incorporate those for maximum effect,” she said.

“Working on difficult subjects also showed the students how they as professionals can use their art to expose topics or ideas, and provoke the viewer.

“It has also given the students the language and the opportunity to talk to each other about difficult subjects, so that they can inform and support one another.”

Ruben Mangatal-Francis chose the theme of colonisation for his piece, entitled ‘Chindi’. He projected his film onto a sheet, which he had burnt and spray-painted, and he included hand-drawn artwork.

“It was a hard project, I’m happy with how it turned out,” he said. “I really pushed myself with my concept, and I tried to carry my ideas through from filming to post-production, and I learnt a lot.

“I worked on my own, and I liked the autonomy, but I missed having a crew to bounce ideas off. We all supported each other by acting in each other’s films.”

Nescot offers Creative Media courses at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, and at university-level. You can read more on our website here.