If you plan on attending the 2017 Cinequest Film Festival, there is a good chance you may be interviewed by Journalism 166 students.
Three years ago, when Professor Tom Ulrich, Professor Neal Waters and JMC Studio Director Juan Serna were gauging Adobe software and what they could accomplish, an idea struck. “We thought with our Adobe software and $6,000 of rented video equipment we could broadcast an event live and audiences could view events in real time,” recalls Tom Ulrich, Journalism Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Thus, an ongoing relationship with the Cinequest Film Festival was formed.
Utilizing Journalism 166 Convergence Newsroom, a course designed for the experienced journalism major who wishes to learn about multimedia reporting for online platforms, Professor Ulrich and his team, approached the Cinequest Film Festival team and asked them if they could film opening night, closing night and all of the events in between. Ulrich recalls, “With Adobe software, we rewrote the rules for broadcast when my team of 12 students replaced a $1 million transmission truck with $6,000 of computer gear. We beamed live coverage of the film festival to subscribers of our digital arts magazine, South Bay Pulse.”
South Bay Pulse, a digital arts and entertainment magazine was launched by Ulrich, with Professor Neal Waters in time for Cinequest 2015. “This March we will be covering Cinequest for the third time,” says Waters.
“Filming Cinequest events is a three week commitment for our class and probably four or five weeks when you take in the preliminary planning,” says Ulrich. “We spend the rest of the year covering the community at large.”
Professor Thomas Ulrich is a regular contributor to Wines & Vines. He has written feature stories for Time, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and Orion Magazine. He helped launch SHiFT magazine with four professors from the Lucas College of Business nine years ago and launched South Bay Pulse, a digital arts and entertainment magazine, with Professor Neal Waters in time for Cinequest 2015.
The Western Publishing Association awarded the staff of the magazine “best student print publication for 2016.” The staff of South Bay Pulse worked with Adobe to develop features for the latest edition of DPS (Digital Publishing Suite) software.
Community Supported Journalism – Adobe and SJSU Partnership (Video)
A Conversation with John Boorman – South Bay Pulse live coverage of Cinquest 2015 (Video)