Ashley Hale, “Research in the Film Studies Media Collective”
Mentor: Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Film Studies
Oral Presentation 9:30am Union E250

An important concept we focus on in film studies is how it is equally as important to study a film’s text as it is to study the context surrounding that text and the context in which a viewer found it. This research presentation will expand on this notion through its focus on my discoveries from working in the film studies media collective and archive. Rather than focusing on a singular research project, this presentation will analyze the various projects I have engaged with throughout my time working in the media collective. Some of these projects include preserving our VHS tape collection, archiving film stills and letters from the Father Gene D. Phillips collection, creating an online finding aid for the materials from the Father Gene D. Phillips collection, organizing a library of the collection’s books and magazines, and enhancing the online tools used to search for media in this collection. On an individual level, one goal of my work in the film studies media collective is to learn more about media librarianship and archivism. On a broader sense though, I hope the work my colleague and I have begun in this collective can set a precedent for the strong resources collegiate media collectives can become if given the chance to develop and reinvent. Throughout my time working in the media collective, I have learned much about film through interacting with and being surrounded by physical media and archival resources. I hope others can learn the extent of education one can gain from engaging with physical media and how everyone can gain a greater understanding of film and media when they acknowledge strong film studies scholarship involves much more than simply studying film and media texts.