Still from student Sang Chung's video profile of student Bo Yeoung Han.

Graphic Design students in last summer’s Advanced Graphics Studio course were given an unusual assignment. Each of the students, none of whom had prior experience shooting live action video, were asked by instructor Petrula Vrontikis to collaborate with one of their classmates to create two- to four-minute promotional videos of one another.

The students were given approximately six weeks to research, storyboard, interview and to learn the basics of contemporary digital shooting and editing. Motion Graphics instructor Rob Garrot provided the students with support and insight from a video editors perspective, and a number of professionals came to class to provide critical feedback, including product designer Spencer Nikosey PROD ’08 of KILLSPENCER, whose video profile for Behind the Hustle was a partial inspiration for the course.

Still from Aram Alekyan's video about himself. Due to a scheduling issue, he was the only student in class who was his own subject; he handled the situation with considerable aplomb.

Since the students were unfamiliar with the technology and tools used for making video documentaries, they were forced to rely on processes that they had learned in previous graphic design courses. Many used the skills they had acquired in editorial design classes as a foundation for their process. All of the students had taken Motion 1, a course which introduced them to storyboarding techniques and basic animation.

“The assignment was also challenging because students were both in front of and behind the camera many of them had never seen themselves in the context of video or had any experience being interviewed,” said Vrontikis, who felt the most important aspect of the assignment was that her students became fearless about the unknown. “It was a very difficult process that gave them confidence in their skills and their talent to solve problems in ways they never thought they could.”

Below are three videos from the course: Sang Chung’s profile of Bo Yeoung Han; Bo Yeoung Han’s profile of Sang Chung; and Aram Alekyan’s tongue-in-cheek profile of himself.