Seniors in moving-image production reflect on college careers during senior showcase

Graduating students within the moving-image production program showcased their senior thesis projects during the first-ever in-person senior showcase for the major.

The moving-image production major was first established in 2017 and held its first senior showcase virtually last year. This year, films produced by the 18 graduating students in the major were shown in person Wednesday and Thursday at the Wexner Center for the Arts, according to the center’s website. 

Jeremy Schwochow, a fifth-year in moving-image production and film studies, said it has been crazy to be able to showcase their senior thesis in front of their community.

“During COVID, it was a lot of learning and adapting to the circumstances — it’s wild and exciting to be able to be in a room with your peers and be able to celebrate together,” Schwochow said. “It feels really special and feels like a really momentous occasion to kind of be the one last big send-off in person with all of our professors, all of our friends and all of our classmates.” 

Paige Piper, academic program coordinator for film studies and moving-image production, said in an email 30-35 students are typically accepted to the major after taking a year of pre-major coursework and undergoing a portfolio review process.

Schwochow, who is interested in documentary-style work, said they came into college undecided but knew the moving-image production major would be a good fit for them after taking photography and film foundation courses. 

“It’s kind of cool to come back together where a lot of the same people are in the MIP thesis class together that were in ‘Film Foundations,’ ” Schwochow said. “It’s kind of a full-circle saying, and it’s just nice to see people make stuff.” 

Schwochow said their senior thesis documentary “Looking for Johnson Grass” focuses on their friend’s journey studying the invasive grass species and how it adapts to its environment. They said they feel proud to have made this final project alongside their friends. 

“It’s been really cool to see, to rally around these people who mean a lot to me and collaborate on this project with them,” Schwochow said. “So at the end of the day, it felt like a really big culmination of what I’ve learned in college and the friends I’ve made as well.” 

Déja Russell, a fourth-year in moving-image production and film studies, presented her film “Finding Eclosion” Thursday, according to her Instagram, and said she is excited to see how far the program has come.

“It’s just really cool to see how this program has grown,” Russell said. “I’ve met so many people these last two semesters, it’s just been great.”

Schwochow said being a part of one of the first graduating classes of the program is exciting in part because it means they can watch new students enter into the major.

“It’s almost like the best is yet to come in some ways. It’s cool to see all of these younger, really excited students come in,” Schwochow said. “Overall it’s cool to see that there is a community of people here at OSU that are working to build something special.” 

Russell said the major offers a unique experience to those interested in the subject matter because it allows students to learn by doing.

“I feel like this program gives you the hands-on experience that you want from learning about film,” she said.

The passionate people enrolled in the major and the style of teaching make the program worth being involved in, Schwochow said.

“It’s kind of more of an art school approach at times, where you are learning how to create and how to experiment and what is happening now, which I think is really important, instead of a historical approach like, ‘These are the greats,’ ” Schwochow said.

Schwochow said despite a relative lack of funding from the university, they hope the moving-image production program will excite people about student art at Ohio State.

“Hopefully OSU can value the arts and keep investing in this beautiful, growing program,” Schwochow said. “We definitely need more people, and I think there’s more consistency with that, and hopefully that will continue to come and grow.”