In Conversation with Digital Media Club President Miranda Legihr
The DMC – Digital Media Club – is a multi-major club that encompasses almost all of the majors taught in Montgomery Hall, such as Game Design, Motion Media, Animation, and primarily Visual Effects. The club hosts multiple events every quarter that anyone, no matter the major, can attend. This past weekend on October 8th, the DMC hosted a movie night where they showed SpiderMan: Far from Home. After this night, we interviewed the club’s president, Miranda Leighr, where she told us about herself and the club.
How did you know that Visual Effects was your call? How did you get here to SCAD?
The president of the DMC club established that her interest in Visual Effects started when she watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them back in 2016. She bought the extended Blu-ray Edition, which included a visual effects section that opened her eyes to her dream. SCAD arrived in her panorama when they came into her school. She discovered that the prestigious Art School offered a visual effects program that she decided to follow.
How did you get involved in the DMC club?
After asking this question, Miranda Leighr narrated how she attended a few of the meetings back in 2020 and realized the need for new club officers since they were graduating. She had the courage and the initiative to step up and become the new president of the DMC. It is inspiring to hear from her how she wanted to provide the new freshmen and sophomores a place to collaborate even during the big hit of Covid. She created the Discord Server from scratch with her colleague Imogen. Today there are over 200 members on this server.
Even though COVID is pretty challenging to continue with the club, Miranda shared that they took advantage of the opportunities they had at hand. Since all the events were done virtually, the team recorded every meeting and stored them on Blackboard for audiences to watch. People can even watch the recordings of last year’s enriching events.
As the president, what would be your definition of the Digital Media Club?
Miranda defined the DMC as a club that is here to promote communication between all of the majors of the digital media department at SCAD; this includes all of the Montgomery Hall majors: Interactive Design and Game Development, Animation, Visual Effects, and Motion Media. Primarily this club also focuses on collaboration specifically with Visual Effects between all of the other departments.
What are the benefits for joining this club?
The president encourages people to join the club because it helps create an environment to connect with other visual effects students who share the same interests. This community can be a network that can last after graduation. In addition, the partnership projects they promote through the film pitches are a way to develop new contacts with new undergrads, upper-level students, and Alumni present in the Discord server.
How can you inspire others to join the club? What would you say to freshmen students and others that do not know the DMC?
Miranda Leighr took this question as an opportunity to provide advice to newcomers. She mentioned that there is no need to be scared of visual effects. She wants to make the DMC a place where people can understand that the skills learned in SCAD are achievable even if students do not have a technology background or prior visual effects knowledge. Miranda inspired us all with her story, admitting how scared she was when she started herself.
What are any other events?
Wrapping up the interview, Miranda shared two of the new upcoming events of the DMC. One of them is the Lighting Event on Saturday, October 16th, from 7-8 pm. This event will be a virtual conversation with SCAD Alumni Muhamed Sinbawy, who worked at Blue Skies Studios. He will be giving lighting advice and will cover things that he wishes he had learned at school but ended up learning in the industry. In addition to this, Miranda shared another event with Noah Catan where he will be doing an intro to gizmos for Nuke, which will be a hybrid on-ground and virtual event on Friday, November 5th, from 7-8 pm.
As Miranda had stated in her interview, no matter your major, the DMC welcomes all who love everything related to digital media. This club is a great way to get involved with other students at SCAD and industry professionals who have presentations at this club. Be sure to follow them on social media to stay updated about upcoming events this quarter and next! Facebook ( DIGITAL MEDIA CLUB) and Instagram (@SCADDMC).