Students collaborate to create production company, learn professional skills
MASC 410 students working in the classroom. Photo courtesy of Kristen Furlo.
Sofia Hussain, Contributing Writer
Students in a VCU Media Entrepreneurship course, MASC 410, have started a production company called 410 Productions and developed a documentary.
The students have been developing, shooting and marketing a documentary portraying the diverse lives of three students in Richmond navigating a post-COVID world, according to Devon Todd, a MASC 410 student and marketing lead for the documentary.
The documentary’s screening will take place on Dec. 6 at Grace E. Harris Hall Auditorium, according to a press release.
Todd said her experience working on this project has helped her learn more about herself and how to face challenges while working in groups.
“Taking initiative, getting input from other people and trying new things really helped me learn a lot throughout the process,” Todd said. “However, finding out how to market in different, creative ways has been a challenge.”
Todd hopes that viewers can understand how important teamwork is, she said.
“We have all had our hands in the project,” Todd said. “Everyone on this team is passionate about this project and has taken on a role.”
This is the second semester MASC 410 has been taught and the first time the class has created a production company and a documentary, according to Kristen Furlo, a MASC 410 student and lead producer of the documentary.
The documentary prioritizes exposure of students’ mental health and an inside look into students’ lives in order to help outsiders understand what goes into being a student today, according to Furlo.
“In the class, we focus on how working as a team and relying on one another is crucial in getting a project like this moving,” Furlo said. “The class has allowed us to build and grow our own company with the luxury of having a professor to catch us if we fall.”
The documentary featured amazing people with interesting stories and diverse perspectives, said Zachary Watkins, a MASC 410 student and a producer of the documentary.
“I’ve had an amazing experience working on this project. It has forced me to be detail-oriented and figure out how things work at all levels,” said Watkins. “I’m most excited for other people to see the documentary and to share the pride of my classmates working hard on this project.”
Figuring out the dynamic of the team on a professional level and making sure everyone is communicating efficiently has been a crucial part of the learning experience, according to Watkins.
The project fuses various Mass Communications concentrations available at VCU, according to Robert Milazzo, the instructor of MASC 410.
“Whether you are a student in public relations, media production, journalism or advertising, we have a little bit of everything in the project,” Milazzo said. “I am a believer in education that crosses concentrations.”
The students involved in the project have done an amazing job working together and seeing a different level of responsibility with their work, Milazzo said.
