MEGAN ELLIOTT is the founding director of the Johnny Carson Center for  Emerging Media Arts. She will be introducing The Inaugural Class of the Emerging Media Arts Program at UNL. They’ll be telling us about their projects and answering questions. Four projects, nine grads, one night only! Find out more about each of the recent grads here.

1. PROJECT 046 is a psychological horror pc video game where the player explores an abandoned laboratory, discovering the past and the role they played in what happened. Students from the Johnny Carson Center teamed up with a Senior Design team in the School of Computing to collaborate on the design and production; the first interdisciplinary capstone between the two schools.

KAYLA LAPOUR is a technical designer. She is blessed with the opportunities to use her 3D modeling, level design, and game engine skills on games such as Expedition Nebraska, a shipped paleontology game with Nebraska Public Media, and her capstone, PROJECT 046. She loves the creative process from start to finish. ALLISON LUND is from Omaha and is looking forward to pursuing a career in 3D modeling. Prior to UNL, she had not known about the world of 3D. She plans to continue her studies and pursue professional opportunities using 3D art in game design. ANGELA WALSH is from Creston, IA and hopes to pursue a job within the industry as a 3D modeler. MEGAN WHISENHUNT is from Mascoutah, IL and is looking forward to entering the field of 3D animation in the cinematic or gameplay worlds. She would prefer to first work with a digital design company in Nebraska to gain foundational experience.

2. HUMAN ERROR is a scene made into reality from Annie Wang, Mitchell Guynan and Madeline Schmit. Their camaraderie brought their vision to life by each pursuing their strengths and interests.

ANNIE WANG is from Omaha, and directed and edited her final piece. After graduation, she plans to pursue work in post-production. MITCHELL GUYNAN is from Blair and was the cinematographer for HUMAN ERROR. He plans on continuing his freelance filmmaking journey and preparing to move to the coast to pursue a career as a cinematographer. MADELINE SCHMIT is from Lincoln. She hopes to pursue writing for TV, Film, gaming, and film/tv production.

3. IF WALLS COULD TALK is a film by cinematographer Payton Bergkamp. She is excited to tell a beautiful story that she deeply cares about, assisted by a great producing partner and director.

PAYTON BERGKAMP is from Salina, KS. After being DP for her capstone film, she plans to move to the East Coast (NYC or Boston) to pursue opportunities in the camera department.

4. WALKER is a documentary which introduces UNL basketball player Derrick Walker, a competitive athlete who wants to win. However, his season did not go as planned with the team finishing last in the B1G conference. The documentary explores Derrick’s identity through his coach, mother, half-brother, and father.

MIKE RAPSYS was born and raised in Naperville, IL. Mike wanted to incorporate his love for sports with his filmmaking ability in his film, WALKER, his capstone project. He is now working as a Creative Media Specialist with the Nebraska Athletics.