January 04, 2021
A graphic from Shawn Nguyen’s video. The video is part of a promotion for Missouri 2021, a year-long celebration of the state’s 200th birthday.
Missouri is celebrating its 200th birthday this year, and students in the Information Technology Program at Mizzou Engineering are helping get the party started. The students—in Chip Gubera’s Motion Graphics and Visual Effects Design I class—have created video clips to launch Missouri 2021, the state’s bicentennial celebration.
Missouri 2021 is an initiative of The State Historical Society of Missouri and its Center for Missouri Studies. Events and special exhibits will be held across the state throughout the year, all focused on the theme of the Missouri’s past, present and future.
The videos are being posted on the Missouri 2021 Facebook page this month. The clips wish Missourians a happy New Year while highlighting historical images and photos of the state’s most recognizable landmarks.
“We are thrilled with the creative talents of this class and really applaud their effort on it,” said Beth Pike, senior strategic communications associate for the historical society. “You can tell a lot of work went into many of these designs, and I hope the students will come away with an appreciation of the bicentennial and feeling as though they contributed to it.”
Real-World Experience
The IT Program strives to provide real-world experiences for students studying various aspects of technology.
For Gubera, assistant professor of practice, that means finding actual clients in the community who could benefit from the extra help.
“Every year, I try to find a non-profit organization that we can partner with,” he said. “This is a great way for our students to work on meaningful projects.”
For the bicentennial celebration, the students used Adobe AfterEffects to create short promotional ads. The historical society provided a script, image options and hashtags, then students added the animations and motion graphics.
“We saw it as a wonderful fit to reach college students—non-history majors—to get them involved with the bicentennial and to learn more about Missouri history,” Pike said. “Not just where we are from, but who we are as Missourians and where we want to go from here. The students are our future, so having their involvement and interest in the bicentennial is wonderful and fits well with our mission this year to connect all Missourians to our state’s important milestone.”
Follow the Missouri 2021 Facebook page this month to see the videos.