Faculty
Outstanding Faculty Award Winner - Ryan Corrigan
Describe a favorite class project.
Every quarter, I have the students make a cooking video to play with camera angles and various editing techniques. I inherited the course from Tom Henkenius, Co-Chairperson of Digital Marketing, and this assignment was already in place, but it’s so fun and the students enjoy it so much that I wouldn’t dream of changing it. It occurred to me during COVID that this project presented a great opportunity to throw a catered viewing party in class once we’re back on campus – starting this spring, students will be required to bring in their leftovers and feed their instructor and classmates (pending state safety guidelines).
Do you have a particular style or philosophy about teaching?
On the first day, I tell my students I want the class to feel like that little circle you get into with your friends after a movie, where you talk about what you had just seen: what you liked, what you didn’t like, what worked, what was confusing. I try to keep the class light-hearted and informal so that students will look forward to it and be excited to learn both the fun stuff like montage and the esoteric stuff like mise-en-scène of the French New Wave.
Do you have a favorite memory teaching at FIDM?
We watch a lot of movie clips in my class in order to better understand filmmaking techniques that students can apply to their own work. Late in the quarter during my first year, one of my students told me she had just gone to the movies and felt like she had been watching with a new eye, like she had never really “seen” a movie before. That little comment told me the class was working and remains my favorite memory from teaching at FIDM.
What do you enjoy most about teaching at FIDM?
I most enjoy watching the quality of my students’ video content progress throughout the quarter. When someone takes a concept learned in class and uses it to improve their work, that’s one of the greatest thrills a teacher can have.
Ryan Corrigan is an Outstanding Faculty Award Winner, an award given by the student body to outstanding faculty members.
Categories: Digital Marketing Faculty
