{"651245":{"#nid":"651245","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Documentary by Global Media and Cultures Alumnus Steven Norris Debuts at Atlanta\u2019s Out on Film Festival ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESteven Norris graduated in Spring 2021 with a master\u0026rsquo;s degree in Global Media and Cultures, one of the newer programs offered in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. For his research project, he made a documentary film called\u0026nbsp;Euromerica, about America\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;multi-faceted\u0026nbsp;relationship to the\u0026nbsp;Eurovision Song Contest.\u0026nbsp;Now, the film is\u0026nbsp;debuting\u0026nbsp;as part of the\u0026nbsp;Academy Award-qualifying\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.outonfilm.org\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EOut on Film\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;festival in Atlanta, which runs through Oct. 3.\u0026nbsp;(You can watch it for free at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/watch.eventive.org\/2021ooff\/play\/611edbc84299ac00303dc31c?_ga=2.7533362.1495714808.1632342760-309081655.1628881348.\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe talked with Norris, Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s director of media relations and social media, about the spectacle that is Eurovision, why he chose it for his research project,\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;his advice for anyone\u0026nbsp;considering\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gmc.iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGMC program\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell\u0026nbsp;us\u0026nbsp;about the film.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESteven Norris:\u0026nbsp;It\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;about American superfans of the Eurovision Song Contest, which is wildly popular in Europe but hardly known here.\u0026nbsp;I think it tells a\u0026nbsp;fascinating story about how America is tied to the contest, how America has influenced the contest over the years,\u0026nbsp;how\u0026nbsp;the contest\u0026nbsp;has\u0026nbsp;changed, and where it may be going in the future.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFor those who\u0026nbsp;don\u0026rsquo;t\u0026nbsp;know, what is Eurovision?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEurovision\u0026nbsp;started in\u0026nbsp;1956 as a sort of double-pronged event.\u0026nbsp;The\u0026nbsp;contest\u0026nbsp;celebrated\u0026nbsp;new, original songs\u0026nbsp;in an attempt to\u0026nbsp;help reunite\u0026nbsp;a post-war Europe fractured by decades of conflict. It also allowed the limits of broadcast technology to be tested.\u0026nbsp;Eurovision was one of the first\u0026nbsp;live\u0026nbsp;broadcast signals to be shared across multiple national borders.\u0026nbsp;In short, each competing nation\u0026nbsp;submits a song to be performed live.\u0026nbsp;After these performances, viewers\u0026nbsp;cast votes\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;help\u0026nbsp;determine a winner.\u0026nbsp;The winning nation hosts the contest the following year.\u0026nbsp;It\u0026rsquo;s not just one of the world\u0026rsquo;s longest-running live broadcasts;\u0026nbsp;it\u0026rsquo;s also one of the most-watched\u0026nbsp;television shows\u0026nbsp;worldwide.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the first few decades,\u0026nbsp;there was a rule that songs had to be performed in national languages.\u0026nbsp;In the 50s and 60s, you\u0026rsquo;ve got songs in German,\u0026nbsp;Italian, French, Swedish,\u0026nbsp;and Dutch. But as the contest has progressed, and as Europe has sort of changed, the language of popular culture has really shifted towards English. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall,\u0026nbsp;the overwhelming\u0026nbsp;majority of\u0026nbsp;songs\u0026nbsp;\u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;and winning songs\u0026nbsp;\u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;have been in English.\u0026nbsp;The careers of ABBA and Celine Dion were launched by winning the contest.\u0026nbsp;In the past decade or so, American songwriters\u0026nbsp;and choreographers have been getting involved. A few American or American-born artists have even competed.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAn\u0026nbsp;IPSOS\u0026nbsp;poll in 2020 found that\u0026nbsp;less than 6% of Americans had heard of or seen Eurovision. So,\u0026nbsp;I\u0026nbsp;wanted to find those Americans who have been following the contest passionately\u0026nbsp;and why it means so much to them, and then explore the contest from that lens.\u0026nbsp;I was working on this with an assumption that American networks are likely to try and make\u0026nbsp;their own version of the contest here in the States. I wondered if these fans and some experts could help unpack how that might happen, if it could be successful, and so on. Now there\u0026rsquo;s word that NBC is currently working on this project.\u0026nbsp;I feel so weird\u0026nbsp;to say\u0026nbsp;this, but you\u0026rsquo;ll have to watch the\u0026nbsp;film\u0026nbsp;to see what they\u0026nbsp;say about that. But I think this will really put in context how this unfolds and how NBC approaches the production of this contest. And that\u0026rsquo;s what I wanted\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;do with the documentary\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWatch the trailer:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003Ehttps:\/\/youtu.be\/kkPFVMh6wdE\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you decide on Eurovision as the focus of your research?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI wanted to look at how culture\u0026nbsp;and language played into this global media event, which is up there with the Olympics and World Cup Soccer in viewership. Still, there aren\u0026rsquo;t a lot of documentaries about it, and there aren\u0026rsquo;t a lot of researchers outside of Europe\u0026nbsp;investigating\u0026nbsp;this, either. So,\u0026nbsp;you know, it was exciting to be a part of something that feels like it hasn\u0026rsquo;t gotten its due. Also,\u0026nbsp;Eurovision offers a unique intersection of global media and cultures, so it really makes sense as a research subject for this degree, which is all about the interplay of language, culture, and technology.\u0026nbsp;When I\u0026nbsp;attended\u0026nbsp;the contest in Lisbon\u0026nbsp;in 2018, it was hard for me as a former\u0026nbsp;journalist\u0026nbsp;not to\u0026nbsp;want to put my reporter hat on and ask questions about how\u0026nbsp;this\u0026nbsp;keeps going. So,\u0026nbsp;I knew I wanted to do it, and then I just kept pushing forward.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECan you talk about how it was to pivot because of Covid-19?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI had planned to attend the contest as part of my research project,\u0026nbsp;one of just a handful of researchers worldwide selected to work with the European Broadcast Union. Then\u0026nbsp;Covid-19 hit, and the contest was canceled for the first time since it began in 1956. So,\u0026nbsp;I had to come up with a backup plan. And I started thinking,\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;Well, I\u0026rsquo;ve got video editing experience, and I have access to some archival materials. Let me see if I can put together something that way.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;One thing I tried to remember is that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t alone in going through this.\u0026nbsp;You had an entire campus in the summer of 2020 trying to figure out how to retool and how to adjust.\u0026nbsp;The\u0026nbsp;more people you talk to at Tech, you realize that\u0026nbsp;learning\u0026nbsp;how to be adaptive, how to adjust,\u0026nbsp;how to solve problems is\u0026nbsp;just\u0026nbsp;something that you pick up going through programs here. And, yeah, I\u0026rsquo;m a little bummed I didn\u0026rsquo;t get to go in person. But I think the bigger lesson that I learned was how to take something really complicated and figure out how to come out on the other side with something successful.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYou\u0026rsquo;re\u0026nbsp;a former broadcast journalist, and of course, you work with short-form\u0026nbsp;video\u0026nbsp;in your job here at Georgia Tech. Still,\u0026nbsp;you\u0026rsquo;ve\u0026nbsp;never made a feature-length film before. How challenging was that?I did not intend to do a feature-length documentary. Initially, I thought maybe I would start a YouTube channel and just\u0026nbsp;do little\u0026nbsp;vignettes. But I\u0026nbsp;have to\u0026nbsp;give credit to Karen Head and Stephanie\u0026nbsp;Boulard, who suggested putting all of these pieces together and making them into a documentary film. We have a small but mighty film department in LMC, and the guidance\u0026nbsp;I got from\u0026nbsp;John Thornton and from sharing my film in its different stages with my advisors\u0026nbsp;and classmates\u0026nbsp;really helped it come together. Now I can say I edited and produced and directed my own film, and I\u0026rsquo;m\u0026nbsp;pretty proud\u0026nbsp;to be able to say I\u0026rsquo;ve done that. I hope that it will show other\u0026nbsp;people\u0026nbsp;that they can do something like this, as well.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIn addition to being a Georgia Tech employee, you\u0026rsquo;re now a proud Ivan Allen College alumnus. How has the Global Media and Cultures program benefitted you?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior to this program, I had no formal training in French. I took I took night classes to prepare to be able to interview for the program, which is one of the requirements.\u0026nbsp;And then,\u0026nbsp;I took my language skills up very quickly because of the program. I\u0026nbsp;actually just\u0026nbsp;got back from France,\u0026nbsp;and I was able to navigate getting a Covid PCR test in French. I had to go out into the suburbs of Paris to find it. Beyond that simple asset of being able to speak another language, which sets you apart in the professional world, being able to think critically in another language, being able to talk about your own ideas in your language of study, that\u0026nbsp;will serve anyone incredibly well.\u0026nbsp;This is an incredibly compelling program that I hope gives additional reason for people with\u0026nbsp;non-STEM backgrounds to say, \u0026ldquo;Tech is for me too.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your advice for anyone who might be considering the Global Media and Cultures program?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI would say just\u0026nbsp;don\u0026rsquo;t\u0026nbsp;be intimidated. Part of what being at Tech is all about is pushing yourself, pushing the envelope. So,\u0026nbsp;my advice would\u0026nbsp;be:\u0026nbsp;don\u0026rsquo;t limit yourself, don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid of the work that\u0026rsquo;s going to be\u0026nbsp;involved, but know that it is\u0026nbsp;definitely approachable. If I can come into this without having any formal training in the language, I kind of feel like anybody can do this. So don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid of those limitations, you know.\u0026nbsp;Push yourself beyond that, and you\u0026rsquo;ll be really surprised at what you\u0026rsquo;ll be able to accomplish. And I think this whole journey of completing the degree while working full-time\u0026nbsp;\u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;and also\u0026nbsp;producing and editing a feature-length film\u0026nbsp;\u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;now that I look back on that, I\u0026rsquo;m realizing that the only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe 12-month Master of Science in Global Media and Cultures is a joint offering of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/modlangs.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Modern Languages\u003C\/a\u003E. It emphasizes essential skills,\u0026nbsp;like communication, leadership, and global expertise,\u0026nbsp;while providing advanced training in one of six languages \u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish. Applications for Fall 2022 admission are due by Jan. 15. For more information, visit the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gmc.iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eprogram website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA documentary film produced by Ivan Allen College alumnus Steven Norris as part of his Global Media and Cultures master\u0026#39;s degree is being screened as part of the Out on Film festival.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A documentary film produced by Ivan Allen College alumnus Steven Norris as part of his Global Media and Cultures master\u0027s degree is being screened as part of the Out on Film festival."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2021-09-29 21:44:21","changed_gmt":"2021-09-29 21:44:21","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"647253":{"id":"647253","type":"image","title":"Steven Norris ","body":null,"created":"1620390543","gmt_created":"2021-05-07 12:29:03","changed":"1620390565","gmt_changed":"2021-05-07 12:29:25","alt":"Steven Norris","file":{"fid":"245744","name":"Steven Norris - 2021 Grad -007.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Steven%20Norris%20-%202021%20Grad%20-007.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Steven%20Norris%20-%202021%20Grad%20-007.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1387033,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Steven%20Norris%20-%202021%20Grad%20-007.jpg?itok=Ply7F7IG"}}},"media_ids":["647253"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"},{"id":"1284","name":"School of Modern Languages"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Pearson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nmichael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}