The Assignment
In the month leading up to their trip, the Akronauts met with the marketing team in the College of Engineering and Polymer Science to discuss an idea. What if students collected video clips of their journey out west to tell the story of teamwork, friendship, and what goes into launching a rocket in the desert 2,000 miles away from home?
“When the College approached us with this idea, I knew we had to do it,” says Ana Clecia Alves Almeida, mechanical engineering student and member of the Akronauts. “We want to leave a legacy behind so the idea of recording a part of it is very aligned with our dreams and our hope of inspiring others along the way. I had a major rush of endorphins during the brainstorming and ideation process.”
This short film follows The University of Akron's Rocket Design Team as they embark on an epic road trip to the Mojave desert to test-launch their rocket in the lead-up to the Spaceport America Cup later that summer.
Armed with their own personal cell phones, a GoPro, and a DSLR camera, the students were asked to capture and convey “the student experience” while on the trip. Clips could include combination of silent b-roll shots, on-camera interviews, and off-camera narration explaining what is happening in the frame. Students had creative license to shoot what they wanted and how they wanted, but with the focus on the content being unscripted, shot with as much natural light as possible, and through the lens of what would engage current and prospective students.
“We were inspired by the short form documentary style of filming seen in ‘The Real World’ and ‘Road Trip’ that aired on MTV in the 90s,” says Jason Miller, senior multimedia producer and the film’s director.
The making of a documentary
Five engineering students were responsible for capturing the footage — Julia Carano, Jonathan Davis, Dimitry Melnikov, and Tara Mathie, along with Almeida. Shooting started back in Akron with clips of team members packing and culminated with the desert launch. Over 500 clips — ranging from a few seconds to several minutes long, were shot. Students captured candid moments, driving across the country, hiking, touring SpaceX, time at the beach, on the fly interviews, and the launch.
“I always felt joy when I was surrounded by my teammates but had never really paid enough attention to how much fun we had until I got to record the special moments we shared,” says Almeida. “The whole process was great.”
The team embraced the cameras and showed their true, multi-dimensional selves. The audience will see that not only are they intelligent engineers in the making, which comes through with their knowledge of rocket design and subsystems, but they are human beings, which shows up through their silliness, laughter, and at times — honest emotion (pay attention to the end of the launch!). It is clear these students are living their best lives and have incredible futures ahead of them.
Akronauts teammates Julia Carano and Ana Clecia Alves Almeida, part of the team of students who filmed the test launch in Mojave.
When the students shared their clips upon their return, the College got to work. Jason Miller took on the task of watching hours of footage and assembling a story with a true beginning, middle, and end.
“Usually, I’m the cinematographer on each film I make, so I know what’s coming and where the story is going before I even get into the editing room,” says Miller. “This project offered a new challenge as I had to spend a lot of time with the footage in order to really get to know what happened, what got captured, and discern what story (or stories) were waiting to be told. What really stood out to me in editing all the footage is that this team is super brilliant. They care about one another and, as viewers discover, they have a ton of fun together.”
Since there were a variety of cameras and styles of filming to merge together, Miller spent time color-matching and color-grading each clip to create a well-blended cinematic experience for viewers.
Nate Su, senior multimedia developer/web designer, edited, mixed, and mastered the audio and scored the film.
“We immediately felt this piece could have an even more powerful impact on the viewer with a thoughtful musical score behind it,” says Su. “It’s one more level of connection to what you’re seeing on the screen to what you’re feeling, and I think you have an even greater appreciation for what these students achieved because you’re emotionally invested as you watch and listen.”
