INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE
To fulfill my credit requirement and broaden my experiences, I enrolled in a study abroad program during my final semester of college, which included a two-week trip to Morocco. As part of the International Production Experience course, each student had to create a short entertainment segment on an aspect of Moroccan culture. We spent class sessions learning about each other’s topics and planning how to gather content both at home and during the trip.
With my interest in music and sound, I focused on Moroccan music and discovered Innov Gnawa, a traditional Moroccan folk band based in NYC. I aimed to interview them about their music and its significance. In April 2024, I met with Innov Gnawa in their Brooklyn dressing room, with my professor and recording equipment. The band generously gave us 40 minutes to discuss the meaning of Gnawa music, their band’s origins, and their future. This interview is featured below.
RED DOT SESSIONS
RDS came from the desire of students at Montclair to record the talent around them. These one-take sessions happen over the course of the semester and represent a live performance captured through the collaboration of the students at the School of Communication and Media and the John J. Cali School of Music. Inter-disciplinary and inter-school, each episode represents countless extracurricular hours of planning, coordination and collaboration done by students, for students.
As a core member of the team who first introduced Red Dot’s concept to the rest of the school, I played a key role in every installment since it’s conception. With over a semester’s worth of sessions filmed, our team was faced with having to work around our recording space and it’s administrators, accommodating groups of talent and their original music, configuring a stage plot and microphone selection to fit every ensemble, renting out equipment, and releasing the content all on a schedule that fit everybody’s availability. From on-set sound supervisor to eventual episode producer, these sessions were a huge learning experience for myself and everyone involved.
Xavier J Brown 