All posts by Jillian Musielak

The Chicago 51

Produced by Jacob Pieieczynski.

Have you heard of the possibility of a serial killer in Chicago? Dating back to 2001, 51 strangulations of women on Chicago’s South, Far South, and West sides have gone unsolved with the lowest clearance rate in the country — leading many to believe there’s a serial killer on the loose in Chicago. Tune in to this six part digital series exploring how these women’s stories have gone largely unheard and what is being done about it.

Visit the full website

Visit the Facebook Campaign here


Jacob Pieieczynski is a Chicago-based editor, producer, and writer with a passion for meaningful and intentional storytelling.

He has experience working with non-profit organizations in Milwaukee and Chicago. Most recently, he worked on The Chicago Public Education Fund’s #PrincipalPrideChi campaign, creating three profile videos that garnered an organic reach of over 50k people, supervising the design of campaign collateral, coordinating newspaper advertisement placement in all major Chicago newspapers, and assisting in a social media campaign that compiled a total reach of over 3 million people across Chicagoland.

He attended Marquette University, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media and a Bachelor’s degree in Writing Intensive English. He graduated with Master’s of Communication in Digital Storytelling from Loyola University in 2020 and now works as a Marketing Manager for One Hope United.

 

 

The last 30 seconds

Produced by Ying Fu.


Ying Fu smiling on a sunny day.Ying has worked in the digital media industry as a journalist and content director since 2010 in mainland China. She came to Chicago in 2019 to study at Loyola. Ying’s 2020 election video went viral with average page views of 1 million+. She is also a member of Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

THE LIGHT WITHIN A HUNDRED SQUARE FEET

While we live in an increasingly digital world, there are many benefits to shooting and developing film the old-fashioned way. But, film photography is a fading industry, and there is only one film developer/printer left in all of Chicago. Soon photographers may not be able to find someone to develop their film. This is a story about the last Chicago film developer/printer: Oson Chin.

Produced by Yucheng Jiang.


Yucheng has been studying abroad since 2013. He graduated from Concordia University Wisconsin with a major in Business Communication and is a Digital Media and Storytelling alumnus. Four of his works have been nominated for the BEA film festival and one was nominated for a student Emmy. 

Dairyland

Produced by Joey Bina.

Dairyland is the story of the Weninger Family and their dairy farm in Woodland, Wisconsin. This film was Bina’s capstone project for his Masters Degree at Loyola University. Even though he was limited and couldn’t create a longer film due to the pandemic, he was very happy with how this turned out. He believes that there is way too much negative press about the farming crisis in Wisconsin. He just wanted to let people know that, even though there is a farming crisis, there’s still good people out there fighting to put food on your table. They deserve to be recognized, especially during a global pandemic.


Joey Bina is a storyteller, photographer and actor from Los Angeles, CA. He has been behind and in front of the camera since 2011. He is very fortunate to be able to pursue this type of career and hopes to continue for years to come.

Our Coordinates, Your Adventures.

Produced by Brenden Arney.

Our Coordinates, Your Adventures. is a travel campaign for Thailand. Arney’s grandmother is an immigrant from Thailand and he has been wanting to visit his entire life. He finally had the opportunity to make the trip and spent 30 days traveling the country, capturing pictures, videos, and drone footage. He then put everything together in a fun advertising campaign, and rebranded their homepage to be more modern and timely.


After being introduced to Microsoft Paint as a child, Brenden Arney became passionate about digital creation. Throughout his life he’s prioritized learning new creative tools in order to explore and experiment with that passion.

Who Will Take Care of Me?


Produced by Maria Pimentel.

Who Will Take Care of Me? is a documentary film exploring the challenges faced by a growing population of elders.


Maria is a solutions-driven, multilingual videographer and producer with proven excellence in videography, content production/editing, social media management, and production techniques. She graduated from the Loyola DMST program in 2019 and now works as the Multimedia Coordinator at Japanese American Service Committee (JASC).

My Way

Produced by Tongtong Yue.

My Way is an interactive film about a car enthusiast. Ron works in a packaging manufacturing company. He has a deep love with cars. In the story, he talks about how he strikes a balance between his job and hobbies in his daily life.

View the full website here.


Tongtong Yue is a filmmaker and photographer from Beijing, China. She likes to express her understanding of art through technology and software.

Deep Leap

Produced by Peter Banda.

Deep Leap is a video about dancer, choreographer, and teacher Fernando Ramos based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He uses dance to know his body, keep form, and connect with people. Although he does not earn much from dancing, dance is his life and source of joy.


Peter has come to appreciate the craft of telling stories. He has done many short, compelling documentaries ranging from homelessness, refugee experiences, as well as nature stories. What he has found valuable in doing these stories is learning how to connect with people and find meaning in their experiences. He was born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia.

The Power of Words

Produced by Kaitlin McMurray.

#WordsStick is a campaign designed to spread awareness and generate conversation about the power and impact of words. This project includes two commercial/PSA videos where twelve strangers discuss the most hurtful and the most encouraging phrases that have been said to them throughout their lives. The project was created by McMurray for her Capstone project.


A Midwesterner at heart, Kaitlin grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a B.A. in Journalism and a B.S. in Psychology in 2013. She returned to her alma matter in 2017 to pursue a master’s degree in Digital Media & Storytelling in order to hone in on her video production and post-production skills. She graduated in 2019 and now works as a Producer and Creative Project Manager at GroundFloor Media and CenterTable.