Zayda Mathews is a senior majoring in digital storytelling with an emphasis in production and a minor in film production.

We asked Zayda to tell us a bit about themselves as a student and progress made on their senior thesis short film.  

“My specialty in film is being a writer and director. I create complex story structures set in alienated and eerie worlds my characters inhabit. My films are cinematic and touch on holistic stories that explore the psyche and humanistic tendencies. All my characters have teetering moral compasses that reveal imperfections due to social constructs. I also am able to effectively communicate my vision to my crew to make the vision come to life. 

My thesis is about a recent murder of someone considered an outcast in a college town. The murder has no effect on the college town and there is no importance to stop the murderer. Alice, who attends this college is reserved and self-conscious. She decided to pick up a hobby of birdwatching, but this leads to obsessive behavior and people watching in attempt to change herself. She becomes engulfed with this unhealthy behavior and starts to drop safety procedures although the murderer is still active.

After graduation I want to move to a city with movie production opportunities and start with a production internship to get my foot in the door in the film world.”