When Emery Bergmann arrived at Cornell University for her freshman year this fall, she expected to immediately form friendships and bonds that would last. But this was not the case.

The freshman fine arts major channeled her difficulties finding friends in college into a video that has since gone viral with more than 164,000 views on YouTube since its posting on the “Today” show’s website on Oct. 18.

Bergmann originally made the video as an assignment for her digital design class. The initial assignment was to create a video showing a character’s emotional and/or physical transformation, said Anna Huff, the class’s professor, in an email.

“I thought the best way for me to make a good assignment was to do it about something I felt really strongly about,” Bergmann said. “I often find a narrative being a driving force behind the art I’m working on.”

Huff, who comes from a background in performance art and social practice, echoed the importance of storytelling in art. In class, she discusses how art can serve as a “personal agent” that can be tied into culture, which she explored in her video.

Through storytelling, the assignment gave her the opportunity to explore videography and editing in ways she could not have before.

“By starting with video, now I can really understand how to tell a story in image,” Bergmann said. “It’s definitely a medium I’m really, really excited about now.”

Although it’s led to great success, Bergmann said she was initially shy to showcase her work and only uploaded it to YouTube because her flash drive didn’t allow for the space.

Bergmann then shared the video with her mother, who subsequently shared it on Facebook. The video spread through social media and eventually caught the attention of “Today” show, which later published an article on the video. Bergmann has since been contacted by members of the media and other college students asking her to discuss what she shared.

One such email Bergmann received was from the president of student affairs at George Washington University, who informed her the video would be shared in the future with all GW students and faculty to better understand the college transition.

The video has been shared by other Cornell students, as well. Bergmann said comments her video received on Reddit reassured her, but she was concerned that her message was taken too literally. She had friends, but it wasn’t what she expected.

“I had just made this video for myself,” Bergmann said. “It was amazing that I wasn’t the only one going through this, and it was a really nice feeling to see that there are so many people out there that thought the same.”

These sentiments were echoed by Cornell freshman Aashna Saxena, Bergmann’s suitemate and one of the actors in the video. “This resonates with everyone,” Saxena said. “We’re freshmen letting other people know that there are people out there who are going through the same thing.”

Bergmann said her dream job is to be an art director in movies or video games. Part of the reasoning for her aspirations is that she would be able to continue to work with videography and other digital media.

“I can take bits and pieces and put it together (in digital media),” Bergmann said, “and that’s definitely easier for me … because I think pretty visually.”

The artist said she doesn’t want to limit herself to video.

“I want to make sure I don’t get caught up in one thing,” Bergmann said.

Published on October 30, 2017 at 9:07 pm

Contact Jordan: jslazins@syr.edu