Yes, we're talking about bricks.
If you go to or live near the University of South Carolina, you've encountered them: the Horseshoe bricks. They're not your everyday blocks of clay you might find in ordinary buildings and sidewalks.. They're older, and they're meaner. They won't hesitate to make you stumble, slip, and trip if you give them the chance. They will cut you. And they are what the University is using to attract future Gamecocks. Why?
Our response to that question is Carolina Brick.
Carolina Brick is a 7-minute documentary that explores the potential reasons why USC would use the horseshoe bricks as a sales pitch for the school. It examines the relationship between current day Gamecocks and the bricks, as well the bricks' role in the history of the Horseshoe and in shaping USC's identity.
The film features a voiceover by yours truly (i.e. Abbey Kerner). It also includes interviews with Andrew Smith and Carrie McIntosh, two students currently attending USC, and features a brief audio tour by archivist and librarian Elizabeth West. A random sample of USC students (and anyone else tweeting about "USC Bricks") appear in a brief segment of the film. The soundtrack features the acoustic stylings of Andy McKee.
Carolina Brick was created during the semester of Fall 2013 for Brian Harmon's English 460 course, Advanced Composition. Brainstorming for the project began around September of that year, and the film in its current state was finalized in December. The original footage featured in the film was taken during that time frame, but footage from outside sources range from 19th and 20th century archived photos to 21st century clips (some even taken as recently as August 2013).
The production of this film took place primarily on the campus of the University of South Carolina. Media was gathered from local sources and edited on campus. The interviews, for example, were filmed in Thomas Cooper Library (Carrie McIntosh) and in a private South Carolina residence (Andrew Smith). Primary sources of the object itself come, of course, from the historic USC Horseshoe. Additional materials were gathered from USC's public websites, Caroliniana archives, etc. (See Credits for more details.)
The documentary, as well as its promotional materials, this website and the linked blog, constitute a final project the English 460 course mentioned above. I was given the guidelines to make a documentary on a particular object of my choosing. At the time, the University's new Fall 2013 ad had just aired on television: USC Bricks. Twitter called my attention to the ad through the use of #UofSCBricks. I thought it was a weird choice, and I kept finding myself wondering about why they had made the ad and what it would look like. Because of this, I decided to choose the bricks as my object and explore (as I explained above) what the bricks have meant and mean now to USC.
The film features a voiceover by yours truly (i.e. Abbey Kerner). It also includes interviews with Andrew Smith and Carrie McIntosh, two students currently attending USC, and features a brief audio tour by archivist and librarian Elizabeth West. A random sample of USC students (and anyone else tweeting about "USC Bricks") appear in a brief segment of the film. The soundtrack features the acoustic stylings of Andy McKee.
Carolina Brick was created during the semester of Fall 2013 for Brian Harmon's English 460 course, Advanced Composition. Brainstorming for the project began around September of that year, and the film in its current state was finalized in December. The original footage featured in the film was taken during that time frame, but footage from outside sources range from 19th and 20th century archived photos to 21st century clips (some even taken as recently as August 2013).
The production of this film took place primarily on the campus of the University of South Carolina. Media was gathered from local sources and edited on campus. The interviews, for example, were filmed in Thomas Cooper Library (Carrie McIntosh) and in a private South Carolina residence (Andrew Smith). Primary sources of the object itself come, of course, from the historic USC Horseshoe. Additional materials were gathered from USC's public websites, Caroliniana archives, etc. (See Credits for more details.)
The documentary, as well as its promotional materials, this website and the linked blog, constitute a final project the English 460 course mentioned above. I was given the guidelines to make a documentary on a particular object of my choosing. At the time, the University's new Fall 2013 ad had just aired on television: USC Bricks. Twitter called my attention to the ad through the use of #UofSCBricks. I thought it was a weird choice, and I kept finding myself wondering about why they had made the ad and what it would look like. Because of this, I decided to choose the bricks as my object and explore (as I explained above) what the bricks have meant and mean now to USC.