Spring 2023 Showcase Kirkland

Logan Kirkland
The revolution of gaming

We used to live in a world where being good at a video game would put you at the top of the leaderboards, and you’d exchange tickets at the counter for prizes. Today, the gamingworld is almost unrecognizable. Competitive gaming is now in a place where being good at a video game could win you $3 million dollars. It doesn’t stop there.

The world of Esports continues to grow, both in competitive leagues and in content creation. In this film, I want to show the audience the growth of this virtual world and how it’s creating tangible benefits for both the people playing and for the brands and institutions supporting them. In this film, I will take the viewer to get an inside look through the lens of the University of Mississippi’s Esports team. Just like any student-athlete, these students are on a scholarship and are competing to make a name for themselves and for the university.

What are we doing

I’m pissed off. No one is listening, and people are dying because of it. We often hear similar phrases like “No one needs to see that” when there is graphic video or images after a mass shooting.

The thing is, people are seeing it. They are seeing the bodies of their loved ones who are now unrecognizable because they were mangled by an automatic weapon. Why should they be the only ones who have to endure what happens after a mass shooting?

Those who choose to make it easier to obtain lethal weapons should see what they are allowing to happen within the communities they supposedly represent. I want the audience to be pissed off, scared, horrified, upset, and angry.

Logan Kirkland is a photographer and documentarian from Tuscaloosa, Alabama who has spent most of his adult life in Mississippi. He focuses on stories that provide perspective and a deeper look into a person’s life, with the goal of providing thought-provoking presentations for his audience. Logan has won awards for his writing, photography, and videography, which include aRobert F. Kennedy Award Human Rights Award, runner-up for Mississippi Associated Press Photograph of the Year in 2018.

Logan holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with an emphasis in print from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing and Communication. While working full time at the University of Mississippi as a Marketing Specialist Logan is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Expression at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.