Merle Becker, instructor of Digital Media Production at Mount Saint Mary College, recently earned a Telly Award for her YouTube channel, “DIY Film with Merle Becker.”
Becker’s channel was awarded a silver Telly in the Social Media: Instructional category. Her YouTube channel features short how-to videos about filmmaking, with a new video premiering every other week. The channel can be viewed at diyfilmwithmerlebecker.com.
The Telly Awards is an annual competition honoring excellence in video and television. This year’s television winners included NBC, PBS, and MSMBC. Online winners included Sesame Workshop, BET, Insider, and MTV.
Becker began her career in television in the late ’90s by serving as one of the producers on MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head. She went on to help launch several other successful shows for MTV, including Daria, Cartoon Sushi, and Station Zero. She also served as the senior editor for the MTV daily show, Total Request Live, for four consecutive seasons.
Later, Becker would form her own company, Freakfilms, Inc., which produced programming for a variety of clients including Procter & Gamble, American Reading Company, Paramount Pictures, Grammy nominated musician James Hunter, and the band The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
In the early 2000s, Becker produced and directed the award-winning feature documentary about the history of rock posters, American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art, which is part of the permanent collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also produced and edited several shows for IFC and Bravo, including Bravo’s reality series, Chef Roble & Co.
The Mount’s Communication, Art, and Digital Media (CADM) programs encompass the study of digital media production, graphic design, and journalism. CADM also offers minors in each of these disciplines, as well as in art and film studies. Housed in the Mount’s Division of Arts and Letters, CADM programs prepare students for both traditional and emerging professions.