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Beyond Books and Screens

Penn’s Media Lab to Philly’s Stages: Shelton Mercer’s Story as a VR Creator and Filmmaker

From student projects to Philly’s concert stages, Penn alum Shelton Mercer turned his passion for VR and film into a creative career with roots in the Penn Libraries' Vitale Digital Media Lab.

Shelton Mercer with video camera at sunset

Though we have a dedicated community of lab users in Vitale, we still encounter Penn seniors who discover the Media Lab’s amazing resources for the first time at the end of the college careers, shortly before graduating. Fortunately, this was not the case for Shelton Mercer, a long time media lab user who first discovered the Vitale Digital Media Lab during his freshman year at Penn while taking classes at Addams Hall. Since 2019, Shelton has used our lab for a plethora of amazing visual projects; many of which were shot on our Insta360 One X3 VR cameras, of which he quickly became an advanced user. In 2023, Shelton graduated from Penn with a degree in Cinema and Media Studies. Shortly after his time as a student ended, he joined Penn professor Peter Decherney’s VR Lab as a Teaching Assistant.

“Working as a teacher’s assistant at Penn has been an exhilarating experience! Teaching higher education in some form has always been a long term goal of mine, so it’s very fulfilling to get a lead on that at such a young age. I am the TA for a filmmaking class called VR Lab. In this course we partner with a department at Penn and make 360 virtual reality films about their subject matter. We have worked with the Penn Museum, Penn Radiation and Oncology at the hospital, and in spring 2025 we will be partnering with WXPN! Because this is a VR course, the students and I have the unique opportunity to utilize the plethora of 360 cameras and equipment that Vitale has to offer. Every week we use the Insta360 One X3 cameras along with the Zoom H3-VR 360 ambient microphones, and Insta 360 selfie stick tripods. The Lab recently upgraded to the Insta360 One X4 and I am pumped to try them!” (Mercer 2024)

Shelton Mercer holding video camera

Aside from his work as a teacher’s assistant, Shelton also plays an integral part in documenting Philadelphia’s vast music scene. His portfolio has a variety of work from music videos to concert tapings; he has even gone as far as to tour with his sister’s acapella group at Yale, Shades. Shelton’s involvement with Philadelphia’s music scene made him the perfect choice to be WXPN’s new video production assistant, a position he’s been in since spring of 2024. Through WXPN, Shelton continues his relationship with Vitale by utilizing our advanced equipment, such as the Sony Fx3 Cinema Camera and Canon R5, to document live shows at World Cafe Live.

“Working at WXPN has been an eye opening experience. I’ve had the opportunity to meet industry moguls like Keanu Reeves to local legends, like the Philadelphia band Snacktime. I’ve observed the intricate craftsmanship, collaboration, and production that is required from both the featured artists’ teams as well as us at XPN, to produce quality projects and media. My time here has empowered me to congregate local Philly artists to make a creative collective in Philadelphia built on community, ingenuity, and creativity. Many local Philly musicians fill that ‘struggling artist’ stereotype and lack connections and the support to gain traction, like many mainstream artists attain. I want to make a positive impact in the city, by not only capturing and documenting this overlooked community, but by also opening the doors to opportunities in the music industry that many local artists don’t have access to. Lately I've been working closely with local musicians to curate unique content and experiences in the Philadelphia area. One initiative that I am currently working on is the “Only Outsiderz” Project. This is a collective of underground Philly musicians that host performances, open mics, and networking events monthly.” (Mercer 2024)

You can check out Shelton’s incredible work by visiting his website at mercmedia.co. If you love what you see and you’re feeling inspired, then be sure to visit pennmedialab.getconnect2.com to start renting from the Vitale Digital Media Lab today!

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Date

November 4, 2024

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VR

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