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Photograph of Kyle Brannon

Kyle Brannon Senior Professorial Lecturer SOC | FMA | Film and Media Arts

Contact
Kyle Brannon
(202) 885-2162
SOC | Film & Media Arts
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW 228
Make an appointment at kylos.youcanbook.me
Additional Positions at AU
Associate Division Director, Film and Media Arts
Degrees
BA, Integrative Arts, Penn State University
BA, French Culture & Language, Penn State University
MFA, Film and Electronic Media, American University

Favorite Spot on Campus
The Dav
Favorite Place in Washington DC
The Black Cat, 14th Street
Book Currently Reading
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
, and likely a big stack of comic books
Bio
For over a decade Kyle “Kylos” Brannon has performed as a VJ, or live video artist, at clubs, crafting live video mash ups for DJs including Moby, MSTRKRFT, Nadastrom, Jesse Tittsworth and Will Eastman. He’s performed at 930 Club, U Street Music Hall, Ram’s Head Live, The Black Cat, Jefferson Theater, NYC’s Highline Ballroom, and others. He is a company member with Rorschach Theatre and designs video projections for plays, including, 410[gone] , Reykjavik, Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven, She Kills Monsters, The Toxic Avenger Musical, Sleeping Giant, Human Museum and Night of the Living Dead Live. The last of which he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award in Media/Projection Design. Also with Rorschach Theatre, he is on the creative team for Psychogeographies, a 7 month long storytelling site specific experience that explores DC history, while following an ever evolving story, which culminates in a live performance. Season 5 of Psychogeographies just wrapped up, and in addition to media design he teamed AU's Humanties Truck with the events and storytelling endeavors. Throughout 2020/21 Kylos worked as lead designer for the Center for Environmental Filmmaking's Media Report, doing both the print layout and the web & mobile site. He has also designed projection for live shows at Gallaudet University and Stoneridge School of the Sacred Heart.

He has created installations and live video performances, including immersive experiences for Little Salon DC, a solo exhibit titled Forgetting is Normal with the Anacostia Arts Center, and an original theatrical performance piece with Cultural DC’s Source Festival, titled Exquisite Depths. Kylos is a Professor in the School of Communication at American University and serves as the Associate Division Director for Film & Media Arts, and advisor for AU’s chapter of Delta Kappa Alpha. Every Spring, Professor Brannon produces and directs the American Visions Awards, SOC’s film awards ceremony. Kylos has run workshops for DC Shorts, South Asian Film Festival, Anne Feren Teaching Conference, UFVA Conference, and the Smartphilm Festival. He has also served as a judge or panelist for the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, DC Webfest, DC Shorts, TIVA Awards, CILECT Student Awards, Smartphilm Fest, and the Illinois Arts Council.

In Sept of 2022, Zelleman Studios and Smartphilm Festival sponsored Kylos to travel to Addis Ababa to mentor young filmmakers as part of the Ouatup incubator program. While there he also hosted the Smartphilm Fest and assisted in the media programming.

Prior to becoming a full-time professor, Kylos spent 6 years producing media for exhibit spaces and museums including The Smithsonian, The Civil Rights Museum of Topeka Kansas, Historic Jamestowne, and The Great Lakes Science Center. That experience has informed his ideas for live video performances and installations. Other relevant credits include Producer for the NBC-DC web series Stage Fright (winner of 3 LA Webfest Awards), Director of the music video for Will Eastman’s So Damn High (Remix), Co-Director of An Impression: Dischord Records for The Goethe Institute and Co-Author of the text book Visual Literacy from Kendall Hunt Publishing, now in its second edition.
See Also
An Impression: Dischord Records
Professor Brannon's AU Faculty Forum
So Damn High (Will Eastman Remix) Music Video
itunesU Professor Profile
Stage Fright
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request. Explore all AU Faculty Experts in our media guide.

Teaching

Spring 2025

  • COMM-331 Film and Video Production

  • COMM-602 Intro Graphics/Post Production

  • COMM-651 Colloquium: The Story of Film

Fall 2025

  • COMM-105 Visual Literacy

  • COMM-105 Visual Literacy

  • COMM-631 Film/Video Prod & Direction

  • CORE-102 Encounter AU