Blog Question #1- What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you or make you excited? Were there any challenges? Did you make any connections with co-workers? Did you engage in any code switching?
The first week of my internship was very exciting. I learned a lot about The Lot and about what I would be doing there, such as editing, filming, and setting up shoots at studios. The Lot is a location in RiNo and it is a super cool area. The building had many studios and instruments.
When seeing the location of the area, I was a little surprised because I never been around that area and once I saw the building and inside the building, that is when I got super excited. There were so much equipment and instruments which made me happy because I know I am going to learn a lot here. I am also excited to learn from Fa’al because he talked about what he does and I know how successful he is so whatever he teaches me will help me pursue my career in film.
The first week was kind of challenging for many reasons. Fa’al is a very busy man so it is usually hard to schedule a date to meet or contact him. He sometimes gets jobs that include stuff that will not allow children on set. Other than that I really enjoy going and learning.
I got to know Fa’al and he is super cool. We learned that he actually introduced my auntie to my uncle and we enjoy most of the same stuff. I also heard a lot about his partner Carlos, but unfortunately, I haven’t got to meet him yet. I am excited to though.
When talking to everyone I realized the place is a super relaxed and very “chill”, but we do switch to super productive and professional trying to get stuff done. Other than that, we didn’t really code-switch.
Blog 2: Networking
Interview questions:
- Did you study art after high school? Art or traditional college? Internship or apprenticeship?
- Carlos: Yes and both independent and traditional college. I did both
Archie: yes I did. I went to a tech school. I did art all my life and I knew where my life was gonna go. I couldn’t afford film school so I did graphic art and also technical theatre. Apprenticeship because it shows that you have a very direct focus towards a specific field or craft.
- How did you get your first job in the creative industries?
- Carlos: for a side gig, I did promotions, advertisements, gigs, and threw parties.
Archie: the cute answer is the first time was when I was 5 a drawing. But I got paid first from su Teatro for acting then graphic design, then later I freelanced.
- If you were an intern in this field, where would you focus your learning during your internship? What is the most important learning one can do when beginning a career in this profession?
- Carlos: Advice wise, look at what you are interested and what you would like to pursue. if you don’t know try a little bit of everything until you know what you want to do. I personally think, it’s a matter of, let us say its a video production, you want to learn as much as you can, connect yourself with a possible mentor and basically begin to learn the what, the how, the where, and the when. Come at it freely and just poke around and learn as much as you can
Archie: I justed started doing editing and film and it’s one of the most exciting things for me. Even if its something small or simple it’s entertaining. But also i would want to learn about cameras. The learning one can do is to have a certain availability towards your learning because tech is always changing and you have to learn new stuff. Also to ask questions about the industry and about networking and flexibility. What we do is pretty fun, dude, it’s pretty chill. Kids or younger individuals need to know that our internet is sacred and that we need to spread our tech that was once exclusive. Its powerful and it is an active revolution. It really is.
- (Time allowing) Is there anything interesting about you that is non-work related that you would like to tell me about? Hobbies or interests?
- Carlos: I’m filming a documentary about my girlfriend and I in Cuba.
Archie: I’m an artist and I make action figures. I also do theatre and acting. Gets chicks on the first date
Blog Question # 2: What co-workers did you interview? Did your co-workers study art after high school either through higher education or internships/apprenticeships? What recommendations did they have for what you should try to learn as an intern in this field? Did they have any advice on how to begin your creative career? Did you learn anything interesting about your co-workers that was non-work related?
I interviewed Carlos and Archie. They both went to college and studied art as interns and apprentices. They recommended, to me, to try and learn as much as you can and experiment with everything because there is so much that you can do. Some good advice is to always be open-minded and try to connect with a mentor because this is a difficult career but it is fun so finding someone you can rely on can be super helpful. I learned that Archie makes action figures which is pretty cool and how Carlos is currently making a documentary about him and his girlfriend in Cuba.
Blog Question #3 How do your actions affect your workplace? Are you able to be mindful and bring a good attitude when you come to your internship? Do you contribute positively?
My actions affect my workplace because of many reasons. When I arrive at my internship I usually try and always be happy and excited to learn, even if it has been a long or hard day. When I come into the internship like this, it really affects the workplace because it makes Fa’al happy, his guests happy, my partner Adama happy, etc. I have not gone to my internship yet in a bad mood, so I can’t really say how that would change the setting of the workplace, but I can really tell how having a positive attitude affects the workplace. People become more inspired, more active, and way more productive which is really good!
Do you feel like you have a good work ethic so far? How do your co-worker’s actions affect your internship? Are you beginning to develop any work place friendships?
Right now at my internship, I do believe I have god work ethic, but with blog posts and side stuff, I feel like I haven’t been as good. So, I made a plan and everything should be improving and just helping out with work in general. My Co-workers actions affect my internship by making me feel either productive or non-productive. I haven’t really seen anyone very upset or feeling down, but I think if people were, for example, if Fa’al was in a bad mood, I probably wouldn’t be as productive as I usually am. I think that I am getting closer to people at my internship. I feel like Fa’al, Adama, and I are creating a cool bond and becoming closer like a little family. hehe. But what is also cool is Fa’al always has other friends or guest in the workplace and that is really cool because I am always meeting new people and that is always fun!
Blog Question #4: Freestyle blog week. Write your own blog prompt about your internship, then answer it in 200-250 words
My internship is super fun and I’m learning so much. Fa’al showed me an editing software called Davinci Resolve and it is super awesome. The software has a free version and a paid version. I am using the free version and it still has so much amazing stuff. Also, it is not just to edit videos. It edits music, color, and how it renders which is so cool because it is all in one. I am also learning how to set up major, like movie style cameras. what is cool also is I will be able to do this stuff outside of school. while doing this internship I realized what I want to major in college. I want to major in film. What in film, I’m still not sure, but I want to work with film. before college, I want to do some small projects like make a music video or a short film, maybe even a couple youtube videos. Right now I am working on a short film and I wanna hopefully get it done before my internship is over so I can use that as my final portfolio. If I don’t get that done, I am thinking of making a music video for a local band (I’m not sure what band, but I’ll find one). anyway, this was my random blog with 228 words right now.
Blog Question #5 How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights? What are the challenges? Do you feel like you are making connections with your co-workers? Are you using your internship inspired project as a creative connection between you and your supervisor? What can you do to improve your experience?
I think my internship is going very well so far. Right now I am working on a project of blurring images and stuff from videos for shoots that Fa’al did. The program he gave is working very well and it is super helpful. Some challenges though are that Fa’al is a busy man so our schedule has been all over the place because he has shoots random days. Also, I have a MacBook air and it doesn’t really render videos well, so the videos I edit are always laggy and blurry and I can’t tell if there are going to be good or not until they’re exported. Other than those things I think everything else is fine. I feel like I am making connections with co-workers which is pretty cool. Also, I have not really talked to him about my inspired project, but I am planning on it next time I come in. To improve my experience I will be able to drive next week so that’ll really help to get there and back and get more hours in.
Blog Question #6 End of the quarter check- in. OK to do 150 words this week. Please do an inventory of your hours completed up until now and make sure your electronic time card is updated coming into the end of the quarter. How are you doing so far on completing your hours? Do you have the amount of hours complete that you should have at this point in the internship? If you are behind on your hours, what is your plan to make up the hours you are missing? How are you doing with the challenge of maintaining your intern work schedule? Are you using your google calendar to keep track of your intern schedule and homework assignments? Is there any other challenge you feel the Internship Program Director should be aware of at the end of the first half of your internship?
In total right now I have 48 hrs and 20 min. I have been using paper timecards because I do not know how to use the electronic ones yet. I think I am doing good with my hours so far, but I need to make up some by coming in on other days than the ones I’ve been assigned. I am supposed to have 50 hrs, so at least I am not too behind. There have been a couple challenges like coming in on Wednesdays but other than that, I think I’ve been doing good and can just keep continuing this schedule. I do use my google calendar a lot, not just for the internship but for everything. I think that my mentor or supervisor should know that I am getting my car in like a week so I could drive and that will make things way better.
Blog Question #7: What is your favorite part of working on personal art projects? What challenges do you face on personal art projects? What have you learned about working in a creative business? What is your favorite part of working in a creative business? What is the difference between working on personal art and working in a creative business?
My favorite part about working on personal projects is probably having the choice to literally make whatever we want. This really shows how diverse and different we all are and how much potential we all have by creating this project. My challenges mostly are having time to film and having times to meet up with the people i am filming with. I am going to be filming a music video for this band that used to go to my school, but they are all busy too so meeting up is probably the hardest challenge. I learned that it may not seem hard to others or may seem fun, but in reality it is super hard work because there is so much more then just the fun parts. I am not saying it’s not fun because this is honestly the most fun thing i’ve done, but I am saying that it is not all fun. There is so much more like getting equipment, contracts, finding clients, brainstorming, etc. Probably the major difference is that for the personal project, I am in charge and I can do anything I want and with creative business, most likely someone else is in charge and you have to go off of someone else’s idea.
*(Please read below now in preparation for Blog 8)
No Blog Next Week- you will need to use the week to work on your Internship Inspired Project in preparation for blog 8. You cannot write blog 8 if you have not talked to your supervisor about your internship project. Make talking to your supervisor about the project #1 priority if that hasn’t happened.
Blog Question #8 :
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? (If you haven’t discussed the project with your sponsor yet, how do you plan to do so?) Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Art there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
I am having a little bit of a struggle with my internship project. I had to change plans quite a bit because there were so many factors getting in the way such as time, school, scheduling, and equipment. Right now I think I am going to create either a slideshow of photos from a shoot I worked on or a compilation of little videos I made with the new program I learned how to use called Davinci Resolve. I have not discussed it with my sponsor yet, but I will be soon. This project shows what I do because, if it is the videos, it shows what Eazy Media uses to edit there photos and videos and if i do the photos of the shoot it shows the Behind the Scenes of shoots that happen. I think that we have created a better relationship.
Blog Question #9 What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How? Have you used this experience to diversify your skill set? What skills have you added?
What I’ve seen at my internship is how much relationships and friends are made during the journey. So many different people come to try and make so many different things such as music videos, tutorials, documentaries, movies, etc. I think this really has pushed me to be more of an editor than anything else and also a cameraman because I learned a lot of editing skills, but I still love to actually work the camera and film even though I haven’t really filmed that much. I think i gained so much knowledge with film editing, but also with sound and photo editing which is super cool.
Blog Question #10 : Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not (keep it positive, if you had negative experiences, focus on what you learned- make yourself look good!)? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
This experience has been amazing. I think that this program really pointed me in the right direction of what I am going to do with my life. Film, photography, and editing is a passion I love and I think I can really pursue this career. The experience has been a little challenging, but in the end, I am really glad I did this program and I a very happy I will be able to come back. The most important thing I learned was to make connections and to meet new people because these are the people that will help me start my career and help me pursue it!