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 most definitely been a rewarding one. I’ve had the opportunity to explore my passion for creativity in a setting that is a career instead of a hobby, and I feel that I have a better understanding of how I can integrate the arts into my future. As far as expectations go, I’ll admit that I did glamorize my internship before it had begun. I pictured myself producing blockbuster-quality short films, but I quickly learned that this wasn’t a possibility without long-term training. Because of this realization, the most important learning I did was actually recognizing the amount of effort it takes to produce something great. The process may be absolutely tedious, but it is worth producing something of a higher quality. 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? The most inspiring thing about my internship at Eazy Media was the work ethic of my mentor. As an intern at Eazy Media, you could visit multiple places all over town in one day just to get the perfect footage for one scene. When Fa’al has a vision in his mind, he puts a lot of effort towards actualizing it. I personally struggle with actualizing my own ideas because I doubt my ability to do so in an effective way, so I tend to give up before I even try. Fa’al has shown me that creating great ideas is easy–it’s all about following through. As a very self-critical artist, it’s difficult for me to diverge from habitual self doubt. However, I will make it a point to start following through on all of my artistic endeavors. I will accept failure as an essential part of learning and improving my artistic ability. 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? If I’m being honest, my original internship project isn’t going very well right now. When I initially started thinking about my final project for the internship program, I almost immediately produced the most perfect, specific vision in my mind of what I wanted it to be. I was super excited about having such a great concept for a short film, but I didn’t really take into account the actual amount of effort that a project of that magnitude would require. Still, I began to execute the project. Almost immediately I dealt with issues of cooperation from those who’s support I needed, and I ultimately decided that my final project would have to be something of a much smaller magnitude. I don’t mean to indicate that I’m not capable of producing more grandiose projects, however, I need to be more realistic about my time frame. Luckily, I’ve spoken with Fa’al, and he’s helping me construct a new final project that is feasible, yet still effectively showcases the skills that I’ve developed during my internship. The alternative project will showcase more of my editing skills (as opposed to my filming skills). Fa’al has been super helpful in supporting all of my ideas, and I’m very excited about my final project. Blog Question #7- What is the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learned about working in a creative business? Working in a creative business definitely demands a lot more creative effort on behalf of an artist than personal projects. In a creative business, an artist doesn’t have the freedom to decide whether or not they want to work on a project. Even when they are in head spaces that make is difficult for them enjoy the artistic process, professional creatives must work persistently to complete projects. Blog Question #6: How do people at work treat you? How does it make you feel? If you have an intern one day will you treat them the same? What have you learned so far from your co-workers and sponsor? People at work treat me with respect, and they treat my contribution to work as significantly as their own. I feel really capable of undertaking complicated tasks. If I ever have an intern I will definitely make it a point to treat them the same, because when someone is treated like they’re as important as those who are mentoring them, then they tend to contribute more, and recognize a greater sense of responsibility. I have learned from my mentor that I have a lot more of my ow art to offer than I may think. Blog Question #5: How do you feel like your internship is going so far? What are the highlights and the lowlights? Do you feel like you are making connections with your coworkers? What can you do to improve your experience? My internship is going great! I’ve finally decided what I want to do for my final project! I’m planning on creating a short film, and my mentor has been a great help by guiding me in the directions that are necessary for the creation of such a project (creating a storyboard, character sketches). This project is my highlight as well as my lowlight, because although I am super ecstatic to create such a project, I know that there is going to be a huge amount of effort needed on my part to ensure that my final project is of a higher quality. I am definitely making connections with Fa’al as he teaches me new skills, and I reciprocate by helping him understand which things are the most popular in the artistic identity of my own generation. I can improve my experience at my internship by taking risks with my final project. Blog Question #4: What are you responsible for at your workplace? What do you think is your main contribution to your work site? What do your day to day duties look like? At my workplace, I am not responsible for too many things outside of actually creating. When I arrive, I usually get right into the day’s tasks, which change all the time. For example, my first week at my internship I was working mostly on editing bits and pieces of the company’s 2018 demo reel. More recently, however, I have been diving into the field of 3D motion graphing because my mentor is trying to re-brand, and is looking to create a new intro clip for his new logo. My main contribution to my workplace is developing and expanding my skill set through the aid of my mentor, and then being at the company’s disposal to put these skills to use in whatever way they see most necessary. My day to day duties always look different, which ensures that my participation at my internship is always an interesting learning experience. Blog Question #3- How do your actions affect your workplace? Do you contribute positively? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship? Which co-workers are you connecting with? I don’t have much to say about how my actions affect my workplace that diverges from the obvious. I feel that it’s a given that I must be physically and mentally present in order to complete given tasks efficiently. Furthermore, I am conscious that my attitude towards my co-workers and my work itself has the ability to greatly impact my success at work. The same goes for my co-workers, but because we have mutual respect for each other there haven’t been any incidents in which any of our actions have impacted the workplace environment negatively. I feel that my conscious effort to enter the workplace with a positive mindset and intent to learn has led to a good amount of positive and important contribution towards my learning and the company itself. So far, the co-worker that I have interacted with most is my intern, Fa’al, and I’ve been having great experiences so far working on significant projects and developing new skills thank to his guidance. Blog Question #2- What was the best thing that happened this week at your internship? How did it make you feel? What else makes you excited about your internship? The best thing that happened at my internship this week would have to be being introduced with the new facility in which Eazy Media is currently located. The space is within a larger building called The Lot, and it is super cool! I really like the aesthetic of the place, as it resembles the architecture of a house, and the feel inside really inspires creativity. I’m particularly excited that I’ve finally been acquainted with a space because I feel that I am going to begin engaging in some really fun work now that everything has been settled. I had the opportunity to help a little more with the editing of the company’s 2017 demo reel, and additionally, my mentor taught me how to embed transitions in Adobe Premier. I’ve never really considered how I could incorporate transitions into my own editing, but now that I know how to use them, I’m excited to experiment with this newly obtained skill! Another thing that makes me excited about my internship is that the building is shared with others who participate in musical production. There are many instruments, and even a recording studio, so I’m looking forward to sharing this space with other creative individuals, and maybe even partaking in some of the musical activity myself! Blog Question #1- What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching? My first week at my internship was really exciting. I only had one shift this week, but I was able to obtain a pretty clear idea of what the rest of my internship will look like. My shift was very hands-on, and within the first ten minutes my mentor, Fa’al, gave me the freedom of looking through his hard drive and selecting various video clips to incorporate into his 2017 demo reel for Eazy Media. Through this process, I learned how to efficiently choose short video clips to create an entertaining, alluring, and aesthetically pleasing film. More importantly, Fa’al showed me how to keep content organized by keeping notes in a journal about the name of which clips were chosen, the approximate times of each clip that we wanted to incorporate (i.e. 1:00-1:27), as well as the most efficient system of storing specific clips in folders. I’ve known Fa’al for a while, and was only working with him for my first shift so I didn’t meet anyone new. I’ve also edited a music video with Fa’al before, so he let me pilot the commencement of composing the demo reel, while guiding me towards the clips that he thought would be most valuable to the finished product. Again, because I already know Fa’al pretty well, I didn’t experience any code switching. Both of us are pretty comfortable around one another, so although we made sure that we stayed on task throughout the entire time, there was no code switching on either of our behalves.
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