Lucas Strother
Blog Question #4
My first week at my internship was fantastic and I’m so happy that I get to integrate my love for video cinema with it! Although I have quite a bit of experience with filming, I had to teach myself how to keep up with the fast paced movement of all the dancers. Luckily, my supervisor, Amber, gave me a camera stabilizer that made the job much easier and improved the quality of the footage drastically.
I have been watching Wonderbound shows for a long time, given that my mother is on the board of directors. In the past, I hadn’t always been super interested in dance. However, to my surprise, I got super into watching and filming the dancers rehearsing. It’s riveting to see how diligent they are!
The only challenge I stumbled upon at my internship was the fact that I have to use iMovie to edit. I’m so used to using Final Cut Pro, a much more advanced editing software, at school during my Video Cinema Arts classes. However, Final Cut Pro is $300, and it doesn’t run very smoothly on Macbook Airs, so I’ll have to make do with iMovie.
The work I do at Wonderbound isn’t the only thing that thrills me to go over there. My co-workers at Wonderbound are some of the kindest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Amber was so quick to accept me into the community, and everyone there treats me like I’m apart of the family. I established a connection with Amber and her assistant, Tori, very quickly, and although I don’t get to talk to the dancers very often, they always smile and wave at me. The people at Wonderbound have created such a positive and radiant environment for me; I am truly grateful.
Unfortunately, I was not able to practice any code switching because my Spanish knowledge is rather limited and, as far as I know, none of my coworkers are bilingual.
Word count: 329
Blog Question #5
So far, I love being an intern at Wonderbound. I love that I get to film the dancers put their hearts into their work, and then later edit together footage to promote that work. However, today I did something a bit different. I went through a list of websites to submit Wonderbound shows to their calendars, which was a bit more tedious than the work I usually do. It was a bit of a challenge because some of the websites had very strange layouts that were difficult to navigate. But I’m totally willing to work through all the monotonous aspects because I have made some great connections with my co-workers, most notably, my supervisor. Amber has done a fantastic job making me feel at home and apart of the Wonderbound community. Amber and I usually bond over the videos I edit, so my decision to do an art piece for my internship inspired project is going to spark some different dialogue between us. The one way I think I could improve my experience at Wonderbound is by asking more questions. Amber is usually hard at work when over there so I really hate disturbing her, but I think I definitely need to establish more communication when I’m confused about a certain task.
Word count: 215
Blog Question #6
So far, I am having no issues completing my hours at Wonderbound. As of now, I have almost 40 hours, which is how many I need this quarter for my Video Cinema Arts class. I didn’t get my 3 hours on the 22nd of February because I was sick, but I don’t believe that will negatively impact my internship.
At first, I assumed it would be difficult to balance my internship, my job, and school but that’s not the case at all. I am having no problems keeping those schedules in check and I believe I am managing my time rather well.
I do not use my Google calendar to keep track of assignments very often. I usually just compile a list of reminders. This method has seemed to work for me so far.
Right now I cannot think of any problems I need my Internship Program director to address.
Word count: 150
Blog Question #7
I love personal art projects because I get to have total creative control. There are no limits. However, the big challenge that comes along with that is how overwhelming it can be. Choosing exactly what I wanted to do took some time because I could quite literally do anything.
Wonderbound is the epitome of a creative business. It’s all about art. I love that I get to mix in the art of video cinema with the art of dance. I’ve learned that working in a creative business can be difficult, but I’m always inspired to push and get the work done because I actually enjoy it; there’s not much tedious, busy work that I have to do. The work I do at Wonderbound is very different from working on my creative art piece because at Wonderbound I have to follow a certain structure for my videos and I have to incorporate Amber’s ideas with mine. But, like I said before, I get to be my own boss when it comes to my creative art piece.
Word count: 175
Blog Question #8
I just finished up my internship project, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out! I had to start over several times (mainly over small mistakes). It took many rough drafts.
Amber was very supportive of my project idea. She liked that I was doing something different than what I do every time I come into Wonderbound. Her only suggestion was to make sure I somehow incorporate a film related aspect to my art piece, along with something dance/Wonderbound related; so that’s what I did. The main reason I like my art piece so much is because it fuses 3 different artforms together: film, dance, and visual arts.
Talking about my project with Amber somewhat furthered our relationship because we got to converse about my own independent work, rather than a project that she assigned for me. And although my project is separate from Wonderbound, Amber seemed to care a lot about it.
The biggest challenge I faced while working on my project was drawing the large camera aperture symbol. I messed up many times while drawing each triangular segment of it. I also had trouble centering the dancer in the middle of the aperture symbol.
Word Count: 198
Blog Question #9
Filming the dancers has been inspiring to me because it has made me realize that I love cinematography. Throughout my years in the VCA departement, I refrained from using the camera as much as possible. I was more into directing and editing. It’s a shame that I just now discovered my interest in cinematography. However, Wonderbound hasn’t really altered my artistic ambitions. I have always had great love for all art, but I don’t think I’m going to pursue it professionally. I felt this way before I started at Wonderbound, and I still feel this way. But for now, I am diversifying my artistic/cinematic skill set by using a camera a lot more and making videos to promote a company, and I’m having a blast!
Word count: 126
Blog Question #10
My internship has most certainly been an awarding experience for me because not only do I get to make videos to promote an amazing company, but I get to interact with the people of this amazing company as well. I expected my internship at Wonderbound to be a great experience. I knew from the start that I was gonna get to do what I love, film and edit, and I can say with full confidence that Wonderbound has lived up to my expectations in the best way possible.
Wonderbound is fun, but it is also an excellent learning experience. I learned about how to properly film dancers and their fast paced movements, I learned how to schedule Wonderbound shows, and most importantly, I learned how to interact with people in a workplace environment.
Word count: 133