How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education?
My work as an intern was meaningful to my education because I learned a lot about marketing during my experience here. I've done a lot of work on promoting things, emailing people, and finding contacts for email lists. I've also learned the proper way to market things, such as keeping things concise and using a "call to action" in social media posts. This has made me realize more about the world of advertising. At one point, I was considering majoring in communications, which is kind of similar to marketing. That being said, I think I've realized that I want a more creative career in my future. I don't want to be a salesperson, or work in an office every day. How did your project go from an inspiration or an idea to a final project? My product idea started as an inspiration of creating a video about public transportation in San Diego. When I actually started my internship, I noticed a bunch of electric scooters and rentable bikes all around the place, and noticed that they were kind of annoying. So, I changed my idea of a product into talking about those. I didn't start working on my project until my third week of internship. This was mostly because my intern mentors gave me a lot of work, and I didn't want to speak up and tell them I needed to start on my own project. Once I actually started, getting footage and interviews became easy. What did you learn about your work from your internship project? I learned that there is a lot of stress involved in filmmaking. Once I started working on shooting my documentary, there were a ton of factors to take into consideration. I had to think about camera equipment/settings, lighting, interview subjects, locations, and narration. When I was interviewing a subject, for example, I had to keep moving the subject around until the lighting was perfectly exposed, there were no shadows on the subject's face, and the background was blurred nicely. When you're shooting with cheap equipment, I can become very stressful trying to get everything perfect. The daylight was constantly changing, and the background wouldn't blur because my camera's aperture wasn't large enough. I eventually rethought the whole situation and came up with a nice looking image. What new appreciations have you gained from your internship? Something I've grown to appreciate during my internship is the fact that I work outside. Being outside, even though it can get tiring and I can get sunburnt, is much nicer than being indoors in an office all day. I feel like I myself need a lot of fresh air, or else I start to get sick. Another thing I've grown to appreciate is the freedom of having a "real" job. Here, I can take a lunch break or walk around whenever I want, as long as I get my work done. This feels a lot more adult than being told what to do all of the time. How did internship influence the direction of your life? During the course of my internship, I've worked on somethings that I have liked, and some things that I have not. By having a full time "job", I've learned a lot about the professional world. I realize that office work is not something that I would enjoy as an adult. I would prefer being moving around physically and doing something more creative. Through working on my documentary, I've learned that filmmaking really is something that will make me feel satisfied in life. Although at times, I can stress out about getting things perfect, the payoff of doing a good job makes the effort and stress worth it to me.
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When I started this internship, I expected to be doing a lot of work involving media arts. Whether this was photoshop, editing, or filming, I was excited to work on digital art forms. However, I spent my first week emailing people for marketing reasons. This was kind of disappointing. Rather than letting this get in the way of me enjoying my internship, I decided to talk to my mentor about the work he was assigning me. I explained to him that I had skills other than just copying and pasting text, and that I would like to work on more artistic things, even if it meant just writing. We decided that I could spend some of my time here doing marketing work that inevitably needed to be done, and the rest of my time working on independent video projects. This was a good compromise, and I think my internship has improve vastly as a result. I have to make a documentary by the end of my internship, and I will be using this as my personal product. I am changing the topic of my documentary to be about the scooters and bikes that are all around San Diego. You can rent them using your phone, and leave them wherever once you're done with them. They are causing a lot of problems, so I'm going to be interviewing members of the public about them.
In terms of the advice on "How to be an intern everyone remembers", I think I am following through with that plan. I am being very diligent and hardworking at my internship. I keep myself busy, and I don't just stay here to get my hours in. I also try to get to know my coworkers better. I kind of act like I'm an employee with them, instead of a high schooler who they're forced to have around. Little things like small talk are a big part of the professional world, so I think it's good that I'm getting some practice in now. I wan to continue to gain trust from the people I work with/for, so that I am more of an equal to them. That will make my internship feel a lot better because it will be more like I have an actual job. Overall, I think that my internship mentor will remember me after I no longer work here. Today, Kabir and I handed out flyers all day. It got really boring and kind of sad. We also got lost a lot. For my project, I am going to be making a documentary about public transportation in San Diego. I was inspired to do this because the busses and trains here are notoriously slow. The media company that I work for has a lot of other High Tech High interns who have to create independent projects as well. We are almost all going to be making documentaries for our projects. I am going to interview some people who work for the transportation services here, as well as people who take public transport every day. Then, I will use it to create a narrative to tell a story about San Diego.
In order for this documentary to be awesome, I am going to need some skills. I'm going to need to use my camera well, and get good interview footage, as well as good B-roll footage. I think I need to worry a lot about how I set up my interviews because the way shots look make a big difference. I want good backgrounds and lighting for all of my footage. I need to make sure my editing and the narrative of my documentary is good. The thing about documentaries is that you have to be able to tell a story without fictional characters. So, I need to plan the plot synopsis of my documentary in a way that will not be affected by what people say in their interviews. I am going to need the support of my media center in this project. I need them to help me find professional people to interview about my project. I'm not so worried about the everyday people who take public transport because I can just find them on the public transportation. I want people who will tell a contrasting point of view to the people who use the public transport. I also need the support of Kabir. He's at my internship with me. I am going to need to stick with him when I'm giving interviews, just for safety purposes. He also should critique my documentary so that I have a second opinion on everything. What is your job title?
Executive Director. What is a typical work day like here? I work almost everyday, but I'm in an out of the office a lot. What type of films do you show here? We show almost entirely indie films, because they are the cheapest to get. They also make our theater stand out from big chain theaters. What is the purpose of this organization? To inspire young filmmakers, and to make a difference in the community. What personality traits are important here? Friendliness, being hardworking, and collaborative. Why do you take in so many interns here? We do a lot of work with local youth, including our summer camps. So, we find it useful to have teenagers here helping us out with things. Reflection: My main question about my internship is that I wonder what I'll be doing after the iVIE awards this Saturday. All my work here so far has revolved around those awards. I hope I can do more creative things at this internship. Kabir and I work on filming his YouTube videos for his channel. That was the most fun I've had so far on this internship. I hope that we can get started on our independent projects next week. I'm going to be making a documentary on why public transportation in San Diego is so slow. The work that I do here is different than what I do in school. I have done a lot of boring marketing work so far. I have had to do some writing, for social media posts. Other than that I've just been copy pasting emails and things like that. Now, I know what it's like to be on the other side of a spam email. Just kidding, the emails aren't spam. I customize them to each recipient. Something interesting that's happened to me so far is that my camera battery, which was plugged into an outlet and charging, was taken. I'm mad and I'm still looking for it. Those things cost, like, $60. Kabir and I were in a soundstage yesterday filming, and I left it charging. The next day, it was gone, and we knew that someone went in there after us because the layout of the room had changed. I want to learn more about how this organization makes money. They do have a movie theater, but they don't seem to have a lot of guests. They also have youth summer camps. I think that they get grants from places because they do so much for the community. I know that San Diego Costal Credit Union gave them awards for their film festival. This interests me because it's a part of the business that I should know more about. This workplace seems pretty relaxed. It is an open office space, with a bunch of desks and computers in one office. I have my own desk where I can do my work, so that's cool. It's a pretty quiet office. My coworkers are friendly and helpful. The other interns are mostly from the San Diego High Tech High, and they're okay.
I've spent most of my time today working on sending emails and finding people to send emails to. I'm promoting a student film festival that is this Saturday. After the film festival, I assume I'll move on to different work. I'm excited about my independent project. I get to make a documentary about something that the media center is already involved with. Right now I'm thinking about public transportation as a topic, because the public transportation in San Diego is very slow. I'm worried that my student film is going to turn out sloppy and amateur looking. I want it to be a good, well shot film that I am proud of. Name: Jackson Welsh Name of Business: Media Arts Center San Diego Profession: Intern 1st Period Teacher: David Corner Contact Person: Ethan van Thillo Email: [email protected] I think that a typical day at work at this site is just hanging out in the office and doing work on computers. On my career day, I sat down all day and emailed people and went on google docs. That's what a typical work day is like for many people here. I promoted their film festival all day. Once my internship actually starts, it will be more interesting because then I can work on my documentary. I think that this business is really relaxed about things like being late and stuff. I get to choose my own hours. The dress code is also very relaxed here. I can wear whatever I want pretty much. There is no requirement to dress formally. I liked this career day experience because it was pretty relaxed and I mostly just did office work. I'm excited to start my independent project. I also like working on film sets. The high school classes I have taken will apply to my future. In English, I will use my writing skills to write things for work. In Math, I will use my math skills to do financing for things. I will use my Spanish to communicate to others. I don't think Biology will be useful to this profession. |
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