Communication Insights
This essay details my past experiences while interning at PAC 14 combined with my time at Salisbury University and what both have taught about my field of Media Production.
A Closer Look: Term Paper
Mackenzie Smith
CMAT 495 internship, Spring 2014
A Closer Look: Term Paper
Mackenzie Smith
CMAT 495 internship, Spring 2014
Entertainment legend Walt Disney once said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”. As one of my biggest inspirations I take what this man has said to heart. Before beginning my internship at PAC 14 that quote was in the back of my mind. I was excited to begin my internship and to put myself into a professional setting of what it is I want to do for my career after college. I have always loved all things entertainment related such as film and television, which is why I wanted to study media production in the first place. Visual media is a medium that entertains and informs viewers on many different topics. My internship at PAC 14 was a challenging and great experience that has validated that I did choose to enter the right career field: the career of Media Production.
At PAC 14 I had the opportunity to learn how to handle new equipment that I never had the chance to work with before. In classes on campus I filmed on P2 cameras and edited on Avid editing software. In the media industry technology is always changing and people who work in this industry have to be able to adjust to new technology if they what to stay in the industry. Media production professors have always said they we are taught how to edit Avid because it one of the more complicated editing software, so when it comes time to learn on something new it is not too difficult. While PAC 14 does have Avid they also Apple Mac computers with Final Cut Pro 10, I have never had access to Final Cut Pro 10 due to the fact that it is a three hundred dollar program. Being able to learn Final Cut Pro before graduating gives me an advantage when looking for a job in my field. This semester I decided to make a LinkedIn account as a way to find production jobs available in areas around me. After searching for jobs I came to realize that many jobs have listed the requirement of “experience with Final Cut Pro”. Having experience with this program now sets me apart from others who have no to little hands on experience, this would have never been possible if it were not for my internship at PAC 14. In addition to learning and expanding my skills on Final Cut Pro I also had the opportunity to gain experience with different cameras as well. PAC 14 has several different cameras but the one I got the most experience with was the Sony Handycam.
The film and television industry has been influencing society on a daily basis for the past several decades and continues to grow everyday. These industries are able to visually put together stories that are informational and entertaining for their audiences. Film and television have brought attention to many stories, issues and facts over the years that no one usually would talk about if it was not for these industries. In Dr. David Burns Specialized Reporting for TV and Web I was taught and told over and over again that my job as a visual storyteller is gain the trust and attention of my audience. I carried that lesson with me to PAC 14 when working on my projects because I didn’t want to disappoint the staff, the public or myself, and because of that I made sure to put my best foot forward every time no matter the situation may have been.
One of the most memorable moments from my PAC 14 internship was when I came in one day ready to work on some of my own projects. I was planning out exactly what it was I wanted to do and when I walked into the room that I sometimes shared with Leah, Suzanna Mallow came up to me and said “You’re working with me and Leah today”. This instantly made me extremely nervous. I knew Leah had been working with Suzanna with some after school programs in the county, so I had a feeling I was going to be working with kids. The only experience I have working with kids was at a summer camp program when I was a sophomore in high school, so it has been about six years; and those kids were under the age of six years old. When I worked at that summer camp, at least I knew that I was going to be working with kids, but when I walked into PAC 14 today I had no time to prepare for working with middle school kids. I was completely caught off guard. I talked about this experience in one of my works logs for April. I can be authoritative with my peers but for some reasons with kids it is a whole new ballpark for me. I was nervous I was going to fail at helping these kids. Going into this internship I never imagined myself working with kids, and even though I only worked with these kids directly a couple times I will remember that experience forever because I really pushed myself outside of my comfort zone because that is what my job required of me, and by the time I was done I had done a good job and not only impressed others but myself as well.
The biggest lesson I learned from this specific experience was that things can be thrown at you last minute and you just have to deal with it and do the best you can. I questioned myself throughout that entire day, wondering if I was doing anything right, and another quote from Walt Disney kept me calm, “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better”. I knew I had I worked to the best of abilities that day and chose to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about how I was doing since I knew I was giving it one hundred and ten percent of my effort. The only part of my internship that “surprised” me was how hard it is to come up with an idea, which is the hardest part of any project. I have experience with creating projects from scratch from my other Media Production classes, but once you come up with an idea it becomes a lot easier. One of my tasks was to write PSAs for smoking awareness targeted towards middle school aged kids, and once I came up with a couple of ideas I thought it would be easier sailing from there, but I ran into a few more problems. I have my scripts and I’m ready to film, but I cannot find anyone to be in the PSA. I have some friends who smoke and when I asked them if they would help me out by being my PSA they said no because they were not “comfortable putting themselves out there”. I was not going to force anyone to do anything they were not comfortable with and I was not going to ask my friends who didn’t smoke to put a cigarette in their mouth just so I could film, that would not be fair. Unfortunately when it came down to it, I had to be the one in my PSAs, which was no big deal since I’m minoring in theatre so I’m a little more comfortable putting myself out there than others. However, because I couldn’t find enough people to be in my projects I was not able to film all the ideas that I had come with because some of them involved more than one person. Running into this problem was interesting to me, because I had not really run in this problem until this year. Being a Media Production major I have asked many people to be in some of my projects and they have said yes with no problems. As soon as people find out that the projects I’m working on have a high possibility of airing on T.V. they do not want to be a part of it anymore. With class projects most of the time the only people who end up seeing the finished project are only the other kids in the class and the professor. It was fascinating to me that there are so many people interested in film and television and say they want to be on T.V., but when they have the chance to a part of something as simple as a smoking PSA they back out. I learned this semester, not only through this internship but with my other productions classes I’m enrolled in, that most people are not comfortable with themselves and do not want to be on television. Another lesson I have learned is the importance of communication in the field of media production. Scheduling shoots, studio time, and editing reservations between so many different people can be hectic if not handled properly. PAC 14 has a good system in which the public can sign up for an account online where they can make online reservations for all aspects of production (cameras, studio/filming time and editing time). Making sure that system is clear to everyone is important. Also teaching others how to use the equipment is important. The equipment at PAC 14 is expensive quality equipment and we want to make sure others know how to use before they go out and start filming. I have experience with helping people with high-end equipment due to my past leadership roles with SUTV and working at Media Services in TETC on campus. Teaching others about the equipment is imperative and through clear effective communication PAC 14 is able to communicate with local public.
During this internship what I was most proud of was simply the fact that I was able to complete certain assignments. This semester has been the most hectic semester of my college career. I was enrolled in a total of twenty credits with four, four-credit classes and my internship. However because of this I also found I was disappointed with myself as well. I was not able to produce as many shows or projects, as I initially wanted to. With all the work between my four other classes I found it very difficult to juggle all my responsibilities. I would recommend to anyone to take part in an internship, but would suggest doing one over the summer or winter term. It becomes so much more complicated and stressful to do an internship when you have other classes to worry about, especially when you have graduation on your mind. Doing an internship over the summer or winter term would probably allow someone to put all the focus and energy into their one internship than have to balance everything between classes and work. By putting all your energy into your internship without classes to worry is the best way to get as much experience as possible. I also feel like that is a more realistic experience of the real world. After college when you get a job you don’t have other projects and classes to worry you are able to put all your effort in your job and have a better chance at success. That is just an observation I was able to make while participating in my internship. Another aspect during my internship where I disappointed myself was when it came to taking pictures. When working on my Weebly website I noticed I have a lack of photographs. Every time I meant to take a picture of something outside of my work at PAC 14, like when I worked with the middle school kids or when I helped Suzanna film their dress rehearsal, I always forgot. I found myself too focused on the task at hand and wanted to do my assigned job to the best of my abilities and by the time I would remember to photograph myself doing my job it would be too late, and I am frustrated with myself for forgetting.
Fortunately by taking part in this internship I gained experienced that I could not have obtained in a classroom. I believe that my professors on campus have fully prepared me for what lies ahead after college. I find myself thankful that I did this internship my senior year, even though it was challenging balancing school work, I know when I graduate having that experience recently on my resume and fresh in mind will be advantage when I’m looking for my first job in my field. Also participating in an internship inspired me to get a head start on applying job by beginning to market myself professionally. I absolutely loved designing my website, it reminded of why I love media production. I got to create something from scratch and call it mine. Even though it was challenging and time consuming since I’ve never designed a website before, I loved it. When designing my website I noticed there was an option to add other website information like a Twitter or LinkedIn profile. So I decided to make a LinkedIn and starting making connections online and developed another Twitter account. I made another Twitter account because I did not wish to use my own personal account when trying to apply for jobs because it seemed unprofessional to me, and therefore unacceptable. I made my new Twitter account and have been sharing entertainment related stories and videos online since that it what I ultimately what I want to do. I cannot wait to use these tools I was inspired to take advantage of during my internship for advertising myself to future employers.
Social media is everywhere in today’s society and can be a very powerful tool and I want to use that to my advantage. By helping Suzanne develop social media accounts for the ASAPS after school program I was able to learn a lot more about each social media site, especially Google Plus since I had very little experience with the site. Ever since I helped set up the Google Plus account I have been working on my account and sharing my videos there and really trying to get my name out Google Plus is becoming a popular social media cite. While I was helping Suzanne set up these accounts it took me a long to time to learn how YouTube and Google Plus work together and are linked. I spent hours trying to figure out how to share a video on Google Plus and link straight to YouTube in one step, and for the life of me I could not figure it out. I didn’t want to disappoint Suzanna, or myself for that matter, so I kept on searching on Google how to do this process but I still couldn’t figure it out. No one I know uses Google Plus, so none of my friends could help. One day I was sitting at home trying to figure it out so I could go into work the next day and have it already figured out. I ended up figuring out that you simply have to upload the videos to YouTube and then link them to your Google Plus and not the other around. Even though this is a simple task the fact that I figured it out and was successful in uploading several videos for “Keeping Kids Connected” was a very gratifying moment for me. According to Forbes.com Google Plus is gaining popular ground stating that even though “Facebook continues to lead the pack in terms of number of active monthly users (1.15 billion at last count), Google+ is quickly gaining steam, and in fact, now has the second highest number of monthly users (343 million)”. As much as I thought I knew about social media, I didn’t know everything and I still don’t know everything, but that is what I am here for is to learn, and during this internship I was able to learn and expand my social media and marketing skills which I had not anticipated going into my internship at PAC 14. There were other skills I acquired unexpectedly along the way during my internship as well.
During my time Salisbury University I have pushed and challenged myself in ways I never thought I could, and challenged myself even more at PAC 14. When doing projects for classes and knowing the only people going to see your project is your classmates is a relief most of the times. The fact that I was now producing work that would go on the air that is available for the whole Salisbury community to watch made everything seem more real. Of course I always put my best effort in all my projects in my classes, but when producing work for PAC 14 I was no longer representing myself. I was now representing myself, the university, the communications department and PAC 14 and it added a whole new level of pressure then I have experienced before, but it also pushed me to put my best work forward. Most of the time I was afraid I was going to make mistakes but then I learned to get over that that fear. Unfortunately it came towards the end of my internship, but I still count that as a win for me. My internship has been an incredible experience and taking the skills I’ve learned and studied at Salisbury University and combining them with the skills I learned and expanded on at PAC 14 I can honestly say that I feel more confident about graduation and life after graduation than I did before my internship. During my internship I was also able to learn about some of the technical aspects of production that had never really crossed my mind. For example I learned that not all USB flash drives are compatible with both PCs and Macs. Up until my internship I just have always bought the right kind of USB flash drive, called “FAT32” that works between both computers. This problem had come up when I was working with Suzanna to upload videos to YouTube. She had her videos are her Dell laptop and the external hard drive that she had was not Fat32 and would not be able to connect with my computer. At first I tried emailing the videos to myself, but the files were too big. I then used my own flash drive which I realized was Fat32 and I was able to move the videos over and start uploading them. This made me realize I still have more to learn and eagerly wait to absorb more knowledge.
There have been times when I question whether or not I made the right decision choosing Media Production as my major. I had also been interested in film and TV, but was more interesting in studying its content and discussing them. Throughout my time at Salisbury University I have come to realize the in order to succeed in media production you need to be able to take a close look at any form of media and analyze it, this is one of the reasons I picked up film studies as my second minor. Through my internship I now have full confidence that I have chose the right field to make a career. What is better than informing or entertaining the public through means of visual media? For me it is the most rewarding feeling when you start a project and finish it; from the brainstorming, to the script writing, to the filming and the editing and then finally being able to watch it. Being able to call something yours and have it actually be your creation is the best feeling in the world. This internship has helped proved to other and to myself that I can handle anything that is thrown my way. If you asked me two years ago if I would be able to take four full credit classes and an internship I would have said no. PAC 14 has prepared me for the professional world after college and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity because not everyone gets to have an internship. I never had the funds to buy a new Mac computer with Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and Motion, and the fact that there is a place in Salisbury open to the public with these tools and technology is truly amazing and I think everyone should take advantage of it.
When looking for an internship during the 2013 fall semester I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find one, but with the help of Dr. Morrison I was able to contact Creig Twilley, the director at PAC 14. As soon as I knew I got the internship I knew I wanted to get the most out of my experience. While this did prove more challenging than I had initially anticipated I have absorbed so much knowledge at PAC 14 that I am more confident in my skills than I was during the fall semester of my senior year. It is now the last semester of my college career and while it has be challenging I am walking out more prepared than I could have imagined thanks to my internship. Graduation is just a couple weeks away now and it is all scary and exciting all at the same time. The staff at PAC 14 helped teach and reinforce skills that will be necessary in my career field. Nelson Mandela once said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done”. My time at PAC 14 may be done and my college career may be ending but my life and my career are just beginning and I cannot wait to see what other great and challenging experiences lay ahead.
Works Cited
Burns, David. Specialized Reporting for TV and Web. Salisbury University. Spring 2014.
DeMers, J. (2013, September 24). The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014. Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/24/the-top-7-social-media-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/
Durando, J. (2013, December 6). 15 of Nelson Mandela's Best Quotes. USA Today. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/12/05/nelson-mandela-quotes/3775255/
Walt Disney Company Quotes. (n.d.). Walt Disney Company Quotes (Author of Dumbo). Retrieved April 28, 2014, from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes
At PAC 14 I had the opportunity to learn how to handle new equipment that I never had the chance to work with before. In classes on campus I filmed on P2 cameras and edited on Avid editing software. In the media industry technology is always changing and people who work in this industry have to be able to adjust to new technology if they what to stay in the industry. Media production professors have always said they we are taught how to edit Avid because it one of the more complicated editing software, so when it comes time to learn on something new it is not too difficult. While PAC 14 does have Avid they also Apple Mac computers with Final Cut Pro 10, I have never had access to Final Cut Pro 10 due to the fact that it is a three hundred dollar program. Being able to learn Final Cut Pro before graduating gives me an advantage when looking for a job in my field. This semester I decided to make a LinkedIn account as a way to find production jobs available in areas around me. After searching for jobs I came to realize that many jobs have listed the requirement of “experience with Final Cut Pro”. Having experience with this program now sets me apart from others who have no to little hands on experience, this would have never been possible if it were not for my internship at PAC 14. In addition to learning and expanding my skills on Final Cut Pro I also had the opportunity to gain experience with different cameras as well. PAC 14 has several different cameras but the one I got the most experience with was the Sony Handycam.
The film and television industry has been influencing society on a daily basis for the past several decades and continues to grow everyday. These industries are able to visually put together stories that are informational and entertaining for their audiences. Film and television have brought attention to many stories, issues and facts over the years that no one usually would talk about if it was not for these industries. In Dr. David Burns Specialized Reporting for TV and Web I was taught and told over and over again that my job as a visual storyteller is gain the trust and attention of my audience. I carried that lesson with me to PAC 14 when working on my projects because I didn’t want to disappoint the staff, the public or myself, and because of that I made sure to put my best foot forward every time no matter the situation may have been.
One of the most memorable moments from my PAC 14 internship was when I came in one day ready to work on some of my own projects. I was planning out exactly what it was I wanted to do and when I walked into the room that I sometimes shared with Leah, Suzanna Mallow came up to me and said “You’re working with me and Leah today”. This instantly made me extremely nervous. I knew Leah had been working with Suzanna with some after school programs in the county, so I had a feeling I was going to be working with kids. The only experience I have working with kids was at a summer camp program when I was a sophomore in high school, so it has been about six years; and those kids were under the age of six years old. When I worked at that summer camp, at least I knew that I was going to be working with kids, but when I walked into PAC 14 today I had no time to prepare for working with middle school kids. I was completely caught off guard. I talked about this experience in one of my works logs for April. I can be authoritative with my peers but for some reasons with kids it is a whole new ballpark for me. I was nervous I was going to fail at helping these kids. Going into this internship I never imagined myself working with kids, and even though I only worked with these kids directly a couple times I will remember that experience forever because I really pushed myself outside of my comfort zone because that is what my job required of me, and by the time I was done I had done a good job and not only impressed others but myself as well.
The biggest lesson I learned from this specific experience was that things can be thrown at you last minute and you just have to deal with it and do the best you can. I questioned myself throughout that entire day, wondering if I was doing anything right, and another quote from Walt Disney kept me calm, “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better”. I knew I had I worked to the best of abilities that day and chose to focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about how I was doing since I knew I was giving it one hundred and ten percent of my effort. The only part of my internship that “surprised” me was how hard it is to come up with an idea, which is the hardest part of any project. I have experience with creating projects from scratch from my other Media Production classes, but once you come up with an idea it becomes a lot easier. One of my tasks was to write PSAs for smoking awareness targeted towards middle school aged kids, and once I came up with a couple of ideas I thought it would be easier sailing from there, but I ran into a few more problems. I have my scripts and I’m ready to film, but I cannot find anyone to be in the PSA. I have some friends who smoke and when I asked them if they would help me out by being my PSA they said no because they were not “comfortable putting themselves out there”. I was not going to force anyone to do anything they were not comfortable with and I was not going to ask my friends who didn’t smoke to put a cigarette in their mouth just so I could film, that would not be fair. Unfortunately when it came down to it, I had to be the one in my PSAs, which was no big deal since I’m minoring in theatre so I’m a little more comfortable putting myself out there than others. However, because I couldn’t find enough people to be in my projects I was not able to film all the ideas that I had come with because some of them involved more than one person. Running into this problem was interesting to me, because I had not really run in this problem until this year. Being a Media Production major I have asked many people to be in some of my projects and they have said yes with no problems. As soon as people find out that the projects I’m working on have a high possibility of airing on T.V. they do not want to be a part of it anymore. With class projects most of the time the only people who end up seeing the finished project are only the other kids in the class and the professor. It was fascinating to me that there are so many people interested in film and television and say they want to be on T.V., but when they have the chance to a part of something as simple as a smoking PSA they back out. I learned this semester, not only through this internship but with my other productions classes I’m enrolled in, that most people are not comfortable with themselves and do not want to be on television. Another lesson I have learned is the importance of communication in the field of media production. Scheduling shoots, studio time, and editing reservations between so many different people can be hectic if not handled properly. PAC 14 has a good system in which the public can sign up for an account online where they can make online reservations for all aspects of production (cameras, studio/filming time and editing time). Making sure that system is clear to everyone is important. Also teaching others how to use the equipment is important. The equipment at PAC 14 is expensive quality equipment and we want to make sure others know how to use before they go out and start filming. I have experience with helping people with high-end equipment due to my past leadership roles with SUTV and working at Media Services in TETC on campus. Teaching others about the equipment is imperative and through clear effective communication PAC 14 is able to communicate with local public.
During this internship what I was most proud of was simply the fact that I was able to complete certain assignments. This semester has been the most hectic semester of my college career. I was enrolled in a total of twenty credits with four, four-credit classes and my internship. However because of this I also found I was disappointed with myself as well. I was not able to produce as many shows or projects, as I initially wanted to. With all the work between my four other classes I found it very difficult to juggle all my responsibilities. I would recommend to anyone to take part in an internship, but would suggest doing one over the summer or winter term. It becomes so much more complicated and stressful to do an internship when you have other classes to worry about, especially when you have graduation on your mind. Doing an internship over the summer or winter term would probably allow someone to put all the focus and energy into their one internship than have to balance everything between classes and work. By putting all your energy into your internship without classes to worry is the best way to get as much experience as possible. I also feel like that is a more realistic experience of the real world. After college when you get a job you don’t have other projects and classes to worry you are able to put all your effort in your job and have a better chance at success. That is just an observation I was able to make while participating in my internship. Another aspect during my internship where I disappointed myself was when it came to taking pictures. When working on my Weebly website I noticed I have a lack of photographs. Every time I meant to take a picture of something outside of my work at PAC 14, like when I worked with the middle school kids or when I helped Suzanna film their dress rehearsal, I always forgot. I found myself too focused on the task at hand and wanted to do my assigned job to the best of my abilities and by the time I would remember to photograph myself doing my job it would be too late, and I am frustrated with myself for forgetting.
Fortunately by taking part in this internship I gained experienced that I could not have obtained in a classroom. I believe that my professors on campus have fully prepared me for what lies ahead after college. I find myself thankful that I did this internship my senior year, even though it was challenging balancing school work, I know when I graduate having that experience recently on my resume and fresh in mind will be advantage when I’m looking for my first job in my field. Also participating in an internship inspired me to get a head start on applying job by beginning to market myself professionally. I absolutely loved designing my website, it reminded of why I love media production. I got to create something from scratch and call it mine. Even though it was challenging and time consuming since I’ve never designed a website before, I loved it. When designing my website I noticed there was an option to add other website information like a Twitter or LinkedIn profile. So I decided to make a LinkedIn and starting making connections online and developed another Twitter account. I made another Twitter account because I did not wish to use my own personal account when trying to apply for jobs because it seemed unprofessional to me, and therefore unacceptable. I made my new Twitter account and have been sharing entertainment related stories and videos online since that it what I ultimately what I want to do. I cannot wait to use these tools I was inspired to take advantage of during my internship for advertising myself to future employers.
Social media is everywhere in today’s society and can be a very powerful tool and I want to use that to my advantage. By helping Suzanne develop social media accounts for the ASAPS after school program I was able to learn a lot more about each social media site, especially Google Plus since I had very little experience with the site. Ever since I helped set up the Google Plus account I have been working on my account and sharing my videos there and really trying to get my name out Google Plus is becoming a popular social media cite. While I was helping Suzanne set up these accounts it took me a long to time to learn how YouTube and Google Plus work together and are linked. I spent hours trying to figure out how to share a video on Google Plus and link straight to YouTube in one step, and for the life of me I could not figure it out. I didn’t want to disappoint Suzanna, or myself for that matter, so I kept on searching on Google how to do this process but I still couldn’t figure it out. No one I know uses Google Plus, so none of my friends could help. One day I was sitting at home trying to figure it out so I could go into work the next day and have it already figured out. I ended up figuring out that you simply have to upload the videos to YouTube and then link them to your Google Plus and not the other around. Even though this is a simple task the fact that I figured it out and was successful in uploading several videos for “Keeping Kids Connected” was a very gratifying moment for me. According to Forbes.com Google Plus is gaining popular ground stating that even though “Facebook continues to lead the pack in terms of number of active monthly users (1.15 billion at last count), Google+ is quickly gaining steam, and in fact, now has the second highest number of monthly users (343 million)”. As much as I thought I knew about social media, I didn’t know everything and I still don’t know everything, but that is what I am here for is to learn, and during this internship I was able to learn and expand my social media and marketing skills which I had not anticipated going into my internship at PAC 14. There were other skills I acquired unexpectedly along the way during my internship as well.
During my time Salisbury University I have pushed and challenged myself in ways I never thought I could, and challenged myself even more at PAC 14. When doing projects for classes and knowing the only people going to see your project is your classmates is a relief most of the times. The fact that I was now producing work that would go on the air that is available for the whole Salisbury community to watch made everything seem more real. Of course I always put my best effort in all my projects in my classes, but when producing work for PAC 14 I was no longer representing myself. I was now representing myself, the university, the communications department and PAC 14 and it added a whole new level of pressure then I have experienced before, but it also pushed me to put my best work forward. Most of the time I was afraid I was going to make mistakes but then I learned to get over that that fear. Unfortunately it came towards the end of my internship, but I still count that as a win for me. My internship has been an incredible experience and taking the skills I’ve learned and studied at Salisbury University and combining them with the skills I learned and expanded on at PAC 14 I can honestly say that I feel more confident about graduation and life after graduation than I did before my internship. During my internship I was also able to learn about some of the technical aspects of production that had never really crossed my mind. For example I learned that not all USB flash drives are compatible with both PCs and Macs. Up until my internship I just have always bought the right kind of USB flash drive, called “FAT32” that works between both computers. This problem had come up when I was working with Suzanna to upload videos to YouTube. She had her videos are her Dell laptop and the external hard drive that she had was not Fat32 and would not be able to connect with my computer. At first I tried emailing the videos to myself, but the files were too big. I then used my own flash drive which I realized was Fat32 and I was able to move the videos over and start uploading them. This made me realize I still have more to learn and eagerly wait to absorb more knowledge.
There have been times when I question whether or not I made the right decision choosing Media Production as my major. I had also been interested in film and TV, but was more interesting in studying its content and discussing them. Throughout my time at Salisbury University I have come to realize the in order to succeed in media production you need to be able to take a close look at any form of media and analyze it, this is one of the reasons I picked up film studies as my second minor. Through my internship I now have full confidence that I have chose the right field to make a career. What is better than informing or entertaining the public through means of visual media? For me it is the most rewarding feeling when you start a project and finish it; from the brainstorming, to the script writing, to the filming and the editing and then finally being able to watch it. Being able to call something yours and have it actually be your creation is the best feeling in the world. This internship has helped proved to other and to myself that I can handle anything that is thrown my way. If you asked me two years ago if I would be able to take four full credit classes and an internship I would have said no. PAC 14 has prepared me for the professional world after college and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity because not everyone gets to have an internship. I never had the funds to buy a new Mac computer with Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and Motion, and the fact that there is a place in Salisbury open to the public with these tools and technology is truly amazing and I think everyone should take advantage of it.
When looking for an internship during the 2013 fall semester I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find one, but with the help of Dr. Morrison I was able to contact Creig Twilley, the director at PAC 14. As soon as I knew I got the internship I knew I wanted to get the most out of my experience. While this did prove more challenging than I had initially anticipated I have absorbed so much knowledge at PAC 14 that I am more confident in my skills than I was during the fall semester of my senior year. It is now the last semester of my college career and while it has be challenging I am walking out more prepared than I could have imagined thanks to my internship. Graduation is just a couple weeks away now and it is all scary and exciting all at the same time. The staff at PAC 14 helped teach and reinforce skills that will be necessary in my career field. Nelson Mandela once said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done”. My time at PAC 14 may be done and my college career may be ending but my life and my career are just beginning and I cannot wait to see what other great and challenging experiences lay ahead.
Works Cited
Burns, David. Specialized Reporting for TV and Web. Salisbury University. Spring 2014.
DeMers, J. (2013, September 24). The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014. Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/24/the-top-7-social-media-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/
Durando, J. (2013, December 6). 15 of Nelson Mandela's Best Quotes. USA Today. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2013/12/05/nelson-mandela-quotes/3775255/
Walt Disney Company Quotes. (n.d.). Walt Disney Company Quotes (Author of Dumbo). Retrieved April 28, 2014, from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes