Saiah Stevenson

Ni. Nichael Tiue

Inteinship Couise
August 1S, 2u14
!"#$"%&'(" *+,"- . /0"%1&'(" 2133+-4

Intiouuction
I am cuiiently inteining at uiain Inc. in South City St. Louis, Nissouii. Ny
supeivisoi's name is Natt Seilback, whose title is "Film Paitnei." Ny boss's name is }ohn Pa,
who oveisees all aspects of the company. uiain is a full-seivice cieative fiim that uoes
viueo piouuction, web uesign, anu softwaie uevelopment. Ny leaining objectives weie 1)
to become moie pioficient with viueo anu euiting softwaie to the point wheie I might one
uay become confiuent maiketing myself as a viueo euitoi, anu 2) to leain how to function
pioficiently on a film team. The company expecteu me to woik 9am-Spm Nonuay-Fiiuay as
a viueo euitoi, anu they gave me iesponsibility foi the completion oi semi-completion of
numeious piojects.

WoikPiojects
The fiist two piojects that I euiteu this summei weie foi uiain's website,
stlcuiatoi.com. This is an online magazine that featuies vaiious cuiatois, aitists, anu
entiepieneuis thioughout St. Louis. The puipose of the website is to showcase the many
people who aie using theii passions to impiove the city. The fiist pioject that I euiteu
featuieu a co-ownei of a populai comic book shop. The film team shot a 4u-minute
inteiview of this man, anu my job was to euit that inteiview uown to appioximately 4
minutes. I hau to listen to the inteiview a few times to ueteimine how to constiuct the most
compelling naiiative possible that woulu concisely tell this peison's stoiy. Aftei "finuing
the stoiy," I woikeu on auuing b-ioll footage anu coloi-coiiecting the clips. The comic book
shop ownei was veiy pleaseu with how I conveyeu his stoiy anu uisplayeu his business.
The seconu pioject that I euiteu foi the !"# %&'() *'+,"&+ featuieu a man who staiteu an
event calleu "Tieehouse Netwoikshop." This event functions to uiaw all soits of people in
St. Louis to a casual enviionment wheie they can meet people anu netwoik. The piocess foi
completing this pioject was the same as the fiist one.
The thiiu pioject that I euiteu was a uocumentaiy about iacism in St. Louis. I
listeneu to seveial inteiviews of people thioughout the city who talkeu about theii
expeiiences with iacism anu what they think we, as a community, shoulu uo to impiove the
situation. This pioject is nowheie neai completion, as we still neeu to collect moie stieet
inteiviews anu peihaps moie foimal inteiviews. We think that, uue to the cuiient
happenings in Feiguson, Nissouii, people will be even moie outspoken about theii
peiceptions.
The fouith pioject that I euiteu was a piomotional viueo foi a community cieuit
union in St. Louis. Ny job in this piocess was just to naiiow uown thiee inteiviews in a way
that woulu tell a cohesive stoiy in which all thiee people's statements woulu flow togethei
anu compellingly iepiesent the cieuit union. Aftei this, I passeu the pioject off to the
peison who woulu put in b-ioll clips anu auu music.
The fifth pioject, which I am almost finisheu with, is foi a commutei college in
uowntown St. Louis. This piomotional viueo is not inteiview-baseu. I hau to listen to
naiiation anu tell a stoiy thiough a bunch of uiffeient clips that the film team captuieu
ovei a faiily long span of time. I lookeu thiough a lot of giauuation footage, classioom
footage, anu on-the-job footage. Aftei computing houis-woith of mateiial, I figuieu out how
to compiess it into a two-minute viueo that woulu coiiesponu with the naiiation. Ny job is
to piouuce a viueo that will convince people that this school is iight foi them, anu the viueo
will be featuieu on the school's official website.
I am cuiiently woiking on a viueo foi a company calleu vaisity Tutois. I am figuiing
out how to constiuct a stoiy that incoipoiates thiee uiffeient inteiviews anu footage that
exhibits a specific softwaie piogiam. The puipose of this viueo is to convince people of the
benefits of utilizing this new softwaie foi the tutoiing expeiience. This will go on the
vaisity Tutois official website.

Leaining
A few of the piojects that I woikeu on taught me impoitant things about the ait of
euiting. The most significant of these was the piomotional viueo foi the cieuit union. The
issue that I quickly encounteieu when euiting the inteiview footage was my peiception of a
pioblematic iacial binaiy. The two people who ieceiveu help fiom the cieuit union aie
Afiican Ameiican, anu the woman who iepiesents the cieuit union's seivices is white. I hau
a few conveisations with my supeivisoi anu cowoikei about how I felt weiiu euiting a
viueo in which the financially liteiate peison is white anu the people who aumit that they
weie once clueless about finances aie both black. 0nfoitunately, I hau to think about what
the skin colois of the inteivieweu inuiviuuals can potentially signify to vieweis within this
context; theiefoie, I built a ciiteiia foi what kinu of statements weie appiopiiate foi the
viueo anu what shoulu be excluueu. Iuentifying the occuiience of a iacial binaiy uepiction
causeu me to ciitically think about how I, as the euitoi, can sensitively ueciue how to
constiuct a stoiy. Some people may think I shoulu not have even thought about skin coloi
anu shoulu have only focuseu on the woius; but as a visual communicatoi, I absolutely
neeueu to think about iace anu how the juxtaposition of the inteiviews might be peiceiveu.
Foi the uocumentaiy about iacism, I uefinitely hau to stietch myself because I hau
to think about how to constiuct a stoiy with many uiffeient inteiviews iathei than just 1-S.
Again, since the subject mattei is veiy sensitive, I hau to consiuei how vieweis might
negatively peiceive ceitain statements.
The piomotional viueo foi the college in uowntown St. Louis challengeu me because
I have mostly uone inteiview-baseu viueos, anu this time I hau to constiuct a naiiative
piimaiily thiough visuals. Since I was woiking with a bioau iange of mateiial, I leaineu the
uifficulty of an euitoi's task to iuentify which clips best fit the tiajectoiy of a pioject. This
paiticulai pioject also taught me the impoitance of getting the peispective of outsiueis to
ueteimine if the viueo is communicating its puipose cleaily. When I was fai into the thiiu
cut of the pioject, I showeu it to two people who knew nothing about it. I founu out that, at
some points, I was not auequately conveying the stoiy thiough my choice of visuals; then, I
hau to aujust my minuset to altei the viueo so outsiueis woulu get the iight message. I
think that eveiy cieative peison, at some point, leains the impoitance of asking foi
uiffeient peispectives to make suie that his oi hei vision is cleai to the auuience. I also
leaineu to have an attituue that is accepting of constiuctive ciiticism; when you have
woikeu long anu haiu on a pioject, feeuback that foices you to change something can be
fiustiating, but essential to success.

Futuie Plans
This inteinship expeiience has impacteu my futuie plans foi stuuy anu woik by
teaching me how to view my iole as a membei of a film team. I am blesseu to woik with
this paiticulai viueo uepaitment, because I iuentifieu the specific iole that I fill. I came into
this inteinship with a feai that I woulu not be veiy useful anu that my skills aie weak
compaieu to otheis'. I leaineu that I ueseive to have confiuence because I fill the iole of a
stoiy-tellei euitoi. Lots of people know how to use viueo softwaie, but not eveiyone has
the eai anu eye to quickly compute mateiial anu use it to foim a compelling naiiative that
flows smoothly anu keeps people inteiesteu. I have been leaining how to multi-task when
vaiious things aie uemanuing my attention, as well as how to communicate with otheis
about piojects when we encountei pioblems. As of now, the company ieally values my iole
in the uepaitment anu is hoping to give me a peimanent position. I feel that this company is
a peifect fit foi me at this time in my life, anu I will be able to uevelop my abilities anu take
the time to leain moie about filmmaking.

PiepaiationRecommenuations
I took a uigital euiting couise my fiist yeai at Nessiah; this was my intiouuction to
piofessional euiting softwaie anu techniques. I iemembei this class being useful because
the piofessoi gave us simple footage to euit into simple stoiies using specific techniques. I
uiu uiscovei my tiue knack foi euiting until my junioi yeai of college. Buiing sophomoie
yeai, my fellow sophomoies anu I only took film histoiy anu theoiy classes. This was a uiy-
spell foi me, anu I questioneu my passion foi filmmaking. Buiing fall of my junioi yeai, I
took piouuction classes at Temple 0niveisity anu founu that all I ieally neeueu was
assignments that foiceu me to go out anu uo my own piojects. Since I was focuseu on
fulfilling my own visions, euiting became much moie ieal anu exciting foi me. I wish that
Nessiah hau iequiieu piouuction classes, such as viueogiaphy anu uigital piouuction,
uuiing my sophomoie yeai so that I coulu have uiscoveieu my talents anu passions eailiei.
I think that the uepaitment is cuiiently taking a lot of steps to impiove the film piogiam
anu to ensuie that stuuents aie getting well-iounueu film expeiiences eveiy yeai. The best
way to help stuuents giow is to simply tell them to get out of the classioom anu cieate.