My first week working at Storyline Multimedia was so exciting. I first got to tour the building, which includes an editing workspace, podcast studio setup, and small studio with backdrops and some set pieces for testimonials/photography/short video content. Next, I met the team! Everyone has been extremely supportive and informative, and we’ve exchanged quite a few movie recommendations. Every Monday during the staff meeting, my supervisor brings everyone something from Starbucks, and they brought me a drink to welcome me to the team. After bonding, the real work began. I have traditionally used Final Cut Pro for video editing, but Storyline uses the industry standard, Adobe Premiere Pro, so this week involved a lot of learning the software. Most of the learning was through actively using it to edit testimonials for an organization that is selling their newly-published book. I shadowed one of my coworkers to edit a bank commercial, and gained some insight into combining photoshop and Premiere Pro to color correct and fix visual issues. I also watched a podcast film live!
Most of the week went very smoothly, but I learned the importance of cross-checking work and having multiple avenues to record l sound and visual data in order to prevent lost or incomplete content. One of the projects I have been working on, a series of testimonials to advertise a book written by several authors, had issues with the sound attached to the video. Luckily, the audio had been recorded independently as well to a separate device. I then replaced the damaged audio with the complete recordings and synchronized them with the video content. Additionally, double checking work with the rest of the team can be important to avoid mistakes in delivering the final product to the client. A client had an issue with something being misspelled, a simple error that didn’t damage any of the content, but we had a meeting on how to avoid those mistakes in the future by verifying each part of a project with at least one other teammate before delivery. Changes in clientele and interpersonal relationships, even separate from the media company, also matters in this industry. A client left a company that Storyline works with, and so part of my work was removing their name from published content that they had made while with the company (at this person’s request). Even as an intern, it’s a very forward-facing job where relationships are crucial.
By the end of the week, it was time to join the team to shoot a commercial for an appliance store onsite. I assisted with setup, teardown, filming B-Roll, doing some behind the scenes footage for our crew, and was even featured as an extra in the commercial! During the shoot for the commercial, I wasn’t just a face in the background. The owner and actors met the crew, and I will be working with one of the actors directly next week for a podcast that they do as well! Being an active listener, open and available for unexpected tasks, and being adaptable to working in new or unexpected environments are strengths that I gained from this experience. I am proud of the initiative I took, and I think it was a helpful attitude onset to proactively help with tasks I already know how to do, and also to ask questions when appropriate so I don’t make harmful mistakes doing something I don’t know how to do yet. I didn’t expect to be an ‘actor’ in the commercial, but they needed to get more footage and my role is to help with what’s needed. I think it’s important to try tasks that I didn’t expect to do in order to practice being flexible, and to see these situations as opportunities to develop as wide a variety of skills as possible.
My goal is to gain as much as I can in as many different areas of media production as possible during this internship. So far, the diversity of projects and roles within them has been impressive and exciting. Running an operation that serves in many different media production roles requires careful, detailed organization of files and clear labeling. Organization in Premiere Pro and on PC computers is different from what I am used to, so it was a learning curve, but it’s given me some valuable insight on how people organize media files in a professional setting. Instead of just guessing, I now know tried and true methods that help with efficiency and protection from losing data or content files. With all this practice, I am definitely getting more attentive and habitual in my organizational skills, which is extremely helpful in my daily life as well. I’m excited to develop all of the skills I’ve been introduced to so far, and to learn even more in the weeks to come!