Fetching Coffee, making copies, doing stuff you were never taught to do.

These

are things that probably come to mind when you think of internships. Well how about

freedom? Nurturing creativity? Opportunity? That’s what I got out of this internship, as

well as a reassurance that I’m heading down the right career path.

Finding an internship was a real obstacle for me. I knew more or less what I

wanted to do: something with audio, be it mixing music, production mixing, foley, radio,

whatever. So, I applied to several different places, including the nearby major radio

stations, TV stations, Mid-South Audio… and I heard nothing back. Time was running

out, and I had no leads. I imagine this is what I can expect when I start my job search

after school. Luckily, not long before the deadline, I was talking with a classmate and

professor about my situation and they recommended I take a look at Event Technical

Services at SU. Apparently, they work a lot with live sound. So, I sent an email to them,

and got an interview the next day.

During the interview, I quickly learned that what I would do as an intern is not

what I’m looking for out of this internship, and the person interviewing me realized this

too. Fortunately for me, the lady interviewing me recommended I intern at PAC 14.

From there I met the man who would be supervising me, Creig Twilly. He filled me in

on what to expect, primarily editing, some planning, some filming, and a little bit of

teaching the local producers. They were also hoping with my help, they could attract a

younger audience. While video production isn’t my goal in life, it is something I enjoy,

and I consider myself fairly good at; a backup option if I can’t get directly into sound

right away. And being given a purpose, I felt motivated to do an amazing job.
 My first few days went by smoothly. PAC 14 edits all their videos on Macs,

using Final Cut Pro X for their NLE. Sound was something they usually don’t focus too

heavily on, so they didn’t have a DAW for me to use. As somebody who loves working

with sound, this hurt me deep down in my soul. Fortunately, they allowed me to

download Audacity for anything I felt needed touching up outside of Final Cut’s abilities.

It’s not the best program, but it’s better than nothing (especially since it’s free).

They showed me the ropes with Final Cut (not too hard, just a new layout), and

sent me out into the city to shoot some footage to make a couple short promos for PAC

14. Tom (my other supervisor) told me they have plenty of nature footage, and he’s

starting to get sick of it. So, he asked me to focus on architecture, whatever that means to

me. The only problem is I’m not from the Salisbury area. I live in Berlin, and only come

to Salisbury for work and school. He recommended I go down to the library and wander

around from there. Booting up my GPS, I drove down to the public library, and started

walking around with my camera and tripod. I saw plenty of interesting buildings and got

some shots of places like the post office, the court house, and some other government

buildings. As I was wrapping it up, I remember seeing a 4-story parking garage and

thinking there might be some great shots. While up there, I took some panning shots of

the buildings nearby, packed up and went back to PAC 14.

I was able to easily slap together some decent promos that would be… passable,

by my own standards at least. However, having a background in voice acting, I figured

adding some VO overtop the music would really bring it together. Tom showed me how

to use the built-in mics on the Macs, since voice over isn’t something they do very often.

I made sure to thank him, and then I grabbed my personal microphone, the Blue Yeti, out
of my car and used that instead. After listening to my audio, Tom and Creig were

impressed with the way the mic sounded, tried it out for themselves, and added that mic

to their “to-buy” list. Little did I know that this would be the start of another opportunity

that PAC 14 would offer me: Voice Overs! An opportunity that I don’t think they

realized they could offer me.

I also remember being tasked with a few other projects to get me familiar with the

standards PAC 14 would be holding me to. Tom had shot a service for Memorial Day

which I was to edit. Being a live event shot with one camera, there were some camera

movements that looked, well, bad. I was given some stock footage to use, as well some

tips on making it presentable. I managed to cover up just about all the camera

movements and create a video that I could be happy with.

Creig did some digging for me and asked me to learn to use Apple’s Motion

software using a series of tutorials he found. Nobody at PAC 14 really knows how to use

it, so they were hoping I would figure out “the trick.” It took me a few days, but I

managed to get the hang of the basics. It’s similar to Adobe’s After Effects, albeit not

quite as powerful. Still for it’s price point, it does a good job. I was able to make a few

titles with it during my internship, but I found myself frustrated with its limitations, and

used it sparingly.

About three weeks into the internship things started slowing down. I was warned

that this would happen now and again. So, I was given the opportunity to come up with

my own project. Knowing how much editing I was in for, I grabbed some stock footage

from a website I purchased it from last semester and began working. It was a music

video for a group called “The Lexingtons.” It took me a couple of days, but I’m pretty
proud of what I put together. I got to learn about Luma Keyers, and how they work. This

allowed me to overlay footage and bring the musicians together without rotoscoping

(thank God). I managed to use that trick a few more times in my videos

Not long after, I got to work with my first client: the Salisbury Wicomico Arts

Center. They were having a luncheon to celebrate 51 years of promoting art in the area.

It was my job to set up sound, and make sure the shots looked good. The outdoor

portion, with the raising of the flags, went quite well. I managed to patch in to the PA

system they were using which got me nice, clean audio. Once the event went inside,

however, we had issues. There was only one spot for the two cameras, so our shots had

to stick to 2 different zoom levels. We also didn’t have the option of patching into the

PA system this time, so we used a shotgun mic mounted to the camera to catch

everything. We attempted to use a wireless lav taped to the podium, but we couldn’t get

a signal for some reason. Still, I managed to keep everything from looking and sounding

too amateurish. I was able to direct the other person manning the camera to get some

good alternate footage like I learned about at SUTV.

My next task was a doozy. While I was filming for SWAC, Tom and Creig were

busy with a training session at Salisbury University. We were asked to film the training

for CMS web development session and edit it so that people can learn from it years down

the road. There was nine hours of footage to sift through, and I was instructed to edit it

into three parts, separated by training level, and I had a very tight deadline (48 hours).

My instructions were “keep what’s important and cut what’s not.” Luckily, I have some

experience with coding, about three classes since high school, so I can pick up on what’s

useful, and what’s not necessary. I managed to keep the videos down to an acceptable
length (under 2 hours each) and satisfy our client. If it isn’t obvious, I’m not a fan of

those kind of videos, and I wouldn’t say I had a lot of fun working on it. However, I

fully acknowledge I will have to work on projects that I don’t feel passionate about, or

even care for when I step into the professional world. Therefore, I didn’t let it get me

down, and would do it again if something like that would ever cross my desk. Still, I was

looking forward to something new.

I remember during my first week I was to create some content for the station; a

reoccurring show. It was brought up again at the end of my 4th week and so I thought

long and hard about what I want to do, something I’m passionate about, and thinking

back to my objectives of bringing in a younger audience, inspiration hit me. I would start

a show, a sort of talk show/review show, about Anime, and the Otaku culture. I reached

out to some friends from my old anime club at Wor-Wic and began working on what we

hoped to be a 5-part series. Due to the nature of our content, using short snips of

copyrighted footage would be necessary. My supervisors both expressed concern about

it. This was my cue to do some research to see what was allowed and what wasn’t.

Fortunately, everything I wanted to do with the copyrighted footage was covered under

the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law.

Filming the first episode was an experience. We had everything planned out, or

so we thought, during the first rehearsal we noticed some problems, particularly with

what kind of things should be brought up, and what should be left out, not to mention

exactly what we wanted to say. Awkward pauses galore! Granted, I had a basic script

that we would go by, just not exact wording that we would each say. We wanted to speak

from the heart so the script was more notated. We ran through another rehearsal, and felt
a little better this time, but wanted to do one more. Unfortunately, our time was almost

up, with only 45 minutes left to film a half hour program. And so we bit the bullet and

filmed. This time things went a lot smoother. Not perfect, but well enough to be able to

work with. I’m just glad I was using a three-camera setup, allowing for clean cuts.

I didn’t realize just how much editing would be involved with this project.

Considering we were essentially reviewing not just one show, but an entire medium, I

had to work extra hard collecting footage from DVDs, Blu-Rays and more to use as short

samples to go along with our dialog. This process took about 3 days, but it came out

really well, and we aired it that weekend. I was so excited I spammed my social media

about it, and actually got some pretty good feedback. In fact, for weeks to come, people

would stop me in random places and ask if I was the guy from “that anime show.” Okay,

so maybe they didn’t remember the name of the show (Anime Club), but that was an

amazing feeling, knowing that people where watching and enjoying my content.

I got to take part in a couple other projects before I would start my next big one.

One being coverage for this year’s “Red White and Boom” which was a free event for the

people in Salisbury to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. This presented a new

challenge for me: I had to approach random people and film them having fun. People I

had never met. I felt extremely self-conscious. I made sure to politely ask everyone for

permission to film them. Meanwhile Tom, who was with me, was great with everyone,

especially the kids. I remember thinking about how I envied his confidence. Perhaps

with time, I’ll be more comfortable. Upon editing, I realized I did manage to get some

exceptional footage, and I pieced it together in a way I feel only I could.

 About halfway through the internship we got another intern (he’s shy so I won’t

be using his name). Creig thought it would be a good idea for me to get some

supervisory experience. I assumed this would be easy, seeing as I have been a supervisor

in both retail and food service, but I actually found it a tad challenging. Keeping him

motivated wasn’t easy since we only had one computer between us, and quite frankly he

isn’t fond of editing to begin with. At first, I felt like I was letting him down, but as the

weeks went on, I was able to figure out what worked with him and what didn’t. He

enjoyed directing, and so I was able to get him engaged with script writing, planning, and

actually filming small projects here and there.

In fact, I had a meeting with Creig and he asked me to create some filler content

for the station. We mulled over our options, and what was feasible for me and my

schedule. I don’t remember what triggered the idea, but we eventually settled on a series

of videos about idioms, and their origins, and that I should do a voice over for it. So, I

did my research and scoured the internet for as many idioms as I could find. I made sure

to fact check my sources, and I began scripting. Once it was time to record, I got the

other intern to direct me, as well as teach him a little bit about audio editing. He didn’t

seem to realize how easy it was to cut out mistakes I made, (of course I also made sure to

make it easy to do so). He seemed to really enjoy this, and I made sure to include him in

other voice over projects as a director. When it came to actually putting it to video, I

used nothing but stock footage for the entire series. That, mixed with some animation

techniques I picked up over the years, I managed to put out almost a dozen videos.

Halfway through July, Tom put together a script for a short video he wanted to

enter for the Ocean City Film Festival. So, he grabbed myself and the other intern and
took us down to ocean city to film a story that comically addresses the issue of tourists

wandering into traffic. After filming, Tom was in need of sound effects, as we weren’t

using any of the sound from the actual shooting. Using the techniques I picked up in my

advanced audio course, I began recording Foley with the equipment we had available, (as

well as some stock effects for sounds I couldn’t replicate) I was able to not only re-create

the scene, but add a little character to it.

After a while, I started getting more feedback about the Anime Club show that I

put together, people wondering when the next one would come out. While I had the next

episode researched and scripted out, I was coming to the unfortunate conclusion that it

would be impossible to maintain my original goal of 5 episodes by the end of the

internship. After all, the other people who would be assisting me all had jobs with

conflicting schedules. We intend to continue, just whenever we can find the time. In the

meantime, Crieg had been working on setting up another project for me. I would meet

with Ron Pagano, the founder of a budding local charity known as From Roots to Wings,

and help him create a new PSA to air on PAC 14. When we met up, I also got to meet

Carol Steffy, the founder of another local organization: The Spirit of Esther. My task

was to talk with both of them, find out exactly what they need to convey to the public,

and make it happen. One of the challenges was putting everything into perspective.

Luckily, going back to the basics of communications, we were able to figure it out. The

“What,” “Who,” “Where,” and “How” where obvious from the beginning, it was the

“Why” that we really needed. “Why should people care?” Bringing that into focus, we

were able to plan out what needed to happen.

 I ended up working with Carol Steffy first. We went down to the Wicomico

nursing home, along with Bev from Pets on wheels (an affiliate) and interviewed both of

them, as well as a wonderful resident who was a delight to work with. Using skills I had

picked up from my TV studio class on interviewing (while adding my own spin to it), I

was able to get everyone to comfortably talk about everything I needed them to talk about

in order to get the big message across: People should visit nursing homes! There was a

small setback, however. We were very limited on where we could film, and so being in

the cafeteria… next to the kitchen… we had a sound issue. When I made it into the

editing room, I managed to minimize the fan noise. I would have liked to try ADR, but it

was deemed overkill for this project.

Next, I got to work with Ron Pagano, who I was scripting back and forth with for

a few days. We went out to the storage unit from roots to wings, got some B-Roll of the

contents (there was a lot!) and did the same style interview I did with Spirit of Esther.

We would have liked to actually speak with the homeless, but we weren’t able to arrange

it before hand. Fortunately, using some old footage PAC 14 had used in the past, as well

as my own voice over, I was able to put together a 2-minute PSA, covering everything

that we needed in order to convey his message. Working with both of these charities was

not only a great experience I can use for a demo, but it also was a great honor. Both

causes are extremely noble and mean a lot to me. I hope with the videos I created for

them, their charities reach even more people, and touch more lives.

I had one other project in my last few weeks, perhaps not as deep and meaningful

as working with charities, but hopefully still inspiring. Since I had created a handful of

short videos to be used as time fillers, I was asked by Creig to create a 2-minute filler for
the station to use. This duration is important because PAC 14 is always in need of a 2-

minute video and have almost nothing. Creig and I talked back and forth tossing ideas

around, and eventually something stuck. PAC 14 needs new content to air, as well as

new local producers. So, I would go on and create a 1950’s style instructional video on

how to get started as a content creator. I knew planning for this would be extremely

important, so I made sure to script everything using the 2-column format I learned back

in my writing for media class, made sure to include details of each shot, and even plan

alternate takes in case I couldn’t do something. Then I called up an old buddy of mine to

do the voice over, since his voice fits better for the kind of feel I was going for. I sent

him the script and acted in my own video. Everything was perfect, except I realized too

late that I didn’t describe to my friend how to pronounce PAC 14 (not P-A-C-14).

Fortunately, I was able to come up with a creative way of making it work. I got such

good feedback from the video, I was asked to make another! This time I focused on

giving people ideas on what kind of content they could make. I hired my voice over

friend again, asked a few other friends to help act, and made another video I was even

more proud of, just as my internship was coming to a close.

Over the ten weeks I worked with PAC 14, I feel I got some valuable experience.

I got to work with new people, learn new techniques in editing and filming, and got to

express my creativity in ways I haven’t been able to in a long time. And not once was I

asked to fetch coffee! Never before have I felt more secure in my decision for this

incredibly competitive career choice. I know the road ahead of me will be rocky, but

thanks to all I’ve done with both Salisbury University, and PAC 14, I think I can make it

just fine.