As I was looking for an internship, I didn’t know exactly what type of job I wanted out of college. Do I want to focus more on photography or video? I have experience in photography with working as the University Photographer’s Student Assistant and the school paper. So, I applied for more roles focusing on video. Through this internship I wanted to learn anything and everything I could about video because I really didn’t know too much about it. That being said, I really didn’t have a lot of detailed expectations, simply to learn pre-production to post-production. 

               This internship taught me more than I could have imagined. I was able to experience a week of working with two freelance workers and a coworker in a different state than my office was in to get some footage, I sat in and participated in meetings of pre-production planning throughout the summer, I headed up several projects all on my own, edited sequences of larger projects, and worked with all sorts of different types of equipment. This showed me a whole new side to the job and showed me that I really enjoy this work. No expectation was missed, because my manager was really great at asking if there is anything specific that I would like to learn. 

              Through this opportunity, I learned a lot about what the marketing side of the industry is like. I was surprised, though I should not have been, that most of the time I was in an office building working on post-production edits. I was out of my seat a lot filming interns and manufacturing, but mostly was inside. Also, I learned that there is not as much interaction with other people due to the fact that most of the time spent is in editing. I would love to experience the entertainment side of the industry at some point to compare corporate and entertainment. While here, I got to visit another Indiana University of Pennsylvania Alumni who lives in L.A. and works as a camera operator. I was able to talk to him a lot and learn a bit about that career. For future career plans, I would like to check out L.A. for a little while and then dip into the marketing side after I get sick of Hollywood. Although, I believe God will change that plan and send me a different way. However, having a plan helps comfort the idea of the future.

              As far as for myself, I learned that I really like interacting with others in my job and it was somewhat hard for me not to be talking with people and just sitting at my desk. I enjoy capturing footage a little more than editing it for the reason of getting to see more people in my day. I learned that there is always so much more to learn as well. In addition, I learned that organization is extremely important and it is difficult learning a complex organization system. Professionally, I learned so much about editing tricks, skills on the filming set, and tips for organizing files. I really enjoyed going to work each day, because the people were so nice and willing to help me and teach me when I needed it. The job is enjoyable, because editing and creating is what I do in my free time, too, so work was fun. I could see myself going in a career in marketing, but I do want to explore the freelance industry at some point to see how that feels. Overall, my time with Topcon has been amazing and educational. I am so glad that I had the chance to intern at such a knowledgeable place and learn about an industry like construction that I didn’t know really anything about before.