After an interesting summer break, I finally found a new home/internship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Hawai’i! I am interning for their multimedia department. My duties include, but are not limited to, working on video edits for social media sites, and creating layouts/designs for ads and campaigns.
Prior to orientation day, I needed to complete a couple of on-boarding assignment that talked about the origin of the brand and how creating wishes worked. On orientation day, we went over the origination of the brand again and filled out paperwork. We also did a tour of the office, which was really nice to see. Being in a professional environment and around people with the same vision/goal has a really strong affect on me. I made some friends (my whole orientation class was all women! Empowered!!!). I ended the day with meeting up with my supervisor and going over my schedule for the next 12 weeks. I explained that I was eager to learn and open to whatever opportunities that came my way.
On my first real day, my supervisor left me a paper with some projects that I needed to work on. I was immersed in the action right from the get go. I was supplied with a handy brand handbook that had all of the requirements when it came to photos, videos, colors, graphics, and typography.
Once I completely read through the handbook, I started on my first work order. A cool thing about my department is, I work closely with all of the other ones! If they need something done that has to deal with graphics or a video edit, they come straight to us. But our department works extra closely with the communications department because they are in charge of the all of the words that get incorporated into different ads and make sure that everything is on brand. Come to find out, one of my classmates is interning for the communications department so it’s really fun to share this experience with her!
For my first work order I was to start creating a 1 minute or less (30 secs) promotional slideshow/video to post to their social media for an event coming up (Waffles for Wishes). I learned where everything lives and by “lives” I mean where all of the files are located. The whole office shares the same folder with all of the same information. So if I were to create a new folder with all of my work in it, then another department would be able to pull it up as well. My supervisor checked in on me and made sure that I was doing okay. Using Adobe Premiere I added selected photos from a previous Waffles for Wishes event and created a montage that is intended to hype people up! Knowing me, once I start editing footage or photos, I cannot leave my desk. I get into the zone and it’s hard to reel me out haha! I was able to pretty much finish the bones and structure of the video (placing videos and slides that provided information). Once I found myself in a good place to save and quit, I needed to print out wine tags for another event! I learned how to change the settings on the document to print out from a huge copy machine. From quality, to document size, to paper type. The printer was actually giving everyone issues that day so I could only print out half of what was needed. I let my supervisor and some other workers know and they said that the copier might need some time to breathe.
On my second day, I went back into the wine tag document and printed the rest of the tags. Voila! They all printed out! Once that was finalized, I went back into my slideshow project and asked my supervisor for his feedback. He liked what I did but had me add more animations and stars. I used approved star graphics and added them to the slideshow! I then added music that I found on my own through an approved website, then exported. A couple of us then went out to lunch. The only thing I like about working in town or being in town is that there are so much goooood places to eat within walking distance. I showed the proof video to the communications and events departments and they really liked it! I was so shocked. I was almost doubting work for a little bit due to nervousness. They suggested that I add some sentences from the website and as the date of the event gets closer, to add the vendors that will be there. I honestly felt a rush of confidence when they showed me how happy they were with what I made.
My most favorite thing about this position so far is that I am doing what I am going to school for and putting it into use in a real life setting. Sounds corny, I know. But it really is amazing to see your own skills being used and put into action.