Video Production in College

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

Well Mike,

As always Bob has got good points – nothing like “having a bit of fun”.

However, in the world that you’ll be working in, when the vacancy advert says “graduate”, then that means graduate – as in that the initial software that does the selection for the now not so potential employer won’t understand all your other qualities as in that your application didn’t tick the box 😉

The alternative is to build your own network, and the best place to start is at college, even if you only want to talk with the girls. But a nice place to make loads of mistakes, whilst learning, is not a bad place to be.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Kylee Pena]

The only problem with skipping college right now is that a lot of video production is in-house. To get past the HR of a corporation or hospital or agency, they’ll expect you to have a college degree in something. HR people can’t translate years of experience.

College also opens up opportunities for internships. All the internships I did wouldn’t have taken me if I couldn’t do them for college credit. Markets will vary on this, but in Indianapolis there was an abundance of college kids trying to get in the door, they got priority.

EVERYBODY has been told to go to college, so now it’s like the minimum requirement.

Just offering another perspective. Bob isn’t wrong here, especially that most stuff you’ll learn practically rather than in class.

blog: kyleesportfolio.com/blog
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[Mark Suszko]

Not to pile on our wise friend Bob here, because he’s right that an “auto-didact” like himself CAN make a go of it… as an alternative path…

But as far as internships go, my take on it is that as a manager, trying to pick an internship candidate, the applicant coming from the college or university comes pre-qualified as someone truly committed to the work, financially and scholastically. If you screw up, your prof, your school, and likely your parents would be on your case. The intern applicant coming in “off the street” may have all kinds of zazz and charm, but without any more experience than the college kid, what proof do i have he or she can stick to a commitment or just consistently show up on time? A college kid who has to attend classes or fail has proof they are reliable. For some, that’s what a diploma boils down to: a “receipt”, proving you were able to make a 4-year or more commitment to achieve goals and that someone tested and rated you on the quality of what you learned in those 4 years. Like a certification on operating a particular editing system or a MS software certification. Though of course the Liberal Arts Majors will say, you get a lot more out of it than that. I think you do… if you put your mind to that.

Secondly, many businesses have exclusive internship deals with nearby schools. You can ONLY get into the internship after the school has run you thru some pre-qualifying studies to make you worth the company’s time to take on.

So, not taking away from the rest of what Bob says, but I just disagree that any kid can get an internship without college classes in their background. It’s not impossible, but I find it less likely than what Bob espouses. That said… You should of course try out for anything, anyway, because I can’t be right about every damn thing every time.

[Tim Wilson]

The perspective of guys the age of me and Bob is that, when we went to college, NONE of this existed. I went to a large, well-heeled liberal arts college you’ve definitely heard of, 10,000 students (much bigger now of course), and ONE computer that students had access to. Punch cards, man.

Cameras under 75 lbs? Dream on. With no computers, there was no software. The industry as we know it simply didn’t exist. It wasn’t there. So the BEST we could hope for was learning how to learn in general, as well as some barely related stuff.

For example, cutting film taught me SOMETHING useful, primarily, media management = not letting strips of film fall between the desk and the wall, or else you have to move the desk to pick them up. Which sucks.

I’m talking about the days when the radio guys in my department had better and more lucrative job prospects than TV and film guys. That’s another story, but it’s an indication of WHY guys our age say the things we do.

Today is incredibly different. You actually CAN learn stuff that’s DIRECTLY applicable – media management of files rather than strips of celluloid, workflows, and a vast array of other skills that DO exist today that did NOT exist 35 years ago.

Learning how to learn is still critical. It’s conceivable that the environment you’ll make your living with hasn’t been invented yet, perhaps even moreso today than when Bob and I were coming up.

So while you’re thinking about how to prepare for the job you want, don’t forget to prepare for the job after THAT. Whatever job you want, this one or the next, don’t forget to prepare for replacing your boss. You DO want to be in management some day, right? Or you can keep grinding away, trying to keep your job while your boss wonders why he shouldn’t be paying some kid with a degree and an internship under her belt HALF of what he’s paying you.

Or you can be the guy making the decision about that stuff. Better to prepare to be the guy holding the axe than the guy wondering when it’s going to split his skull.

[Kylee Wall] “To get past the HR of a corporation or hospital or agency, they’ll expect you to have a college degree in something.”

Huge huge huge.

Microsoft and Apple were both famously founded by college dropouts. Given the growth in numbers of college graduates, how many people without a degree do you think they’ve hired in the last dozen years?Why the hell should they have hired ANY? I doubt they have.

So you need a lot MORE than a degree to get a job, but these days, you CANNOT have LESS than a degree. Not for a job that’s going to sustain you across a career, or enable you to move up the ladder.

Note that it doesn’t need to be a four year liberal arts program. There are many technical programs, as well as job-oriented programs at places like Full Sail.

Here’s the thing I like about four year programs though, in addition to sex and parties — neither of which I actually achieved in my four years of college, so caveat emptor. It’s the opportunity to be surprised.

This is the field you want to get into NOW — but you may find yourself a year from now thinking that you’d rather get into medical research, economics, law, fine arts, or, god forbid, education. You may find yourself more interested in DEVELOPING software than USING it, more interested in being in FRONT of cameras than BEHIND them.

The fact is that I think there’s a lot to be said for lack of focus. LOL

[Mark Suszko] “many businesses have exclusive internship deals with nearby schools.”

Also critical.

To Mark’s earlier observation, there are single schools that are turning out THOUSANDS of students every spring all on their own. Beyond my experience as a student in a media program 35 years ago, I had a front row seat to this just a few years ago when I worked at Avid. If there are fewer than 200,000 students coming out of media programs next spring, I’ll be shocked.

Again, this was not the case when guys my age were coming up. But it IS the case today. You’ll be doing well to get an internship before your junior year. In many places, it’s simply not an option. Employers can afford to be choosy.

This is starting to veer off topic, but I hope you’re getting the gist.

I’m going to end by expressing my 100000% agreement with Bob on the need to be a relentless hustler.

With hundreds of thousands of new graduates for the industry to select from each summer, you need something to set you apart. I don’t care about your reel. I expect you to be able to have a reel ten times better next year anyway.

I want to know that you will destroy every obstacle in your path to do what I want you to do. I need to know that you have no respect for anyone standing in your way. I want you to be a predator. Not that “Preditor” thing. PREDATOR, bloodthirsty, relentless.

AND with a degree, skills and experience, AND be pleasant to be around.

There. Does that sound so hard? Didn’t think so. LOL

[Mark Suszko]

Or, you could always teach:-)

[Nick Griffin]

[Tim Wilson] “the radio guys in my department had better and more lucrative job prospects than TV and film guys”

OMG! You mean there was a GOOD reason that I started in radio? In all seriousity though… editing in the audio environment taught me more about editing in the video environment than I ever realized. It was years later when I started to figure out that I had developed deep-seated instincts in the audio production studio that helped me know when to the cut should occur. Oh, and that whole playing music thing, too. HUGE help on a very subconscious level.

But…if I could go back and do it all over again I’d spend a LOT more time taking every variety of writing course available. An overwhelming number of producers came up through writing and ultimately they’re the ones who rise to the top.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Bob Zelin] “And with experience behind you (like from Biscardi Media !), you will have CREDIBILITY, instead of saying “I got an A on my student film”. “

We can all see how far your BCM internship took you Bob. Glad I could be a small part of your success. 🙂

[Bob Zelin] “and TAKE DIRECT TRAINING CLASSES from them (or a place like Future Media Concepts) and practice, and THEN get an internship.”

And consider something like the Southeast Creative Summit which should have hundreds of creatives all taking workshops, networking and sharing knowledge. Workshop type events are awesome because there’s so many folks and you learn during the day and swap stories and knowledge at night.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
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Biscardi Creative Media

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[Bill Davis]

I’m going off the reservation here, a bit.

Knowledge of HOW to do things is increasingly worthless in modern society. I appreciate the wisdom of those who’ve trod the traditional path of classroom study and internships and first gigs and hustling. And yep, it’s all true. But it’s also increasingly irrelavent – at least in terms of skills training.

College is an anomaly. It’s a protected space between high school and LIFE where you’re sequestered from the cold, hard truths of the world while either A) somebody else (like your parents) doles out vast sums of money in hopes you learn some marketable skills – or you load your life up with mountains of debt in exchange for a certificate that may be relevant in showing others that you have an advanced ability to fit into institutions and memorize stuff you can far more easily look up on your phone – then show up to take exams about.

If your going to do the university thing, here’s my advice. It’s largely about contacts and developing social skills. Period. There’s nothing factual you’ll learn that isn’t sitting on-line somewhere already. What DOES exist in a university is a social pool of similarly privileged others who you can learn how to better interact with.

You want to come out of a college experience ahead?

Learn to recognize and develop relationships with other students, faculty and staff. Cultivate them. Relentlessly.

I honestly think college is about developing relationship skills. Not learning facts. Facts are on-line.

Learn how to pitch yourself to everyone you meet, quietly and with confidence. Honestly. Do it it with the academic stars, but also with the day to day everybodies. The guy who checks out the towels at the university gym is likely just as interesting as the dean. And possibly just as smart. And you should be ready and able to walk away from an encounter with either – and have them feel good about the interaction and be glad to see you the next time.

Learn to assess and categorize people with an eye to who might be valuable to bring closer, and who’s a waste of time. It’s not always obvious. Learn who you can depend on and who’s a flake. Who is a relationship user and who plays fair. Who has habits you can learn from and and emulate and who’s just there because it’s expected by their social class or family.

I’m starting to believe very strongly that in a world where all the process knowledge is in everyone’s pocket and searchable, actual “how to” knowledge is getting less and less valuable, very fast.

What will be left, IMO, is people skills. The ability to make people WANT to pick you out of the sea of qualified others. And that’s all about high level personal interaction skills.

Period.

Learn THAT over the next four years.

And try to keep the debt thing under control. The burden of a decade or more of monthly student loan payments to finance four years of “higher education” in a world where you can maybe watch the exact same classes on-line via iTunes is kinda nuts, IMO.

Remember, lots of us writing here spend as much time “studying” stuff as any college student. We’ve been doing it for decades. We’ve just stopped calling it ‘school” and paying for it directly -and have started calling it what it really is – our lives.

FWIW.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Mark Suszko]

Bill, I agree with some of your thesis. However…

I have met/worked with people that are the extreme exaggeration of what you’re advising. They are fun to talk to and work with… until the first time you need them to actually produce or make something, to show up and be present in the moment and DELIVER. …and you realize the only gear this flake ever actually operated on their own was a phone and an espresso machine. And that they are so busy networking and being social, they tend to drop out on you at key moments for something more “immediate”.

To be clear, that’s an extreme version of the “it’s not what you know” person. But there are talkers and there are doers. Talkers can get in the door easily. But they don’t stay long.

[Bill Davis]

[Mark Suszko] “To be clear, that’s an extreme version of the “it’s not what you know” person. But there are talkers and there are doers. Talkers can get in the door easily. But they don’t stay long.
“

Yeah Mark, No quarrel with your point.

I just remember all the “recent college graduate” folks I’ve come in contact with over the years. Long on theory and short on how to actually get stuff done.

We’ve all had them on a set now and then.

I agree with you completely that the real test is if they’ve got the skills, but most of us value “real world” experience FAR more than theoretical learning.

We’ll NOT call back a crew person even if they have some technical skills, but can’t handle the social aspect of on-set work. Walking across a camera line. Taking a call on a set when they’re supposed to be working. Being aware of what needs to be done before anyone mentions it and taking care of it. None of that has to do with techniques. It’s the real world experience we all value that makes a set run smoothly and keeps everyone working toward the project goals.

I kinda see the social stuff I’m talking about as a part of that. It’s not just “contacts” – its putting yourself around people better able to share practical knowledge with. A college buddy who helps you land your first on-set gig is great. But one who knows you well enough to drag you aside and tell you when and why you’re fitting in (or not!) is priceless.

That’s the relationship stuff that really matters.

I wish I’d known about that stuff way earlier in my career.

FWIW.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.