My time at Horrible Imaginings has been extremely influential to my career path. It has allowed me to see exactly what I want in life and the steps needed to get there. Going into college, I will already have started my career path by creating movies and constantly making them to improve. It's difficult to choose classes specifically for what I want to do, but not impossible. This internship has given me the right experience to set me on the path leading to where I want to be. I have received wisdom from experienced filmmakers and been able to speak to them about their path in life. It's amazing that I have already been able to see and work in a business I plan on working in in the future. Being able to get contacts helps so much because I can have easier access to the world of film. I can also use the people at Horrible Imaginings as a place of critique for my work. They are experts in judging films as they do it for work, so it would benefit me so much to have more people viewing my work. My internship has allowed me to be involved with what I want to do and gain an appreciation for the craft. Thanks to this month, I am completely sure of what I plan on doing in the future and know exactly how to get there.
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I got the opportunity to attend the Horrible Imaginings photoshoot for the festival in the fall. It was important for me to capture this behind the scenes because it gives an insight into the world beyond the camera. It allows the audience to view how much work goes into every detail of the event. My internship project showed how much fun a day like this can be. I am able to work with these great people and do things like this all the time. I believe it is important to show both aspects of the festival: seriousness and being able to have fun. You can see in my video that although this day was dedicated to work, we were able to have a lot of fun and create the best photos possible. I wasn't able to get a sneak peek of the final photos to display for confidentiality purposes, but I am extremely excited to see them. I was able to be in photos, as well, which I am looking forward to seeing. I am so glad I was able to be there during the process that the final photos were taken.
I devoted a lot of time and effort into this project due to the fact that this shoot took all day and I had over 100 clips to choose from. I believed this was the best way to end this internship because I was able to capture what working at Horrible Imaginings is like. From this, you can see how much work goes into something as simple as a photo. I filmed everything and edited it. I plan on capturing more clips from future events with Horrible Imaginings, as I will be continuing this internship through summer. Part 1:
How did you measure the success of the work you did while you were an intern? What did you learn from this? The work I did as an intern was extremely successful. I got the opportunity to do behind the scenes work for a fantastic festival. I have always wondered what type of preparation is involved with events like this and all the work I did had prepared me for it. I learned many things during these 4 weeks. The most important being that I am certain of my passion with film-specifically horror. I fell in love with the genre all over again and had so much fun doing it. I got to develop skills needed to run a business, which is extremely helpful and fun for my future career. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site? During this internship, I learned a lot about adult life and myself. I was able to connect many aspects of this career into my education and begin to see how they correlate. Most of what I learned was about myself. I had many realizations for my future, both positive and negative. My work was extremely meaningful for a career in filmmaking as well as owning a business. The only negative aspect was that I had a realization that although I have big dreams for myself, it takes a lot to make them achievable. I was able to improve my plans for how I will go about attaining my dream career, but the biggest takeaway I had was that I am going to face lots of failure and I have to be able to prepare myself. It's not all downside, however because I also got to see the great parts of the film world. Part 2: What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why? I definitely developed an appreciation for the people behind events that I love. It's easy to not think about everything that goes into the amazing festivals and events you attend, but I was able to actually participate in creating an event and making it come to life. Everyone I was able to meet and interact with through this internship has been incredible and so passionate which is the most amazing thing to see. I love seeing people that are completely in love with their jobs and thats what I was able to view. How might internship influence the direction of your life? Internship will be marked as a major influencer in my life and career direction. I was sure that I loved the film world, but was nervous and confused about what specifically I'd like to do. I still have lots of learning to do, but I am sure that this is the direction I am heading in. I have learned through this, that what ever I want to do, even if it seems impossible, I will make it happen if I'm passionate enough. I believe a time I have advocated for myself in this internship was when I voiced my opinion in the decision process of selecting films. I have been able to get a say in what I think deserves to be in the festival and have an open discussion with others. I've viewed this with the staff of Horrible Imaginings throughout these two weeks. Everyone has different opinions and we are all entitled to our own. The time I was most able to do this happened to be this week, when I was assigned 5 films to watch on my own. It was a chance for my voice to be heard by everyone and share what I believed to be deserving of submission into the film festival.
I believe I am following all of the requirements to be a memorable intern. I have proved myself to be very helpful, allowing the process going into different events and festivals to be very smooth. I am extremely professional in cases I am needed to be and I am very respectful. I am always attempting to be doing something, however I manage to get most tasks assigned to me done very quickly and I am sometimes left with a couple hours to spare. I always fill these gaps by improving my cinematic literacy and watching the great classic horror movies in order to see what a quality film looks like. This helps me in the judging process immensely. I know all of my colleagues really well and I am able to easily converse with them due to how fast I formed a relationship with them. I believe I have been a very successful intern so far and I love being able to be a team member for this amazing business. For my internship, my project will be various things all for the sole purpose of improving the company's website and creating more of an audience for the different showings we do in collaboration with FilmGeeks SD. I plan on writing blog posts, similar to this one for the Horrible Imaginings website. I will give an inside look about what behind the scenes looks like. I will also be doing lots of promotion for their social media, getting people involved in the community. I have already began work for this, reaching out to different companies in order to reach a bigger audience. I have also began work on programming, which is viewing submissions from people all over the world that entered their film into the festival.
I got the chance to go to Miguel's house with his team to view the films. He taught me what a good film looks like, which helped me in the judging process. It's super fun and gives me lots of needed skills for my project. It has also showed me great examples of the quality of different films, which will allow me to create great films in the future. Other skills I need are great communication skills. I already have a pretty good grasp on this, but I need to improve on being able to go out and actually talk to people in the community. I don't think I need any support with this project. It may be difficult at times, but I feel like its the perfect opportunity for growth in my maturity. It isn't an extremely difficult project, which makes for the perfect opportunity to become more of an actual professional. This internship has helped me grow a lot within the realm of maturity and professionalism. Mentor InterviewAfter a week of working with Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, I have learned a lot about the difference between owning a business strictly for profit and creating a community. When I emailed Miguel, my mentor, he emphasized this heavily. His official job title is "Founder and CEO" and he is mainly in charge of the company's mission statement. He must make sure there is diversity within the submissions for the film festival and that the filmmakers feel their art is meaningfully represented. The reason Miguel decided to begin this company was for a very simple reason; there wasn't a horror film festival in San Diego. He began the company alone, and built it up from there. The necessary requirements for this job are to have a vast knowledge in film, as well as a large appreciation for the art. Miguel stated that film is an art form that speaks to us as human beings. You have to study the history and find the inspiration that comes from previous films. An extremely necessary skill needed for this profession is being personable. You must be able to form a connection with your audience and promote your company. Most skills obtained by film festival coordinators aren't taught. You can't exactly major in this profession, which is why he stresses so much that you must learn by seeing and studying what others are doing. Miguel finds his career extremely satisfying. Despite the fact that there isn't much money offered for what he does, he is in love with the art and is willing to dedicate his life to creating a platform for filmmakers to showcase their work. When he was my age, he had already been a huge fan of horror movies, but said he had a friend that introduced him to the best classic movies, which completely opened his eyes to the diversity in film. The main thing he stressed about working at Horrible Imaginings is that you must be passionate about film, as you have to meet professionals and create contacts within the film world. Getting along with people in this career is extremely important. They are like a family and any source of friction within their relationships would become counterproductive. His most important piece of advice he could offer if I were to get a job working at Horrible Imaginings would be to watch as many films as possible and study the audience. You have to volunteer and not be afraid to put yourself out there. If I were to ever have my own festival, it is important to just make it my own and enjoy it. There isn't a set of rules and regulations for this career, you just have to make sure you really love the craft because when it comes down to it, that love is what's going to keep you going. Internship JournalThe questions I have for my internship mostly revolve around how the selection process works when viewing the submissions for the film festival. I'm wondering what the qualifications are to be selected and how they ultimately choose a winner. I will have all of these questions answered tomorrow, however, when I attend a meeting dedicated to screening the films people have submitted. There are many connections within presentations and exhibitions we do for school. These require confidence and people skills, which are taught to us at HTH. There haven't been specific moments within internship that are worth noting, despite the event I wrote about in my last post. There has exciting events that I am able to be involved with in the future. They offered an extension to my internship through summer which is very exciting and invited me to volunteer with them at Comic-Con. The most important thing I have learned about the purpose of this company is that they are dedicated to the art of film. They don't factor in experience or any other type of barrier that may hold you back from becoming a successful filmmaker. I am already starting to gain skills needed for promotion. I have done this a lot throughout this week and have been getting very good at getting people involved in the community. It is an easy commute to my internship my parents are happy to take me where I need to be. Overall this week has gone very well and I am extremely happy with the internship I have.
Horrible Imaginings is an awesome workplace with an equally awesome staff. It strikes me that the community they have built is so close. They are a small company, but everyone is involved in creating the most perfect events that are fun for everyone. I was able to view this on my first day when I attended and volunteered at the Mother's day showing of 'It's Alive". A lot of the people that came to the showing already knew each other and were filled with excitement for the night to come.
We threw a baby shower for the Davis baby, star of the classic movie that was shown. With claw cookies to humorous mother's day cards, the day night went extremely well. This event took place at Cinema Under the Stars in San Diego, which added to the creepiness of the film. Overall, it was an extremely fun night full of great people and I had so much fun at my first event. What strikes me most about my colleagues is how dedicated they are to the history and details of classic movies. They are experts in the world of film and I find it very cool. It makes me want to aspire to advance my knowledge on the subject of film. My first task given for this internship is building a press list to comply the contacts of different horror websites to promote Horrible Imaginings events. What strikes me most about this job I am currently doing is how difficult it is to build a press list. I first thought it would be a simple task, but quickly turned into a challenge due to most websites not giving proper contacts. I just had to get a bit more creative with my searching skills and I ended with over 100 contacts. Press lists are a key component to maintaining a successful business, so it was a great skill for me to practice. I am most excited about attending more events. I found the last one to be super fun and I can't wait for the next one. I am also looking forward to the actual film festival in September, which will be extremely exciting, especially with friends and family in attendance. I currently don't have any worries from the first day. I think this entire experience will go very well and I am so happy working here. My internship is with Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. We got the unique opportunity to interview our mentors and meet them in person prior to the month long internship we will be doing in the few weeks to follow.
My mentor is Miguel Rodriguez, the director of the company. He informed me of all of his responsibilities with finding sponsors and coordinating events. As well as, programming and choosing which films will be selected for the annual film festival. A typical work day at Horrible Imaginings is not always the same. Most of the work is online, social media based, watching movies to improve cinematic literacy. Online based work includes programming, website building, keeping up with news/trends, and much more. The policies at this work place are very general. Absence policies are relatively similar to any place of work, but it is a bit different due to lots of work being able to be done at home. However, if you do not complete your work, you will effect the rest of the team and delay work, which is very unprofessional. The dress code is very casual, t-shirts and jeans are normal attire for working here. It is extremely relaxed, with their main focus being that you are getting the required work done. My high school classes play a large role in being the best intern I can. There are many required skills needed for this internship that may not be taught in regular curriculum, but I can apply lots of skills I have obtained from various classes. All of my classes benefit me when it comes to exhibition curation, as I will be creating an inviting display of work for an audience to watch. My MUN class benefits me when it comes to authority/management. I will need this skill when it comes to being in charge and taking responsibility of an event led by this small business. My math class allows me to better problem solve when I run into problems that have to do with being able to tackle any problem individually. My humanities class benefits me in two ways. One being, in creativity and vision, which I will need to judge the final movies that will be put in the festival. The other being, social media and marketing, which plays a huge role in the promotion of events, bringing influx of customers, etc. My biology class gives me skill when working under pressure. I will be doing this a lot when I come face to face with things like deadlines, audience difficulties, being a small business, etc. Overall career day was a success. I am extremely excited and happy that I have received this opportunity. I learned everything that I will be doing and was able to begin giving input/feedback. I really like my mentor and I look forward to working with him. This will teach me a lot and give me great experience in running a business, as well as being a filmmaker. |