Two Film Diploma students share their experience after a two-week internship
The advanced diploma program requires students to do a two week internship to expose them to the practical aspects of their academic learning.
In September, Shaakirah Damon spent her internship with a team of eight people at Iconic Advertising Agency. Iconic is a digital based agency that works with their clients from development right through to distribution.
Iconic hosts weekly live sessions in which their employees get the opportunity to do a presentation on anything that interests them. According to Damon, this was the first exercise given to her. “When this task was assigned to me, I thought that it was fairly easy and I felt that it was pointless but as I started to do research on the topic I chose, I discovered that it was really informative. As I reflected on what I learnt at the end of fulfilling this task I realised that I did not just learn how to do a proper industry standard presentation but I also taught myself Digital Media Marketing and began to understand how a Digital agency works.”
Damon was guided by Iconic producer, Kirby Kruger, who is an Alumni from City Varsity, throughout her internship. “Not only did Kirby give me career advice but also gave me life advice and went as far as teaching me how to do my taxes after I leave varsity. He made me re-evaluate my values, my ethics and what I stand for as a person,” she said.
“Two of my proud moments while interning at Iconic were: getting an opportunity as an editing elective to cut a minute-long ad down to a 30 second promo for Asics showcasing the Springboks which was screened when the Springboks played the All Blacks at Newlands Stadium. My second proud moment might seem silly but as I am not a camera elective, I was really proud when I learnt and remembered how to setup the camera gimbal, camera cage as well as the shoulder rig without help after it was showed to me once,” Damon said.
Damon was not the only student that had a good experience during this internship program. Carla Temmers went to Media Film Service located at the Waterfront, together with four other film students from 2nd year Film Diploma.
“My experience at Media Film Service was informing. I spent most of my internship at the camera and grips part of Media but I was also allowed to spend a day at the lighting department of Media Film Service located in Paardeneiland. I gained knowledge on not only the gear at Media but also current information that’s happening in the film industry.”
Temmers was mentored by Martin Neethling. According to her, the internship program was a mix of theory and practical that definitely gave her more opportunity to get a better grasp on the film industry.
“Interning at Media Film Service has helped [me] a lot in realizing and preparing for the industry I will be entering into soon. I think I accomplished more than I expected on my internship. Though at first it was quite rocky for me as I was in a new environment with people I don’t know, but as the days progressed we had gotten closer and more accustomed to our surroundings.”
Temmer said: “The only challenge I came across in the workplace was my height. A lot of the time when dealing with either setting up the camera or handling different rigs, the fact that I am quite short got in the way and made others either doubt or pity me. But it was easily fixed with me standing on a small box when dealing with the setup of the cameras and with the rigs, and I think I surprised a couple of people with the fact I can hold my own when needed.”
Interning at the Media gave Temmers more hope to fulfil her career pursuit as a filmmaker. “It expanded my mind on thinking beyond what I thought and more into what I am capable of. I shouldn’t let anything stop me from reaching out and carving my own way into filmmaking. From what I’ve been taught at my internship and thus far in film school this year, I shouldn’t be scared of being different and allowing it to show through the work I shoot,” Temmer said.
By Chidimma Ezeme
City Scribes 