Jason Villalva's ePortfolio

This has been a long short journey. After Internship, I’m officially done with college. And now join the work force soon. As I’m writing a self-evaluation on what I’ve improved on my internship journey, I also want to take the time to write some self-evaluation on myself as a person. What I’ve learned outside of my internship. I’ve learned to manage my time and show professionalism even if everything is remote. This was the thing I needed in my day: structure and projects. And it’s given me room to grow and improve on that. I think that my designing skills has defiantly increased. I knew so little of motion design and just hoped I didn’t get assigned any motion design work on my internship. But, the world doesn’t work like that. Sometime the world gives you what you need instead of what you want. So it gave me a chance to challenge myself and to learn on your own. I’ve also think that I’ve improved on my communication skills. Not being too shy to ask for help or talk to your supervisor about work or any issues I have. Cause that’s what they are here for. To help you gain knowledge and learn from your mistakes. And improve as a person, and designer. I think that I also have a new meaning or perspective. This first half of 2020 was a huge wake up call for a reason. I think the pandemic, the BLM movement and anything political now, is a way of saying that we need to be united as a community. As a country. And demand change. We have protests and social media to make those change now, we are tired now. I think I improved on not letting the bad take over. Keep moving forward and take the bad, and make something good. As a designer, and as a person, I have changed these past month(s). And I’m going to keep on growing to find success in my future, and change the world.

This has honestly been a grand experience for me. Even in quarantine and everything that’s happening in our world, I’ve become a more educated person. And I know what you might be thinking, “What could you possibly learn in just one month that is life changing?” And I would say to you, “I’ve learned a lot, thank you very much.” I would say that I’ve learned to work through when you have no motivation. Ever since the quarantine, I’m going to be honest, I’ve been a bit depressed. Knowing that I won’t finish my college career being with my classmates, actually going to school and interacting with my professors and not  graduating on the big stage was hard hitting.  After the semester and now gaining an internship made me learn that everyone goes to struggles and setbacks. And I used my experience yo manage time, actually having a structure in my day and interacting with my supervisor, and working on projects with other interns was the experience I needed to get back on my feet. I learned also new programs that I avoided and now its given me more experience as a designer. Aside from what I’ve learned during my internship, I want to say that I’ve learned in life that with every setback you face, you need to keep moving on. Make the best out of the worst. And that’s what I’m learning to do with life.

I have worked on 3 big projects as of now. Im still working on a few and I must say, I think they are getting better and better with each projects. I mean, I am learning new skills, thinking outside the box, and having more confidence with new programs. My dream is still to work at a big game development company and create the best game with the best team. Although this internship isn’t a game design internship, I am gaining more knowledge on skills that I need to sharp. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere. and being a motion design and editor intern is my first step of my dream. My first project I was assigned was to create a new intro to one of their shows. Daunting the task was, I didn’t want to show any sign of fear or hesitation. Luckily, I managed to pull it off and was proud of my work. Looking at it I thought, “Wow. I did that. Me.” Yes, anyone could make a photo mash up intro on After Effects just like that but cut me some slack. this is coming from someone who had barely passed Motion Design. After that, I got to make short clips from one of the guest speakers. Listening to an episode and finding the most important and entertaining part to cut out and make a clip. That wasn’t the hard part. Creating a new lower thirds was. Again, cut me some slack, I passed Motion Design with like a C-. Youtube was my trusting friend in this project, but the tricky part was finding a tutorial that fits to the brand of the show. Simple, elegant but new. I managed to create a new lower thirds that didn’t seem too new or in your face. I feel like I’m actually improving as a designer. Like I could do this without looking at tutorials. That’s a bit of a stretch but I could do the simple stuff in After Effects no problem now.

This is a new experience for me. I am a part of history. Graduating virtually, taking an internship virtually, finding love virtually (forget that last part). For an introvert like myself, this a dream come true! No one gets to see your self deprecation one on one, no awkward banter with another classmate. You can just hit “Leave” on Zoom and crawl you way back to bed and binge “Big Little Lies”. I guess the good part of having everything remote is you can afford being late to a meeting or a class. Let me explain: Imagine, waking up at 9am, looking at your phone and see that you have a meeting at 9:30. Sharp. and your usual commute to work or class is like an hour our more. Now in this situation, the only commute to work is a five step forward to your desk and turning on whatever device you’re having your meeting. And in between time you can have time to at least wash your hair, brush your teeth and if you’re fast enough, have a bowl of cereal while still being on time for your meeting. I’ve done that the past few month. And that was honest pretty awesome. But aside that, I’m also losing the experience of actually being in an environment that encourages me to push me and be better. That hits. I’ve learned so much on my internship and I’m so beyond grateful to work with other creatives. But what’s the fun of it if you’re not besides your colleagues, working together and having the full internship experience. Grabbing coffee and being in team meetings and dressing up to impress and say, “I’m on it, you won’t be disappointed!” Like I said, I’m a part of history. We all are. I hand in my work on time, ask questions and communicate with my peers and supervisors. That part would never be taken away from me.

Well, I’m officially a VRR Intern. This feels kinda new, given the fact that everything is remote now and no can see if I slack off or not. But that’s the intern life in your 20’s. I was excited to start a project and hopefully grow more as a designer. I was given a friendly good morning text from our supervisor under a group text so already a good start. Feels like we’re all in this together. She asked to look at our email to sign a NDA, and send a photo of ourselves for the website. I don’t have any “professional” photos of myself given I’m a millennial in a generation of dog filters and meme culture. I had one decent one taken by my best friend so I sent that. She didn’t say anything about it so I guess I was approved. The supervisor asked if I could do a new intro for their show, Beyond My Crisis, with multiple photos flying around and being place in one place after. Already I felt pressure to do one task that I’m sure most of the interns can do. I said yes and began to start. She wanted the intro to feel like The Ellen Show so watched the latest intros from The Ellen Show. After, I looked up any tutorials on Youtube and hoped to god if I could find one that seemed manageable and on brand for the show. I found one tutorial that fit the right criteria and spent the first week working on the intro and learning After Effects. The supervisor is so nice and helpful on where to get access to any photos or videos from their company. She even said there was no problem if I needed more time on the intro. But my ego wanted to make a first good impression and used my hours wisely to follow the tutorial, and added more on my own.

After sending in my resume and cover letter to one of the supervisors my professor recommended me, i checked both my personal email and City Tech email to see if they’ve reached back. After that I realized that I’ve sent the email not even 5 minutes ago and quickly realized how desperate I’ve become. Which, in reality, I was. I think three days has passed and still no word from VRR. I kept refreshing both my emails and all I got are email that I needed to pay my credit card on time. But that’s not important. They first day of remote summer school have started and I was a bit worried. Still not having an internship the day of class while my classmates that’ll never meet in person have an internship. Around 9 am, someone called me and once I picked up the phone, it was one of the supervisors from VRR. I.Panicked. In a good way (Is there even a good panic?) She asked that she reviewed my resume and asked when would be a good time to have an interview via phone call. I said 2pm would work, because I had class from 11:30 through 2. After my class ended, She called right back and asked me about myself, my skills and my interests. I told her I was skilled in both graphic design, 3D animation and modeling and motion design. After that she officially welcomed me to the team. I was over the roof excited that I didn’t feel left behind from my classmates. But knowing my luck that won’t last long. Starting the next day, would officially start work.

Now that my final semester at City Tech drew to a close, I had to take one final course during the summer. When it comes to finding an internship that was for your liking and your concentration, it could be a bit challenging. My concentration from Communication Design was Animation and Game Design but there were rarely any internships available. Only full time jobs. I figured I could build up my graphic design portfolio and skills and work at an internship that would help he focus and sharp my skills in programs I still need work on in the Adobe Suite. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more internships either weren’t accepting any applicants, canceling, or had to do everything remote. I was in a bit of a situation finding one on time that my first internship at a small start up was cancelled. Sharing my problems with my internship professor, she recommended me to a media production internship. Although I said I would apply and have them know I’m interested, I’d admit, I was a bit worried and nervous. First being that the majority of programs I would be using is Premier Pro and After Effects. Premier Pro I would have no problem with. Is After Effects I was worried about. But I did know my way around the program, I was still a bit lost using it. But non the less, I still added After Effects into my resume. I sent in my resume and cover letter to one of the supervisors at VRR Media Productions.