Category: Internship

My supervisor owns two photography based companies that focus on capturing cosplayers in action. They go to conventions to catch cosplayers in their natural environment or have private photo and video shoots of cosplayers.

Credit: rainriverimages.com

For my newest version of the reel I was tasked with for my first project, I incorporated a split screen, showcasing two clips at the same time. It gives the feel of a mini compilation.

Andre Sadhu for prosandconsind.com

My supervisor asked me to alter my closing animation for the video, make the gear turn slower.

Andre Sadhu for prosandconsind.com

I landed the position of video editor/content creator for a photography company owned by a professor here at City Tech. The company specializes in capturing photos of people in cosplay. I had been previously trying to land this particular position for a while now. The professor and I spoke earlier this summer but nothing happened. After a few months of no word, we once again got in touch thanks to my internship coordinator and now it’s official.

alliancevisas.com

Entering the Communication Design major at City Tech, I got to try my hand at the different sections that were offered. I enjoyed the illustration courses since I already like to draw, I also enjoyed photography and learned a great deal about the world of graphic design. Out of everything I tried, I would say my interest leaned towards video the most. I had a great time learning about video in my intro to video class as well as filming and editing. After that, I continued to make videos for other classes when given the opportunity to choose. I’m quite good at using Adobe Premiere and recently learned how to use Adobe After Effects. This has allowed me to showcase my video work to anyone who may be interested.

Credit: René Ramos

The case of Shepard Fairey is a very intriguing one. The copyright case came as a result of Fairey creating a poster of Barack Obama using a photo he found online leading up to the 2008 election. When confronted with the source of the photo, Fairey tried to cover it up until he could no longer. When it comes to using others’ photography, a designer must obtain a permit from the copyright holder in order to use their photos in a project. His defense was that he had altered the photo’s composition and color to the point where it was an original piece by him as well as the selected pose being a classic among leaders. I believe that Fairey was in the wrong, particularly for the cover up. However, his defense was not entirely invalid. In order to claim copyright, a work must have a minimum of creative effort which Fairey’s poster had. At the same time, he did not follow the designer’s policy of obtaining permission from the copyright holder for proper use in his own work. The arguments over the details of the work that went into the poster and the loopholes that justify both sides can really make one stress and get confused over the details.

Having now a better understanding of copyright and the proper handling of copyrighted material, I look back on how I handled using others’ work in my own in the past. A few times, I have used copyrighted content in my own projects and assignments for school. This was a result of me not knowing about how copyright worked or not completely understanding what constitutes what’s okay or not. I would use images and links to videos in slideshows, graphic design, web pages, and videos without giving credit unless I was explicitly asked to do so. Because the copyrighted content was used for personal use i.e. schoolwork, no action can be taken against me as I only published my work for small audiences if published at all. This falls under fair use which allows anyone to use copyrighted material for educational purposes among others with some limitations.

I signed a contract in order to start my internship. The contract was in regards to the nature of my internship goals and what kind of internship I was agreeing to. I never signed a design-specific contract or a non-disclosure type of agreement. Although there were some rules regarding limitations on what I can detail in my blogs on OpenLab. I did not sign a contract for this. The instructions were given verbally instead. My entire class was told not to mention any names in writing. I was however given verbal permission to showcase the work I did. This included the animations I did of the logo with the company’s name.

I finally got assigned my second project. My supervisor sent me files from a recent interview he did at New York Comic Con. I was tasked with cleaning up the audio file so the subjects’ voices are heard more clearly over the background noise and syncing it up to the video file. I was planning on attending the convention myself but ultimately didn’t. Had I went, I would’ve met up with my supervisor and do some filming, actual onsite work.