During my time at Cinqua, there weren’t any real events we had at the office. There were events at Pier 36 where John and I to blend in with the staff of the event. John is the in-house videographer for the Pier, we don’t film for the event holders like Tommy Hilfiger or Nickelodeon. Most security know who we are so they let us in but sometimes security for the companies tend to stop us because they believe we are trying to sneak in. These events have heavy security so they will not let you in unless you have clearance. These events were fun to attend to because even though we needed to record the event and highlight how they use the place, it is just amazing to be there in person. For example, the Tommy Hilfiger fashion show had an in door mini lake and a small island in the middle. Pier 36 is a huge place so there are so many possibilities to turn the place into completely something else. 

Every week working at Cinqua, I didn’t know what to expect. Most of the times, John tells me ahead of time of a shoot we have to attend and sometimes its unexpected. Also there are many events at the Pier so it’s always different. It is sometimes a sport event or fashion show or a make-up Convention. There was an Art Gallery we had to interview different artist. So yes, you can say that I met a lot of people and of course I was polite and respected their work. But of you weren’t really role models, they were just people we had to interview or shoot. In the end, John was really everything that made up Cinqua, he was the director, owner, founder and a role model to me. When I first met him during my interview, I was very nervous because I did research on him and his work seem very strict and serious. When I met him, he was very relaxed and cool. He knew I was very nervous but he made me feel comfortable after we just had talk like it wasn’t an interview.

I learned a lot from him during my time at Cinqua. I had very low confidence at my work but he always had faith in me and just push me to continue with my idea or vision of the video. Whenever I was stuck he told me to take a break or a walk for as long as I needed because he too was once in my position and understands the difficulty of coming up with an idea. John was my mentor, each week we learn stuff about each other and he pushes me to get out of my comfort zone. I tell him I have a crazy idea for the video and he tells me go for it. He even helped me to understand music knowledge, which can be very helpful when editing videos. Its kinda of sad knowing this Monday is my last day at Cinqua. I attended about 9 events and managed to finish editing 5 videos which John said is very good for just having one intern. Hopefully one day, I can create my own private Video company and have my equipment and office where I can have a big open area to work and listen to music in peace, just like John and his company Cinqua.

So far, I think I’m doing a good job at my internship. John even said that I am pretty fast compared to his pervious interns there. I do have a lot in hands, I am the only intern there and we shot a lot of events and there are more to come. There are even days where it wasn’t planed and he asked me to come in which I did. There was an AOL event where is was really late and John thought I might have a problem with it but i didn’t. Whenever I am at the internship I put %100 into it. Not only because this is job but its my future, it’s my dream to someday be a film director/producer. John said that he knows this means a lot to me and sees how dedicated I am. To be honest, I feel like I can do better so the next time I am there, I will try my best to see what my true potential is. 

I will like to apologize for the lack of visual imagery. I am not allowed to take files or screen shots of the videos we filmed and it is pretty hard to take pictures during the events while carrying equipment. This is just a picture I had to take because John and I ran through the crowd to see the one and only Snoop Dog(sorry Snoop Lion). 

During my internship, John told me that most likely everything we shot is something I going to edit into a 3-4 minute video. I already completed two videos, a Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Show and the 9 Man VolleyBall Tournament. The tommy Hilfiger was the first video I edited and I was pretty nervous because I didn’t know if I had a deadline or the requires of the videos. He just gave me the raw clips and told me to make a 4 minute video. So of course I asked him questions like, the mood he wants, if there will be music, what type of music and all that. Together,John and I picked the song to go with the video and I was to start from there. During the end of the day, I showed him and we edited some stuff together and show me ways to make it better. After I took all his advice, he looked at it and liked it. He said to make a thumbnail and it will be ready to go. Pretty much the project was a collaboration and I’m really proud how it turn out to be. The full 4 minute video is not up on youtube yet because the owner of the Pier has to approve it first. Here is the short Instagram video which you can see for yourselves.

https://instagram.com/cinqua5/ (It’s the one with the model)

The first day of my internship, we were shooting a volley ball tournament so basically we had not control over what to shoot. There were a lot of people in this event and the games/matches were spread out in three different locations, the inside of the Pier, the parking lot, and the school across the street. This was my first day there so it was chaotic to shoot and we had to move around with all the equipment like tripods, lens and all that. After a few shoots, I became used to it. Moving across the crowd, changing lens quickly and setting/moving the tripod became a typical day at my internship. When we are not shooting, we are in the office editing the videos and that’s fun too because this is where I learn skills on Adobe Premiere Pro. My major is communication design but this internship focuses on Film/Production but it still helps me built creative designs because a video is design, it’s a vision of someone’s art in a motion picture.

The first thing that I learned is not really a skill but more of tip. The event we were shooting was a volley ball tournament and he told me a tip he calls “fishing”. “Fishing” is like real like fishing, we set the camera at a certain spot and just wait. You wait and hoping something will catch the bait, in other words, hoping something cool or exciting will happen on camera. During the event, John waited at certain spot and waited and waited, until something amazing happened and are relief that it been caught on film. This helps me be patient on the field and gave me insight on how the real world works of shooting film. You can’t capture everything on film but you can catch the best part. You don’t whats gonna happen so that is why you set the bait and wait for something to bite.

At the office, I learn a lot about Adobe Premiere Pro. I knew the basics of the program but John showed me some short cuts and editing tips to make the video better. One feature I use a lot now is the transition called crossfade. Crossfading is a great way to cut one clip to another. I used other effects like color balance or motion steady but Cross fading is something I used in all the videos so far. This helps me transition clips and benefits my film a lot because instead of using the entire raw clip, I can shorten it and combine clips in an almost flawless way.

Another thing I learned is to do interviews. During my first interview shoot which was at an Art Gallery, we were in control of the environment, lighting, sound and the mood of the video. John written down some ideas/questions he wanted to make sure to shoot but he only looked at it once. He made the interviewer comfortable and made it seem like it wasn’t an interview. John, who was behind the camera was asking him questions but then his questions leads into a new topic and then generates a new topic and it just continues. I learned there are many way to do interview and this method made it seem it was a conversation and it captures real responses with face expression, change in voice tone and makes it causal. It wasn’t boring is what I’m trying to say.

I used a camera before and I pretty good at keeping it steady and safe from harm. But with John’s camera I felt uncomfortable using cause it was not mine and very expensive. This is something I learned to overcome. In the real world, there are so many directors and camera man out there fighting to get the best shot, John was one of them. John always told me to stay behind when he wanted to get a better shot even if it meant he was going to run in front of the stage and capture it. I learned to take risk, to get the best shot I needed to have the camera ready and go climb, run, or sneak your way to get that shot. I’m using the camera now but still haven’t gone to that level doing whatever it takes to get that shoot. Hopefully after this internship, this is something I am able to do without any problem.

In I’m allowed to wear casual clothing but in when there like an important event like a Fashion Show, I need to dress formal. At Cinqua, it’s only John and I so we can wear whatever we like so he dresses casual and so do I. It’s a small office so sometimes John brings out a table for him to work on or he sits near me on a long table so we work side by side. I work 8 hours with an hour break, so I usually get lunch and sit near the water because the office is near the Brooklyn bridge. John usually brings his lunch to work but sometimes he steps out to grab a coffee or just to clear his mind. I sometimes do that to, where I need a second just to think and reflect on the project I am working on. 

At Cinqua, I am the assistant to the director, John Carluccio the founder and owner of the company. Every time we go to a shoot, I help carry the tripods, lights, lens and other equipment depending on the event. On a regular non-shooting day, we are in the office and I help edit the raw clips into a 3-4 minute video. Before I got accepted into internship, I went online looking for anything related to film shooting/editing because that is something that I am very interested in. I began applying for internships on indeed.com three weeks before classes began. After week of applying, I got a response back from John asking more questions of earlier work and any skills I have. After three days, I got another email from John asking for an interview. It was on the Monday when classes started that I went to the interview and he asked questions like my hobbies, skills and why I wanted to work in film/producing. I really wanted this internship so I did research on the company and the boss before hand. He told me he had one more person to interview so we will let me know if I got accepted after that interview. It was on Wednesday after the internship class when I received an email from John stating that I got accepted. That’s pretty much how I got the job and I am really glad that I started applying ahead of time.