The internship is almost over, and the deadline for our project is coming up.

On Tuesday, we had a workshop on setting up a set and filming. Chris, the director of photography, and Gaby, the sound mixer, led the workshop in an interview format. They showed us how to set up lighting for interviews, mic the interviewee, work the sound mixer, and ensure perfect sound. We rotated roles, each taking a turn as the interviewee, camera operator, sound mixer, and interviewer. We all gave short interviews about Korean pop music since we’ve all been into it at some point of our lives.

For lunch, Abi and Joann bought us food, and we had a great time eating and talking about movies and the different roles people play in producing them. It was fascinating to hear how Gaby and Chris got into the industry. After lunch, we finished the workshop, put all the equipment back, and cleaned up. It was fun and informative, and we definitely learned things we wouldn’t have elsewhere.

After the workshop, I showed my progress to the girls. They were impressed by the changes and my creative vision. I’m always open to feedback and suggestions, so we discussed parts that needed more attention. This gave me a clear plan for what to work on next. Before the day ended, I asked Joann about the deadline for the second draft and the project screening. We agreed that I would work on the project some more and send the new version on Thursday for her final comments.

Thursday was really productive. I knew exactly what I needed to work on. I started by color grading each shot, as the LUT I downloaded wasn’t working on all of them. Dark shots looked even darker, so I manually fixed each shot by adjusting exposure, contrast, temperature, etc.

The other interns suggested adding an old film frame to the memory sequence, so I downloaded various templates. These were After Effects files, so I worked in After Effects first to see which frame fit best, then exported it to Premiere. I’m glad that I had an experince using After Effects before, since it helped me a lot. I played with the size and opacity of the frame, but it still looked off. Dave suggested applying a Gaussian blur to the edges, which made it look much better.

Dave also helped me with a lot of the color grading, especially when I struggled to make the shots look consistent. I asked Jorge, our graphic designer, to create the final credits for us. We wanted them in a specific way, with behind-the-scenes shots on the left and cast and crew names on the right. Jorge kindly agreed and made it for us.

By the end of the day, I had almost everything finished. The few remaining tasks were the audio, which Kya will fix on Tuesday, and the BTS for the final credits. I put everything together, fixed what I could, and uploaded it to Frame.io for the second round of comments from Joann.

We are on the finish line, and it’s so exciting to see what the final product will be.

On Tuesday, we didn’t have our regular workshop, so I worked on the project all day. Kya, one of the interns, was in the office and helped me with some color grading. She gave me another perspective on parts of the project I was struggling with. It’s so much easier to work with someone by your side, as you can always get a third-person perspective. I’m not great at sound design and mixing, so Kya offered to work on that or suggested we ask an Adrenaline sound designer for help once all the shots and their order were settled. Kya left to do her work, and I continued on the project. However, at some point, I got stuck and couldn’t see anything else to change or how to move forward. Joann, our production coordinator and internship assistant, told me I could submit the first draft early if I felt stuck. That way, she could leave comments and suggestions for me. After uploading the project on Frame.io, I decided to go home early since there was nothing else to do.

First thing on Thursday, Joann asked me to run some errands: pick up something from Walmart and drop off catering supplies to a nearby catering company. After doing that, I reviewed Joann’s comments and got more inspiration and ideas. I started right away on improving the project. Dave was in the office, and he helped me a lot! He gave suggestions about transitions and how to blend them better. Joann had a comment about a fast-paced sequence in the video, suggesting it could be even faster like a memory recap before a dramatic drop in the song. I tried to make it faster but still couldn’t figure it out. Dave suggested making the sequence start slow and gradually shorten the shots as it gets faster before the drop. The problem was that we didn’t have enough footage for a memory recap because we hadn’t planned for it initially. To fill the gap, I used some footage taken before the director said action, which gave me different angle shots that looked slightly different from each other. It worked perfectly, and we both liked the result. Dave also helped with longer scenes to make them less slow and boring by adding different angle shots from other takes of the same scene. We agreed to keep the last scene as one shot without many cuts since it was the final scene and everything was slowing down. I fixed that, and it definitely looked better. I spent the whole day reviewing comments and adjusting the project with Dave’s help. By the end of the day, I saw significant progress, both stylistically and technically.

---

Week 9 was as productive as the last one!

On Tuesday, the interns and I had a workshop about professional pointers. We watched a few videos about hierarchy on set, the roles of people above and below the line, and set etiquette. Abi and Jordan explained how Adrenaline Films operates and their approach to being on set. At the end of the workshop, they gave us a list of walkie-talkie lingo and handed us walkie-talkies. Abi and Jordan went to another part of the building, and we had to find them using the walkie-talkie language and codes. It was really fun!

After the workshop, Em, Kirah, and I worked on our project. I showed them what I had done so far, and we reviewed the new footage they captured. We chose the best takes and put them in order with the footage I had already edited. Em, our project director, gave me some notes on her vision for the project and trusted me with the decisions on cuts, transitions, and editing in general. By the end of the day, we had our rough draft with all the footage, sound, music, and some transitions.

On Thursday, Jorge, our graphic artist, and Zach, an editor, helped me with our project since Dave wasn’t in the office. I had a specific idea in mind for the title of the music video and had downloaded a template, but it was too complicated to edit in Premiere Pro. Jorge kindly created the title for me in After Effects. It turned out great and fit perfectly with the video. Zach helped me with some questions I had, especially with filling gaps in the video and making the message clearer. He suggested ways to adjust the volume of the song in certain parts to make it more dramatic and helped with transitions and general editing tips.

We had a great conversation about the video’s concept and how to improve it. Learning from professionals was invaluable, and I felt more confident moving forward. I spent the rest of the day improving our project, researching different color LUTs, transitions, and sound effects. By the end of the day, the project was in much better shape than when I started.

I feel like I’m learning so much every day, and this knowledge will definitely help me with many future projects!

Week 8 was incredibly fun and full of learning! I learned SO MUCH!

On Tuesday, I attended a workshop instead of my usual Monday shift. After arriving, I met with the other interns, and we chatted for a bit before starting our workshop with Abi, our creative director, and Jordan, our studio assistant. The workshop focused on pre-production and development, covering a wide range of topics like conceptualization, budgeting, scheduling, pitch materials, and more.

Abi shared her approach to developing creative projects, emphasizing her three main questions: what, why, and how. “What” includes terms like logline, synopsis, and project overview, providing a short explanation of the project. “Why” covers themes, objectives, and the artist statement, explaining why the project is unique and why it’s being made. “How” involves references, format/shooting style, and equipment, detailing how the project will come to life.

We had a little assignment where Abi gave us a topic, and we had to develop a concept to highlight the new camera Adrenaline recently acquired. After that, we discussed our own ideas, and Abi offered valuable insights. I shared my senior project idea and received many helpful suggestions on how to develop it further. We also went over pitch materials, budgeting, and scheduling, which was new to me since I hadn’t learned about project development outside of the internship. Abi answered many of our questions and expressed her willingness to help us in the future.

After the workshop, we went to the computer I work on, and I showed the interns the footage I had organized for our intern project. We established the order of the shots and matched them to parts of the song. It was a tedious process, but I labeled each shot with the lyrics and time code of the song for easy reference. After the interns left, I continued working on the project, putting the shots in the right order, cutting them up and matching them to the song. By the end of the day, I had the first rough draft ready, even though some footage was still missing, and there were no transitions, graphics, or titles yet.

Tuesday was a day of immense learning from industry professionals and watching our project come together.

Week 7 was really busy but exciting at the same time! On Sunday, I received my first call sheet for the first day of shooting our intern project. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll explain more here. The internship project involves me and three other interns at Adrenaline Films creating a video that’s at least 3 minutes long. I suggested a music video, and the others liked it, so we decided on a music video with a storyline, dialogs, and a script. We chose Billie Eilish’s song “Birds of a Feather” and came up with a plot about two sisters separated by family problems who realize they need each other and reunite by the end.

Em, the production intern, was our director. Kya, the pre-production intern, handled finding actors, making the call sheet, shot list, strip boards, and the production schedule. Kirah, our social media intern, was in charge of promoting our project online. I’m the post-production intern, so I’ll handle editing once we finish filming. On set, I was a production assistant (PA), which means running errands, getting lunch, helping with equipment, and generally assisting wherever needed.

On Monday, I picked up our makeup and hair artist and drove to the set at 9 AM. We filmed at Em’s house in Oviedo. It was really hot, making filming more challenging, but it was so much fun watching the crew work. We had a team of at least 17 people, including a director, continuity, ACs camera operator, gaffer, grip crew, sound person, production designer, and production supervisors from Adrenaline. The shoot moved quickly, and we mostly stayed on schedule. We filmed both indoors and outdoors, with each shot done 2-3 times or more. The crew and actors were amazing. During lunch, I helped Joann, a production supervisor, get everyone lunch and water. We finished the last shot at 7 PM and packed up by 7:30. I dropped off our makeup artist, Abi, and got home by 9 PM. It was a long and tiring day but also new and exciting.

Our second shooting day was on Tuesday at Adrenaline’s white room studio. I received the call sheet the day before with the schedule and scenes. I had work in the morning, so I arrived at Adrenaline at 4 PM. This day was much slower and not as hot. We used the same crew and actors, filming against a white backdrop with different colored lights and a fog machine. The shots looked amazing, and since we filmed in one spot, there was less hustle. I enjoyed watching everyone work and didn’t have much to help with, making it an easy day. We finished filming by 7:30 PM, but due to bad weather, we had to wait for the rain to stop. Meanwhile, we had time to chat and make friends, which was really cool. Hearing everyone’s experiences made me even more excited.

On Thursday, I came in, and Dave helped me organize the footage we filmed. There were a lot of shots and takes, but with notes from the director and continuity, it was straightforward. First, I uploaded the footage to the server, then created a Premiere Pro project with folders for audio, video, and music. I separated the footage and put it on the timeline, matching each shot with the corresponding audio and deleting the camera audio. I highlighted the best takes and ensured we had enough footage by creating another sequence with all the highlighted shots, which totaled about 10 minutes without cuts, transitions, or effects. We still have our third day of shooting on a bridge at sunset, so we definitely have enough footage.

At the end of the day, I searched for templates for transitions and titles, as well as LUTs. Artlist.io is a great resource for this. I also downloaded the song and organized everything into folders. This organizing and searching took most of the day, and once I finished, I headed home.

Week 7 was intense but incredibly fun and exciting. I met so many talented people and now have connections with professionals I can reach out to for help with my senior project.