Our team often gets to work one-on-one with Minnesota State University Moorhead students through Forum Communications Company’s Marcil Apprenticeship program. The program gives students hands-on experience in skills in which they are interested. When they partner with our Click team that includes a wide range of things, such as graphic design, videography and copywriting. It’s a great experience for them and it’s a great experience for us! Our most recent apprentice, Cindy Xiong, who will be a senior at MSUM shares more.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO MSUM?
I’ve always loved drawing and the arts, as well as enjoyed technology, and wanted to do something that combined the two. Being the perfect merge between the two, I am studying toward a degree in Animation, as well as attempting to get a certificate in book illustration.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR APPRENTICESHIP WITH US!
My mentor was Aaron Godard and we worked together to develop projects that would help me build upon my skills in animation and video production. I worked on two projects, with the first project focusing on videography; I was tasked with creating a video with the broad theme of winter. This project was an engaging challenge as it tested my creative abilities with the broad topic and challenged me in trying to film and find interest in a seemingly boring environment. And I’d say that I managed to make a satisfactory project.
With the second project, I worked much closer with the Click Content team as I was tasked with making a Click Content motion graphic ad for social media. This project was more regulated as I had to adhere to Click Content Studios’ branding guidelines, which was an interesting and new experience for me. It was interesting to read the branding guidelines of Click Content Studios as branding guidelines were something I was unaware of. I learned that a lot of thought and consideration is put into creating the brand of an organization.
Lastly, I had the opportunity to shadow Aaron during a production shoot for AgweekTV. It was my first time observing the behind-the-scenes of a production shoot and seeing a team working together. I was amazed by the awesome collaborative teamwork from everyone on the crew. Shadowing the team reinforced the fact that it takes a lot of work to create a product.
MOST INTERESTING THING YOU LEARNED?
The most interesting thing I learned about was color correction in post-video production. I was observing Aaron’s editing process and he did some color corrections on a video. I’ve heard about color correction before in relation to photography, but it never occurred to me that it could be translated over to video as well.
NEW SKILLS YOU PICKED UP?
I was able to hone and further develop my skills in videography, editing, animation, and especially pre-production planning, which is a very important and occasionally challenging thing for me to do because sometimes I just want to wing it.
FINAL THOUGHTS?
I enjoyed it! Aaron was a great and knowledgeable mentor. I’m glad that this opportunity allowed me to build upon my skills, try new creative projects, get a glimpse into the working environment, and see how a team works to make the dream work!
