Interview with Mark Crowner

Mark Crowner works in Louisville, Kentucky, where he owns Mark Crowner Productions. He has a lot of experience in field audio and broadcast outlets.

1. How did you get started in the business?

-He said he was an undergrad in Broadcast Journalism and he worked at a local station during school. He took to the audio aspect as well as creating longform pieces.

2. What is it like working for International clients?

-He said he has done a lot of documentary work overseas while on mission trips with his Church. He would do longform documentary work while staying in countries for extended periods of time. He enjoyed getting to travel and seeing different places around the world.

3. Do you have any advice to give a student who might be interested in the business?

- He said he had two pieces of advice. The first is that success is based on relationships. You need to have good communication skills and good people skills, and you need to get them if you don't have them already. He said he still gets business from people he made relationships with back in college. Also patience is necessary when working with people because you will always be working on group projects, where people skills are necessary. Second, he said you should never quit learning. Things in the industry change all the time and very quickly. Always continue to seek out what's new and adapt to these changes to keep up with the rest of the industry.

-Interviewed by Rebecca Farmer

Interview with Dennis Goodman

Dennis Goodman is part of RiverRun Moving Pictures, based in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is a director for clients.

1. How did you get started?

-He said he started out in 1983 as a partner for producing a corporate video. Then he later did work as a director of photography. He had always had an interest in film, even though it wasn't as developed in the 1980's as it is now.

2. What kind of production does your company do?

-He said he mostly directs commercials as well as corporate spots. Even films for corporations. His company has a 35mm camera package and work on Avid to create spots for their clients.

3. What is your favorite job you have ever worked on in the business?

-He said his company once did a longform piece for a woodcutting company, which he enjoyed because they got to do shots in the outdoors rather than on a set, and the woodcutting provided for good footage.

4. Any tips you would give to a student who is interested in the business?

-He said if you care about money, it is difficult to prosper in the smaller markets. If money is important to you then go to the West Coast and California, because there is a lot of work out there.

Interviewed by Rebecca Farmer

Brandy Ludlam-Graphic Designer/Web designer

1. Can you briefly define your job to me?

I own a website design company where I develop custom-made websites and many of the graphics included. I also produce videos for various clients as needed.

2. How did you get started in the business?

I actually got started because I was bored :). I began teaching myself how to write HTML code over a break in high school. I discovered that I actually liked it and things went from there. I began to dabble in graphic design as well as flash and video editing to enhance my web designs. I began editing and producing video my freshman year in college.

3. How do you tell someone over you (your boss) that you can't accomplish an assigned task?

This may sound conceded, but I can't remember a time where I've had to tell someone I can't accomplish a task. It seems like every time I run into something that doesn't "work" the way that it should or I am not getting the outcome desired, I always seem to find a work-around that satisfies my standard of excellence and the one I am working for.

4. Do you have any advice for a media student starting out?

Take your tasks seriously but don't take yourself too seriously. Have fun with what you're doing. Don't ever forget

Interview with Michelle Gold

Where do you work?

Currently, I work in features. I just finished working in editorial on a movie called Unstoppable, but when I worked in trailers I worked at a company called Creative Asylum.

Can you briefly define your job/job title to me?

I was a producer/editor for trailers. We would meet with marketing divisions for studios and pitch concepts, usually starting with scripts and storyboards and offer multiple concepts for the marketing contact at the studio to review and choose from. Upon concept approval we'd usually go through a multi-round process where we'd edit and the submit for review in stages. Theatrical trailers also go through an audience testing focus group process so we'd be up against other trailer houses and whichever trailers the focus group would respond to would make it to the next round until there would be specific trailers chosen for theatres/tv.

How did you get started in the business?

I started out working in special features for DVDs (like behind the scenes pieces) and began working in trailers/promos a little bit later.

What trailers have you personally worked on?

I have worked on smaller ones mostly - The Ruins, Starship Troopers 3, this Val Kilmer movie Felon, a movie called Ping Pong Playa, Nobel Son, a lot of specialty division and indie films.

What kinds of computer programs do you use?

Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, most of the Adobe Creative Suite and Cinema 4D.
What is your favorite thing about your job?

What do you find most difficult about your job?

The reason I ultimately left trailers was because I felt that often marketing departments were so concerned about doing the wrong thing that they'd settle on a middle of the road approach which was an overall mediocre campaign because they would worry about doing something risky. It was frustrating from a creative standpoint and it wouldn't make the trailer feel like it was anything special. Trailers like The Social Network are great because it had such a different approach and grabs people, the same with Christopher Nolan's earlier Inception trailers.

How do you tell someone over you (i.e your boss) that you can't
accomplish an assigned task?

You make sure you've exhausted every possibility first. If you really can't accomplish it, rather than bring it to your boss in those terms, figure out multiple possible alternative solutions and start the conversation by suggesting those. It shows that you are actively trying to positively resolve the issue rather than just saying "I can't." Bosses don't like hearing that.

Do you have any advice for a media/journalism student like me starting
out?

Look for work in the field you really want to work in. Since you're just starting out, don't worry about the salary so much as long as it's enough to live on or you have an alternative (like interning during the day and waiting tables/cocktailing at night). It's important though to do what you love so try to get a job in that field from the start because if you do, you'll move forward quickly because that enthusiasm shows in your work and creativity. For example, if you want to edit, edit. Sometimes it's better to take a job like PA or reception that will allow you to explore the various areas at a shop if you aren't certain yet without having to
commit to one path early on. Also, keep developing your skills on your own. If you have friends that like to direct and you want to edit for instance take on those projects for free and work just hard on them on your own time and that way you build up a body of work to show the people you work with and they see you can do that and you're serious about it. Also spend time asking questions when it's not busy. It's always good to get into a mentor type of relationship if the opportunity presents itself.

Is there anything else you can tell me about the trailer production
business?

Right now, it's a business where the budgets are shrinking. Due to
this, the platform is changing a bit for it with the advance of so much
online and broadband. It used to be that theatrical and tv were the
only way to sell films coming out, but now there are so much more
platforms that it is in some ways an uncertain business at the moment
with the technology advancements happening.

Interviewed by: Amanda Smith

Interview with David A. Taylor

David Taylor is a screenwriter in the Washington D.C. Area. Look for his Documentary, Soul of A People

1. Can you briefly define your job to me?

I'm mainly a writer of documentary film scripts, books and articles. Usually I do preliminary research for a story that seems interesting to test whether it really is strong enough for a magazine, book or tv program. If it is, I propose it to an editor or production company, and take it through the scriptwriting phase, sometimes as co-producer: identifying interview sources, shaping the narrative for dramatic scenes and turns, and writing the script to get the story across clearly and compellingly. That can include post-production, working in the edit suite with the film editor and director to make sure characters' stories are built with the right pacing and context. So part of my time is spent marketing my ideas, and most of my time (usually) is spent developing them for the right format.

2. How did you get started in the business?

I started first by writing for magazines, sending query letters proposing story ideas to editors and wading through many rejections before receiving a 'yes'. My published magazine articles helped me to find a literary agent for my book proposals, and also to get into the documentary production scene in Washington, DC.

3. How do you tell someone over you (your boss) that you can't accomplish an assigned task?

I haven't been in that situation in a long time, but what I'd do is tell them what I'm focusing on and ask what priorities need to shift (or what extra skills I'd need) to do the assigned task.

4. Do you have any advice for a media student starting out?

Learn the technical side but also develop the creative side of storytelling, practicing in different formats that can help you get your work in front of producers: youtube videos, webcasts, published work, and screenplays.

Jason Porter-Broadcast and Motion Graphics Designer

1. Can you briefly define your job to me?
Jason Porter is a motion graphics/animator for Mad Monkey, a boutique media production firm in Columbia, S.C. that specializes in commerical and interactive media. Right now he finished working on a commercial starring Lebron James. Since he works for a small agency he considers himself as a generalist--In the advertising world these are people who are multi-talented almost like the "Renaissance Man." In smaller boutiques they may have a title as motion graphics designer but they do multiple things such as video editing or art direction for a film project.
2. How did you get started in the business?
Porter watched animations and cartoons growing up,specifically Disney movies. He considers the Golden of Disney Animation(Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King etc..) inspired him to pursue a career in Animation. Porter pursued a Bachelor in Science and Arts in Animation at the Art Institute at California-San Francisco. Afterwards, he entered into the entertainment industry as a video game animator. Then once his wife entered into the University of South Carolina Medical School, he took his present job at Mad Monkey as a motion graphic designer. He said that working in a large corporation, people assigned to do one thing and that only, now that he is living in Columbia, he works for a smaller company where his title encompasses multiple skills.
3. How do you tell someone over you (your boss) that you can't accomplish an assigned task?
Porter said that sometimes you need to be good with everyone because you never when you are going to need help with something. For accomplishing a task porter said that it's okay to ask for help and to understand that everything is a learning experience.
4. Do you have any advice for a media student starting out?
Go to a school with a strong program that you are specifically interested in because some programs might have job connections for when you graduate. Be good to everyone because some of them might end up being your co-workers or your interviewers. As an animator he said he always tried to keep his personality in all his projects even if it was the director's vision. He said to have certain personality in all of your worker even if its for another person's vision. Also Porter said to a have a thick skin--know that your work is going to be critiqued. He also said that if a person wants to really get there foot into the film and media arts industry that they might have to go to a place that where the industry exists and is still growing, specifically--Get out of South Carolina.

Simon Tarr-media arts professor

1. Can you briefly define your job to me?
I make independent experimental/animation films and artworks, and I sell them/perform them all over the world.
2. How did you get started in the business?
I am not in "the business." I am a business. That's why I'm an independent artist. My job is to translate my visions in a way that compels people. That's art. I left the industry of being a cog in someone else's machine long ago, but when I entered it, I did so by starting to work for free. Then people realized that they could not get their work done without me, so they started to pay me.
3. How do you tell someone over you (your boss) that you can't accomplish an assigned task?This does not happen. I am the boss. I only turn down a gig or a commission if I a.) am too busy with other gigs, b.) wouldn't get paid enough, or c.) don't like the parameters of the commission.
4. Do you have any advice for a media student starting out?
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that there is this Big Media Industry, and one prescribed best way to be successful.