Internship Experience
In the summer of 2024 from May 13th - July 19th I was a media intern at the Indiana Alliance Church working under my site supervisor, Dr. Rev. Marv Nelson. During this experience I had the opportunity to build a set for, produce, and edit a podcast called Cultivating Candor, I created weekly Sunday morning video announcements, I edited many graphics and fliers for multiple ministries within the church's function, and I organized and managed the production of a pictorial directory consisting of the many members of the church. Given that IAC is a nonprofit, I would quickly learn that some of the structural elements and resources are unconventional when compared to other sites. Churches may not have traditional clientele or respective services, but I learned through this experience that there are many media needs to ensure the flow of a Sunday morning and to maintain the interest of congregants.
Work Experience
Cultivating Candor Podcast
Weekly Project
May 13th - July 12th
I helped to create a set for, produce, record, and edit a podcast called Cultivating Candor. The purpose of this project is to spark discussion over common misconceptions and issues happening within the realm of the Christian church. The hope is, through the expertise of our hosts, to create a welcoming environment where these topics can be respectfully discussed. I spent many hours digitally drawing the set before purchasing the items for decorating and soundproofing. Upon the completion of the set in early June, I coordinated with the hosts, Marv Nelson, David Hardie, Nithin Thompson, Dan Boal, and Drew Walker to figure out the best time to record multiple segments of the show to be able to pump out weekly materials for listeners. We recorded a teaser episode in the second week of July, and I edited the show in Adobe Audition to be released by the following week. The set we made was in consideration of our video audience, so I edited the visual component using Adobe Premiere. My site supervisor, Marv Nelson, was impressed with the quality of the room design and the outcome of the editing I did.
Sunday Morning Announcements
Weekly Project
May 13th - July 19th
Every week I assisted in filming and editing announcement videos for Sunday mornings before the beginning of the sermon. I would coordinate with the church's secretary, Candy, who makes the weekly bulletins to pull information to create a script. I would then use an online teleprompter to assist the talent in delivering the script, allowing them to make adjustments in speed for comfortability. I edited in Adobe Premiere for the major cuts, and then I would pull my video into Canva to insert graphics. I found this process to be most useful in getting a professional look. Our sound tech, Lee, would then assist me in uploading the video to ProPresenter on Sunday mornings. Many congregants of the church approached me to commend me for the quality of my work. People would often say the funny nature of each segment made them remember upcoming events better.
Pictorial Directory
Weekly Project
May 13th - July 19th
For this project, I created a photography set near the exit doors in the lobby for congregants to get their picture taken for the pictorial directory after the Sunday morning service. This has been a desired project for our church for many years, to assist regular attendees to connect faces to names of people they don't regularly connect with. In my Sunday morning announcements I would include a segment about the pictorial directory to remind everyone to come get their pictures taken. This project required weekly advertising given the required involvement of congregants in order to fully complete the project. I took the images with a Canon 5D Mark IV, and edited the pictures in Adobe Photoshop. I then created a directory template using Canva to insert my images into. As IAC is a nonprofit community organization, it was not mandatory for congregants to get their pictures taken and as such, it was hard to get individuals and families to participate. Because of this, the project remained unfinished by the end of my internship. Despite the directory remaining unfinished, the work that I did laid the foundation for the church secretary and media staff to complete the project at a later date. My site supervisor, Marv Nelson, upon viewing the template I made was very pleased with the outcome of my digital work and photo editing.
Graphics
Assigned as needed
May 13th - July 19th
At IAC, the church has new events nearly every week. To assist in getting the word out, I helped to make fliers and graphics in Canva depending on the current events happening at the church. Often, the Children's Ministry would require the most advertising work, especially in June when the church hosted their Vacation Bible School called The Great Jungle Journey. I would coordinate and assist the VBS Children's Director, Lauren Bailey, with the registration website, graphic design of fliers, and organizing of digital files for this event. Because of my advertising work on social media, nearly 80 kids were pre-registered for this event (considering last year, the church only had 12 kids pre-registered!) This helped the church staff to be better prepared for the event, to know how many supplies to purchase, and how to best assist volunteers for the amount of kids that would arrive. Overall, I created many miscellaneous graphics depending on the needs of the church. One of my fellow staff members, Lauren Bailey, was very pleased with the graphics I made for VBS in particular. She felt that this was the best reception from the public of the church's VBS program yet.