February 19, 2025 • 42 mins
Current students Caroline Hamilton, Caitlyn Shaw and alum Kyle Macciomei talk about how to get the most benefit from the college experience. From clubs to independent student film groups, as well as on campus employment opportunities, they share stories and break down ways to make the most of your time at GVSU.
Links:
Links:
- Women in Cinema Instagram: gvwomenincinema
- GVTV Youtube
- Laker Link
- Registered Student Organizations Website
- SNECC Studios Vimeo
- Student Employment
- The Bridge
- Production Support Resources
- WGVU TV
- Promotions Office
West Michigan Companies mentioned in the show:
To learn about ways you can support GVSU film and video students:
- The Dirk Koning Memorial Film and Video Scholarship
- The Chuck Peterson Memorial Fellowship
- Morse-Cuppy Film, Video, Animation Study Abroad Endowed Scholarship
- GVSU F/V Alumni: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gvsufilmvideoalumni
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Welcome =to=== Alumni Live (00:03):
The Podcast.
These are conversations with GrandValley State University film and video
graduates about the industry, thefilm/video, major and alumni profiles.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Caroline Hamilton, and I'm afourth year at GVSU, and today I'm here
talking with Kyle Macciome and CaitlynShaw about getting involved on campus.
(00:23):
We're going to be talking a littlebit about clubs on campus employment,
and kind of anything else you cando on campus to get experience.
So for starters, if you guyswant to introduce yourself
. Hi everyone, my name is Caitlyn Shaw, I am a third year here at GVSU, I've
been involved with a couple of film andvideo related things I say yes to way
too many things which has led me to alot of really cool groups of people.
(00:46):
As far as clubs go, I've been a memberof and also on the eboard for two clubs,
Women in Cinema club and ContinuousScreenwriting club here on campus.
And then work wise, I've workedat both The Bridge and currently I
work at WGVU in the downtown campus.
And then yeah, my name is Kyle Macciome.
I am a former film and videograduate from the year 2020.
(01:07):
Basically since then, I went on and get aMaster's in Education Technology at GVSU.
Basically focusing on educational video.
And then, immediately after that, Istarted working at GVSU at a place
called The Bridge , which is a placewhere we collaborate with student
workers, usually film majors, to createeducational video content for professors
all across the university to use.
(01:27):
So I have the experiences of beinga former student, someone who's
involved a lot in extracurricularactivities, and now an employer
somehow here at the university.
Very cool.
And I'm also involved with Caitlynon the Women in Cinema club and
also Continuous Script Writing club.
I also have been working at The Bridgefor a little bit now and Production
Support Resources, the equipment room.
But let's start with clubs.
(01:48):
There's quite a few film clubs on campusthat come and go, and students are open
to start their own clubs at any point.
But let's start with GVTV.
So Kyle, do you want to talk about that?
Absolutely.
So I spent all four years as anundergrad in film and video at
GVTV at Grand Valley Television.
I cannot speak, whether you arelistening to this now or in the future,
I cannot speak to the current status ofGVTV, of the current quality of GVTV.
(02:12):
I don't know.
I've been out of the university fora while, but I know that it has ebbed
and flow in terms of how presentit's been, how active it's been.
The pandemic certainly smashedit down quite a bit as everything
went remote right as I was leaving.
But what I can say is that I view the fouryears that I spent as an undergrad in film
and video the education that I received,I would say half of it with regards
(02:33):
to film was my actual film classes.
The other half was thetime that I spent in GVTV.
And that's just because you just needto have the time to be able to be around
like minded individuals, people who wantto create things, and you go out with the
resources that GVTV provided us, whichwas a lot of film equipment, a lot of
physical spaces to record, and a lot ofcameras and microphones and lighting.
(02:55):
Ways to fail, essentially.
I always recommend people failfaster, as much as possible.
Make the bad short films, makethe bad videos as soon as you
can, because then you'll know.
Oopsie daisy, we recorded allday, and we have no audio.
That's the last time you'reprobably gonna do that.
Oopsie daisy, the lens cap was on, orthe focus was out, or we don't actually
understand how to not corrupt the videofiles once we get them onto the computer.
(03:16):
The sooner you do that, the better ofa video creator you are going to be,
and places like GVTV are places whereyou're gonna be able to experiment.
You're also going to havethose opportunities in the
class, but ultimately, youknow, those can ebb and flow.
It depends on what your scheduleis, semester to semester.
Maybe you've backlogged a lot of thoseproduction classes and you're starting
off with a lot of the theory classes.
I think first semester freshmen, secondsemester freshmen, as soon as possible,
(03:39):
get involved into something like GVTV.
And regardless of what GVTV is atthe moment you're listening to this,
find other people who, outside ofthe classroom, want to create things.
And I can really only recommendthat again, and again.
Because I know that I made three times,four times the amount of stuff in
GVTV than what I made in my classes.
And every time I made something, Ilearned a little bit more along the way.
(04:00):
So when I started, I walkedin, it was a big room, I was
very scared, I was a freshman.
And, the real truth of the matter,I just told you how important it
is to do GVTV as soon as possibleI went to the first meeting, and
then I didn't go to a single meetingfor the rest of the first semester.
I wanted to hang out, I wanted to docollege, I was like, I was intimidated
by all these people, and it was strange.
It was strange.
And it was only at the start of mysecond semester when I got an email
(04:21):
because I was still on their emaillist and said, Hey, we're trying to
create the show called "Catastrophe".
And we'd like people to joinon and I just showed up.
And because I showed up, they said,Hey, do you want to direct an episode?
I said, what's the show?
And they're like, that's going to belike "The Office" and also "Arrested
Development" and three other things.
And it's called "Catastrophe".
We were all young and wewere all trying to do things.
We all wanted to make somethingbig and grand and epic.
We said, we're gonna make 10 episodesin a single semester, and each
(04:43):
episode's gonna be 21 minutes long.
And they're all gonna be, like,with multiple characters and scripts
and all of these different things.
Yeah we didn't even do a fraction of thatbecause we were really just overwhelming
ourselves and we flew too close to thesun way too quickly and we burned out very
fast, but through the rubble of that Isaid okay I need to ditch this and find
something else and I found somethingcalled "Late Night Brew", which is I think
a much better model which was basicallylike we're going to do a late night
(05:05):
comedy talk show sitcom sketch thing.
And it was basically just like heyit's just going to be a collection
of shorts so that means like youcan come in and be like I have an
idea and then you go and shoot it.
And then you have your little threeminute thing, and then it was bad.
But then you come back a few weekslater and be like, Hey, I made another
one, and this one's not that bad.
And you do that again, and again.
And that was a really great experience.
And I did that first with "Late NightBrew." And then I started getting
(05:27):
on the e board, basically, becausethey said, Hey, we have an e board
open, and we need someone to do it.
And that's the thing, and Caitlyn'sprobably gonna tell you, too.
Half of the times that you haveopportunities, it's just because
someone says, we need someone to doit, and no one's raising their hand.
And you might not know how to do it, Istarted on a board as a Public Relations
Specialist, I didn't know anything aboutPR, I just said, I want to do things.
(05:47):
And then I faked it until I made it,and then the next year I was president.
Somehow that happens.
And so then I was president of GVTVand I felt very proud of my time there.
We made a lot of stuff.
Very few of it good.
But I was just really happy of the ideaagain of like I want as many people here
utilizing these resources getting to knowother people because that's the other
thing is like sometimes you only meetthese film majors that you're with in the
(06:10):
classes you're in and that's not enoughtime to build bonds build connections.
This is the network thatyou're building for any of your
projects that you want to do.
If you want to do a senior thesis, yoursenior year, you're going to need to spend
the three years leading up to it, knowingpeople and working on their stuff and
saying, Hey, I'm going to work on yourthing and you're going to work on mine.
And that's like the gift economyof your labor being something very
valuable and being very appreciativewhen someone else gives it to you.
(06:31):
And so whether that be GVTV or anythingelse, it really is finding those avenues
to connect with as many people as possibleand finding the people you gel with the
most and spending more time with thosepeople and doing that as soon as you can.
That kind of transitions, I think, intoWomen in Cinema with what you said about
just volunteering to be on the board.
Me and Caitlyn can both probably attestto this, but Women in Cinema came out of
(06:52):
the pandemic of wanting to create a spacefor women and non-binary students who
are the minority in the film industry.
And so we wanted to create a spacewhere those people could come
together and create a safe space.
Once the students who were on theeboard originally graduated, I ended
up just randomly stepping up becauseI didn't want the club to go away.
And Caitlyn also did that.
(07:12):
So Caitlyn, I will throw it toyou to talk about Women in Cinema.
Women in Cinema was a club I alwaysknew I wanted to be a part of from when
I first saw them at Campus Life Night.
For a little bit of context about me like,I always knew I wanted to do something
creative, but I didn't know what.
And like, my eureka moment was, Isaw Ava DuVernay giving like, an
interview on being a director,and I'm like, that's an option?
Cause, like seeing is believing, there'sjust not as many representations, both
(07:35):
on and off screen, of women in film.
I really wanted this space where youcan cultivate relationships with other
women and non binary people in film andhave that like, common understanding.
And I've really loved all myyears at the club, I've been here
since my first week when I was afreshman all the way up till now.
We do a lot of really fun things.
We do equipment demos, we do writingexercises, we have guest speakers
(07:56):
come in, which is really cool.
And probably my favorite part of Womenin Cinema club is the mentorship program.
So basically, it's not required oranything, it's an optional thing you
can do, but if you want to, you can signup for the mentorship program and they
pair you up with a female or non binaryalumni who's graduated in the past.
And it can be really nice to justhave someone to talk to and be like,
(08:17):
oh like, my project's not going well,or like, I'm really stuck on this
script, and like, they've been there,and they can like, relate to you,
and they can help you through it, butI really love Women's Cinema club.
It's a great way, like Kyle said, it'sa great way to like, go out there and
make connections and get close to peopleyou might not have time to, or may not
be in the same classes with, becauseI feel like in the major you very much
have your cohort people tend to movethrough the same level classes at the
(08:41):
same time, so I've really appreciatedhow it's allowed me to meet all different
types of people, and I have people I metwho are on my thesis now because of the
relationships I've formed, so everyoneshould join Women in Cinema in my opinion.
Yeah.
And I can also say that the mentorshipprogram is definitely very beneficial.
And our alumni have done some amazingthings as I'm sure you can hear
(09:02):
on other episodes of this podcast.
I had a mentor one year who, shewas the Location Manager for the
"Five Nights at Freddy's" movie.
I also had a mentor who's, did VFX on"Fallout" the new TV show for Amazon.
So there's some pretty amazing alumnifrom the school and people who are
more than willing and wanting to helpstudents make it where they want to go.
(09:25):
And I'll even add on to that, Iwant to really emphasize this idea.
People love being a mentor.
They love the idea of being a mentor.
And if you give them that opportunityof saying, hey, I'm seeking a mentor and
you seem really cool and I would loveto just have a couple chats with you.
90 percent of people are going to say yes.
Because, who doesn't like the idea ofsomeone looking up to them and wanting
to hear your wisdom and your advice?
(09:46):
I will say that just because 90 percentof people will say yes doesn't mean
90 percent of people should say yes.
Some people just don'thave the right capacity.
So you might have a bad mentor experiencewhere you're like, I'm trying to
connect with this person and they'renot actually giving me any time, and
they seem like a really scattered brain.
So it is like mindful of that process.
Absolutely.
And this industry, as you will hearso many times, is 100 percent built on
connections and like you said, peopleare more than willing to talk to you a
(10:09):
lot of the time I've reached out cold topeople through the Writers Guild websites
and other websites, and they are morethan willing to mentor you and talk to
you and just get to know you and helpyou as you move forward in your careers.
Highly recommend gettinginvolved in mentorship.
So let's move on to ContinuousScript Writing club then
which I am also involved in.
I got asked by one of my professorswho is our faculty advisor.
(10:34):
And I love script writing, butI'm, I'm a little more introverted.
But I love script writing and I lovetalking about writing, and so I said yes.
Also, like Caitlyn said,I can't say no to people.
And so with Continuous, ouridea is we just want to be in
a writer's room format almost.
We're all just sitting there, we alllove writing, we all want to collaborate
and learn from each other and justtry to make the best projects we can.
(10:56):
So we do table reads we do writingexercises together, all sorts of stuff.
We have guest speakers sometimes, too.
Actually in a couple weeks fromwhen we're doing this podcast, we're
having a writer from L. A. come in.
His name's Alex Sherman, and he was onthe show "Our Flag Means Death" on HBO.
We really try to connecteveryone interested in writing
with that as much as possible.
(11:16):
And, Caitlyn, if there'sanything else you want to that.
Can I tell the story as I rememberit of how Continuous got started?
Cause I just find it like, veryfunny and like emblematic of how
a lot of clubs start on campus.
It was, oh, Women and Cinema had like aguest speaker who was there for a week.
And it was open to like, all students,not just women and non binary people.
And the guest speaker was talking abouthow like, you need to like, go out
(11:39):
there and make stuff and just go for it.
And this club is great.
Start more clubs.
And she starts listing off clubs, andI think she mentioned a writing club.
And it was , you and me and John, who'salso on eboard right now, we're all
right next to each other, and you were,like, yeah, let's start a writing club.
And I'm, like, why not?
And John's I'll be on it.
And it just was, like, boom, ithappened right then and there.
I think starting a club can be a lotscarier than some people think it
(11:59):
is, but it's really, like you justgotta give four people to say, yeah,
I'll show up once every other week.
So I really encourage people,get involved, go for eboard.
Depending on the club, it can reallybe, as involved or as uninvolved as you
want it to be, but it's a really greatway to make connections and then leave
something that can help other people.
That's one thing I love about Continuous,is that we do a lot of table reads,
(12:20):
which allows people to grow their craft.
In like Fiction I and II, you only haveso many opportunities for a table read
and it gets you new perspectives andespecially like the younger students
who don't really get into scriptwriting until the higher level classes.
It gives them a chance to getfeedback and get creative.
And also we have some members at theclub who are not film majors who always
bring an interesting new perspective.
So I really love Continuous.
(12:41):
It's a very interesting group.
We're weird people, but that'swhat makes life interesting.
That's what's interesting is I stillfollow the GVTV Instagram and then they
occasionally post and they're like,Hey, here's our eboard for this year.
And I was looking and thePresident of GVTV right now,
he's a Computer Science major.
And I'm like, Oh, that.
never had anyone who was a non filmor at least like the multimedia
journalism pathway who was in theprogram, let alone leading the program.
(13:05):
And so it's so cool to know thatoh, yeah, anyone can get together.
A lot of people end up reallyliking filmmaking and video
making, not just the film majors.
Finding community outside ofthat can be really rewarding too.
Also going off of that with what Caitlynsaid about clubs and just doing whatever,
I do want to say that for me as a person,clubs were very daunting because it's a
group of people you've never met before.
(13:25):
You have a similar interest,but there's something scary
about that, at least for me.
And the one thing I've reallylearned and appreciated about clubs,
especially here is you can makethem whatever you want them to be.
They don't have to be, your casual clubformat where someone stands in front and
is just lecturing you with a PowerPoint.
With Women in Cinema and Continuous,we've really tried to make it a
group thing where we all just sitdown in a circle and just talk.
(13:49):
Why do you guys think it'sbeneficial to be involved in clubs?
What advice would you give topeople interested in joining clubs
or nervous about joining them?
I would say like, just go for it.
Like, I knew someone freshman year whowas like, I never signed up for clubs.
And I've heard so many people say that notgoing to clubs was their biggest regret.
Not doing it sooner.
And I'm so grateful that I didbecause it just gets you to know
(14:09):
people and gets you connections.
And especially like, coming in asa freshman, it can be really scary.
You don't know a lot of people.
But you're not going to startmeeting people by sitting
in your dorm room all day.
So like, go out, makeconnections, learn new things.
And I just feel like it helps yougrow so much as a person, just to put
yourself out there with this groupof people and try to make something.
Yeah, listen, when I was doing my fouryears at film program at GVSU, like
(14:34):
there was a certain level of I want todo the things that excite me and are
passionate, and also I kind of want tolike, not game the system, not to be
cynical about it, but I want to takeas much of this opportunity as I can.
The four years, I'm spendinga lot of money to be here.
I might as well do as much asI can to prepare myself for
what next phase of my life.
So I was a sophomore.
I was a first semester of mysophomore year and we had a theory
(14:54):
professor before Spencer Everhart.
Her name was Toni Perrine and I didmoderately okay in her class writing
papers about American history withfilm and world history with film.
And she came up to me and she said,Hey, Kyle, so we have this thing
called Cinesthesia and it's basicallya film journal and we basically, all
we do is we publish student essaysthat they write in class and we
(15:15):
publish them out for the world to seeas an academic professional journal.
And I said, that's pretty cool.
You want me to be a part of it?
And she said, actually,everyone's graduating.
And so we need someoneto be running the club.
And I was just a sophomore.
And I said, okay, what does that mean?
And she was like, you'll figureit out, but I think you do fine.
And so I was very fortunate thatshe came to me and she felt that
I was capable enough, but here'sthe thing, I didn't know what I was
(15:37):
doing and I didn't know what theCinesthesia was and how to run it.
And so next semester, I wasrunning the whole thing.
And part of it was because I waslike interested in the challenge.
I thought that This would be fun.
Another part of me was just beinglike, I don't know, this is a thing
to put on a resume and or showthat I'm capable of these things.
I ended up having a great time and it wascool to meet other people and I didn't
end up having to do really any writing.
(15:58):
I just had to run a website because theCinesthesia is hosted on a website so I
had to learn a little bit of HTML and Iwatched some YouTube videos to do that.
What all of this is to say isthat after I graduated, if you
go to Cinesthesia's site, you cansee it has 250, 000 downloads.
That's a really impressivenumber of worldwide downloads.
When I was applying to a non profitpart time internship, they were
saying we need someone who canwrite daily email newsletters.
(16:21):
Do you have any writing experience?
And I said I'm so glad you asked.
I was Editor In Chief of this whole site.
And I was reviewing.
In truth, I wasn't doing much writing.
I was just running a website.
And they said, oh that's great.
And then they were like we alsoneed someone who can do a little
bit of HTML and web design.
And I said I'm so glad you asked.
I learned how to do it on this journal.
So you find the opportunities as longas you're just willing to raise your
(16:41):
hand and say, I don't know how to dothat, but I'm more than happy to learn.
And everything can cascade down from that.
And you feel more confident inyourself, because, you figure out
things along the way, and you'relike, oh, I guess I did that.
The imposter syndrome's kind of fadingaway, and I realize that there are
more things in this world that Ican do, that I'm capable of doing,
and that I deserve to be able to do.
Yeah, it really doesn't take much tojoin eboard, which is not to say like,
(17:02):
just sign up and like, not be readyfor the commitment, cause it is a
commitment, And Women in Cinema club,like my first semester, the Treasurer
graduated and they needed a new person.
And I'm, like, why not?
And then they're like, you're hired.
And I'm like, I have no cluewhat a Treasurer does, but
I'm going to figure it out.
And that's the beauty of these clubs.
It's like a much lower pressuresituation than when you're out
in the real world in your career.
So just go make mistakes, try things.
(17:24):
And even if you don't succeed, you learn.
This is the time to take risks.
Alright, so let's talkabout on campus employment.
This is fun because I get to chatwith C. K. and Caitlyn, both of
whom have been employed and areemployed at our Bridge Studio.
And me and a colleague, Noah Campbell,also a film and video alumni.
Oversee it and we are, theSupervisors, the Managers.
(17:46):
And every year we have aboutnine film majors who we are able
to have part time who come in.
And it's a really wonderful experience.
I mean, Caitlyn CK, didyou have a good time?
Are you having a good time?
Yeah, I really enjoyedmy time at The Bridge.
I worked there forabout a year and a half.
And that was like my first real film jobin college, and I really appreciated,
all the technical stuff I learned.
(18:07):
I learned how to use a light board,I became very Premiere Pro and After
Effects savvy, and that has served mevery well in like, my 400 300 level
classes to be able to edit quickly.
And also just learning how to workwith clients, cause, Professors come
in and they don't always know whatyou want and you have to learn how to
kind of walk them through the process.
I really appreciate everythingThe Bridge taught me about client
(18:28):
work and just the workflow of aprofessional job in this industry.
And Caitlyn, I'm sure you can agree,99 percent of the professors we have as
clients, they're wonderful, they're great.
Sometimes, though, a professorcan be a little mean.
And that can be in and of itselfits own rewarding experience because
you're like, Oh this is client work.
Sometimes you're like hired todo something and then the person
(18:49):
who's asking you to do it,
maybe he isn't treating you with themost amount of respect, and it's figuring
out that balance of of like, I stillrespect myself, and I need to make sure
this relationship is maintaining that,but also you're getting that little
bit of exposure of someone who mightbe difficult to work with, which can be
rewarding.
I had one professor once who came inand was like, alrighty I'll sit and
watch you edit, and I'm sitting here no,you're not gonna look over my shoulder
(19:09):
for two hours, but you can't say that,so I was like, Oh you can if you want,
but I want to be respectful of your time,so what if I just walk you through the
process and you leave me some notes?
And she was like, oh,okay, that's perfect.
I definitely learned a lot about howto professionally and respectfully
work through tricky situations.
Yeah, I've only been workingthere a couple months.
I started at the August of my senior year.
(19:31):
So I don't know that I've done a ton,but it's definitely an experience
to client work and also like acustomer service thing that I've
never really experienced before.
I've been working in the equipmentroom since my freshman year.
And so it was a new thing to, yeah.
Not just be like, all right,here's your equipment.
Bye.
Like I actually have to take feedbackand try to make things the way
(19:53):
they want them and also somethingthat's quality and they can use.
So that's been super cool.
And also just becoming a better editor.
You just get to learn and Google andtry things you've never tried before.
So it's definitely a cool experience.
And which, it's interesting forthe two of you now working in this
new kind of version of The Bridge.
When I was a student worker,I also worked at The Bridge.
We used to be called the DigitalStudio back then, and I will tell
(20:16):
you, I worked, 15, 17 hours aweek for three semesters straight.
And I want to say I probably worked ontwo video projects that entire time.
We just didn't reallyhave the client base yet.
We were still trying tofigure out what we were and no
one really knew who we were.
So I spent most of that time doinghomework and watching Netflix.
And it's interesting now that we'reat a point where we're all like, we're
trying to be intentional about saying wewanna give as many projects as possible
(20:39):
to the students who come in here.
We want them to feel like they'regetting value while also not adding on
that huge labor and load and mentalstress of being like, I have 10
things I need to do as a student andalso deal with my own mental health.
And so trying to find that balancebetween it being a rewarding experience
and being a challenging experience.
The biggest regret that I have goingthrough my undergrad experience
is that I applied a lot of times.
(21:01):
And I like to think that I was like,I was President of GVTV and I was
Editor In Chief of Cinesthesia..I'm like, I'm doing pretty good.
I was rejected every timefrom Promotions Office.
And it hit like a gut punch everytime I even applied my senior year.
They were like, we only have one openingthis year and it's just for makeup.
And I said, I'll figure it out.
I'll learn.
And they're like, have youever done makeup before?
And I said, No, and they're like,then we're not hiring you, Kyle.
(21:21):
But I knew I wanted to workthere for a number of reasons.
One, I knew that, Bobby Nielsen,who currently runs it, also a GVSU
film and video alumni, really hasa high standard of quality, really
is making high quality content.
What the Promotions Office is, is to myunderstanding is that if you're maybe
working at the university probably as astaff member, faculty or whatever, you
might say Oh, we need a video to promotean event or to educate about an event.
(21:45):
We need something high quality.
They'll go and they'll hire the PromotionsOffice to say, we need a high quality
video about like Prez Ball that's comingup and we need a really cool commercial.
That's going to be multi hundreds ofthousands of dollars budget type dealio.
And that is one of the bestways on campus to be like,
I am part of a film crew.
I am part of an understandingof the professional needs.
And I never really got to do that.
(22:05):
GVTV got me a little close.
When I was working at DigitalStudio Bridge, not really.
And I was always looking for thatopportunity on campus to be like, no, we
are professionally making high qualitystuff that then goes into your demo reel
that then you can show other people likethis is the cool stuff I've worked on.
And so that is a reallyvaluable experience.
I know that UniversityCommunications is a similar deal.
I think they have a lotless open slots available.
(22:28):
That's another team that you canlike, be always on the lookout
for, see if they're hiring.
WGVU is a television station that's,an extension of GVSU, but not fully
there's nothing academic about it.
They're not doing classes or anything.
They're entirely just oh, we justdo local broadcast television.
Sometimes they hire student workers thereand that's another great opportunity.
You're really just looking for anychance and opportunity to get your
foot in the door to say someonehas in the past hired me and paid
(22:51):
me to do some type of media work.
And then that way, when you getout of there to be like, Hey, don't
worry I'm now a graduated student.
I'm no longer a student.
I'm now a professional in this world.
Yes.
Other people have trusted me and havehired me and paid me to do this work.
And that's why you should as well.
So I've been working at WGVUfor a little over a year now.
For those of you who don't know,WGVU is the local PBS station
(23:13):
that's partnered with Grand Valley.
It's in the downtown Pew Campus.
And I really have loved my time there.
It's really something newevery day you come in.
Some days you come in andyou edit little promo videos.
Other days you do an in studio shoot whereyou have fancy headsets and like, the
cameras up and you're, like, being toldto give signals to the people on air.
And then other times we like, go out anddo shoots in the community and we might
(23:36):
be filming an elementary school releasingsalmon for like, an educational video.
Or another day we mightbe going to a goat farm.
Or another day we might be,interviewing an artist about their
sculptures and stuff like that.
So I really appreciate how it's takenme out into the community, I've learned
about so many places in Grand Rapidsthat I wouldn't have known before,
(23:56):
and actually one of those places ashort film I'm working on might be
using as a location now, because Ijust saw it through that experience.
And you learn a lot, like I said, we doa lot of promotional video editing, cause
we record the seasons of our shows forPBS, and then we have to promote them
on social media learning how to do anoverarching, cause in the past, like at
The Bridge, I had done maybe promotionalstuff for one specific event, but now
(24:18):
it's like you have a whole season oflike a show and you have to make the
promotions consistent through that, soI learned a lot through my time there.
You worked at The Bridge and thenyou got hired to work at WGVU.
We were very sad to see you go, butprobably to a certain degree, when
you were applying to WGVU, you werelike, Oh yeah, I have experience.
I've been also working atthis other institution here.
And then once you startworking WGVU, you're like, Oh,
(24:39):
they have a bit more money.
They're making higher quality stuff.
My demo reel is looking nicer.
So it was like that, not a lateral move.
You were moving up in yourprofessional capabilities.
Yeah, it's always every opportunity youhave on campus, whether that's a club
or a job, teaches you something whichthen helps you get the next thing.
And that is one thingthey talked to me about.
It was actually, it's a funnystory how I had my interview there.
(25:01):
They told me to come in forthis interview and I got there.
And Skye, who's our manager, waslike, hey I have a taping going on
right now, so I'm gonna interviewyou while the taping's going on.
He was like, ready camera two,so tell me a little bit about
your like video experience.
Alrighty, move the cameraa little bit to the left.
Ready camera four, solike, how's your day been?
And that's just pretty emblematic of howshoots can go there but yeah they asked
(25:24):
me about my previous experience and TheBridge was definitely like the fact that
I had been working on stuff consistently.
This is why you got to go out and dothat stuff because even if you think oh
I'm just making silly videos at a clubor whatever or just editing at this job
it does help especially just seeing thatlike you have the initiative to go out
and do things so you really have to putyourself out there because just taking
that step will get you to the next step.
(25:45):
Yeah, and I will say I had a little bitof a different, I got into The Bridge
a little bit later in my years hereat GVSU but I started in the equipment
room, so Production Support Resources.
I started my second semester here andI just wanted a film job because I
knew I wanted to do something relatedto what I was studying, something
that would give me a fresh start.
(26:06):
And so I just applied and theyinterviewed me and I had no experience.
I was a little bit afraid of camerasbecause I didn't want to break something.
But I I told them I wanted to learnand I wanted to get better and
just do whatever I needed to do.
And so they hired me and I've beenworking there for a while now.
I'm their Film and Video Lead too now.
I work a lot with the professors andI meet lots of students and stuff.
(26:29):
So it even just starting with that,just getting to know your faculty and
your, the fellow students and just,take little steps, do what you need
to do to get where you need to be.
We're taking a short break totell you about the Dirk Koning
Memorial Film and Video scholarship.
Here's Gretchen Vinnedgeremembering Dirk Koning.
The Koning Scholarship enables studentsto get that kind of an education, to be
(26:50):
a good filmmaker, to be able to expresstheir voice and to continue Dirk's dream.
For more information, and todonate to the scholarship, visit
the link in the description.
Now, back to the show.
So Kyle, you were a TAwhen you were here at GVSU.
Do you want to talk alittle bit about that?
Yeah, Suzanne just tapped me onthe shoulder Suzanne Zack who
(27:11):
I was in one of her courses.
I don't actually remember whichone, but I know that at one point,
I've been taking the initiative.
I've been doing a lot around theclasses and all of the extracurricular.
And she said, Hey I'm lookingfor a T. A. It's a paid gig.
It's only four hours a week, you'rejust going to come in and be there.
I didn't really know what I was doing, butI had been through Media I so I guess I
knew a little bit more than the studentswho were currently taking Media I.
(27:34):
And it's just another opportunityfor a number of reasons.
One, you get to have your experiencesof just being in front of people
and having some position of Oh,I guess I do have some wisdom to
impart and feeling like that senseof responsibility that comes with it.
Also, it can be really nice in thatsame way of the mentor thing, like
you're meeting usually students whoare a little bit younger than you.
So that's really nice to make connectionswith people who are a little bit younger.
Maybe they're going to be your PAsnext year when you need some Hey,
(27:57):
I'm making a thing and we needsomeone who's looking for experience.
And then they're likea first year freshmen.
They're like, I have neverbeen on a set before.
So this is the perfect opportunity.
And you get, of course, closer andconnections to the faculty, to the
professors, to the instructors, whereyou're building those connections,
which can be very valuable.
Suzanne gave me endless opportunitiesin my entire four years, and she
gave me a couple recommendationsto the Promotions Office.
(28:19):
Not that they helped, and that's okay,they didn't, but it was nice to have
someone in my corner who told me, heyKyle, did you know like there, this
is opening, you should go for it,and I'll put in a good word for you.
It's nice to have, it feels like someoneat the university, Someone who's been
here for a while, any of the instructors,any of the professors who you're
like, yeah, I'm building these kind ofrelationships with that are gonna help me,
(28:39):
especially as I need to start connectingwith alumni and figuring out what the
heck I'm gonna do after I graduate.
Being a TA was really rewardingand I just stood there and I just
watched as Suzanne did her magic.
But if you ever have that opportunityor if you wanna just go up to
someone and just say Hey professor,I really think you've been great.
Let me know if there's ever an openingfor a TA 'cause I would love to do it.
It's a really rewarding experience.
(28:59):
Yeah, I will also add on to that.
I'll say to everyone, If you don'twant to get involved with stuff, don't
talk to Suzanne Zack, because every,I swear, half the time, and I say
this lovingly, half the time I talkto her I leave, and I'm like, how did
I just volunteer to do five things?
that's how it goes
But, that is the magic of Suzanne.
So I would also say, if you want to getinvolved on campus work, especially and
(29:22):
specifically like, go talk to Suzanne.
She is the person for that.
She is all knowing, andshe knows everyone, so she
can find something for you.
And that's actually how I found outabout WGVU, is I went to Suzanne, I was
like, hey, I think I'm ready for the nextstep in my filmmaking career, I don't
have a car, what are some places I canget to that are nearby, and she's like,
I think this place is perfect for you,I'm gonna write you an email right now
(29:44):
to this person, and I'm like, oh, okay.
And then I left and speed redidmy resume, so talk to Suzanne.
Kyle, I also had a very similarexperience of how I became
Suzanne's TA the last few years.
I visited her during office hours when Iwas in Media 1, and then I just happened
to end up in her office one day askingabout internships, and she was just
like, you want to be my TA next year?
(30:05):
And I was like, okay.
And yeah, you definitely just, youlearn a lot just trying to adapt your
plans to help different students atdifferent levels and just meeting people
where they're at and also just watchingSuzanne work with people and, helping
you build your leadership skills.
I was terrible at demoing equipmentin Premiere when I first started.
And I've definitely like hercheerleading in the background is
(30:29):
definitely helped me become moreconfident in my skills at this point.
So yeah, definitely talk to Suzannebecause she will get you all sorts of
things and she'll be your cheerleader.
But also you may end up doinga bunch of extra things because
it's so hard to say no to her.
So kind of The last thing i'm going totalk about , is doing projects outside
of the classroom, independent projects.
(30:50):
I know for myself, my, end of my freshmanyear, I knew I wanted to be making things.
I wasn't in the upper level fictionclasses or anything like that.
And I didn't really know anybody,but I wanted to work with people.
And I took some of my friends thatI had met at PSR, and I was like,
Hey, you guys want to make a movie?
And so we proceeded to createkind of our own production
(31:11):
company called Snek Studios.
And then we ended up makinga 13 minute short film for
200 dollars within 6 months.
And since then we've tried to produce ashort film every summer, or every fall.
And that has really just, like Kylesaid about GVTV, the more you practice
and just make bad movies, the moreyou learn and the quicker you can
(31:33):
get into those good quality things.
I don't know if you guys have anythingyou would like to add to that.
I think that's so awesome that youdid that, and I wish I had done that.
mean, I've loved my time at GV, I don'thave many regrets, but I think my only
one is Media 1 my first semester I wasjust really bored because I had taken a
couple video classes in high school, Ifelt like I already knew this, and I was
sitting here should I even be in thismajor if this is all we're gonna be doing
(31:55):
I already know this isn't engaging to me,And I wish, like I said, instead of just
sitting in my own frustration and beinglike, upset about projects, I wish I had
gone out and found people and done stuff.
And I've heard that from a lot ofother people too, is I think people
are scared at first when they firstjoin the major, because they don't know
people, but put yourself out there sayyou want to make a thing, and you'd
be surprised how many people willbe excited and willing to help you.
(32:17):
My four years that I spent, it becamea reoccurring joke that I realized
had been happening for many years.
Which is that eventually at some point,group of people come together, they
form a production company and then theysay what in my experience has been the
death keel, which is, and we're goingto make a feature film this summer.
Every year, every time.
They're like, we'regoing to make a feature.
(32:38):
We're going to make a feature.
We're going to make a feature.
We sometimes have people in GVTV, likewe're interested in making a feature.
And I would always try and just shake themby the head and say, make a short, because
the reason for that, the philosophy forthat, it's not just like it's too big
for you or anything like that, what itis that getting into a feature is such an
intimidating, long immense process, onethat can be so demoralizing as you go on,
(33:00):
because let's face it, if you don't havea lot of experience, your first feature
is probably going to be pretty bad.
And that's okay.
That's the point of it, right?
The point is to get from the beginning,the middle, and the end, and then
have a moment of reflection oflike, that was that whole process.
Let's do it again, and let'sdo it a little bit better.
And the problem with making a featureis that you just extended that process
(33:21):
so much longer to where you don'thave that phase of just reflection.
Like you would if it was a 13 minuteshort, where you really go all out, and
you really put it all out there, andyou said, that was our 13 minutes, and
sometimes it's amazing, and sometimesit's terrible, but regardless, whew,
afterwards you're like, okay, great.
Time to do that again from thebeginning where we now all have a
(33:41):
moment to breathe and then we feelthat energy and motivation starting
to build up again as we're likewe're excited for the next thing.
As much as possible keep it short, keepit simple, CK is that something that
you're glad you did like that 13 minutes?
Oh, a hundred percent.
I think if we had tried to go anylonger, like that didn't even cross
my mind, but if it had, I don'tthink it would have been as, good
as a learning experience as it was.
(34:03):
Yeah, it was.
It was an interesting film.
I wrote it, and directed it, andproduced it, and then I was just like,
Alright, friends, let's make this.
And it's pretty cheesy.
I remember showing it to myparents and being like, It's okay.
And my mom just pointed out in thisreally intense scene that there was just
this blow up ghost in the background,just completely distracting her.
(34:23):
So that's why productiondesign is important.
But totally.
Start small, Take risks, do what yougotta do, but yeah, don't go big.
Yeah, I want to add on to what Kyle said.
Probably the best piece of advice I evergot from a professor here at GV was it is
not a healthier, productive mindset to seelike every single project I do has to be
(34:43):
my magnum opus, has to be this big, giant,biggest movie to ever be, 10, 000 extras,
everything's on fire, it's underwater.
He said instead the way you shouldlook at it is with every project
you do, what do you want to work on?
Is it like, oh, for this one I want towork on doing more interesting camera
angles, for this one I want to work onmy writing, this one I want to work
(35:05):
on how I direct actors, and that reallyjust completely changed how I approach
filmmaking, it took so much pressureoff of me, of, this is this one thing
I want to work on for this film, andmaybe you don't love every part of the
film, but just keep track of, did I dobetter on this one thing, and if not, how
can I do better on that in the future,and I think, that's a much better thing
to focus on than be trying to makeyour first feature while in college.
(35:29):
And the through line of whatyou're describing, which is
that you're every time you like,I want to try something new.
I want to challengemyself a little bit more.
But the constant that needs to be,in my opinion, underlining the whole
experience is that you want to makesure if you're the Producer, if you're
the Director, if you have a leadershipposition on this project that you are
saying, I want to get this done, you wantat the end of it, all of the people you
(35:50):
collaborated with to feel like, Hey,like, feel good about the experience.
It, filmmaking is hard.
It is arduous.
It is scary.
It is tiring.
It is long.
And that is to a certain extentwhat kind of scared me away
from the full set of production.
And now I veered off into, educationalvideo because it felt a lot more within
my wheelhouse, but they can be long days.
(36:11):
They can be stressful days, and if atthe end of your project, everyone hates
each other, and is mad at each other,and annoyed, and especially if the film
did not come out the way you wanted itto that can be a lot of burned bridges.
And to a certain extent, if you're goingthrough these big magnum opus projects,
that you're not really like, challengingyourselves in the small ways, everyone
can just be really disappointed by theend, and that's just not a really, you
(36:32):
want to set yourself up we were talkingabout how I think failure being so
important, because then you learn from it.
But the success, the only thing that youneed to succeed is that everyone is at
least a little bit like, that was a coolthing we did, or I learned something, or
I got to know people, or I got fed somesemi nice lunch that someone made me,
and I felt appreciated in that process.
That is the most important thing, Ithink, when you're trying to network and
(36:54):
collaborate with your other students.
Absolutely, and when you're makingthose projects too, it just, the days
can get long and you can get frustratedand things will go wrong and the, the
easiest thing to just make it fun foryourself is make sure that you're doing
it with people that you care about andyou have fun with and just trying to
keep the environment fun and recognizingthat you're learning and that's okay.
(37:17):
So do you guys have any advicefor current students or students
who are joining the program?
That I think I've said this before, butjust to recap, and at the risk of sounding
like a bit dramatic you only live onceI can't say you're only in college once,
because that's not necessarily true inthis day and age, but put yourself out
there, go to stuff for example, I wentto my first Cinespace this year, and I
never went my freshman or sophomore year,and I wish I had, but I was always like,
(37:40):
oh, I'm tired, or it's too far, but itwas really fun to go to, so Just go.
Like, Don't burn yourself out, butLike, at least go once, and like,
like, when I was a freshman, my ruleto myself was like, hey, you have to
go to, all the orientation events,and you gotta stay for one hour.
If you don't like it, then you can leave.
So I would tell people go to allthe stuff you're interested in, and
if you don't like it, don't stay.
But at least try.
At least put yourself out there, andyou never know what opportunities
(38:01):
and what people you're gonna meet.
Yeah, I'll say my finale is somethingthat I've been building to if, if I
were to construct like a perfect fouryear experience as a film major, and
ultimately like to follow this exactplan would be far too unrealistic
and you'd only setting yourself upfor disappointment, Idealistically,
you'd come in as a freshman, you'dsee something like GVTV or the Script
Writing club, I just want experience.
(38:22):
I want to meet people, I want topractice, I want to make stuff,
and you do that your freshman year.
And then your sophomore year is okay, Ikind of want to like get better experience
doing something a bit more advanced.
Maybe I'll go work for The Bridge, which,famously like, we like to hire freshmen
and sophomore, people who want to gettheir feet wet then I could do maybe
a year of that, get some experience,and the next step after that would be,
oh, hey, I want to do maybe a littlelevel up, maybe the Promo Office, maybe
(38:44):
Caitlyn, you went to WGVU, maybe you findan internship, something really cool.
That last step is really whereit's okay what do I do next?
And that's finding other professionalGrand Rapids resources production
companies to learn from them.
Whether you get hired from them orreceive an unpaid internship the important
thing is to understand Grand Valleyis primarily based in West Michigan.
We're based in Allendale and Grand Rapidsand these other kind of sister cities.
(39:07):
And it's important toknow what's out there.
But I'm going to read off, andif you have a pen and paper, if
you're listening to this, look upthe words, Ideology Grand Rapids.
That's a production companythat's based in Ada.
They do really great stuff.
They have a pickleball courtin their production studio.
It's really annoying.
They have that golden hourthing that the Mandalorian has.
It's insane.
Look up Taproot Productions.
Look up Ingalls Production, look up SaltProductions, look up Gorilla, look up
(39:31):
Drop, Voyage Lowing, Visionary, Motivity,these are places, this list might be a
year old, so I don't know if any of themhave gone out of business, I know at
one point it had the production companycalled Black Pigeon on there I'm seeing
a message as well from Suzanne that saysBraincell, look up Braincell, There's a
place called Black Pigeon that famouslyhired, I think, 30 unpaid interns at once,
(39:52):
who all just stood around and did nothing.
Sometimes these might be negativeexperiences they went under.
But you need to know what is in the area,what professional work is being done.
Most of this is commercial,medium sized scales.
They're not doing a whole lot of featuresunless it's Some, sometimes they may
be come to visit, but knowing what theyare, visiting them, seeing if there
are any alumni, they're reaching outand saying, Hey, can I take a tour?
(40:13):
Can I just see the place?
Can I learn from you?
Those are really great waysto get your foot in the door,
to get your name out there.
And especially if you want to graduateand if you want to stay in West Michigan,
you're going to want to know ahead oftime, Hey, these are the places to go to.
And you want to make sure that they,at least a little bit know your name.
And if you have all that, experience fromyour classwork, from your extracurricular,
from your student employment.
(40:33):
You're going to be setting yourself upfor success in what is famously a very
competitive industry that we all got into.
And that's really scary gettinginto, you know, my brother and my
sister both were chemical engineers.
They're fine.
They have houses, they have dogs,they're doing great but because I
really wanted to make those fouryears count and get as much skills as
possible and get as many connectionsas possible, I had a relatively like
(40:55):
privileged and seamless transition.
I'm really grateful for that.
And if you want to have a similarexperience, it is going to be a
lot of okay, then what do I do withthese four years or more or less,
however long you have to really makethem special and really transition
into that next phase of your life.
And that a really good way to get intothat is a lot of times Suzanne will
very much be involved in this, butthey will do like Field Trip Fridays
(41:17):
where they'll go visit local companies.
There's Alumni Present.
We'll have alumni talkabout different things.
They had an AD one and a propmaking one this past semester.
And also career exploration tripsthey went to LA last year and
they're going to Chicago this year.
So they're really getting you theseopportunities are really everywhere.
You just have to look for themand take advantage of them.
(41:39):
I think if there's one piece ofadvice I would say to anyone is
something I've always lived by ofyou just need like 15 seconds of
insane bravery and just say yes.
And just try it, and whatever happens.
You'll learn something, you'llmake a mistake, maybe you'll
get something good out of it.
But just go for it.
Thank you guys so muchfor talking with me.
(41:59):
This has been very fun.
Oh my gosh, it was a pleasure.
Happy to be here.
Thank you for joining us for thisepisode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Subscribe to our podcast, to hear morefrom our alumni across the industry.
Check out Alumni Live onFacebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
For more conversations and networking.
Let us know what topics you wantto hear our alumni talk about the
(42:22):
Grand Valley State University FilmVideo Alumni Network is here for
you, and we're glad that you're here.
Thank you for listening.
The Podcast.
These are conversations with GrandValley State University film and video
graduates about the industry, thefilm/video, major and alumni profiles.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Caroline Hamilton, and I'm afourth year at GVSU, and today I'm here
talking with Kyle Macciome and CaitlynShaw about getting involved on campus.
(00:23):
We're going to be talking a littlebit about clubs on campus employment,
and kind of anything else you cando on campus to get experience.
So for starters, if you guyswant to introduce yourself
. Hi everyone, my name is Caitlyn Shaw, I am a third year here at GVSU, I've
been involved with a couple of film andvideo related things I say yes to way
too many things which has led me to alot of really cool groups of people.
(00:46):
As far as clubs go, I've been a memberof and also on the eboard for two clubs,
Women in Cinema club and ContinuousScreenwriting club here on campus.
And then work wise, I've workedat both The Bridge and currently I
work at WGVU in the downtown campus.
And then yeah, my name is Kyle Macciome.
I am a former film and videograduate from the year 2020.
(01:07):
Basically since then, I went on and get aMaster's in Education Technology at GVSU.
Basically focusing on educational video.
And then, immediately after that, Istarted working at GVSU at a place
called The Bridge , which is a placewhere we collaborate with student
workers, usually film majors, to createeducational video content for professors
all across the university to use.
(01:27):
So I have the experiences of beinga former student, someone who's
involved a lot in extracurricularactivities, and now an employer
somehow here at the university.
Very cool.
And I'm also involved with Caitlynon the Women in Cinema club and
also Continuous Script Writing club.
I also have been working at The Bridgefor a little bit now and Production
Support Resources, the equipment room.
But let's start with clubs.
(01:48):
There's quite a few film clubs on campusthat come and go, and students are open
to start their own clubs at any point.
But let's start with GVTV.
So Kyle, do you want to talk about that?
Absolutely.
So I spent all four years as anundergrad in film and video at
GVTV at Grand Valley Television.
I cannot speak, whether you arelistening to this now or in the future,
I cannot speak to the current status ofGVTV, of the current quality of GVTV.
(02:12):
I don't know.
I've been out of the university fora while, but I know that it has ebbed
and flow in terms of how presentit's been, how active it's been.
The pandemic certainly smashedit down quite a bit as everything
went remote right as I was leaving.
But what I can say is that I view the fouryears that I spent as an undergrad in film
and video the education that I received,I would say half of it with regards
(02:33):
to film was my actual film classes.
The other half was thetime that I spent in GVTV.
And that's just because you just needto have the time to be able to be around
like minded individuals, people who wantto create things, and you go out with the
resources that GVTV provided us, whichwas a lot of film equipment, a lot of
physical spaces to record, and a lot ofcameras and microphones and lighting.
(02:55):
Ways to fail, essentially.
I always recommend people failfaster, as much as possible.
Make the bad short films, makethe bad videos as soon as you
can, because then you'll know.
Oopsie daisy, we recorded allday, and we have no audio.
That's the last time you'reprobably gonna do that.
Oopsie daisy, the lens cap was on, orthe focus was out, or we don't actually
understand how to not corrupt the videofiles once we get them onto the computer.
(03:16):
The sooner you do that, the better ofa video creator you are going to be,
and places like GVTV are places whereyou're gonna be able to experiment.
You're also going to havethose opportunities in the
class, but ultimately, youknow, those can ebb and flow.
It depends on what your scheduleis, semester to semester.
Maybe you've backlogged a lot of thoseproduction classes and you're starting
off with a lot of the theory classes.
I think first semester freshmen, secondsemester freshmen, as soon as possible,
(03:39):
get involved into something like GVTV.
And regardless of what GVTV is atthe moment you're listening to this,
find other people who, outside ofthe classroom, want to create things.
And I can really only recommendthat again, and again.
Because I know that I made three times,four times the amount of stuff in
GVTV than what I made in my classes.
And every time I made something, Ilearned a little bit more along the way.
(04:00):
So when I started, I walkedin, it was a big room, I was
very scared, I was a freshman.
And, the real truth of the matter,I just told you how important it
is to do GVTV as soon as possibleI went to the first meeting, and
then I didn't go to a single meetingfor the rest of the first semester.
I wanted to hang out, I wanted to docollege, I was like, I was intimidated
by all these people, and it was strange.
It was strange.
And it was only at the start of mysecond semester when I got an email
(04:21):
because I was still on their emaillist and said, Hey, we're trying to
create the show called "Catastrophe".
And we'd like people to joinon and I just showed up.
And because I showed up, they said,Hey, do you want to direct an episode?
I said, what's the show?
And they're like, that's going to belike "The Office" and also "Arrested
Development" and three other things.
And it's called "Catastrophe".
We were all young and wewere all trying to do things.
We all wanted to make somethingbig and grand and epic.
We said, we're gonna make 10 episodesin a single semester, and each
(04:43):
episode's gonna be 21 minutes long.
And they're all gonna be, like,with multiple characters and scripts
and all of these different things.
Yeah we didn't even do a fraction of thatbecause we were really just overwhelming
ourselves and we flew too close to thesun way too quickly and we burned out very
fast, but through the rubble of that Isaid okay I need to ditch this and find
something else and I found somethingcalled "Late Night Brew", which is I think
a much better model which was basicallylike we're going to do a late night
(05:05):
comedy talk show sitcom sketch thing.
And it was basically just like heyit's just going to be a collection
of shorts so that means like youcan come in and be like I have an
idea and then you go and shoot it.
And then you have your little threeminute thing, and then it was bad.
But then you come back a few weekslater and be like, Hey, I made another
one, and this one's not that bad.
And you do that again, and again.
And that was a really great experience.
And I did that first with "Late NightBrew." And then I started getting
(05:27):
on the e board, basically, becausethey said, Hey, we have an e board
open, and we need someone to do it.
And that's the thing, and Caitlyn'sprobably gonna tell you, too.
Half of the times that you haveopportunities, it's just because
someone says, we need someone to doit, and no one's raising their hand.
And you might not know how to do it, Istarted on a board as a Public Relations
Specialist, I didn't know anything aboutPR, I just said, I want to do things.
(05:47):
And then I faked it until I made it,and then the next year I was president.
Somehow that happens.
And so then I was president of GVTVand I felt very proud of my time there.
We made a lot of stuff.
Very few of it good.
But I was just really happy of the ideaagain of like I want as many people here
utilizing these resources getting to knowother people because that's the other
thing is like sometimes you only meetthese film majors that you're with in the
(06:10):
classes you're in and that's not enoughtime to build bonds build connections.
This is the network thatyou're building for any of your
projects that you want to do.
If you want to do a senior thesis, yoursenior year, you're going to need to spend
the three years leading up to it, knowingpeople and working on their stuff and
saying, Hey, I'm going to work on yourthing and you're going to work on mine.
And that's like the gift economyof your labor being something very
valuable and being very appreciativewhen someone else gives it to you.
(06:31):
And so whether that be GVTV or anythingelse, it really is finding those avenues
to connect with as many people as possibleand finding the people you gel with the
most and spending more time with thosepeople and doing that as soon as you can.
That kind of transitions, I think, intoWomen in Cinema with what you said about
just volunteering to be on the board.
Me and Caitlyn can both probably attestto this, but Women in Cinema came out of
(06:52):
the pandemic of wanting to create a spacefor women and non-binary students who
are the minority in the film industry.
And so we wanted to create a spacewhere those people could come
together and create a safe space.
Once the students who were on theeboard originally graduated, I ended
up just randomly stepping up becauseI didn't want the club to go away.
And Caitlyn also did that.
(07:12):
So Caitlyn, I will throw it toyou to talk about Women in Cinema.
Women in Cinema was a club I alwaysknew I wanted to be a part of from when
I first saw them at Campus Life Night.
For a little bit of context about me like,I always knew I wanted to do something
creative, but I didn't know what.
And like, my eureka moment was, Isaw Ava DuVernay giving like, an
interview on being a director,and I'm like, that's an option?
Cause, like seeing is believing, there'sjust not as many representations, both
(07:35):
on and off screen, of women in film.
I really wanted this space where youcan cultivate relationships with other
women and non binary people in film andhave that like, common understanding.
And I've really loved all myyears at the club, I've been here
since my first week when I was afreshman all the way up till now.
We do a lot of really fun things.
We do equipment demos, we do writingexercises, we have guest speakers
(07:56):
come in, which is really cool.
And probably my favorite part of Womenin Cinema club is the mentorship program.
So basically, it's not required oranything, it's an optional thing you
can do, but if you want to, you can signup for the mentorship program and they
pair you up with a female or non binaryalumni who's graduated in the past.
And it can be really nice to justhave someone to talk to and be like,
(08:17):
oh like, my project's not going well,or like, I'm really stuck on this
script, and like, they've been there,and they can like, relate to you,
and they can help you through it, butI really love Women's Cinema club.
It's a great way, like Kyle said, it'sa great way to like, go out there and
make connections and get close to peopleyou might not have time to, or may not
be in the same classes with, becauseI feel like in the major you very much
have your cohort people tend to movethrough the same level classes at the
(08:41):
same time, so I've really appreciatedhow it's allowed me to meet all different
types of people, and I have people I metwho are on my thesis now because of the
relationships I've formed, so everyoneshould join Women in Cinema in my opinion.
Yeah.
And I can also say that the mentorshipprogram is definitely very beneficial.
And our alumni have done some amazingthings as I'm sure you can hear
(09:02):
on other episodes of this podcast.
I had a mentor one year who, shewas the Location Manager for the
"Five Nights at Freddy's" movie.
I also had a mentor who's, did VFX on"Fallout" the new TV show for Amazon.
So there's some pretty amazing alumnifrom the school and people who are
more than willing and wanting to helpstudents make it where they want to go.
(09:25):
And I'll even add on to that, Iwant to really emphasize this idea.
People love being a mentor.
They love the idea of being a mentor.
And if you give them that opportunityof saying, hey, I'm seeking a mentor and
you seem really cool and I would loveto just have a couple chats with you.
90 percent of people are going to say yes.
Because, who doesn't like the idea ofsomeone looking up to them and wanting
to hear your wisdom and your advice?
(09:46):
I will say that just because 90 percentof people will say yes doesn't mean
90 percent of people should say yes.
Some people just don'thave the right capacity.
So you might have a bad mentor experiencewhere you're like, I'm trying to
connect with this person and they'renot actually giving me any time, and
they seem like a really scattered brain.
So it is like mindful of that process.
Absolutely.
And this industry, as you will hearso many times, is 100 percent built on
connections and like you said, peopleare more than willing to talk to you a
(10:09):
lot of the time I've reached out cold topeople through the Writers Guild websites
and other websites, and they are morethan willing to mentor you and talk to
you and just get to know you and helpyou as you move forward in your careers.
Highly recommend gettinginvolved in mentorship.
So let's move on to ContinuousScript Writing club then
which I am also involved in.
I got asked by one of my professorswho is our faculty advisor.
(10:34):
And I love script writing, butI'm, I'm a little more introverted.
But I love script writing and I lovetalking about writing, and so I said yes.
Also, like Caitlyn said,I can't say no to people.
And so with Continuous, ouridea is we just want to be in
a writer's room format almost.
We're all just sitting there, we alllove writing, we all want to collaborate
and learn from each other and justtry to make the best projects we can.
(10:56):
So we do table reads we do writingexercises together, all sorts of stuff.
We have guest speakers sometimes, too.
Actually in a couple weeks fromwhen we're doing this podcast, we're
having a writer from L. A. come in.
His name's Alex Sherman, and he was onthe show "Our Flag Means Death" on HBO.
We really try to connecteveryone interested in writing
with that as much as possible.
(11:16):
And, Caitlyn, if there'sanything else you want to that.
Can I tell the story as I rememberit of how Continuous got started?
Cause I just find it like, veryfunny and like emblematic of how
a lot of clubs start on campus.
It was, oh, Women and Cinema had like aguest speaker who was there for a week.
And it was open to like, all students,not just women and non binary people.
And the guest speaker was talking abouthow like, you need to like, go out
(11:39):
there and make stuff and just go for it.
And this club is great.
Start more clubs.
And she starts listing off clubs, andI think she mentioned a writing club.
And it was , you and me and John, who'salso on eboard right now, we're all
right next to each other, and you were,like, yeah, let's start a writing club.
And I'm, like, why not?
And John's I'll be on it.
And it just was, like, boom, ithappened right then and there.
I think starting a club can be a lotscarier than some people think it
(11:59):
is, but it's really, like you justgotta give four people to say, yeah,
I'll show up once every other week.
So I really encourage people,get involved, go for eboard.
Depending on the club, it can reallybe, as involved or as uninvolved as you
want it to be, but it's a really greatway to make connections and then leave
something that can help other people.
That's one thing I love about Continuous,is that we do a lot of table reads,
(12:20):
which allows people to grow their craft.
In like Fiction I and II, you only haveso many opportunities for a table read
and it gets you new perspectives andespecially like the younger students
who don't really get into scriptwriting until the higher level classes.
It gives them a chance to getfeedback and get creative.
And also we have some members at theclub who are not film majors who always
bring an interesting new perspective.
So I really love Continuous.
(12:41):
It's a very interesting group.
We're weird people, but that'swhat makes life interesting.
That's what's interesting is I stillfollow the GVTV Instagram and then they
occasionally post and they're like,Hey, here's our eboard for this year.
And I was looking and thePresident of GVTV right now,
he's a Computer Science major.
And I'm like, Oh, that.
never had anyone who was a non filmor at least like the multimedia
journalism pathway who was in theprogram, let alone leading the program.
(13:05):
And so it's so cool to know thatoh, yeah, anyone can get together.
A lot of people end up reallyliking filmmaking and video
making, not just the film majors.
Finding community outside ofthat can be really rewarding too.
Also going off of that with what Caitlynsaid about clubs and just doing whatever,
I do want to say that for me as a person,clubs were very daunting because it's a
group of people you've never met before.
(13:25):
You have a similar interest,but there's something scary
about that, at least for me.
And the one thing I've reallylearned and appreciated about clubs,
especially here is you can makethem whatever you want them to be.
They don't have to be, your casual clubformat where someone stands in front and
is just lecturing you with a PowerPoint.
With Women in Cinema and Continuous,we've really tried to make it a
group thing where we all just sitdown in a circle and just talk.
(13:49):
Why do you guys think it'sbeneficial to be involved in clubs?
What advice would you give topeople interested in joining clubs
or nervous about joining them?
I would say like, just go for it.
Like, I knew someone freshman year whowas like, I never signed up for clubs.
And I've heard so many people say that notgoing to clubs was their biggest regret.
Not doing it sooner.
And I'm so grateful that I didbecause it just gets you to know
(14:09):
people and gets you connections.
And especially like, coming in asa freshman, it can be really scary.
You don't know a lot of people.
But you're not going to startmeeting people by sitting
in your dorm room all day.
So like, go out, makeconnections, learn new things.
And I just feel like it helps yougrow so much as a person, just to put
yourself out there with this groupof people and try to make something.
Yeah, listen, when I was doing my fouryears at film program at GVSU, like
(14:34):
there was a certain level of I want todo the things that excite me and are
passionate, and also I kind of want tolike, not game the system, not to be
cynical about it, but I want to takeas much of this opportunity as I can.
The four years, I'm spendinga lot of money to be here.
I might as well do as much asI can to prepare myself for
what next phase of my life.
So I was a sophomore.
I was a first semester of mysophomore year and we had a theory
(14:54):
professor before Spencer Everhart.
Her name was Toni Perrine and I didmoderately okay in her class writing
papers about American history withfilm and world history with film.
And she came up to me and she said,Hey, Kyle, so we have this thing
called Cinesthesia and it's basicallya film journal and we basically, all
we do is we publish student essaysthat they write in class and we
(15:15):
publish them out for the world to seeas an academic professional journal.
And I said, that's pretty cool.
You want me to be a part of it?
And she said, actually,everyone's graduating.
And so we need someoneto be running the club.
And I was just a sophomore.
And I said, okay, what does that mean?
And she was like, you'll figureit out, but I think you do fine.
And so I was very fortunate thatshe came to me and she felt that
I was capable enough, but here'sthe thing, I didn't know what I was
(15:37):
doing and I didn't know what theCinesthesia was and how to run it.
And so next semester, I wasrunning the whole thing.
And part of it was because I waslike interested in the challenge.
I thought that This would be fun.
Another part of me was just beinglike, I don't know, this is a thing
to put on a resume and or showthat I'm capable of these things.
I ended up having a great time and it wascool to meet other people and I didn't
end up having to do really any writing.
(15:58):
I just had to run a website because theCinesthesia is hosted on a website so I
had to learn a little bit of HTML and Iwatched some YouTube videos to do that.
What all of this is to say isthat after I graduated, if you
go to Cinesthesia's site, you cansee it has 250, 000 downloads.
That's a really impressivenumber of worldwide downloads.
When I was applying to a non profitpart time internship, they were
saying we need someone who canwrite daily email newsletters.
(16:21):
Do you have any writing experience?
And I said I'm so glad you asked.
I was Editor In Chief of this whole site.
And I was reviewing.
In truth, I wasn't doing much writing.
I was just running a website.
And they said, oh that's great.
And then they were like we alsoneed someone who can do a little
bit of HTML and web design.
And I said I'm so glad you asked.
I learned how to do it on this journal.
So you find the opportunities as longas you're just willing to raise your
(16:41):
hand and say, I don't know how to dothat, but I'm more than happy to learn.
And everything can cascade down from that.
And you feel more confident inyourself, because, you figure out
things along the way, and you'relike, oh, I guess I did that.
The imposter syndrome's kind of fadingaway, and I realize that there are
more things in this world that Ican do, that I'm capable of doing,
and that I deserve to be able to do.
Yeah, it really doesn't take much tojoin eboard, which is not to say like,
(17:02):
just sign up and like, not be readyfor the commitment, cause it is a
commitment, And Women in Cinema club,like my first semester, the Treasurer
graduated and they needed a new person.
And I'm, like, why not?
And then they're like, you're hired.
And I'm like, I have no cluewhat a Treasurer does, but
I'm going to figure it out.
And that's the beauty of these clubs.
It's like a much lower pressuresituation than when you're out
in the real world in your career.
So just go make mistakes, try things.
(17:24):
And even if you don't succeed, you learn.
This is the time to take risks.
Alright, so let's talkabout on campus employment.
This is fun because I get to chatwith C. K. and Caitlyn, both of
whom have been employed and areemployed at our Bridge Studio.
And me and a colleague, Noah Campbell,also a film and video alumni.
Oversee it and we are, theSupervisors, the Managers.
(17:46):
And every year we have aboutnine film majors who we are able
to have part time who come in.
And it's a really wonderful experience.
I mean, Caitlyn CK, didyou have a good time?
Are you having a good time?
Yeah, I really enjoyedmy time at The Bridge.
I worked there forabout a year and a half.
And that was like my first real film jobin college, and I really appreciated,
all the technical stuff I learned.
(18:07):
I learned how to use a light board,I became very Premiere Pro and After
Effects savvy, and that has served mevery well in like, my 400 300 level
classes to be able to edit quickly.
And also just learning how to workwith clients, cause, Professors come
in and they don't always know whatyou want and you have to learn how to
kind of walk them through the process.
I really appreciate everythingThe Bridge taught me about client
(18:28):
work and just the workflow of aprofessional job in this industry.
And Caitlyn, I'm sure you can agree,99 percent of the professors we have as
clients, they're wonderful, they're great.
Sometimes, though, a professorcan be a little mean.
And that can be in and of itselfits own rewarding experience because
you're like, Oh this is client work.
Sometimes you're like hired todo something and then the person
(18:49):
who's asking you to do it,
maybe he isn't treating you with themost amount of respect, and it's figuring
out that balance of of like, I stillrespect myself, and I need to make sure
this relationship is maintaining that,but also you're getting that little
bit of exposure of someone who mightbe difficult to work with, which can be
rewarding.
I had one professor once who came inand was like, alrighty I'll sit and
watch you edit, and I'm sitting here no,you're not gonna look over my shoulder
(19:09):
for two hours, but you can't say that,so I was like, Oh you can if you want,
but I want to be respectful of your time,so what if I just walk you through the
process and you leave me some notes?
And she was like, oh,okay, that's perfect.
I definitely learned a lot about howto professionally and respectfully
work through tricky situations.
Yeah, I've only been workingthere a couple months.
I started at the August of my senior year.
(19:31):
So I don't know that I've done a ton,but it's definitely an experience
to client work and also like acustomer service thing that I've
never really experienced before.
I've been working in the equipmentroom since my freshman year.
And so it was a new thing to, yeah.
Not just be like, all right,here's your equipment.
Bye.
Like I actually have to take feedbackand try to make things the way
(19:53):
they want them and also somethingthat's quality and they can use.
So that's been super cool.
And also just becoming a better editor.
You just get to learn and Google andtry things you've never tried before.
So it's definitely a cool experience.
And which, it's interesting forthe two of you now working in this
new kind of version of The Bridge.
When I was a student worker,I also worked at The Bridge.
We used to be called the DigitalStudio back then, and I will tell
(20:16):
you, I worked, 15, 17 hours aweek for three semesters straight.
And I want to say I probably worked ontwo video projects that entire time.
We just didn't reallyhave the client base yet.
We were still trying tofigure out what we were and no
one really knew who we were.
So I spent most of that time doinghomework and watching Netflix.
And it's interesting now that we'reat a point where we're all like, we're
trying to be intentional about saying wewanna give as many projects as possible
(20:39):
to the students who come in here.
We want them to feel like they'regetting value while also not adding on
that huge labor and load and mentalstress of being like, I have 10
things I need to do as a student andalso deal with my own mental health.
And so trying to find that balancebetween it being a rewarding experience
and being a challenging experience.
The biggest regret that I have goingthrough my undergrad experience
is that I applied a lot of times.
(21:01):
And I like to think that I was like,I was President of GVTV and I was
Editor In Chief of Cinesthesia..I'm like, I'm doing pretty good.
I was rejected every timefrom Promotions Office.
And it hit like a gut punch everytime I even applied my senior year.
They were like, we only have one openingthis year and it's just for makeup.
And I said, I'll figure it out.
I'll learn.
And they're like, have youever done makeup before?
And I said, No, and they're like,then we're not hiring you, Kyle.
(21:21):
But I knew I wanted to workthere for a number of reasons.
One, I knew that, Bobby Nielsen,who currently runs it, also a GVSU
film and video alumni, really hasa high standard of quality, really
is making high quality content.
What the Promotions Office is, is to myunderstanding is that if you're maybe
working at the university probably as astaff member, faculty or whatever, you
might say Oh, we need a video to promotean event or to educate about an event.
(21:45):
We need something high quality.
They'll go and they'll hire the PromotionsOffice to say, we need a high quality
video about like Prez Ball that's comingup and we need a really cool commercial.
That's going to be multi hundreds ofthousands of dollars budget type dealio.
And that is one of the bestways on campus to be like,
I am part of a film crew.
I am part of an understandingof the professional needs.
And I never really got to do that.
(22:05):
GVTV got me a little close.
When I was working at DigitalStudio Bridge, not really.
And I was always looking for thatopportunity on campus to be like, no, we
are professionally making high qualitystuff that then goes into your demo reel
that then you can show other people likethis is the cool stuff I've worked on.
And so that is a reallyvaluable experience.
I know that UniversityCommunications is a similar deal.
I think they have a lotless open slots available.
(22:28):
That's another team that you canlike, be always on the lookout
for, see if they're hiring.
WGVU is a television station that's,an extension of GVSU, but not fully
there's nothing academic about it.
They're not doing classes or anything.
They're entirely just oh, we justdo local broadcast television.
Sometimes they hire student workers thereand that's another great opportunity.
You're really just looking for anychance and opportunity to get your
foot in the door to say someonehas in the past hired me and paid
(22:51):
me to do some type of media work.
And then that way, when you getout of there to be like, Hey, don't
worry I'm now a graduated student.
I'm no longer a student.
I'm now a professional in this world.
Yes.
Other people have trusted me and havehired me and paid me to do this work.
And that's why you should as well.
So I've been working at WGVUfor a little over a year now.
For those of you who don't know,WGVU is the local PBS station
(23:13):
that's partnered with Grand Valley.
It's in the downtown Pew Campus.
And I really have loved my time there.
It's really something newevery day you come in.
Some days you come in andyou edit little promo videos.
Other days you do an in studio shoot whereyou have fancy headsets and like, the
cameras up and you're, like, being toldto give signals to the people on air.
And then other times we like, go out anddo shoots in the community and we might
(23:36):
be filming an elementary school releasingsalmon for like, an educational video.
Or another day we mightbe going to a goat farm.
Or another day we might be,interviewing an artist about their
sculptures and stuff like that.
So I really appreciate how it's takenme out into the community, I've learned
about so many places in Grand Rapidsthat I wouldn't have known before,
(23:56):
and actually one of those places ashort film I'm working on might be
using as a location now, because Ijust saw it through that experience.
And you learn a lot, like I said, we doa lot of promotional video editing, cause
we record the seasons of our shows forPBS, and then we have to promote them
on social media learning how to do anoverarching, cause in the past, like at
The Bridge, I had done maybe promotionalstuff for one specific event, but now
(24:18):
it's like you have a whole season oflike a show and you have to make the
promotions consistent through that, soI learned a lot through my time there.
You worked at The Bridge and thenyou got hired to work at WGVU.
We were very sad to see you go, butprobably to a certain degree, when
you were applying to WGVU, you werelike, Oh yeah, I have experience.
I've been also working atthis other institution here.
And then once you startworking WGVU, you're like, Oh,
(24:39):
they have a bit more money.
They're making higher quality stuff.
My demo reel is looking nicer.
So it was like that, not a lateral move.
You were moving up in yourprofessional capabilities.
Yeah, it's always every opportunity youhave on campus, whether that's a club
or a job, teaches you something whichthen helps you get the next thing.
And that is one thingthey talked to me about.
It was actually, it's a funnystory how I had my interview there.
(25:01):
They told me to come in forthis interview and I got there.
And Skye, who's our manager, waslike, hey I have a taping going on
right now, so I'm gonna interviewyou while the taping's going on.
He was like, ready camera two,so tell me a little bit about
your like video experience.
Alrighty, move the cameraa little bit to the left.
Ready camera four, solike, how's your day been?
And that's just pretty emblematic of howshoots can go there but yeah they asked
(25:24):
me about my previous experience and TheBridge was definitely like the fact that
I had been working on stuff consistently.
This is why you got to go out and dothat stuff because even if you think oh
I'm just making silly videos at a clubor whatever or just editing at this job
it does help especially just seeing thatlike you have the initiative to go out
and do things so you really have to putyourself out there because just taking
that step will get you to the next step.
(25:45):
Yeah, and I will say I had a little bitof a different, I got into The Bridge
a little bit later in my years hereat GVSU but I started in the equipment
room, so Production Support Resources.
I started my second semester here andI just wanted a film job because I
knew I wanted to do something relatedto what I was studying, something
that would give me a fresh start.
(26:06):
And so I just applied and theyinterviewed me and I had no experience.
I was a little bit afraid of camerasbecause I didn't want to break something.
But I I told them I wanted to learnand I wanted to get better and
just do whatever I needed to do.
And so they hired me and I've beenworking there for a while now.
I'm their Film and Video Lead too now.
I work a lot with the professors andI meet lots of students and stuff.
(26:29):
So it even just starting with that,just getting to know your faculty and
your, the fellow students and just,take little steps, do what you need
to do to get where you need to be.
We're taking a short break totell you about the Dirk Koning
Memorial Film and Video scholarship.
Here's Gretchen Vinnedgeremembering Dirk Koning.
The Koning Scholarship enables studentsto get that kind of an education, to be
(26:50):
a good filmmaker, to be able to expresstheir voice and to continue Dirk's dream.
For more information, and todonate to the scholarship, visit
the link in the description.
Now, back to the show.
So Kyle, you were a TAwhen you were here at GVSU.
Do you want to talk alittle bit about that?
Yeah, Suzanne just tapped me onthe shoulder Suzanne Zack who
(27:11):
I was in one of her courses.
I don't actually remember whichone, but I know that at one point,
I've been taking the initiative.
I've been doing a lot around theclasses and all of the extracurricular.
And she said, Hey I'm lookingfor a T. A. It's a paid gig.
It's only four hours a week, you'rejust going to come in and be there.
I didn't really know what I was doing, butI had been through Media I so I guess I
knew a little bit more than the studentswho were currently taking Media I.
(27:34):
And it's just another opportunityfor a number of reasons.
One, you get to have your experiencesof just being in front of people
and having some position of Oh,I guess I do have some wisdom to
impart and feeling like that senseof responsibility that comes with it.
Also, it can be really nice in thatsame way of the mentor thing, like
you're meeting usually students whoare a little bit younger than you.
So that's really nice to make connectionswith people who are a little bit younger.
Maybe they're going to be your PAsnext year when you need some Hey,
(27:57):
I'm making a thing and we needsomeone who's looking for experience.
And then they're likea first year freshmen.
They're like, I have neverbeen on a set before.
So this is the perfect opportunity.
And you get, of course, closer andconnections to the faculty, to the
professors, to the instructors, whereyou're building those connections,
which can be very valuable.
Suzanne gave me endless opportunitiesin my entire four years, and she
gave me a couple recommendationsto the Promotions Office.
(28:19):
Not that they helped, and that's okay,they didn't, but it was nice to have
someone in my corner who told me, heyKyle, did you know like there, this
is opening, you should go for it,and I'll put in a good word for you.
It's nice to have, it feels like someoneat the university, Someone who's been
here for a while, any of the instructors,any of the professors who you're
like, yeah, I'm building these kind ofrelationships with that are gonna help me,
(28:39):
especially as I need to start connectingwith alumni and figuring out what the
heck I'm gonna do after I graduate.
Being a TA was really rewardingand I just stood there and I just
watched as Suzanne did her magic.
But if you ever have that opportunityor if you wanna just go up to
someone and just say Hey professor,I really think you've been great.
Let me know if there's ever an openingfor a TA 'cause I would love to do it.
It's a really rewarding experience.
(28:59):
Yeah, I will also add on to that.
I'll say to everyone, If you don'twant to get involved with stuff, don't
talk to Suzanne Zack, because every,I swear, half the time, and I say
this lovingly, half the time I talkto her I leave, and I'm like, how did
I just volunteer to do five things?
that's how it goes
But, that is the magic of Suzanne.
So I would also say, if you want to getinvolved on campus work, especially and
(29:22):
specifically like, go talk to Suzanne.
She is the person for that.
She is all knowing, andshe knows everyone, so she
can find something for you.
And that's actually how I found outabout WGVU, is I went to Suzanne, I was
like, hey, I think I'm ready for the nextstep in my filmmaking career, I don't
have a car, what are some places I canget to that are nearby, and she's like,
I think this place is perfect for you,I'm gonna write you an email right now
(29:44):
to this person, and I'm like, oh, okay.
And then I left and speed redidmy resume, so talk to Suzanne.
Kyle, I also had a very similarexperience of how I became
Suzanne's TA the last few years.
I visited her during office hours when Iwas in Media 1, and then I just happened
to end up in her office one day askingabout internships, and she was just
like, you want to be my TA next year?
(30:05):
And I was like, okay.
And yeah, you definitely just, youlearn a lot just trying to adapt your
plans to help different students atdifferent levels and just meeting people
where they're at and also just watchingSuzanne work with people and, helping
you build your leadership skills.
I was terrible at demoing equipmentin Premiere when I first started.
And I've definitely like hercheerleading in the background is
(30:29):
definitely helped me become moreconfident in my skills at this point.
So yeah, definitely talk to Suzannebecause she will get you all sorts of
things and she'll be your cheerleader.
But also you may end up doinga bunch of extra things because
it's so hard to say no to her.
So kind of The last thing i'm going totalk about , is doing projects outside
of the classroom, independent projects.
(30:50):
I know for myself, my, end of my freshmanyear, I knew I wanted to be making things.
I wasn't in the upper level fictionclasses or anything like that.
And I didn't really know anybody,but I wanted to work with people.
And I took some of my friends thatI had met at PSR, and I was like,
Hey, you guys want to make a movie?
And so we proceeded to createkind of our own production
(31:11):
company called Snek Studios.
And then we ended up makinga 13 minute short film for
200 dollars within 6 months.
And since then we've tried to produce ashort film every summer, or every fall.
And that has really just, like Kylesaid about GVTV, the more you practice
and just make bad movies, the moreyou learn and the quicker you can
(31:33):
get into those good quality things.
I don't know if you guys have anythingyou would like to add to that.
I think that's so awesome that youdid that, and I wish I had done that.
mean, I've loved my time at GV, I don'thave many regrets, but I think my only
one is Media 1 my first semester I wasjust really bored because I had taken a
couple video classes in high school, Ifelt like I already knew this, and I was
sitting here should I even be in thismajor if this is all we're gonna be doing
(31:55):
I already know this isn't engaging to me,And I wish, like I said, instead of just
sitting in my own frustration and beinglike, upset about projects, I wish I had
gone out and found people and done stuff.
And I've heard that from a lot ofother people too, is I think people
are scared at first when they firstjoin the major, because they don't know
people, but put yourself out there sayyou want to make a thing, and you'd
be surprised how many people willbe excited and willing to help you.
(32:17):
My four years that I spent, it becamea reoccurring joke that I realized
had been happening for many years.
Which is that eventually at some point,group of people come together, they
form a production company and then theysay what in my experience has been the
death keel, which is, and we're goingto make a feature film this summer.
Every year, every time.
They're like, we'regoing to make a feature.
(32:38):
We're going to make a feature.
We're going to make a feature.
We sometimes have people in GVTV, likewe're interested in making a feature.
And I would always try and just shake themby the head and say, make a short, because
the reason for that, the philosophy forthat, it's not just like it's too big
for you or anything like that, what itis that getting into a feature is such an
intimidating, long immense process, onethat can be so demoralizing as you go on,
(33:00):
because let's face it, if you don't havea lot of experience, your first feature
is probably going to be pretty bad.
And that's okay.
That's the point of it, right?
The point is to get from the beginning,the middle, and the end, and then
have a moment of reflection oflike, that was that whole process.
Let's do it again, and let'sdo it a little bit better.
And the problem with making a featureis that you just extended that process
(33:21):
so much longer to where you don'thave that phase of just reflection.
Like you would if it was a 13 minuteshort, where you really go all out, and
you really put it all out there, andyou said, that was our 13 minutes, and
sometimes it's amazing, and sometimesit's terrible, but regardless, whew,
afterwards you're like, okay, great.
Time to do that again from thebeginning where we now all have a
(33:41):
moment to breathe and then we feelthat energy and motivation starting
to build up again as we're likewe're excited for the next thing.
As much as possible keep it short, keepit simple, CK is that something that
you're glad you did like that 13 minutes?
Oh, a hundred percent.
I think if we had tried to go anylonger, like that didn't even cross
my mind, but if it had, I don'tthink it would have been as, good
as a learning experience as it was.
(34:03):
Yeah, it was.
It was an interesting film.
I wrote it, and directed it, andproduced it, and then I was just like,
Alright, friends, let's make this.
And it's pretty cheesy.
I remember showing it to myparents and being like, It's okay.
And my mom just pointed out in thisreally intense scene that there was just
this blow up ghost in the background,just completely distracting her.
(34:23):
So that's why productiondesign is important.
But totally.
Start small, Take risks, do what yougotta do, but yeah, don't go big.
Yeah, I want to add on to what Kyle said.
Probably the best piece of advice I evergot from a professor here at GV was it is
not a healthier, productive mindset to seelike every single project I do has to be
(34:43):
my magnum opus, has to be this big, giant,biggest movie to ever be, 10, 000 extras,
everything's on fire, it's underwater.
He said instead the way you shouldlook at it is with every project
you do, what do you want to work on?
Is it like, oh, for this one I want towork on doing more interesting camera
angles, for this one I want to work onmy writing, this one I want to work
(35:05):
on how I direct actors, and that reallyjust completely changed how I approach
filmmaking, it took so much pressureoff of me, of, this is this one thing
I want to work on for this film, andmaybe you don't love every part of the
film, but just keep track of, did I dobetter on this one thing, and if not, how
can I do better on that in the future,and I think, that's a much better thing
to focus on than be trying to makeyour first feature while in college.
(35:29):
And the through line of whatyou're describing, which is
that you're every time you like,I want to try something new.
I want to challengemyself a little bit more.
But the constant that needs to be,in my opinion, underlining the whole
experience is that you want to makesure if you're the Producer, if you're
the Director, if you have a leadershipposition on this project that you are
saying, I want to get this done, you wantat the end of it, all of the people you
(35:50):
collaborated with to feel like, Hey,like, feel good about the experience.
It, filmmaking is hard.
It is arduous.
It is scary.
It is tiring.
It is long.
And that is to a certain extentwhat kind of scared me away
from the full set of production.
And now I veered off into, educationalvideo because it felt a lot more within
my wheelhouse, but they can be long days.
(36:11):
They can be stressful days, and if atthe end of your project, everyone hates
each other, and is mad at each other,and annoyed, and especially if the film
did not come out the way you wanted itto that can be a lot of burned bridges.
And to a certain extent, if you're goingthrough these big magnum opus projects,
that you're not really like, challengingyourselves in the small ways, everyone
can just be really disappointed by theend, and that's just not a really, you
(36:32):
want to set yourself up we were talkingabout how I think failure being so
important, because then you learn from it.
But the success, the only thing that youneed to succeed is that everyone is at
least a little bit like, that was a coolthing we did, or I learned something, or
I got to know people, or I got fed somesemi nice lunch that someone made me,
and I felt appreciated in that process.
That is the most important thing, Ithink, when you're trying to network and
(36:54):
collaborate with your other students.
Absolutely, and when you're makingthose projects too, it just, the days
can get long and you can get frustratedand things will go wrong and the, the
easiest thing to just make it fun foryourself is make sure that you're doing
it with people that you care about andyou have fun with and just trying to
keep the environment fun and recognizingthat you're learning and that's okay.
(37:17):
So do you guys have any advicefor current students or students
who are joining the program?
That I think I've said this before, butjust to recap, and at the risk of sounding
like a bit dramatic you only live onceI can't say you're only in college once,
because that's not necessarily true inthis day and age, but put yourself out
there, go to stuff for example, I wentto my first Cinespace this year, and I
never went my freshman or sophomore year,and I wish I had, but I was always like,
(37:40):
oh, I'm tired, or it's too far, but itwas really fun to go to, so Just go.
Like, Don't burn yourself out, butLike, at least go once, and like,
like, when I was a freshman, my ruleto myself was like, hey, you have to
go to, all the orientation events,and you gotta stay for one hour.
If you don't like it, then you can leave.
So I would tell people go to allthe stuff you're interested in, and
if you don't like it, don't stay.
But at least try.
At least put yourself out there, andyou never know what opportunities
(38:01):
and what people you're gonna meet.
Yeah, I'll say my finale is somethingthat I've been building to if, if I
were to construct like a perfect fouryear experience as a film major, and
ultimately like to follow this exactplan would be far too unrealistic
and you'd only setting yourself upfor disappointment, Idealistically,
you'd come in as a freshman, you'dsee something like GVTV or the Script
Writing club, I just want experience.
(38:22):
I want to meet people, I want topractice, I want to make stuff,
and you do that your freshman year.
And then your sophomore year is okay, Ikind of want to like get better experience
doing something a bit more advanced.
Maybe I'll go work for The Bridge, which,famously like, we like to hire freshmen
and sophomore, people who want to gettheir feet wet then I could do maybe
a year of that, get some experience,and the next step after that would be,
oh, hey, I want to do maybe a littlelevel up, maybe the Promo Office, maybe
(38:44):
Caitlyn, you went to WGVU, maybe you findan internship, something really cool.
That last step is really whereit's okay what do I do next?
And that's finding other professionalGrand Rapids resources production
companies to learn from them.
Whether you get hired from them orreceive an unpaid internship the important
thing is to understand Grand Valleyis primarily based in West Michigan.
We're based in Allendale and Grand Rapidsand these other kind of sister cities.
(39:07):
And it's important toknow what's out there.
But I'm going to read off, andif you have a pen and paper, if
you're listening to this, look upthe words, Ideology Grand Rapids.
That's a production companythat's based in Ada.
They do really great stuff.
They have a pickleball courtin their production studio.
It's really annoying.
They have that golden hourthing that the Mandalorian has.
It's insane.
Look up Taproot Productions.
Look up Ingalls Production, look up SaltProductions, look up Gorilla, look up
(39:31):
Drop, Voyage Lowing, Visionary, Motivity,these are places, this list might be a
year old, so I don't know if any of themhave gone out of business, I know at
one point it had the production companycalled Black Pigeon on there I'm seeing
a message as well from Suzanne that saysBraincell, look up Braincell, There's a
place called Black Pigeon that famouslyhired, I think, 30 unpaid interns at once,
(39:52):
who all just stood around and did nothing.
Sometimes these might be negativeexperiences they went under.
But you need to know what is in the area,what professional work is being done.
Most of this is commercial,medium sized scales.
They're not doing a whole lot of featuresunless it's Some, sometimes they may
be come to visit, but knowing what theyare, visiting them, seeing if there
are any alumni, they're reaching outand saying, Hey, can I take a tour?
(40:13):
Can I just see the place?
Can I learn from you?
Those are really great waysto get your foot in the door,
to get your name out there.
And especially if you want to graduateand if you want to stay in West Michigan,
you're going to want to know ahead oftime, Hey, these are the places to go to.
And you want to make sure that they,at least a little bit know your name.
And if you have all that, experience fromyour classwork, from your extracurricular,
from your student employment.
(40:33):
You're going to be setting yourself upfor success in what is famously a very
competitive industry that we all got into.
And that's really scary gettinginto, you know, my brother and my
sister both were chemical engineers.
They're fine.
They have houses, they have dogs,they're doing great but because I
really wanted to make those fouryears count and get as much skills as
possible and get as many connectionsas possible, I had a relatively like
(40:55):
privileged and seamless transition.
I'm really grateful for that.
And if you want to have a similarexperience, it is going to be a
lot of okay, then what do I do withthese four years or more or less,
however long you have to really makethem special and really transition
into that next phase of your life.
And that a really good way to get intothat is a lot of times Suzanne will
very much be involved in this, butthey will do like Field Trip Fridays
(41:17):
where they'll go visit local companies.
There's Alumni Present.
We'll have alumni talkabout different things.
They had an AD one and a propmaking one this past semester.
And also career exploration tripsthey went to LA last year and
they're going to Chicago this year.
So they're really getting you theseopportunities are really everywhere.
You just have to look for themand take advantage of them.
(41:39):
I think if there's one piece ofadvice I would say to anyone is
something I've always lived by ofyou just need like 15 seconds of
insane bravery and just say yes.
And just try it, and whatever happens.
You'll learn something, you'llmake a mistake, maybe you'll
get something good out of it.
But just go for it.
Thank you guys so muchfor talking with me.
(41:59):
This has been very fun.
Oh my gosh, it was a pleasure.
Happy to be here.
Thank you for joining us for thisepisode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Subscribe to our podcast, to hear morefrom our alumni across the industry.
Check out Alumni Live onFacebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
For more conversations and networking.
Let us know what topics you wantto hear our alumni talk about the
(42:22):
Grand Valley State University FilmVideo Alumni Network is here for
you, and we're glad that you're here.
Thank you for listening.
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