Marketing Your International Experience to Future Employers & Graduate Schools

The reason I decided to sit in on the “Marketing Your International Experience to Future Employers & Graduate Schools” is because, having been born and raised in Australia, going to school in Hong Kong for eight years, and finishing my education in North Carolina, I believe my experience as a global citizen to be one of my greatest strengths. From the description I’d read of the program, I was hoping to gain some knowledge on how to phrase my experiences in my resume. Besides this, I also gained valuable knowledge on how to incorporate my experiences into verbal interview scenarios.

Heidi White began the presentation with some surprising statistics. I was already aware that Elon had an impressive study abroad record, with approximately 70% of students having gone abroad by graduation, but I was unaware of the startling comparison to the rest of the country, with only 1.5% of American students on average studying abroad. White then asked us how we would describe our time abroad in one word, and in an effectively humorous method, showed us all just how stereotypical our descriptions were, when she showed us a PowerPoint slide listing literally the same words we had shouted out just moments before.

Instead of using words like “life changing” or “amazing” in a job interview, we were encouraged to use the words “culturally rich” and “academically enlightening.” Sounds simple but this had not really occurred to me. We then moved onto a technique that I immediately implicated into my own resume, which was the power of sub phrasing. Instead of just saying “Study abroad: Barbados” I should say “Global Experience: The sports, media and communication culture of Barbados.”

This seminar was valuable to me as it really helped me to change the way I phrased my own experiences abroad. The one thing that I felt I exceled at, was my ability to turn any interview question into an answer or dialogue relating to my time away from home, something that I already have quite a lot of experience with as I have already had to use it in multiple job/internship interviews.  Even so, it was still a great way to get more prep. We also went away with the knowledge of a new valuable interview practice tool available on the career center webpage: “Perfect Interview,” a coaching system that helps you practice for real life interviews.

Looking forward to my next session in professional discovery week.

Marketing Your International Experience to Future Employers & Graduate Schools

The reason I decided to sit in on the “Marketing Your International Experience to Future Employers & Graduate Schools” is because, having been born and raised in Australia, going to school in Hong Kong for eight years, and finishing my education in North Carolina, I believe my experience as a global citizen to be one of my greatest strengths. From the description I’d read of the program, I was hoping to gain some knowledge on how to phrase my experiences in my resume. Besides this, I also gained valuable knowledge on how to incorporate my experiences into verbal interview scenarios.

 

Heidi White began the presentation with some surprising statistics. I was already aware that Elon had an impressive study abroad record, with approximately 70% of students having gone abroad by graduation, but I was unaware of the startling comparison to the rest of the country, with only 1.5% of American students on average studying abroad. White then asked us how we would describe our time abroad in one word, and in an effectively humorous method, showed us all just how stereotypical our descriptions were, when she showed us a PowerPoint slide listing literally the same words we had shouted out just moments before.

 

Instead of using words like “life changing” or “amazing” in a job interview, we were encouraged to use the words “culturally rich” and “academically enlightening.” Sounds simple but this had not really occurred to me. We then moved onto a technique that I immediately implicated into my own resume, which was the power of sub phrasing. Instead of just saying “Study abroad: Barbados” I should say “Global Experience: The sports, media and communication culture of Barbados.”

 

This seminar was valuable to me as it really helped me to change the way I phrased my own experiences abroad. The one thing that I felt I exceled at, was my ability to turn any interview question into an answer or dialogue relating to my time away from home, something that I already have quite a lot of experience with as I have already had to use it in multiple job/internship interviews.  Even so, it was still a great way to get more prep. We also went away with the knowledge of a new valuable interview practice tool available on the career center webpage: “Perfect Interview,” a coaching system that helps you practice for real life interviews.

 

Looking forward to my next session in professional discovery week.

Interview

This is our latest video assignment. We were asked to conduct an interview with a subject of interest.

It was very enjoyable and fulfilling to insert B-role over the spoken audio. At times the ongoing chatter would become slightly tedious, so it was pleasant for both ourselves and our viewers to maintain their attention by inserting new footage. A challenge faced during the filming, which we didn’t realize until editing, was the lack of time we allowed in between question and response. This led to little flexibility when faced with audio errors and b-role opportunities. We’ve realized that we have come along way since our first video editing projects. Problems that would have stunned and stopped our progress a month ago we can now easily flip through and overcome.

Paper beats Rock

Very proud of our latest project. We set out at the beginning with a vision for a very classic western silent movie. Personally  was a very big fan of the “Bad Film” filter, difinitely gave us the theme we were striving for. The one complaint I’d have with a project like this was the standard of acting from one of our cast members. Not everyone is capable of holding a straight face, but thats the risk you take when you film your friends. Finally, the soundtrack was very moving. combinning with the filter to transport our viewers to a far less simple time, filled with adventure.

 

We’re both very proud of this final cut. My personal favorite touch was the stop-start motion shots used on the desk and in the written message across the page. It took a lot of time and patience matching the film to the beat of the music, but in doing so I feel that we really captured the message of the song, which was our goal. The tampering with the color during the mirror scene also captures the attention of the viewer, revealing the mind set of the video’s protagonist. The hardest trial of the project was definitely just figuring out the editing process. In the end we struggled slightly for time length, but I feel that we overcame this with our repeated clips, doing so without ruining the value of the film. Props to Mr Neff on the idea and creativity.

My biggest problem was with transferring audio from a downloaded clip into my final cut. I’m not to sure what went wrong but it caused me to have to overdubb my video crash scene with “The Rules of School”, causing the film to take on a slightly creepy vibe. The real message of my short film doesnt become clear until the last few seconds, however, I find that this works well, the viewers take in the shocking images with curiosity and discomfort, then the message of the film is revealed to them and they leave with thought placed in their head. It’s a creepy-shock-value film which I think accomplishes it’s goal.

This is the Homepage/Index page of my portfolio website. I decided on the grey background with white text as I felt that it was calming and an easy contrast on the eyes of the viewer. As seen on each page’s header, the Cam Thomas trademark dog paw is present; this will be a continual theme among future works. As for other future plans, I would say that apart from obviously adding more works, I would like to set up a better organization system for the projects; instead of large photos 1 by 1 horizontally down the page, I’d prefer to have a table series; acting as small icons which would lead the site’s visitor to a larger blown up representation of the art.

The New Header

Firstly, I’ve decided to make the dog paw a repeated signature for Cam Thomas works; sort of like a tag-line trademark.

I started off knowing the type of font I wanted to use (Zapfino), I’ve been using it for other projects in my Communications course and I hold a liking to it. Then I just fooled around with a few of the filters, starting off with the stained glass option. I felt it kind of made the image of a Turtle Shell. I then saw the option “glowing edges” and decided to give that a go. The effect worked. I feel the background of the header now looks like a sort of cracked desert landscape captured at night, with the only light radiating off of the author’s name. Although not intentionally, the dog paw supports the image of the desert, adding a wilderness theme. Finally the black, white, and silver colors I feel give off a mysterious questioning vibe to what the site holds.

WAM POW!

I was going for a very vintage old Japanese Ad composition with the faded colors and low variance.

My biggest problem was trying to fill in the void of BBQ sauce which used to be below the label in the middle container. At first I tried the stamp patch button, but that was unsuccessful. So I used the tear drop tool and the paintbucket.

Second was obviously the shapes and colors in the background behind the product. Once again going for the old Japanese anime look, I went for multiple eye-catching explosions with bright colors.

Final tool was the Eraser. I did an OK job at cutting out my product and pasting it onto a new frame, but there were still fragments that remained from the previous background sticking out unattractively. I felt like a barber as I trimmed off the surrounding “fuzz”.

Baby Ray’s

I used a 3 point light system for this shot. The Key  light was staged diagonaly off by the sandwhich with the Hair light opposite.  The Fill light was placed to the left of the camera. I didnt want to use a 4-point light system as I was struggling already with the light glaring off of the white label. I was trying to have all 3 lights pointing directly at the product to create a glamour appearance, but once again the glare from the label was becoming an issue. I eventually managed to counter the glare of the lights on the label by moving the Fill light further back in the room. After looking over the final product, the one change I would make is to go back and use a background light to even out the shadows on the wall.