Warner Brothers Internship
This past month has been one of the best in my entire life. Everything that I have seen and done has been truly amazing I cannot explain it. Looking into the future effects of this though, I think that what I take the most away from this experience has been some of the new information I have gotten from this internship. Some of the most interesting parts of this was realizing the complexity of the entertainment industry, the work goes so far beyond the initial creation. From the marketing and screenings and home releases the work that goes into every part of the process is incredible. This is where I think I learned the most from my fellow employees. Since my work was very individual I was only able to learn by observation, and what I notices was the passion and drive to continue to work as efficiently as they were. Passion and love for what you do is really something they both told me and saw that I should always strive to do in my professional life, which only further cemented my drive to study and work in the industry that has created and inspired me in so many ways.
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My final products for my internship were three things. The first project had one final product, which was a 15 page accumulation of research on Chinese web hosting laws, Chinese media equivalents to US social media, and areas of interest in the Chinese entertainment sector. This research is going to be used as the start of research and development for Warner Bros. as they begin establishing a web portal in China. For my second project I was tasked with looking at the different portals for the competing film companies including Disney, Universal, Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, and others and seeing what features they had that would be worthwhile to implement onto our own portal. I focused on 7 major studios (Disney, Universal, Sony, etc) and on 17 Different Portal Features:(Home Page Features, Division Pages, Division Sub-Pages,Social Media, Content Features, News/Press, Film Website, Film Bio Components, Interactive Components, Archive Films, Blog, Ticket Sale, Shop, Stills, Future Films Showcased, Page Layout, and Video Player). After compiling this information I created my second product, a page and a half with my thoughts and suggestions. I worked on each of these projects for about a week and a half, finalized them in my final week and presented them before my last day. It was an interesting and sometimes time consuming style of work but it was worth while in the end. Below are the slides I used to present my project at my internship. Part of the final product from my Internship is a photo essay with images from the many stages of the job. Below is that collection of these images: PART 1 One of the aspects of my internship work and project that struck me and has taught me about my own work ethic and style is the amount of self-advocacy necessary to do well. In the work place, you are expected to know what to do when people want it and are forced to familiarize yourself to the quality and format of work expected to be delivered to your bosses. It has been a lot of working and checking to see if it what you have is what they want, getting feedback, applying it, and turning it in again. The process is very much a constructive system that allows you to connect and work with those around you, while making ones ability to work efficiently on his own an essential component. Taking that into perspective, this entire process has shown me the complexities or working at more of a desk job towards the very end of the process in delivering entertainment to people all over the world. The amount of work that delivering that entertainment at such an efficient way that almost no one notices and instead finds praise or criticism on the other steps of the process is astonishing. One of the ways I hope I made a meaningful contribution to the office was by being able to create work that could eventually be useful to them as they take steps to globalize their online market. I hope that my initial research on Chinese web laws and social media can help them establish the Chinese portal with more ease and that they can take find merit in my analysis and suggestions on site features for the American portal. Overall, I this entire internship has been an exponentially insightful and worth-while experience that has allowed me to grow as an individual and student. It has shown me some of the work, research, and mentality involved in helping a company like Warner Brothers continue to be a competitive and noteworthy force in the entertainment industry as well as giving me an amazing opportunity to have contacts within a company I could one day be working for professionally. PART 2 As I have said before, one of the newest appreciations that I have developed as an intern here has been for the work and the people behind the final stages of the film making process such as digital marketing for theatrical releases, digital marketing and exposure for studio news, managing the integration of home entertainment into the studio digital marketing, and more. The effort and time that goes into making that aspect of the process be successful is something most people don't necessary think about. Most of these things are as good as they are because of the people behind them. My co-workers are a very passionate few that are often talking to each other debating and thinking about new aspects and ideas to implement to various portals around the world as well as researching new technologies and seeing how they can use them to further improve their products. The passion and fun they have doing what they do is something I want to have when I enter the professional world. Being able to work on something that can give you a passion that fuels your work ethic and makes you want to improve yourself is the key to enjoying your work. Seeing these people work so hard and being able to establish myself with them is a gargantuan step in the right direction for my life because it has allowed me to present myself to individuals in one of the most important organizations in the industries I want to work with. From the people I have met in the games division here in the office to the individuals on the web team I am working, the exposure I have gotten in the last couple of weeks is a blessing. As part of my internship project I get to create a photo essay. This is a preliminary set of photos I have gotten from my internship while exploring the lot and from inside my office building.
Since one of the most important HOHAMs to always keep in mind is Self-Advocacy, I think it's fitting that we try and apply that to our internship as much as possible. One of the ways I was able to use it was on my first real work day. Because I didn't have a computer or access to the employee wifi, I had no way to start working and my mentor acknowledged it and told me to think of some ways I could research what she wanted so I would be ready to go the next day. Instead of that, I logged on to the guest wifi on my phone and began some preliminary research on my phone so I could get a head start on my project and the type of work I would be doing. This ended up being an incredibly productive time and at the end of the day my mentor was impressed with my work ethic. By doing this and getting to know some of my fellow co-workers by going to lunch with them and talking to them about their project has been a way that I have gotten to know the people around the office and hopefully create a lasting impression. Today I actually saw some of the ways that this has worked as I helped one of my mentors with some designs she was making for a product she will be presenting to DC Comics and one of my co-workers gave me one of the free copies of the new DC Comics event issues that was mailed specifically for the office. Overall, I think I have gotten to know some of my co-workers really well and have used self-advocacy to put myself out there and work hard on any of the work I do.
For my internship project, I will just be showcasing the research and work I am doing for the team. Since some of what I am doing is work I shouldn't necessarily be talking about, the project has to be something that I can show, so I am working with my mentor to compile the work I can showcase and be able to present it in an interesting way. Due to the type of assignments I am getting, I will have a variety of things to choose from varying from research complication to application testing. By using my work I can really show what I have learned of this new area I am being exposed to of the industry I want to work in and how it has broadened my views on the components in making a successful company in the industry. Many of these skill are learned before the internship and are mixed with skills I am currently learning. Things like how to produce accurate and detailed research, how to interpret/understand legal documents, how to communicate successfully, learning how to identify a bug on a website or app and how to fix it, etc. I think in order to do this, most of the support will be on my co-workers and one of my mentors so that I can keep busy and work on various projects throughout my time here. I hope to also learn from my co-workers in order to learn some of the programs they run and how I can apply them to the work I am doing.
Today I have been tasked with interviewing one of my mentors here at Warner and because I am working almost exclusively with her team, I interviewed my mentor Julie Demarigny. · What is your job title? Vice President Direct to Consumer, International · What are your main duties and responsibilities? Responsible for international developments of consumer-centric activities: consumer intelligence (CRM, Data Collection, Programmatic Marketing, Predictive Analytic), as well as global online and mobile strategy, business development (OTT, emerging markets, English Learning) and R&D (VR, AR, neuromarketing). · Why did you choose to work here? I have a deep passion for entertainment and new technologies · How did you end up doing the job that you do? I started in the Music business and was offered to join Warner Bros in France to develop its digital department. From there I was offered to move to the US to manage international, and now I'm here. · What skills and training are necessary for your position? Curiosity and patience. More seriously: digital business, marketing, project management, and more. · How did you acquire these skills? Through school? On the job? Both, learning the basics at school and developing complimentary skills through different jobs. · Do you consider a career in this area satisfying? In what ways? Yes as it is evolving all the time and every day is different. · Is there anything you wish you'd realized you wanted to do in the world of work? Yes, create my company and travel the world with it. · What is the purpose of this organization? The purpose of the organisation is to support digital expansion of international markets, innovation and business development. REFLECTION For my internship I have a pretty great commute to and from. The office building is located just ten minutes from my aunts house so I am able to sleep in until eight until I have to leave at 9:15 to get to the office a little before 9:30. What I am doing most of the day is working on research for a project I'm not really sure I can talk about until about 11:45 when I go get lunch either in the cafeteria or from some food trucks outside. At 12:30-12:40 I go back to work until about 4 and then I go back home. I think that in relation to school, the research has been very similar to some of the projects and essays we have had to write in class, which makes the process easier because I know what type of information to look for. From this work and some meetings I have attended with my mentor, the mission and purpose of the current project being headed by WB Digital is putting the consumer and fanbase at the center of interest. Trying to make their products be able to target and satisfy the consumer more effectively. Something I didn't know about the internship until today was that my pass is eligible to go onto the studio lot for lunch! Today, one of my incredibly nice co-workers, Kim, took me onto the lot and showed me around some of the museums and famous sets. It was an incredibly nice treat and a fantastic way of bonding with a co-worker. Overall I think I am learning more about the process of website up keeping and digital marketing from being in my environment than my actual work but with the games department located next to my station I have been able to communicate with more people and learn about even more fields of interest. Today was my very first day as an intern for Warner Brothers Digital and I just want to run over some of the things that struck me as I worked through my first day on the job. First and foremost is the building I am working in. Located right next to the Warner production studios, you are greeted by seven foot tall bronze statues of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in front of a golden office building. As you enter you are checked in by the security team and go the the golden elevators. Since I work on the [CENSORED] floor of the building I am one of the first to get off and I walk into an all navy blue elevator hub. To your right is the entrance to part of the office with a NOW PLAYING poster frame holding the recently released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a foosball table. To your left there is a WB directory pointing you on the right way. To get to where I am going, I head left into mixed blue and gold corridor before entering the offices through an all glass door. Similar to a video game studios office space, but with more light, the floor is split into regions of team specific cubicles. As I walked into the office and met with the extremely helpful Barbara, secretary to one of my mentors, who pointed me toward my second mentor, Julie. Native to France, Julie was incredibly kind as she went through what her team has been working on and how I am going to be helping out with the work load when we first met. After that meeting, she took me around the office introducing me to the team. Everyone was incredibly nice and friendly to me which made me feel right at home. After the introduction I was lead to my own cubicle and given some preliminary assignments as they set up my internet access. As I began working on my assignments I was struck by how research heavy a lot of my work is going to be and how important that research is going to end up being for the team as they move forward with their projects. Overall, I am incredibly excited to be working with such a diverse and talented array of personalities on a project that could help with the marketing of many of WB productions in multiple markets around the world and seeing how the digital marketing comes into play as a movie moves forward into the final stages of post-production and marketing. Equal to my excitement is my worry about two things. First is that my work will end up not being enough information for what they are looking for and I might have been able to put my energy towards a subject area that the team could benefit more from. Second is that I won't be able to be exposed to other parts of the marketing machine in WB or at least some aspects of how the films get to the team I am working with. That said, I can't wait to continue this project and see where it can lead. As this years classes start winding down and internship is just a week away I feel like it's the perfect time to talk some of the thoughts going to be with Justin Herz from Warner Brothers studios. All I know about what I will be doing is that I will be helping oversee the marketing campaigns of upcoming WB movies and seeing a first hand looking at what happens to a film once it enters the final stages of post-production. This is something I am incredibly excited for as a hopeful film student because it will give me an insight into what goes on after the film has been completed. This is something that no one ever talks about, but the marketing of a movie or tv show can make or break its success from the get-go. The only thing I feel nervous about though, is the fact that I will be at one of the biggest studios in the world, and meeting the expectations of my mentor and the people I will be working with over the four weeks.
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