this is an awesome picture that Jared took while on a video shoot for one of our church's conferences.
Thanks to my internship with the City Church I knew a few people that have the exact job that I would love to someday do so I got to interview my friend Jared who did the same internship as me, but for 3 years instead of one.
Job title?
I don’t have an official job title (but I suspect you need something more than media staff, so I’ll try and boil down what I do on a daily basis). I’d say I’m a media content producer. (I work at the City Church in Kirkland- figured you’d need that information somewhere). I do everything from motion graphic design, graphic design, animations, filming, lighting, jib operation, and editing (as well as normal administrative/grunt work every now and then). Really, everyone on staff is kind of a “jack of all trades” with certain dominant talents and a variance of experience.
How do you like your job?
I love my job. It’s established a safe environment for me to develop my professional and artistic skills in a real world work environment. It’s not safe or easy, so to speak, but I’m learning and applying things I would have learned in film school and getting paid to do it. If I ever do get to go to film school, I’ll already know what I’m doing and be able to hone my skills that much more.
And, I have to say, the work environment is great! Rarely do you get to work with people you like; let alone people you enjoy working with. Our small staff is pretty close and our team regularly will spend time with each other after the work days. It’s a great environment.
What were your qualifications towards getting the job?
I think it was mainly my internship and work ethic that got me the job. There’s very few people who actually work hard these days; not to say that most people are lazy, but there are few people who really own their responsibilities and put their best into it. That’s something I learned from my dad when I was a kid. You always work hard. And it’s got me a lot of opportunities so far. As far as skill qualifications, I knew the basics of editing, filming, lighting, and had a decent knowledge behind many of Adobe’s creative programs (After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator). Having photography on the side helped too. Basically, I had learned all this during my internships and they felt I had excelled at them enough that they could continue to develop my abilities on staff.
What training do you need to maintain your job?
As I said above, constant growth is a good thing. I won’t be completely satisfied until I can produce Hollywood level graphics and content; essentially the top of my profession. In the media field, a lot is learned by experience. You keep working, keep striving to match professional standards in everything you do, and maintain your creativity.
Is there job growth?
There’s a degree of job growth, but to be honest, it is something I’ve been wondering about myself. While there is a level of growth available, I think it absolutely depends on the size of our church’s congregation and the size of our vision for growth. Right now, we’re re-launching our television show, which is a huge ordeal requiring a lot of [fun] work. But, only time will tell how big our show will get and how large our church will become. As of now, we’re around 10,000 members strong; which pays for the team we have in place now. But we’re not producing content for the international (or even national) community yet, so until that happens there’s only so much room for job expansion and advancement.
What are the pros and cons?
I’ll start with the cons (because everyone generally starts with the pro’s and then makes it negative in the end- ruining the pro’s- so I’ll invert it). Apart from the con of limited job growth, I’ll reemphasize that we are working for a church (essentially a non-profit organization). Because it’s a non-profit, we don’t really control our budget and can’t really make a profit on our own work. It makes it surprisingly hard to update our equipment (and we have to do the best with what we have- often making amateur level equipment do the job, and look like it was filmed with, professional level equipment). Our bosses are also pastors. Now, this isn’t generally bad, but there have been times when they’ll make quick decisions we would have advised against. Essentially, letting unprofessional people make professional calls with no accountability or advice. Many times this can be very frustrating. But, and here’s the first pro, the cons don’t happen that much. So while these things occasionally do happen, every workplace has their limits and short comings. I get to learn from a Hollywood level producer. I get to hone my skills. I’m getting paid to do what I love to do. And our church might grow to reach the national and international community.
What some industry changes you are seeing?
There really aren’t many “industry changes” that happen in Hollywood. Mainstream television and Hollywood are always a good measuring rod in terms of our industry. I think the only real change is a renewed sense of the photography behind cinematography. HD TV’s, Blu Rays, and HDSLRS (Digital cameras that can shoot in HD) have refreshed people’s love for beautiful shots and production value. With HD, you can see the shot more like it was intended to be seen. And, because of the HDSLR movement, many television companies can make a commercial shoot look like it was filmed on a budget six times what they actually spent.
