Creative Intern Review

As a creative intern within the National Geographic department, my job lay in telling the amazing stories through social media and on-air promotional pieces. I worked to gain viewership on our channels and encourage interactions with our shows to boost their engagement both on and off air; I also provided regions, within the company, with the resources to promote worldwide; the assets I created aired in, not only the UK, but countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. On a day to day basis, I would create assets allocated to me for a variety of shows - my role was predominantly for social media which involved creating an average of 20 videos a month. I would also often work with sound engineers and graphic designers.

Although I had some knowledge of the technical side of film, working in the industry has cemented my knowledge of this as I have had to produce assets to exact specifications every day, as well as using industry terminology regularly. Being surrounded by creative professionals has helped me to integrate film language into my every day dialogue and has enabled me to learn even more about the industry from people who have been immersed in it for years. As well as this, the knowledge I had of editing techniques provided me with a good foundation for my internship. During my internship, I edited using Adobe Premiere Pro which differed to the software I was taught to use during my studies (Avid Media Composer). Although utilising different software was a challenge at first, I found that many of the principles were the same; I was able to take my knowledge of Avid and transfer it to Premiere Pro, using similar workflows and editing organisation skills to ensure I could fulfil my tasks to a high standard. I have also learnt how to use Adobe After Effects. My knowledge of social media has also vastly improved. In terms of soft skills, I have had multiple opportunities to develop my presentation skills; I participated in an online course as part of the Disney Intern Development programme, focused around how to create and present a coherent presentation. Furthermore, my time management has also improved, learning techniques from the time management workshop I participated in during my internship.

Definitely! To date, I have created a total of 137 scene lifts for a variety of different shows across both Core and WILD, which have aired on our 3 main social media platforms. Not only have these assets aired on the National Geographic channels across all the regions, but a few have also been posted by Disney and Gordon Ramsay! I have also created a total of 19 bespoke assets from scratch, seeing the process all the way from conception to delivery. One of my most successful bespoke pieces received over 2 million impressions on Facebook! Further on in my internship, I also began creating some linear assets to air on TV. All of these videos required a lot of responsibility to ensure the branding and specifications were correct, as well as promoting the shows in a fun, factual, and engaging way. Not only this, I also created social guidelines for future and current employees to adhere to, and presented them to regions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

I received lots of support from the whole team! I had weekly 1-1 meetings with my manager where we discussed my workload for the week and any challenges I was facing or questions I had. Not only this, the whole team was very supportive. The senior producers were always on hand to help with software questions, guidance on branding, or just general creative questions about how they would approach feedback or the brief. I was also paired with a buddy who helped to guide my throughout the year, teaching me everything I needed to know and more.

The atmosphere within our team (National Geographic) was absolutely amazing! The team are all incredibly supportive. They like to have a laugh and a joke but also are serious when it comes down to it. They are a great team to work with as they are always willing to chat, work and non work related, and are so easy to talk to and approachable. In the wider team (Disney) there were tons of events, volunteering opportunities, and screenings put on throughout the year and they were always encouraging company wide engagement, in particular helping to aid the interns in networking and developing.

I have loved my time at Disney and have gained so much knowledge and experience that I can take forward, not only into my graduate projects, but also in my employment beyond university. I have had so many great opportunities, worked with an incredible team, and confirmed my love of editing and all things film/TV related! I will miss working with the National Geographic team so much and have loved every second spent with them!

Yes

To anyone considering this placement, I would say to just go for it! When I applied, I didn’t have much confidence in myself, but actually applying and getting over the fear of being rejected gave me the confidence I needed to strive in this role. Disney is an incredible company to work for; the atmosphere is amazing (I even met Mickey Mouse at the office!), the people are so supportive, and there are so many learning opportunities along the way. It may seem scary to apply for such a big company but you never know unless you try!