How to Host an Internship That Matters: A True Story
Remember your first college internship? For many students, these internship experiences are less than they are cracked up to be. Maybe they are the old trope, fetching coffee, “doing the social media,” pleading with someone - anyone - to give them something real to do.
Or maybe it’s worse. Being assigned something actually real to do–with no idea how to do it.
If that gave you sweat-inducing flashbacks, fear not. This is not one of those stories.
Instead, The Grid and their first small crew of summer interns set out to create a different internship experience.
For these undergrads, The Grid not only offered hands-on experience but also a singular opportunity to complete their own video project: an interview with a living historical figure, the civil rights activist and Freedom Summer organizer, Rims Barber.
Meet James & Jackson
James Dixon and Jackson Fisk are long-time, film-loving friends from Raleigh who had a very weird freshman year.
They became close early in high school, ranking their favorite movies between assignments in computer science class. As Jackson puts it, “Our friendship and film and art are kind of intertwined.”
When opportunity knocks
But they headed off in different directions for college - James to Rhodes College in Memphis and Jackson to Boston University - as many high school friends do. Except their undergraduate story kicked off with a curveball. Theirs began in the middle of the pandemic.
So after two semesters of attending lectures and doing coursework remotely from their dorm rooms, they were ready for an IRL summer and a chance to reconnect like old times: working on scripts, exploring project ideas, and talking film.
Fortunately a happy set of circumstances aligned to make that a reality and then some.
First, a mutual acquaintance of James and Kyle Sheats, co-founder of The Grid, made a connection. James’ love of art, storytelling, and film and The Grid’s rapidly growing video production agency seemed like a natural fit for an internship.
“The Grid offered an experience I could not find anywhere else,” says James. “I was looking for any sort of connection into film and The Grid gave me a chance to see all parts of the process, from planning to shooting and editing.”
And for their part, The Grid had a full slate of projects they could use help on, as well as a penchant (and passion) for educating others in their craft.
But Jackson was still sorting out his summer. Even though James would tease that he was getting ahead of him in video production.
That was until Jackson ended up in a conversation with Daryn Berlin, the owner of Jetplane coffee in Durham. As they chatted, Daryn told Jackson about his father-in-law Rims Barber, a man who had an amazing story Daryn couldn’t believe wasn’t in a documentary already.
The idea sparked and Jackson called James. Could they use his access to The Grid to make this a real video project?
Kyle did them one better and told Jackson to come down and join the program.
The right foot: alignment and reciprocity
From the start, The Grid wanted to set up James and Jackson for experimentation and exploration. Yes, they’d learn from The Grid’s multiple client projects, but they also wanted a key part of the internship program to be learning through independent practice.
So they equipped them with Sony A7S II cameras and lenses and sent them downtown most mornings to capture footage.
“We opened with this project to help them keep improving throughout the summer,” says Kyle. “At the end of each week, we reviewed their best clips and helped them think of ways to improve shooting and concepting.”
For James, it was important to become comfortable interacting with people and moving through a city with a camera.
“I’m always an artist,” he reflects. “I like drawing and painting. And Cleveland [a member of The Grid] is definitely an art guy too. He used a lot of art terms to get me in the mindset of how to use the camera, applying an artist's eye through the lens. It really clicked for me and helped me think through looking for shots.”
Learning the basics of videography was the main goal of the internship for Jackson too.
“My first impression was these guys are really cool for letting us use all this equipment,” he jokes. “But it meant a lot to me, so I wanted to try and help them out however I could.”
And to that end, their independent practice was more than an exercise in trust and autonomy. As their skills improved, the best bits of their footage became b-roll for a client project meant to start at the end of the summer.
“We wanted them to learn that you can start shooting as soon as the project is approved,” says Kyle. “Instead of waiting for the client shoot dates, we had them apply what they'd been learning about Raleigh b-roll and begin capturing a shot list of footage.”
All hands on shoot days
As James and Jackson became more comfortable with the equipment and processes of filming and editing on their own, they were also getting lessons on set.
The Grid started them off with the easy stuff, from how to set up lighting for headshots to on-set etiquette to getting organized for an on-location shoot.
“The goal was to begin with smaller projects with no stress or expectations,” Kyle says. “When I was the main camera operator I talked through all the decisions I was making in real-time.”
Then with each successive project, their responsibilities grew.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC
For an in-studio, two-camera interview with BCBS of NC’s IT director, James was tasked with monitoring the frame of Camera A and calling out when camera adjustment (and another take) was needed.
He notes, though, that he also learned a great deal from simply observing how the shoot was conducted, “I learned how to interact with an interviewee and talk through a scripted video.”
Benchmark Tool & Supply
However, not all videos are scripted and shot in a controlled environment. For their Benchmark shoot, a partial Grid crew descended on a construction site in the muggy heat of mid-summer in North Carolina.
“We didn't have lights, we didn't have much background on the location, and it was 95 degrees out,” says Kyle.
“We needed to work fast and capture a genuine customer testimonial. We met the interviewees on-site and started shooting immediately, diffusing the sunlight with a large, six foot bounce.” It was a hot, tiring shoot day for the crew.
But another important internship lesson was learned: how to keep your subjects happy in uncomfortable environments.
Downtown Raleigh Alliance
By the end of summer, James and Jackson were holding their own on multi-day, on-location shoots with full production crews and advanced equipment.
They knew how to pitch in with the back-to-back interviews filmed on the streets of Raleigh for the DRA.
Over two days, The Grid’s crew filmed 15 interviews all over the community, relying on the interns to use the same light diffusion tactics learned on the Benchmark shoot to create a unified, high-production-value aesthetic, no matter the location.
Plus, they got a very practical lesson in city street parking on a tight production timeline.
Ubisoft
They very professionally navigated the set of a shoot for the premier, international gaming brand Ubisoft, where they got experience with Aputure studio lights and Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro cameras. And they learned what it looks like to collaborate with another production agency and a big-deal client.
Plus, they got a first taste of the old, on-location production challenge: how to work with what the space gives you–including big, light-saturated windows.
Meanwhile…
What began as a spark of an idea for a video project evolved into a lightning strike. Between client shoot days and their independent practice, James and Jackson kept making headway on their documentary-style project on Rims Barber.
As they researched and looked for archival footage, they found that Daryn was right. There was no video documentation of Rims at all. Which meant their interview footage would become one of only a few primary visual sources documenting the first-hand account of this dedicated organizer of the civil rights movement.
And now they had a new set of skills and the support of The Grid to make it happen.
Throughout the internship, The Grid showed James and Jackson how to plan, operate, and technically set up an interview shoot: researching, learning how to use the right equipment, effective lighting, and beautiful framing.
And they showed them how to conduct an interview shoot: making your subject comfortable, creating a connection, adapting in real-time.
Finally, The Grid walked them through their planned setup for the interview, going over what it would look like for James and Jackson’s shoot at Jetplane, which they would do entirely on their own.
The day of the interview
Still, no matter the preparation, what we know about best laid plans reveals itself at the most inopportune times. And it wouldn't be a summer internship - or a first high-stakes video project - without learning that too.
“I think this was my most challenging experience, directing my first shoot by myself,” says James.
On the day of the interview, James was feeling stressed. The plan for the two-camera and lighting setup was tight, and Rims arrived early. They felt behind the moment he stepped on set. But James and Jackson kept their heads down, hustled, and finished up. Now they were ready to shoot.
Then Rims shared his story. It was a story James and Jackson had never heard in their history classes--one a lot of people hadn’t heard before. And here they were, documenting it.
When the interview was done, they wrapped the shoot. Now they could take a breath and a look at the footage. But then something heartbreaking happened.
As they reviewed the footage they realized that, while recording this important moment, one of their cameras' color temperature was off, casting a sickly yellow tint that was jarring next to the correctly white-balanced footage of the second camera.
Would they have to discard the footage from this camera entirely? How would they compensate for the loss of this camera angle?
Then The Grid provided their final internship lesson: post-production is where you can remedy many ills. Kyle showed James and Jackson an essential editing process, color correction, and they stitched together the interview and archival footage.
He then shared The Grids’ approach to taking hours of rich footage and honing it first into a sharp, shareable video that hooks an audience. They cut the two-hour interview into a three-minute narrative that engaged a first-time viewer and introduced them to Rims and the larger context of his story.
Because within every production there are multiple ways to tell a story, each tailored to meet different audience needs, that together can connect with the greatest number of people.
It’s an approach that, in its own way, echoes what Rims had to say about organizing to make change.
Time to wrap up
The summer waned and so did James and Jackson’s internship. It was time to prepare for a typical sophomore year. Now in person, in class, and tackling the decision of what to major in.
As he reflected on his experience, James says, “It was eye-opening. It made me feel better about shoots in the future, just being comfortable with messing up. I’m really happy with the growth I made, and that’s really due to the people and environment of The Grid.”
About their video, he remarks, “I’m looking forward to sharing it. We just want to reach as many people as possible.”
Jackson agrees, “This is important stuff, having Rims’ perspective today. It’s significant. It’s a story that needs to be told. And it worked both ways for us--doing something important and learning how to operate the camera, do an interview, all these different skills.”
For The Grid, it was back to business as usual. And when your business is making the power of video more accessible to more people, who knows what your next project - or crew of interns - will spark.