Week One

During the two weeks of winter break, my mind and body became filled like a car’s gas tank with jitters and excitement. In fourteen days, I was about to be an intern at Charming Stranger Films, a company I had desired to work at since it had first been brought to my attention. By the time the ticking clock hit 3 AM on January 1st, I flew across the country and arrived in San Francisco. Upon my arrival, there wasn’t much time before I began my first day at Charming Stranger. As my legs took me up to Cameo and her office’s location, straightaway all of my jitters and worries were morphed into pure motivation and glee. Immediately, Cameo made me feel comfortable and valued. I was not just an intern, I was a part of the team. With that and like a jackhammer, I drilled into the work that was to be completed during the next seven weeks.

Continuing, the first day was filled with becoming comfortable with the programs that were going to be used, watching films that may be selected for the Coven Film Fest and creating timelines for the online class and short film that I will be completing here. During all of these processes and apart from them, I had various questions and concerns. As I threw them into the open, Cameo was nothing but extremely helpful in answering them all. She helped reassure me about the resources and perspective I would have for working on both of these ongoing projects and in the film industry.

The next day, this same value poured through by being included in meetings and planning for the Coven Film Fest that was to be presented on February 9th. We began working more closely with Cameo and met her colleague, Melinda, who is helping with the film fest. We had a meeting surrounding the block planning and discussion of how Elisha and I would be running social media posts on both Charming Stranger and Coven Film Fest pages. Finally, Connie Jo gave us extremely helpful feedback on our film scripts and where we should turn our focus to. Being a part of all of these processes and planning are skills and insight that I know I will carry with me through the rest of my film career.

The third day, and our first Friday in SF, was an absolute treat. Cameo had set up a San Francisco Film Tour for us to visit locations that had been used in various films, many of which Elisha and I had watched in preparation for our internship. Seeing how a space is used for films and why it is distorted (or not) to fit a film’s vision always amazes me. As well, I loved learning about the behind the scenes work done of set. The tour guides were very helpful in this department by pointing out or explaining secret mistakes, tricks or changes that would not actually be possible to complete or seen in those settings in real life. Ending the last day that included perfect weather and insightful knowledge, I cannot wait for the following weeks.