Elijah Weddington ’22 — This summer I had the privilege of working alongside the San Antonio Cerveceros, a craft beer group whose mission of creating a “responsible craft beer and brewing community” is fostered through peer-to-peer mentoring. During my time with the group, I was responsible for producing the commercial advertising their monthly meetings with other craft beer companies such as Community Cultures Yeast Lab, Second Pitch Beer Co., Künstler Brewing, and Cactus Land. I used this time to work side by side with sales management, owners, and co-founders as a way to film and direct Q&A sessions on women in the brewing industry.
With the guidance of a family friend, who is a photographer for Plus Size Fashion Nova Models, I actively applied compositional skills I learned utilizing the Adobe Triune digital effects pack. This offered supplementary and complementary education outside shooting for documentary and commercial ads; the effect pack lends itself more to fictional films, whose cutting and editing are more robust than the aforementioned filming styles. It was invigorating to have the opportunity to work with and apply non-traditional techniques in a new way.
I would like to thank both the Dill Family and the College’s Theater Department Chair, Professor Cherry, who encouraged me to narrow down my concept to a refined and precise idea. Not only did he make himself available to me throughout the summer, but he reached out to our senior project group as a way to make sure we remained on task and reached our end goal before November deadlines. Professor Cherry not only navigated me through major fallbacks while filming for my senior project but offered many navigable solutions.
Overall, my summer consisted of working with several owners and entrepreneurs who have built businesses from the ground up; through their guidance and willingness, I have advanced my experience with video editing software such as Adobe Premier; I have expanded my knowledge of electronic media production processes, equipment, systems, and electronic media production equipment to produce high-quality video and multimedia programs. Not only did I get to write, direct, and film a screenplay, but I was able to work with local brewing companies in my hometown to film promotional videos and ads. This learning experience was enriching on many levels; beyond taking real-world examples and creating media that required competencies in multiple software, I was challenged to meet the needs of multiple parties whose interests varied. My exposure to an array of clientele this Summer has given me the beginning of a foundation to enter into a career in filmography, and I am excited to see whose vision I can make a reality next.
