This entry of Blog and Pony Show is from our new creative intern, Verner D’Souza.
“My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” said Clarence Kelland, a prominent writer. After three years of studying advertising in college, yesterday was the first day of my internship at Schifino Lee and my first taste of the ‘real world.’ If I could describe my day in flavors, it was tangy, savory and full of surprises. From shooting a video about a company selling a variety of sauces to writing my first commercial ever. It was something I never expected on my first day.
The commercial is for the Flags and Freedom tour. This was it, I was excited to pen down my magical ideas, which would be broadcast to the world. After about 30 minutes I thought I did a pretty good job. When Eric (Schifino Lee A.C.D) came over to read it, his first words were ‘No.’
So much for my creativity. I took a deep breath and inhaled the direction he gave me. I remembered my professor saying that no one gets it right for the first time. But this was no classroom assignment. For the first time I felt I was in the ‘real world.’
I tried to write it again, following exactly what Eric said about being direct and prioritizing the information, while adding a little bit of my ‘touch’ to it. Making that walk to his desk with my rewrite was a pretty nerve-wrecking task. What if I still didn’t do it right? But to my surprise and immense joy, I had done it! Sure, he did some heavy editing, but he liked it.
My ideas are like my little babies. I cherish and want to protect them. And everyone feels the same about their ideas. That’s what makes working in a group so challenging.
Working in class group projects there are so many conflicts, debates and even arguments. I expected that a professional group with 10x better ideas would have 10x more fighting. Not so because, duh, they’re professionals. Which means they’ve learned the art of creative collaboration. Learning this myself is one of my goals.
Learning through observation is the best form of education. I hope to be trained more by shadowing my career role model, because he is walking in the shoes that I hope to fill in some day. As Mr. Lee puts it “ How much you take out of the internship solely depends on you.”
All in all, I want to learn what college cannot give, and teachers cannot teach. College is like a nest, where I was trained about advertising, and Schifino Lee is where I will start to fly.
Verner D’Souza just finished his junior year at University of Tampa. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s Catholic High School, Dubai, UAE.
