Film/Video Production Archives - Digital Media Connecticut

Digital Media CT Blog

DMCT Partners with The Village Community Foundation

Digital Media CT is pleased to announce a new partnership with The Village and The Village Community Foundation to support their Career Discovery Program.

The Village is a 133,000 square foot facility that is, “a community for creating, collaborating, connecting and content.” It is the perfect combination of a modern office, fine dining, and venue space. The village is home to several media companies including ITV America, the largest producer of unscripted content for television and more.

Digital Media CT has partnered with The Village Community Foundation to support their Career Discovery Program, an exciting program designed to help students explore their passions or interests by introducing them to different careers and Industry Leaders in finance, media and entertainment, and venture capital.

Through this partnership we provide diverse students from different universities throughout Connecticut the opportunity to participate in these great events. During the program students gain valuable insight on these industries from guest speakers and end the event with a more intimate industry-specific breakout sessions where they have the chance to ask questions.

DMCT is also be partnering with The Village Community Foundation for our Interactive Digital Media CT Summit, coming September 2024.This event, aimed for college students and alumni, will include a day full of keynote speakers, panel discussions, group challenges, and more! Stay tuned for more updates as the event approaches!

Signup for the DMCT newsletter to stay connected with these events and more.

DMCT Emerging Professional Badge

If you’re a student unsure how your skills connect to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry, we encourage you to enroll in DMCT’s micro-credential course, The Emerging Practitioner. This course covers many topics to assist you with your transition from University to a Career in CT and beyond! If interested, you can learn more about our course here.

Digital Media CT Blog

Selected Talent Nicholas Amico

by Madison Doherty

It was a wonderful experience and genuinely interesting, and my prior knowledge of Adobe Premiere made me stand out a lot and allowed me to excel in this position.

Global Arts and Entertainment program A+E Network is a multi-media, genre, and platform company. Parented by Walt Disney & Hearst Communications, A+E has been producing a variety of content since 1984.

DMCT’s Talent Placement Program landed film graduate Nicholas Amico an internship with this network. Nicholas is now a Global Technical Evaluation Technician and Quality Control Intern. He says learning Adobe before joining helped him succeed in the role.

See: See Freelancing and Internships

“My prior knowledge of Adobe Premiere made me stand out a lot and allowed me to excel in this position,” he commented.

A quality control intern inspects services to ensure they meet company standards. They may also document quality control & communicate with other departments before content is broadcast on air. It is the type of entry-level role some graduates will experience as they transition to the real world. Although these roles are lesser known, they represent an important aspect of the system that brings content to our screens. Many of us might see media companies as the pure-making aspect of the industry, but as we become more exposed to these roles, we expand our understanding of the industry and continue to grow and learn as a professional.

Digital Media Connecticut (DMCT) is an association representing a collection of CT higher education institutions working in partnership to support skill development in digital media and content production.

DMCT Talent Placement Program

The DMCT Talent Placement program is a new initiative that places some of Connecticut’s most talented students at CT-based media companies. For a student to participate in the program, they must first receive a nomination from their department and then be selected by representatives from one of DMCT’s industry partners. You can learn more about this program here.

DMCT Micro-Credentials

If you are unsure how your skills connect to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry, I encourage you to enroll in DMCT’s first micro-credential course, The Emerging Practitioner. I am a course graduate and learned many things to assist my transition from University to a Career in CT and beyond!

Digital Media CT Blog

Selected Talent Salvatore Gullotta

by Matthew Worwood

I think what I like the most about the experience is how dynamic it was. ITV America did a really good job in making the internship a great learning experience, being able to talk to such a diverse field of people and departments.

ITV America is one of the largest television brands in America. They offer both scripted and un-scripted programming and manage to pump out hours of that programming for countless networks at a time! It is also worth mentioning that they recently located their headquarters in Stamford, CT, bringing with them various production jobs.

The DMCT Talent Placement Program provided Salvatore Gullotta with an opportunity to apply the skills he’s developing while studying at the University of New Haven at a professional company whose credits include Love Island, Alone, Hells Kitchen, and Real Housewives of New Jersey.

See: https://digitalmediact.com/digital-medias-influence-on-public-broadcasting/

Salvatore earned his Bachelor of Science in Film Production in 2022. So receiving the title of Post Production Intern for ITV was a wonderful next step for his career.

“I honed a lot of skills that are essential to being successful in the industry. The skill I utilized and honed the most was communication” he said.

A post production Intern is someone who sequences & sorts through footage. You may give creative assistance to your team – “We learned a lot about the process of building an idea but also the little quirks involved in presenting the idea to different companies,” Salvatore added.

DMCT Talent Placement Program

DMCT Micro-Credentials

Digital Media CT Blog

Selected Talent Trinity Caban

by Matthew Worwood

Being a part of ITV, I learned a lot about the workflow in post-production. I was able to observe how different post-production teams operate when it comes to delivering content on time.

ITV has accomplished a lot, and being selected for the DMCT Talent Placement Program provided Trinity Caban with an opportunity to experience life as a working professional at a company whose credits include Love Island, Alone, Hells Kitchen, and Real Housewives of New Jersey.

See: https://digitalmediact.com/digital-medias-influence-on-public-broadcasting/

Trinity is a Digital Media & Design student attending the University of Connecticut. She recently completed an internship for ITV, which she considered as “a once in-a-lifetime experience […] to witness the behind-the-scenes of how these projects come together”

“As nervous as I was, I appreciate them taking the time to speak to me and answer my questions,” Trinity added. Interning for any sort of digital media based company as a digital media major is, well, major. ITV in particular is a wonderful choice if you’re pursuing a career in digital media! Learn more about ITV and the work they do here.

DMCT Talent Placement Program

DMCT Micro-Credentials

Digital Media CT Blog

Community Engagement

by Madison Doherty

“Thinking about your digital, virtual, self online and how that looks is really important.”

Episode 18 of Select+CT with Jon Winkel – CEO, The Stamford Partnership

Community engagement by definition is working collaboratively with groups of people in order to attain some sort of goal or aspiration through them. Jon Winkel – CEO of The Stamford Partnership (and now Director of the Wheelhouse Foundation), revealed that for the past year or so, everyone has been exclusively online until recent months. And everyone has faced this question: how do you find an audience to engage with?

Jon defined community engagement in three terms: identification, outreach, and planning. They all work together to make up what we know as engaging with our community. Intertwining your ideas and passions with those of others has the potential to maximize their impact and empower a community.

There are many examples of community issues, but after the pandemic, a work community challenge centered on virtual interactions and feelings of disconnect during the one-way transfer of online meetings: a creative solution for some was virtual meet-ups and utilizing the breakout feature in platforms like zoom to facilitate real-time interaction among attendees better. Most importantly, the issue was identified by a community of workers, and the solution engaged that same community of workers in the development of a solution.

Jon also emphasizes the importance of staying firmly connected to the university you graduated from. Even if it’s ‘not relevant’ your alumni network will be robust over the course of your career. It’s the sincerity of staying connected to your peers that will help you get along if you happen to apply to a company they’re currently employed by or perhaps they can share a similar experience to maximize your chances of success.

Still, being a community member works both ways, you need to make yourself available to other members of that community and contribute ideas, and stay invested, it’s simply not as genuine if you wait to reach out only when you need their recommendation. So consider community groups who share your values or interests and look for ways to support that community, and in return, that community can support you.

Connecticut has many community groups, including groups focused on different forms of content production. For game developers, check out GameDevCT, and for filmmakers, look into the CT Film and TV Alliance and various CT-based film festivals.

Written and verbal communication is a key skill needed to engage in a community successfully, and the best way to grow your confidence in that skill is to use it!

Featured Program

Speaking of communicating, Southern Connecticut State has a great Communications program. Located in New Haven, CT, you can learn more about the Department of Communications here.

DMCT Micro-Credentials

Digital Media CT Blog

Wheelhouse and The Village

by Madison Doherty

“We’re right on the water so we have these beautiful views and glass windows.. but how do you make the acoustics just right so that there’s not a lot of leak through the glass.”

Episode 19 of Select+CT with Chelsey Trowbridge – SVP of Post Production, Wheelhouse

The Village, located in Stamford, CT, is one of CT’S hidden gems for content producers. The Village operates from its parent company -The Wheelhouse- and that routine can be applied to any successful business. Chelsey Trowbridge – SVP of Post Production, is an employee at this gem. She kindly offered to share the opportunities that exist at The Village and why digital content producers need to stay connected to the long-term goals of this facility.

See Also: Entrepreneurship in Connecticut

The Wheelhouse has several different sectors, one of which is Wheelhouse properties. It is responsible for building out The Village. A lot goes into a successful business such as this one. “It’s not solely the entertainment industry, people. There’s a lot of diverse opportunities there to meet people that aren’t just in this entertainment industry,” said Chelsey. There’s a balancing act between the investment opportunity side of the company, and the entertainment side, where Chelsey spends all her time.

I gathered from the interview that diversity in any company is the main success component. If you have a creative side going hand in hand with a tech side, you can bounce art and science off each other to maintain sustainability. The place itself is an impressive combination of an indoor and outdoor premium waterfront and is home to ITV America, the largest producer of unscripted content for television. It was designed to cater to creators of art, music, health, and much more.

Featured Program

Usually I would recommend a specific college with a program related to the podcast’s topic, however, I feel The Village deserves its separate blurb. The property accumulates to a whopping 133,000 square feet. It is described as an outstandingly energy-efficient commercial building, which is hard to come across nowadays. Check out the website here, and be on the lookout for more digital media companies heading there for events and office space.

DMCT Micro-Credentials

Digital Media CT Blog

Audio Industry

by Madison Doherty

“It brings everything to life, without the sound it would be some incredible graphics, but you wouldn’t feel it.”

Episode 17 of Select+CT with Chris Argento – VP of Audio, Justin Matley – Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Designer

Did you know that audio medias like cassette tapes are making a re-appearance in terms of sales? I suppose this is due to the need we now feel to disconnect from our constant online-lives. Though audio production is popularly known as the making of music, it’s actually super prominent in other forms of media. From movies ranking 100% on the “rotten tomatoes’ ‘ score, to pesky advertisements, or the news, the audio industry seeps into most everything we consume (and that’s a good thing).

Two CT-based audio designers spoke with David DesRoches on the Select+CT podcast. Chris Argento – VP of Audio, WWE, and Justin Matley – Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Designer, Freelance, discussed what consumer presentable audios can manifest for a media project.

They reveal that to obtain a “mastered” audio (one that is consumer presentable), there has to be a collaborative effort on both parts: the graphic designer and the audio engineer. Together, these creators make sure the sounds and visuals align with each other as accurately as possible. Their goal is to bring the vision to life without changing the overall tone or goals which the graphic designers had in mind. Collaboration is how the producer can “elevate the element,” Justin said.

“This podcast is an example of audio probably being one of the largest parts of media these days,” said Chris. The graphic artists come in and listen to it and bring it to life; sound can pull you in and make it almost 3D, even if it’s not. Chris also says his product is intensely graphic-based and dynamic. “If there’s a ship in a storm, we’re building the storm, the ship, and the creaking of the wood. but what we can bring is the creaking of the wood that the graphic artist never really knew whether or not it was going to be there,” he remarked.

My takeaway is; sound and audio make up a significant part of Digital Media, and there is a huge opportunity for students who are skilled or interested in specializing in this space.

Featured Program

Western Connecticut State University has an awesome Digital & Interactive Media program if you’d like to end up in a similar field. Located in Danbury, CT, WCSU has three different degree options from their DIMA program: media production, art, and computer science! Learn more about it here:

DMCT Micro Credentials

If you are unsure of how your skills connect to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry, I encourage you to enroll in DMCT’s first micro-credential course, The Emerging Practitioner. I am a graduate of the program and learned many things to assist my transition from University to a Career in CT and beyond!

Digital Media CT Blog

Digital Media Career Discovery Event

by Matthew Worwood

Digital Media CT is participating in a one-day Digital Media Career Discovery Event produced by the Village Community Foundation (TVCF).

The event is part of a more extensive program to help students discover their interests and confidently identify and pursue careers within the region’s most prominent industries and employers.

Each session features an executive fireside session, in which company leaders discuss their views on hiring, career development, diversity and inclusion, emerging talent, and other relevant topics. From there, students attend their selected industry-specific breakout session to chat with associate talent and learn about their early-career experiences that “got them in” to the industries and roles of choice!

See Also: Freelancing and Internships

The session DMCT is partnering with focuses on students interested in the Media and Entertainment industry and includes opportunities to meet and interact with CT-based employers. This first event will primarily focus on Motion Design/Animation and Film/Video production.

Participation at the event is by invitation only, and each DMCT higher education partner will identify a few students from their respective degree-granting programs to participate in the experience.

The event takes place on May 30th, 2023, from 3:00 – 5:00 PM in Stamford, CT.

DMCT Emerging Professional Badge

There are many opportunities for those skills in Digital Media and Content Production; learn how to connect your talents to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry. The DMCT Emerging Professional badge guides students and alumni through the process of connecting core competencies to job opportunities and provides other ideas to support continued professional growth after graduation.

Digital Media CT Blog

Alumni Experience

by Madison Doherty

“Especially at this point and time in the pandemic, connections really are a huge part of this industry.”

Episode 13 of Select+CT with Bryan Murphy, NBC Sports Group | Leah Myers, WTNH-TV | Erick Jean, The Game Agency

Having the status of being an “undergrad” can be overwhelming because we don’t know what will happen after surpassing it. Even if we as students know where we want to work, it’s still challenging to pinpoint if what we think will work out or if what we think is a reality given our location and skillsets.

The purpose of the Select + CT recordings is to emphasize that there are so many great digital media jobs in Connecticut. It also helps us understand how our skillsets connect to the industry. The first episode of season two invites three alumni from three different CT-based higher education institutions to share their professional experiences since graduating.

Bryan Murphy, NBC Sports Group, Leah Myers, WTNH-TV, and Erick Jean, The Game Agency, conquered those fears for us! Leah is a digital content producer, Bryan is a digital editor, and Erick is a front-end developer. Bryan admitted how hard it can be to break into the industry.

See Also: University to Career

I will use Bryan’s experience as an example because he had the most challenging time, which I think makes him the most relatable. He says he applied to more jobs than he could count and only got 2-3 interviews. The job he ended up landing didn’t require an interview because he’d interned there before. He doesn’t know where he’d be working if he hadn’t made the connections in his prior internship.

As unfair as it sounds, having to make connections to prosper has proven true for Bryan and many others. In 2017, LinkedIn did a study that revealed a whopping 80 percent of professionals consider networking just as important as an actual portfolio or other professional work experience. Seventy percent of those people were hired at a company where they had a connection! That is more than half the workforce who felt this way.

I am guessing since the pandemic; this number has increased even more as we are now in a recession. Bryan’s story is one of too many, but he succeeded. Listen to the full episode to hear Leah and Erick’s stories; maybe their experiences will relate more to yours. View the full linked-in article here.

Featured Program

The University of Hartford has a unique take on digital media; they offer a dual in both digital media and journalism. This means you are more than likely to land a job in either! You are prepared for a career in digital media production, broadcast journalism, sports media, or as a media business professional. “Using a combination of real-world and classroom experience, you build a strong portfolio through internships and by working in one or more of our media-oriented student firms.” Learn more about this program here.

DMCT Micro Credentials

Digital Media CT Blog

Entrepreneurship in Connecticut

by Madison Doherty

“I think more non-digital media students need more digital media skills, and digital media need more than just the art side of the skill set.”

Episode 15 of Select+CT with David Noble, UConn’s Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

After 2008, Connecticut’s economy didn’t rebound as quickly as the rest of the nation. Because of this, there’s been a focus on UCONN and other universities to drive more students into entrepreneurial spaces. Entrepreneurship is something that has successfully grown in alignment with Connecticut’s economy.

fun fact – ESPN was actually started in Bristol, CT in 1979!

Starting a business as a CT-based entrepreneur is easier than I thought. And in a Select+CT podcast episode, Professor David Noble from UConn’s Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation shared information on how entrepreneurship relates to students in Digital Media Design.

See Also: Building a Digital Media Company

Professor Noble said it’s crucial to increase the cross-discipline of students with specific skills. Non-digital media students need more digital media skills, and digital media students need more than just the art side of that skill set. This ties into Connecticut because we have a successful history of bringing industry to the state. Companies engaged in the same industry can help establish “talent hubs,” which further encourage more entrepreneurship as there is a cluster of skilled professionals specializing in a particular area.

Shortly after the economic events of 2008, politically and economically, growth forces started to look to entrepreneurship. David has seen the rapid importance of scale and scope in the digital media space. “We’re seeing a growth sector of self-employed digital media groups,” he added.

Since then, many have relocated to CT since the events of 2020, but even without the pandemic, numbers have skyrocketed in the past decade! My point is that you’re lucky if you want to be your own boss and happen to live in Connecticut (also, studying digital media doesn’t hurt, considering the value that people like Professor Noble place on this field).

Featured Program

Gateway Community College has an entire program dedicated to Entrepreneurial Studies. Located in New Haven, this school offers two certificates to earn while learning to be your own boss! You can also use the credits earned to pursue a Bachelor’s in the field, so this plan works perfectly if you’re indecisive about continuing your education or already engaged in a side hustle. See here for more information.

DMCT Micro Credentials