PC Junior Sharpens Video-editing Skills and More During Internship

PC Junior Sharpens Video-editing Skills and More During Internship

by Denise Devaney ’20

Before PC students began taking classes remotely, you could often find Matthew Davis in the Templeton Center, the Writing Center, or the Media Center working on his internship.

During the spring semester, Davis created digital content for PC’s Department of Athletics as its intern. Working on campus, he met face-to-face with student-athletes to gather information to use in articles, videos and social media posts.

Davis also compiled highlight footage of student-athletes. He used Adobe Suite to edit videos for highlight reels and player profiles on the Blue Hose social media platforms.

Real-World Skills 

Davis admits knowing a little about Adobe Suite, but he says he didn’t use it as much as he has for his internship. Before the internship, Davis worked with Adobe Suite to edit a project during his junior year of high school. More recently, he used the software program in Dr. Brent’s Technical Communications course during his sophomore year.

“This internship has helped me improve as a writer and a video editor,” Davis said. “It helped give me an environment in which I was forced and encouraged to work with conveying different moods and tones through my various projects.

“No one project was necessarily the same, so it helped in diversifying the type of videos or other works I produced, which is always a positive.”

Interning at Home

Davis has continued his internship since taking classes remotely in his hometown of Fort Mill, S.C. He’s simply adjusted how he works. For starters, Davis now works in his family’s computer office instead of Templeton, the Writing Center, or the Media Center.

He’s continued with video-editing projects and stayed busy in the spring semester making senior athlete celebration videos. Now that he’s away from campus, Davis receives footage for the videos in the mail. Staff in the athletic department mailed Davis an external hard drive with footage that Davis edits.

“The senior videos are a way we can thank Blue Hose student-athletes for their years of playing,” Davis said. “It’s a great project.”

He has continued to work with Adobe Suite and has learned a program called Premiere Pro since working remotely. He’s learned the program quickly but admits learning the program can be overwhelming.

Being remote hasn’t stopped Davis from learning and gaining the experience he needs.

“I believe this internship has helped me in a profound way in trying to figure out what field of media I would like to go into when I graduate,” Davis said. “I think it would be really neat to continue honing that craft in some capacity.”

Looking Ahead

Although Davis is unsure of what field of media he wants to go into, he likes editing videos and sharing stories.

“This internship has helped me tremendously,” Davis said. “I’ve learned that I like editing videos, and whether it be for athletics or something else altogether, I like talking about people and their stories in my videos. I like the people and their stories more than anything else in the media.”

Davis is majoring in English and minoring in economics and media studies. He highly recommends interning to gain real-world experience and offers tips to stay motivated and self-disciplined.

“Make sure you are always on top of trying to find new ways to get hours in and explore everything your internship has to offer you,” Davis said. “It is important to keep an open mind to where exactly you could take this internship going forward. ”