Tag Archives: AMC

Back to School: Course Highlight

Well, hello there Blogosphere! Remember me? 🙂 It feels good to be back and writing for the FIT Admissions Blog. It’s almost been a full year, can you believe it?

School has swung back into session, almost like we never left. Students have refilled every crevice of FIT’s campus and the spirit of a new school year is among us. In between classes, the quad is covered with students basking in the warm sun of September’s indian summer. Friends perch on the ledges surrounding each building, as they laugh and reconnect over their lunches. There’s a wonderful energy to campus at the beginning of Fall semester. Excitement, passion and creativity – qualities of each FIT student that kickstart the semester.

I personally feel wonderful being back in the city and on campus again. I am now a college Junior (what?!?) beginning my bachelor’s program in Advertising and Marketing Communications. Which means I now have an Associates degree in Advertising and Marketing. I feel super cool being able to say that 😉 I’m excited for these next two years at FIT and what it has in store for me.

With new semester’s come new courses, DUH! Moreover, with a new program comes new courses. Some student’s decide to try a new major when they enter their bachelor program. However, I’ve really enjoyed my major over the past two years. The courses that are offered in the bachelors program really excite me! For today’s post I’m going to focus on one of the courses that I’m very much looking forward to this semester – Video Studio Production.

You may be thinking, “but he’s a marketing major, why is he learning how to be a camera operator?” Well, it takes more than a camera operator to produce a television show. In this course we learn professional studio techniques for video, journalism and communications. We learn to understand what it takes to put on a show not only behind the cameras, but in front of the cameras as well as in the control room. 

I’ve actually be interested in the “behind the scenes” of television production as a career for awhile and this class is the perfect introduction. FIT actually has a state of the art TV studio and control room in the A building, and those two rooms are my classroom! The TV studio has three cameras, a set, proper lighting and everything a legit studio would have. The control room does exactly what it says, controls what’s going on in the studio. It’s complete with multiple monitors, sound boards and computer systems.

I’ve had three classes so far, and in each one different students are able to take on different roles. For example, one class I was the Technical Director, camera operator and director and in another class I was the host of our mock talk show. Working my way from behind camera to in front! It’s very interesting to me to learn how talk shows are made (obviously on a much smaller scale and less pressure.) This semester we will be producing and filming a talk show, an instructional video and a PSA! With each project, the students in the group will be able to rotate roles so that we can learn different aspects of the process.

This class is different from others I’ve taken here at FIT because we’re not just sitting listening to a professor for 3 hours. It’s very hands on and exciting, and the perfect start to my Monday morning. I am able to see a different avenue that my major could take me down and it’s very informing.

Sometimes when we’re in the midst of a program, we may have our sights set on one specific job. Or we may have no idea what we want to focus on. The great thing about FIT, and my major specifically, is that it covers all bases. When you leave a course at the end of a semester, you’re able to check one more aspect of your industry off your imaginary list. I’m definitely learning where my skills could be applied in the future job market. I personally like to see where my major is applicable in the real world because I’m still not certain what industry I will enter after I graduate. I know I’m not the only one!!

I can’t wait to update you readers on this class as it progresses this semester! I hope you all have had as a successful back to school as I have. Go out and enjoy this beautiful weather!! Finally feeling like fall 🙂

xx, Brendan

 

Back In the New York Groove

New York City has a flow like no other. Everyone walking is in a rush to be somewhere and they’re most likely running late. A walk down the street doesn’t just get you to your destination but also doubles as cardio! If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Or NY’s version, If you can’t walk fast, GET OUT OF MY WAY! 😉

Needless to say, the pace of New York is much different from my hometown. And I love it. However, when you’re out of the city for SEVEN WEEKS (much too long for me) it takes a day or two to readjust. I have to use the New Yorker part of my brain, and put on my New Yorker legs. There’s an art to bobbing and weaving through pedestrians without bumping into them and I must say I’m an expert artist!

Now that I’m synchronized with the pace of the city, I look forward to starting my semester at FIT! This is the first semester where I’m taking all major related courses! I find that something to celebrate. No more science, history, math classes…well at least until my bachelors, I think.

This semester I’m taking Sales Promotion, Research Methods in IMC, Advertising Copywriting, Audience & Media and the Credited Internship class. It’s so awesome once you start to see lessons from one class being integrated into another. That’s when you really start to absorb all the information because you see where it all fits in the industry.

My schedule this semester is also very on point. I intern with fashion designer Daniel Vosovic at the CFDA Incubator Mondays and Tuesdays, work on wednesdays (eyeroll but money doesn’t grow on trees), and class Thursday and Friday, and work Saturdays! I’m already loving the different structure this semester. Being in the industry two days out of the week teaches me a lot, sometimes more than I’d learn in a classroom setting.

Spring semester comes with a side of optimism. No matter how frigid and indecisive Mother Nature is the first month or two, Spring IS right around the corner. NYC comes back to life along with all living in it. Trees bud, flowers bloom, and opportunities arise for everyone. I can’t begin to explain how magical NYC is in the springtime. And did I mention summer comes after spring? 😉

Springy thoughts my friends!

xx, Brendan

Wise Words for Your Monday Morning

Tonight as I finished up my homework, I wandered over to FIT’s website out of curiosity as to what would be happening this upcoming week on campus. After scrolling through this months events calendar, my eyes fell upon a graphic entitled “Meet FIT.” I can only thank the internet God’s for making me click that. I was directed to FIT’s YouTube channel which until now, I didn’t even know existed!

I first watched the video titled “Meet FIT,” which included a group of students, faculty and alumni (including Calvin Klein himself) describing what makes FIT the wonderful & innovative college that it is. I couldn’t have agreed more with what some in the video were saying. FIT’s channel includes different playlists of videos such as Academics (which showcases student projects from different art & design programs), Fashion Shows (where you can watch entire videos of FIT’s prestigious annual Future of Fashion show) and finally Commencement (where you can watch clips of speakers from graduation.)

Having just applied to graduate with my associates degree (what?!?!!!), I have graduation on the mind. Personally, I chose not to walk the stage to receive my AAS diploma but I most definitely will when I complete my bachelors. However, I was still very curious as to what a graduation ceremony at FIT would be like. I’d only ever been to my older siblings college graduation ceremonies, neither of which were from fashion schools! So, I think I might be a little more interested in this one 😉

The list of speakers from year to year is jaw-dropping! Names like Fern Mallis, Rebecca Minkoff and Joe Zee (to name a few) are enough to keep me motivated for the next two and a half years, just so I can see who will be at my graduation! The amount of speakers I could listen to on this channel is somewhat overwhelming, so I’ll be up for the next couple hours catching up!

I travelled back to 2011’s graduation when I saw that Glenda Bailey, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, had given a speech. Harper’s Bazaar has been my favorite publication for years and to think I could sit and listen to someone of Bailey’s caliber speak at my own graduation ceremony is beyond exciting. But the best part is – because of FIT’s YouTube channel, I’m able to watch her speech and pretend I was there!

Bailey was speaking at the ceremony after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from FIT. Her speech was brief, but very impactful. Her wise words (spoken in her delightful British accent) to 2011’s group of graduates gave me butterflies of excitement. I know these next two and a half years won’t always be the easiest. But once I’m sitting in that audience, donning my cobalt blue cap & gown, listening to someone like Glenda Bailey (maybe even Glenda Bailey herself!) I will look back at these years of hard work with the biggest smile and sense of accomplishment.

I suggest you take a look at FIT’s YouTube channel. Take a look at what YOU will be a part of, on campus, in class, and get those butterflies of excitement just like I did. Although I have not yet graduated, speeches like these give me the strength I need to wake up on a Monday morning and begin my week. I leave you on this fine Sunday evening with some of these wise words from Ms. Glenda Bailey.

“It’s today that I want you to really smell the success. You’ve worked so hard to achieve it, to enjoy it. You see, getting a degree was one of the best things that happened to me, and it’s one of the very, very best things that has happened to all of you…Remember that there’s no such thing as a problem, only an opportunity. Remember that sometimes good can be the greatest enemy of great and to really follow your dream. Today is the first day that’s going to start to make your dreams come true.”

Have a magnificent week, my friends!

xx, Brendan