All good things must come to an end, but I sure am glad I got to spend my Discovery Term Internship at McKinney!

We started off our morning in a conference call with other Production members, Habib and Chau, who were in LA working. As our focus for today was HB2, we reviewed the possible cast list, script, and location options. I enjoyed observing how a story board/vision can come off paper and become a reality.

Later in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to research the cast and locations to create a presentation board for the team. This was posted on one of McKinney’s magnetic boards, which can be found all over the office to give the staff the opportunity to pin up their ideas and collaborate with one another.

By the time I finished doing this, it was time to head home. I said my goodbyes and thanked everyone for giving me the opportunity to experience their life at McKinney and introducing me to the current projects. As I was heading out, I had the chance to meet with Nick (editor Nick) and ask him questions about the programs he uses to cut and create movies. I’m planning on making a documentary this summer on my trip to Europe, so it was helpful to have a professional to discuss the best way to execute this. He even gave me his contact info and said he would be happy to help me in any way needed. 🙂

This was a great way to end the day, and hopefully I’ll be able to come back and spend more time at McKinney again!

 

Today, I experienced a new perspective going from Production to the Creative Strategic Department! It was a whole new world.

To start off the morning, Regina and I were crunched on time so we didn’t scout for possible HB2 locations. Instead, I continued updating Smart Sheet and reading over the new script.

Around 1, I was called for lunch duty.  I ran over to Only Burger and grabbed the team’s lunch for the day. Everyone has to do lunch duty at some point!

After snarfing down my delicious Veggie Burger, I got to sit in on a meeting conducted by 3 members of the Strategic Department at McKinney. This was SUCH a cool experience and I was so fascinated that my interests (psychology and media) exist right here at an advertising agency! Chris Walsh, the Director of Consumer and Business Insights, introduced me to the “model” McKinney has used for the past 13 years and how it needed to be updated. In addition, we watched a video called “Marketers Are From Mars and Consumers Are From New Jersey”, which nailed the psychology around consumer preferences. I encourage you to check it out, it’s hilarious!!

Later in the afternoon, I attended a team debrief “Tune In.” This is the meeting where they review McKinney’s current projects and track each department’s progress reports. This furthermore gave me an insight into how complex, yet integrated the world of advertising really is.

Regina and I stayed late to miss the traffic, so I continued working on the Olympic Project and HB2.

-Liza

Today was such a chill and relaxing day at McKinney. We presented the possible rips to Jonathan, the head of Creatives at the agency, and it was a success!! After hearing Jonathan’s positive feedback, the team now feels good about the business pitch and will continue editing and putting together the rips. 🙂

Every Friday afternoon, McKinney has an event called “Pub” where everyone gathers, eats pizza, has some drinks, and celebrates the work accomplished in the past week. It’s also a time to get excited for the weekend ahead! I think having a balance between work and enjoyment at any business is crucial because it lets the staff take a break from their busy schedules and socialize with their colleagues. The pizza was delicious btw !!

I continued finding rips and sitting in group discussions until it was the end of the day. I’m looking forward to seeing Regina Tuesday and I can’t wait to hear about her trip to LA!

-Liza

It was fun to be back at McKinney after a long weekend. Now that Regina has returned from LA, I’m switching from the business pitch and focusing on a Possible Summer Olympic Project and the HB2 Project!

At 10 am, Dr. Mac came to visit the space and meet Josh and Regina. I enjoyed showing him around and introducing him to the company. At 10:30, Regina and I attended a meeting where we discussed the progress and schedule of the possible . After that, I conducted some research and put together a word doc illustrating some very specific information regarding the Olympic Project.

In the afternoon, we had one more meeting to regroup the Olympic Project before I switched gears to the HB2 Proj. I used Smart Sheet (similar to Excel) to list out the cast members, locations needed in the doc, possible props, and music selections. It was fun to explore Smart Sheet and learn how to use a new program.

Looking forward to photographing and scouting the locations for the HB2 Doc tomorrow!

-Liza

Out of the four days I’ve been here, today was probably one of my favorites. I came in and got right back to work on finding footage. Around 11, Josh and I sat down for coffee and discussed my interests and which department they would best fit into. I’ve mainly been working with production this week (as I’m shadowing an Executive Producer), but I found it fascinating to learn about all the different departments and how they play a crucial role in what McKinney does as an agency. Josh grew up in Taiwan and then moved to NY in high school. By the age of 17, he knew he wanted to make movies and attend art school, which I find very impressive. As I mentioned in the last blog, I asked Nick similar questions about his path to production and advertising. Listening to Josh tell his “life story” was extremely intriguing as Nick and even Miriam had completely different lives before McKinney than the life Josh had. Moreover, I love hearing about how people with distinctive backgrounds can end up working together for the same agency. Josh also introduced me to possible work experiences and internships I could consider when finding a job in the film and media industry. As I know Josh is extremely busy, I appreciated his insight and the time he took to discuss life as a producer with me.

Before the 12:00 meeting, I met with Erin, a studio artist for McKinney. She studied graphic design in college, something that has always interested me ever since I was in middle school! Erin walked me through her current project with “World of Coke.” She designs all the still advertisements for McKinney’s clients such as billboards, magazine ads, newspaper ads, and so on. I was amazed to learn that every single advertisement (picture, super, etc.) can only be used once. For example, an ad in a newspaper can’t be transferred and used on a billboard. An ad selling Coke in a specific magazine also can’t be repeated and used by another magazine company.
Additionally, Erin showed me Coke’s Brand Guideline that discusses the do’s and don’ts when McKinney is their AOR (agency of record). Each one of McKinney’s clients has a Brand Guideline, but it was so cool to see the detail a large company like Coke went into when creating a permission document. I realized that as a studio artist, the intersection between mathematics and design is used day in and day out. Because my two favorite subjects are math and any type of art & design, I was thrilled to learn about this possible career option.

At noon, I headed over to the conference room to sit in on a meeting for the new pitch. I enjoyed seeing the Creatives (who come up with the commercial idea), the producers, and the editors come together and review the work they’ve accomplished so far. We were able to watch a few complete commercial ideas, and I even saw my footage being used in almost all of them!

After watching certain commercial videos, the Creatives would respond both positively and negatively. For example, one Creative said “I’m not feeling what I want to feel.” He recommended changing the music and replacing some of the clips. “The contrast of the footage needs to be more jawing and more exciting”, said another Creative. I found it amazing to see how they came up with this “vision” and know exactly the way they want it to be executed.

After a delicious veggie burger at Only Burger, I came back to the office and continued working on my assignments and searched for more footage.

I’ve learned so much within my four days here, and I can’t wait to continue learning more!

-Liza

 

What can I say, each day at McKinney seems to keep getting better and better! Throughout the morning, I continued searching Getty, Vimeo, and YouTube for all kinds of footage. In total, I’ve probably downloaded around 150-200 different videos and clips! This shows how important it is to have many options to choose from when making a rip. Also, because of the “perfectionist” I am, it takes me hours to find the “right” clip that I think would work well in the Creative’s commercial idea. I’ve had lots of fun doing this though because I then am able to see my footage come together and turn into a possible video that will be presented at the pitch.

After lunch, I observed how the two editors- Erin and Nick- take stock footage and turn it into a clean and curated video rip. This was awesome for me because they use a similar program that I’ve used in the past, Final Cut. I’ve worked with this program at home and in CA’s Video Productions Class to make edits, so I enjoyed seeing something I do for fun being executed in the real working world. Thank you Mr. O’Neill for introducing me to Final Cut last year! My experience using it has already paid off!:) Additionally, it was rewarding to see that Nick was able to use some of the videos and clips I selected over the past couple of days.

Towards the end of the day, I was able to meet with a different Nick who is a producer at McKinney. I asked him a lot questions about his career path and in particular, how he ended up at McKinney. It’s interesting to hear about what each staff member studied in college, whether they knew what they wanted to at an early age, and what brought them to the agency! Additionally, I’ve loved having the opportunity to connect with the staff here and observe their role in McKinney’s day-to-day routine.

Looking forward to my day tomorrow!

-Liza

Fortunately my second day at McKinney was just as successful as the first! I felt more comfortable in the office and I definitely could tell I was starting to get the hang of things. I continued searching for footage to be used in the pitch, as it’s essential for the editors to have a lot of options to choose from. In addition to Getty Images, I use Vimeo and Youtube to collect different types of rips. Instead of simply downloading these videos, I use Snap-Z (like the snipping tool but for videos) to save the exact portion of the video I need.

Around lunch time, I met with Miriam, another producer at the agency. She explained how McKinney functions and how things normally look throughout the month. McKinney has worked with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard for many Samsung commercials. They also make commercials for Crocs, SEC ESPN, Sherwin Williams Color Chips, Mentos, and possibly the new pitch! I was surprised to learn about all the different components that make one commercial happen. For example, if you are working with animals, an animal trainer and veterinarian of some sort need to be present at the shoot. If you are filming a commercial for paint, a medic must be on set because the paint is categorized as a “chemical” or “poison”. Furthermore, I enjoyed asking questions and having a deeper understanding of the work life in an advertising agency.

Link to McKinney’s website: http://www.mckinney.com

I decided to work though lunch and continue collecting footage. Tomorrow, we will discuss music options and I’ll get to see what an editor does compared to a producer.

-Liza

Today was such an educational and successful day at McKinney Advertising in Durham! As soon as I walked into the office, I was given my own desk, a MacBook Pro to use for the next two weeks, and a personal key card to get me in and out of the space. They welcomed me as one of their own with lots of assignments and tasks to complete! Josh Eggleston, the VP Executive Producer, introduced me to the staff and updated me on McKinney’s current projects. We had a meeting at 11:30 to discuss the 14 commercial rips McKinney is currently preparing for a new pitch. Although I’m not allowed to discuss the content of the commercials until they are complete, I did have the opportunity to work with their real scripts and search for stock footage to use for their rips. This is an essential process of creating a commercial because it is what an advertising agency presents to their clients before actually going out and filming the commercial. I used a website called Getty Images to gather hundreds of clips and create a “mock” commercial which would be sent to the editors and then presented to the possible client as an outline.

Around 3:00, I realized I was getting pretty hungry, so I walked across the street to Only Burger and ordered a delicious Veggie Burger. McKinney’s location is phenomenal as it is right across the street from DPAC and the Durham Bulls Stadium. I’m walking distance to such fabulous cafes and restaurants, so I know I’ll never go hungry working at McKinney.

I decided to stay a little later and continue working on my assignments, so the day ended around 6:00 pm. I’m looking forward to continuing the pitch and starting a documentary later in the week!

-Liza