TY Internship @ the IIMS - Paul Watson

TY Internship - Paul Watson

MONDAY - Introductions

I arrived early on Monday morning to the Irish Institute of Music and Song (IIMS). I was not fully sure what to expect from my TY Internship, but all I knew was that I was excited to get to this hub of music and experience all it had to offer.

Social Media Post by Paul designed on Affinity Publisher

I was greeted at the front gate by Michael T. Dawson, co-founder and CEO of the Institute. He brought me in to the campus and gave me a brief rundown of what goes on in the IIMS. I was then introduced to Donal Kearney, co-founder and Managing Director. Dónal gave us a tour of the whole campus and we got to see all the different rooms around the campus and learned what they were all used for. I was very impressed by what the Institute has achieved and what they are planning; for example the 400-person concert hall, on location and the B&B style accommodation, every room of which was incredibly designed.

It was then I was assigned my first task of the week, which was to brainstorm ideas for music related Tik Tok videos for the IIMS’ Tik Tok page. This, along with creating an introductory video about myself and my work experience, was my main task for the day. I spent most of my first day working on these two mini projects.

By the end of the day, I had completed my introductory video and my co-intern and myself had made several music related Tik Toks, both educational in style as well as a more enjoyable style of video.

I had several more meetings with Dónal and other members of the Institute throughout the day to discuss things such as: plans for the rest of the placement, or more importantly, how to make a good cup of coffee. 

I was also given an IIMS hoodie, which is very comfortable and looks great too!

Overall, for day one, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am looking forward to the rest of the week where I hope to engage in more activities like I did today. 

TUESDAY - Multimedia

Day two of my internship got off to a productive start as we were straight into finalising our ideas for Instagram and taking advantage of the sunshine by taking some pictures around the campus. We were also introduced, by Dónal, to some new people: Hugh, Manager of Video and Audio Production; and Lea, The Academy Manager. We were told we would be working with both Hugh and Lea throughout the day.

After we had finished with our photography, we met with Hugh, who advised us on what types of videos we should be making, and how to work out our target audience. We then worked with Lea, distributing flyers around Balbriggan. These flyers promote the summer camps run by the IIMS - www.soundsgood.ie - and we delivered them to the houses in the surrounding area. Lea also told us a bit about the graphic designs she worked on, which I found very interesting. 

In the afternoon, we were tasked with shooting some footage known as “B-Roll”. This is background footage that can be used in documentaries or music videos, etc. We took some of these types of shots around the campus. Afterwards we got some feedback on our work from Hugh. He told us about how slowing down some shots can make them more appealing and shared other ways of generally improving our videos. 

We plan to work more with Hugh regarding video production and editing later in the week. We were given a rundown of how a camera operates, and the basics for recording a good video or taking a quality image. There were more things to consider than I had originally thought as you don’t just have to think about how your video looks when you take it, but also how it will look in editing and in the finished medium (Instagram, Facebook, newspaper, etc.). This, I found very intriguing. 

My second day was definitely very enjoyable, and I hope the next three days are equally engaging and informative. 

My coffee-making skills also improved.

WEDNESDAY - Composing a Shot

Day three of my internship began with the recording of another Tik Tok for the Institute. We planned to do one every day. This was a tutorial video on the intro to Alan Walker’s “Faded”. In the video, we show which notes to play and the order they are in. We also filmed some more B-roll footage as we had some more pleasant weather. We delivered some more flyers around Balbriggan which is a nice way to get outside and break up the day, while getting a feel for the local community.

When we filmed the B roll, it was important that our shots were well composed (so that they looked good!). To achieve this, we had to take several things into account, including camera movement, lighting and location. If the camera moved too much, it makes the video look unprofessional so to counteract this, we used a device called a gimbal. This is a device that holds your phone, keeps it steady and allows you to pan the camera without moving.

For lighting, since we were filming outdoors, we had to shoot with the sun facing our backs so the objects we were filming were lit brightly. For location, we filmed what we thought were the most aesthetically pleasing parts of the campus and also some shots of the building sites, as they might be useful in future when the construction is finished - to look back on the progress and development of the IIMS.

One of my favourite parts of the TY Internship came on Wednesday afternoon.

We were shown/taught the basics of graphic design and photo editing by Lea, the Academy Manager. I was really interested in that, and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to.

I am interested in designing and editing pictures and graphics as I have done some of it in the past and found it very enjoyable. Lea showed us different things such as how to cut out certain parts of images, how to make gradients, change the colours of images and lots of other interesting features. I was then encouraged to create my own image. I was asked to make an image describing what I was doing at the Institute (my TY internship).

My third day taught me many new things and I look forward to learning more tomorrow.

THURSDAY - Making Progress

It’s day four and we are really starting to get a hang of the social media aspect of the job. We made three Tik Tok videos in the first hour, two tutorials and a more humorous clip. Then did the coffee run. 

We learned a lot about filming and camera work today, Hugh helped us to film some footage of the campus and surrounding area. We used what he taught us yesterday about lighting and how to adjust certain settings on the camera to improve the quality of your shot. These were things such as ISO, which is fake brightness and F stop.

The F stop is a mechanism within the camera which can bring objects more into focus or less into focus. Balancing these two things is the key to getting a good shot. We then used our videos, plus a voice-over we recorded to make a documentary style video about our time in the Institute. This gave Hugh the opportunity to teach us about video editing, which was something I had very much been looking forward to. He taught us how to use the different tools in the editing software and so we created our “documentary”.

In the afternoon, we worked some more with Lea and photo design. We made some improvements on our introductory images with her advice; things such as matching colours on different words on the image. Lea also taught us how to manipulate different parts of a picture to enhance or decrease colours; for example, how to whiten someone’s teeth or redden their lips.

This was a lot more straightforward than I would have imagined but that is something that is great about this internship - I’m developing skills on things I never thought I would be able to do!

We stayed behind afterwards to help with some more flyer delivery. This was different from our normal internship and we got to meet some past interns who had previously worked with the IIMS. They are also music students here. We got to hear about their experiences and how theirs were similar or different from ours. Day four was certainly tiring but we learned loads and had a great time. 

FRIDAY - An energetic workplace

Today, we got to experience something we hadn’t seen before - some live, interactive workshops. Dónal taught four workshops to primary school children on Body Percussion. One to Junior and Senior Infants, one to 1st and 2nd class, one to 3rd and 4th and one to 5th and 6th class students. We got to sit in on 3 of these and just observe what he was doing and make some notes.

I found it interesting how the children reacted to the different sections of the workshop. It was interesting to see how the different age groups worked with Dónal and how different age groups were better at different things. For example, the younger children were better at following simple instructions such as copying Dónal’s movements. If he wanted them to focus then he would perform an action (without speaking) and they would have to copy him as quickly as possible, which would get their attention back to him. The younger students were better at this than the older ones and, as a result, were generally more focused.

The older the students got, the more they might start to question why they must focus on this and why they must do everything Dónal tells them. They are more independent, so they tend to behave with less conformity. The youngest kids are being trained to follow instructions in class and are not so independent, which means they often do what they are told without asking why they are doing it. That said, Dónal had everyone’s attention at all times - even though the workshops were delivered through a screen!

It was very interesting to see the energy that was needed for the workshops. Dónal explained it to us like flicking a switch, where you enter this “presentation mode”, he called it, where you are high energy and engaging with your audience. I could see that skill was invaluable to Dónal’s work. To be able to just transition into that state is extremely important, especially when working somewhere like the IIMS, where a lot of presentations, performances, teaching, and on-camera work are done. 

Our final experience was to sit in on the weekly staff meeting. We got to see how they plan their time and it also helped to show that there is even more going on behind the scenes than we saw in our short time there. We got to hear the progress reports from all the members of the team and how they were getting on with their individual tasks and it shows how everyone has their jobs and they all play very important roles.

Overall, from the meeting alone, I got a real sense of community among the members of the IIMS. After the meeting, we finished up some things we still had left to do with Hugh regarding our social media. Then it was time to go.

I really enjoyed my week at the IIMS. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and helpful. If you had a question, they gave you the answer. They encouraged you and suggested ways to improve. Most importantly, they helped me develop lots of new skills. Among them are video editing, graphic design, photo editing, and... of course, coffee making!

I would highly recommend this internship to anyone with an interest in music, or any of the other activities mentioned in this blog. It is a great experience which will teach you a lot, and overall, is an experience that you will always remember.