SCAD students make ‘Avid’ interns

Photo by Dane Sponberg
Professor Gokhan Ozaysin (third from left) was instrumental in helping students(from left) Dondra Vaughn Maynor, Eric Heikkinen, Robert Hess and Brandon Porter receive internships through the Avid National Association of Broadcasters 2007 Student Program.

By: Christina E. Spitz

Published: Friday, March 30, 2007

Four Savannah College of Art and Design students were selected to participate in the Avid National Association of Broadcasters 2007 Student Program, to take place April 14-19 in Las Vegas.

According to its Web site, the NAB organizes the world’s largest electronic media show, bringing together 1,400 exhibiting companies and more than 105,000 professionals from 130 countries.

Eric Heikkinen, a senior majoring in film and television; Robert Hess, a junior majoring in film and television; Dondra Vaughn Maynor, a senior majoring in film and television; and Brandon Porter, a senior majoring in photography and minoring in film and television, are among 30 students from film, broadcast and communications programs around the United States who were selected by Avid to participate in this prestigious event.

“All industry professionals visiting the Avid booth will see our students and witness their collaboration with this industry leader,” said film and television professor Gokhan Ozaysin, who also serves as an academic advisory board member of Avid. “When all those industry professionals go back to their companies, they will talk about SCAD.”

As interns, the students selected will work as employees of Avid, which is paying the costs of the trip as well as other perks. The team of four SCAD students will be given laptops and video production equipment to produce content for Avid. They will interview media professionals, document convention events and prepare the content for distribution through Internet blogs, Yahoo video, mobile phone delivery and flat-panel screens on the convention floor.

“These students are chosen because of their Avid editing experience, video production abilities, creative approach to media creation, ability to work in deadline-intensive environments, and organizational and communication skills,” said Ozaysin. “As a team, they will be producing content for Avid during NAB 2007.”

“Being able to associate my name … with these two organizations [NAB and Avid] is something that will be with me forever,” said Hess. “Doc­umentary filmmaking is the genre I am most interested in, and attending this conference will give me a huge opportunity to meet, share and learn from some of the best in the world.”

Other benefits to students, according to Avid staff, will include an inside look at the inner workings of the industry’s largest media technology trade show; the chance to work closely and interact with a wide range of Avid staff; networking opportunities with high-profile professionals from the film, television and broadcast news industries; the chance to collaborate with and learn from other students from around the United States; and firsthand exposure to the latest media production technology and of the new Avid products.

“I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a gadget geek,” said Heikkinen. “And getting to see technology that hasn’t hit the market yet is something that I dream about.”

The students also discussed how their professors at SCAD have helped them realize their dreams.

“They helped me to be a more well-rounded editor,” said Maynor, who will use Avid to edit a documentary she is working on called “Binding Faith,” about a Christian minister who risked his life to preach in northern India. “Professor [Burton J.] Sears is so wonderful to learn the theory of editing from, and Professor Gokhan has so much technical knowledge — he’s really helped give me a good foundation for the technical skills,” said Maynor.

“I have had Professor Gokhan as a mentor throughout all of my editing classes,” Porter said. “He has definitely pushed me in the direction that I need to be going. He told me, ‘If you are going to do something, do it like it’s the last chance you will ever get to prove your talent.’ I now think about that with anything that I do.”

Through networking and relationship-building, Ozaysin also has been instrumental in developing the college’s collaboration with Avid. He serves on the company’s first academic advisory board as one of 12 leading educators who counsel Avid on its approach to the education market.

“Avid realizes that the students of today are the media professionals of tomorrow,” Ozaysin said. “Therefore, they want to better understand the needs of the students and partner with the leading educational institutions that prepare students for careers in film and digital media.”

Avid has become the world leader in digital media creation tools for film, video, audio, animation, games and broadcast professionals, as well as for home video and home audio enthusiasts, according to the Avid Web site. Today, the site notes, the vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping pop music hits are made using one or more Avid products. The company, with a booth of 10,000 square feet, is also one of the biggest exhibitors at the NAB convention.

For more information about the students’ Avid experience, visit http://avid.blogs.com/­nab2007/scad.



Spitz is senior publications editor.