Toy Story: Emily's dilemma, so many toys so little time
Published: March 03, 2022
In the wide world of communications where countless people need help messaging, it's hard to predict where talented digital media creators might land. Just ask Emily Hogue.
A recent graduate of GU’s digital media program, Emily had just completed a four-month internship with Redding Creative when the Redding partners tapped her for help again. The trio—GU alums Danny Gula ’08, Jon Stamm ’08, and Jeff McCullough ’03—needed to shoot 37 product videos in just a few nights on location in the legendary F.A.O. Schwarz toy store in New York City.
The thrill: Rockefeller Plaza, holidays, wall-to-wall toys, and enough fun to fuel every child's dream!
The reality: Equipment gone missing, an unforgiving schedule, a strange environment, and exhaustion . . . not to mention 37 videos shot in the empty store before sun-up and high expectations from their client, Schwarz partner Target stores.
Doing mixed with learning
Emily’s experience as production assistant enriched her immeasurably. “Helper” Emily prepared sets, kept the batteries for cameras and lights charged, and controlled the lights during filming. At the same time, “learner” Emily soaked up technical terms, grew familiar with industry conventions, and collected insights about what it takes to hold a successful shoot.
Into the wee hours of each morning, the F.A.O. Schwarz store doubled as a studio for video shoots and as Emily’s learning lab. Always keen to expand her skill sets and exercise her versatility, Emily saw gold in each learning opportunity.
“There is only so much you can learn in the classroom,” she says. “[This] trip and overall experience taught me a lot.”
Bridging college and career
While Emily looked at her New York experience through a learning lens, not too long ago she looked at her classroom learning through a career lens. Here are five ways that Emily, like many of her classmates, turned classroom work into workplace readiness:
- An open mind – Digital media majors at GU choose from a generous menu of subjects to study—graphic design, videography,
animation, computer programming, photography, and more. “I kept an open mind to learn about everything,” says Emily.
- Value critique – Frequent peer-reviews in class prepared her for frequent critiques in creative professional circles. Emily knows that critique often turns a good idea into a great idea.
- Self-initiated practice – Emily describes the DM major at GU as providing a foundation of skills for students to build upon. “It was then up to me to continue practicing those technical skills and build up my own creative skills and style.”
- Working for clients – As a DM student, Emily took on six paid projects. Each one allowed her to solve clients’ problems and to collaborate. “These really showed me that I needed to be a self-driven team player,” she says—a better discovery to make early in college than later in the workplace.
- Building confidence – Some weeks into Emily’s internship, the Redding partners charged her with rebranding their podcast. This meant selecting new colors, new fonts, designing a YouTube banner and more. “As a creator, there’s nothing worse than being shut down or told that your ideas aren’t good,” Emily says. She approached “presentation day” with a measure of trepidation and emerged from the experience confident.
The Redding team loved the direction Emily took the brand. But just as important, she says, “I proved to myself that ‘yes, I do know what I’m doing; that’s exactly why I’m here.’”
Click on the picture above to view the video account of Redding Creative's F.A.O. Schwartz adventure.
Emily Hogue ’21 is a freelance digital media creator specializing in the design of brands, graphics, logos and packaging. She is also experienced in video editing and production, and in visual design, web design, and WordPress design.
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Top photo: FAO Schwarz on 5th Avenue in New York City, Rob Young from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
