Getting Involved with Video on Campus
On campus, I've invested a lot of time and energy into videography and video production. I believe in video as a powerful, accessible storytelling tool, and I have worked hard to improve my video production skills on campus. In this post, I want to write about the video opportunities I've been able to explore; hopefully, this will be helpful to prospective students interested in studying film and video production at Dartmouth!
One essential outlet for my filmmaking has been through The Dartmouth (Dartmouth's student newspaper). Since I'm interested in nonfiction visual storytelling and documentary filmmaking, video journalism has been an incredibly rewarding way to share my messages with a broad audience. At the school newspaper, The Dartmouth, I re-launched the video section that had been inactive since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project has been really rewarding, as I've been able to produce news stories about campus events to share with broad audiences, especially through Instagram Reels. In addition, I've been able to hire a team of students interested in video and/or editing, and being able to meet and work with them has allowed me to make even better videos. Hopefully, this will lay the groundwork for the video section to thrive for years to come!
I've also been able to work on my video production skills by working for the Hopkins Center for the Arts, an artistic hub for students on campus. In particular, I've been involved with the Hop Fellows program as a video fellow: read more about my experience with the program here! The main projects I've been working on are marketing videos for the Hopkins Center's social media accounts, as well as a documentary about the Hop Fellows program. Overall, doing work with the Hop has allowed me to work on a wide range of professional skills that will help me as I continue working on video production. I'm also a videographer for the Admissions Office, focusing primarily on promotional social media content. Working for Admissions in both a blogging and video capacity has been a great way to work on my storytelling skills!
Even if you're not interested in video, these experiences show that Dartmouth provides a number of opportunities and resources for professional development and enrichment. No matter what your interests are, there are definitely outlets available at Dartmouth for practicing them (and oftentimes getting paid for it!). However, it's usually important that students direct time and energy toward asking and seeking out positions. For example, when I started doing videography for Admissions, there was no formal job application process—I asked my supervisor if I could get involved with video production, and they were happy to give me the opportunity! Therefore, while opportunities for professional development at Dartmouth are plentiful, it's important to ask for them and take opportunities as they come. Like any university, Dartmouth is what you make out of it!