I am currently wrapping up my eight-month co-op work term as a Media Designer Intern at SAP.  My main job is to develop media and graphic design for the talent development team. I create banners, logos, posters, presentation slides, newsletters, cartoon drawings, etc. The bulk of my projects are graphic design-focused, however, I have had opportunities to branch outside of this. My favourite projects have revolved around video.  With the help of my colleagues, I have made teaser videos for some internal competitions within SAP such as the “Talent World Cup” competition, which is a competition that brings the employees together to create new ideas and produce innovative software following detailed requirements. Most of these videos require special effects that need to be filmed in front of a green screen.

There was one video project that particularly stood out during my co-op.  For this project, I filmed a video and the goal was to have the main actor flying through the clouds.  This required a green screen large enough to cover a table for him to lie on top of.  Unfortunately there were a couple of challenges we had to deal with prior to shooting the video:

• We didn’t have a green screen sheet big enough to be in the background
• The light of the front green screen was different from the background
• We didn’t have filming lights
• There were sound problems

How did we deal with these challenges?

• We positioned the lamps in front of the green screen
• We spent time adjusting the microphone
• We tested and adjusted the computer to get the settings right

All in all, we spent more than three hours to make everything look right.  That was my first time using green screen to film since I have not taken any filming courses that need green screen yet. I was very happy to learn to use it and edit it. The video result was great and my managers were very happy with the video.

Other than projects, there are always lots of company events and activities outside the workplace. SAP also gives back to the community, for example we volunteered to help out at the Vancouver Food Bank to sort food into categories at the warehouse. There were many SAP employees and we went together.  It is important to attend company activities from time to time, as it is a great way to learn and make new friends around the company.

Overall

It is fun to work at a company like SAP. Even though I have encountered problems while working on some projects it was a learning process.  I used to think that I did not have enough skills to deal with new challenges, but I have learned that these challenges are the opportunities to develop your skills. I learned it is important to not be afraid to take on new challenges.