There are plenty of opportunities that colleges offer when it comes to studying outside of campus. Some go to different countries, some to different colleges, but the Bradley University Department of Communications gives its students the chance to take classes in Hollywood.
Los Angeles, Calif. is the destination for the small number of students that explore the city and all it has to offer. The Hollywood Semester and Com 494 class is offered to students that are interested in expanding their horizons of their academic career and eventually making them more marketable.
The Com 494 class is a 10 day winter course taken in January where students go around and visit places like CNN, CBS Studios, Universal Studios, the LA Dodgers, the LA Clippers, NFL Network, Mediaplacement Entertainment and many more. They speak with professionals from a variety of communication disciplines, which has relevance to all majors offered at Bradley.
Visit locations from right to left: CBS Studios, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, Mediaplacement Entertainment and DisneyToon Studios
The Bradley Hollywood Semester offered to junior and senior students, gives them a chance to spend all fall or spring semester taking classes and interning for different companies or organizations. “Students take an overview of the entertainment industry where they write a pitch and take it every step of the way,” said BJ Lawrence the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts Associate Dean.
These students learn about editing, marketing, production skills and make a budget while taking a music course to integrate it to videos, movies, or other films. They also take a television production course where they are practice editing and eventually are able to see clips of various forms and are able to easily edit them to make them professional quality. Once these students make a video using these classes, they present it to the Vice President of Light Iron, which is the number one finishing production studio in Los Angeles.
Map of the pinned Light Iron Studio, along with more placed visited like Dodger Stadium and Staple Center (bottom right) and others.
Obviously there are many opportunities and contacts to be made in Los Angeles. Former students from these programs have moved back to Los Angeles for internships or jobs, have come back to Bradley to graduate and use their experiences to get other jobs in big cities, or even stayed around the Peoria.
One of these products is Peoria Journal Star employee and 2015 Bradley University graduate Aaron Ferguson. Aaron took the Hollywood program during the Spring 2014 semester. Majoring in sports communication, Aaron wasn’t very accustomed with all of the editing and production skills learned in class, but were more familiar with the sports aspect Los Angeles had to offer. Taking the courses helped Aaron learn a ton about all of the film facets, but most of his learning came from his internship with the KABCTV Channel 7 Sports Department.
When asked about what helped him the most from the internship, Ferguson said, “I learned how to write better and improved tremendously on my interviewing skills.” Aaron was mostly covering the Los Angeles Dodgers where he would interview most of the players for the news station, which included NL MVP and Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.
Ferguson also covered different sports events and teams, like the Manchester United and LA Galaxy friendly match at the Rose Bowl, USC spring football practices and others while interviewing high profiled people such as Landon Donovan and Steve Sarkisian for example.
“The internship gave me a huge confidence boost when working in the sports industry,” Ferguson said when asked about how the internship helped him. “I’m able to interview high school athletes for my job, but when my boss asks me to cover the Bradley basketball team, Peoria Riverman, or the Peoria Chiefs, I’m not overwhelmed at all.”
The semester long program isn’t a possibility for some students, which is why the COM 494 class is a great alternative for those who are still interesting in learning about the communication industry. Melody Mercado, a junior journalism major and athlete at Bradley, was one of those students with conflicts. Even though this course isn’t a semester long, there are many benefits one can take from it.
“The biggest thing I took away from the LA trip was being able to experience the culture of the communication industry,” Melody said. “It helped me in the real world because it gave me a perspective of what professionals in my field do everyday and the different career opportunities that I may have never thought of that are available.”
Not only are you gaining great insight from top professionals in their field, but there is also free time to view the city as well. One of Melody’s favorite parts of the trip was when the class went to the Santa Monica Pier, Universal Studios, and rode bikes around Venice Beach.
Site seeing locations. Top star is the Santa Monica Pier and the bottom star is Venice Beach.
Taking the trip to Los Angeles is a big step for any student, but both Aaron and Melody were very encouraging when asked if others should pursue this opportunity. Melody described the trip as life changing and very helpful, but Ferguson had some others words for it. “If you are serious about going far in any communication profession, I highly recommend and urge people to do it because the opportunities are endless out in LA.”
These opportunities should absolutely be considered when planning out future schedules. Aaron and Melody are only two of the many students that have benefited from the Hollywood trip, which will help throughout their whole professional career.