A week with me in Berlin.

Janvi Parekh. Graphic and Media Design

Hello to whoever is reading this; let me just start by summarising where I am and what I am doing.

I am in Berlin; working for a company called DieckertSchmidt as an Art Direction Intern from September to Decemeber. I intern for Julian Schnaars, the Art Director and Kurt Dieckert and Stefan Schmidt (The two bosses). I record my experiences weekly on a personal blog and below I have added a section of that blog. I hope you enjoy reading about one of my greatest weeks so far, and I wish you are well and happy.

DAY 36 (12/11/18) (Week 9)

Julian, the Art Director I work for, is out of office today so I literally don't have much to do. So I am taking this time to tell you about my Saturday which was spent at the WARNER BROS STUDIOS! 

I literally have no idea where to begin, I did not know what to expect because it was the first time I was attending a professional shoot. The shoot was for the theatrical poster that we will be designing, for a movie called TKKG. A German take on the book called Five Friends by Enid Blyton. 

I walked into Spree Graphen Studios (Spree is the name of the river in Berlin), and entered into the Warner Bros Studio which was Studio Number Two.  Straightaway there was a makeup room right at the entrance, which connected to the 2 studios, both different sizes. I saw that there were these child actors getting ready for their shoot, but I didn't quite register that they were the ACTUAL actors who were in the movie up until they started running for the camera. 

When I entered the studio, I was completely blown away by the amount of talent and professionalism in the room. There were actors, producers, a director, photographers, and make up artists and technicians - all walking about systematically trying to make the shoot go smoothly. Oh, and there was also A DOG!!!! 

And then there were Julian and I sitting in the corner of the room on a bench observing everything, with Julian getting up either to get food or go consult with the photographer on what sort of images he wanted. There was so much going on that I did not know where to stare - even the little things - such as a make up artist trimming a child actors hair because it wasn't behaving properly for the photos, to brushing the Dogs body hair 127 times (I counted because I loved the dog and wanted to observe everything happening to it) - it was all so professional. I was really and truly overwhelmed. Photos have been added above I think. 

The shots were perfect and I am guessing once Julian comes back tomorrow we will get to working on the poster. I enjoy walking and since the studio was an hour and a half away from where I live, I decided to walk it because there were many interesting touristic sites on the way back. My Saturday was hectic but I was so grateful to experience such a professional an legit photoshoot.  Sunday I chilled because I was tired from partying. 

DAY 40 (12/11/18) (End of Week 9) 

After Julian came back on the Tuesday, I thought we would start working on the poster - however, there was a lot for me to do for The Green Party with Kurt, and Juilian was busy on Engel and Volkers (a real estate agency). So I switched back and forth between selecting images and starting to compose the poster for TKKG and creating layouts for the Green party with Kurt. It was great working with Kurt because he told me I did a good job this week - my first compliment given by the boss.

So I was in a pretty good mood throughout Friday and towards the end - Since the two bosses were out of office, Julian Max and I started to play football in the corridor with an old ball we found in the store room. Actually, it was more like trying to smack each other in the face with the ball than trying to score a goal - I think this goes with one of my favourite moments.

Additionally, on Thursday I was approached by the Warwick Congress (Warwick University) to design and edit a promotional video for an event they were holding on 28/11.  I honestly surprised myself by saying yes to it, if they had approached me two months ago - I would have said no because I had baby skills in Adobe AfterEffects. Right now, I did not have the relevant skills too but I was willing to learn them, if I don't learn now then when will I? 

And that is why with the help of Julian (He taught me the basics on Friday evening after work and the rest I youtubed) I spent all of Saturday making this video. 

And much to my surprise: They LOVED it. They said so many kind words to me that I almost started crying on the phone - my design has never been appreciated and because it hasn't I always have doubted myself as a designer - but this week, working with Kurt and doing this job for Warwick University - the faith in myself as a designer had been restored - I became much more confident and I would only like to thank this experience. 

I will update this blog with a link to the video once it has been published. 

In terms of pay, I told them I would charge them 10 pounds an hour (An amount which was "too less" according to Julian and "they are ripping you off") But I was in no place to ask for more because I did not think I was worth more.

But what I didn't expect was that they would be keen on paying me for only five hours as compared to the twelve that I had put in - I was quite irritated with this because the reason the video took so long to make was because they kept wanting to change words around. I wanted to shout at them and tell them that they owe 120; but then I took a step back and analysed before saying anything - first of all, they trusted me enough to allow me to make this video, secondly, I learned an entire Adobe app over night, thirdly they were my first ever professional and legit client, fourthly, I was in no place to have so much arrogance about pay because I had not been that experienced and lastly, this was a student run organisation so I understood the budget was tight to begin with. 

So what did I do? I mentioned the hours I worked for only once, and left it at that. Which I think was a mature action. This resulted in them saving my contact details for similar future projects - what more could I have asked for? And plus, at least I didn't spend my saturday just sitting around and not doing anything. 


SUNDAY WAS BRILLIANT. I FINALLY WENT FOR A MOVIE I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE 2013. I am not sorry for how mainstream it sounds but I was finally able to watch Mercury on the big screen. AMAZING, MESMERISING, TEAR-JERKING - the only movie I would ever record and put up on Snapchat and Instagram.  I went with a friend and I ate pizza after the movie and it was literally the best thing. 

In a nutshell: an amazing week which I am so grateful for. 

I hope everyone is well, happy and doing what they want to do :)