Student’s Achievements in Editing Promises a Bright Career

Ever since she was younger, Lila Woodbridge has been interested in working in video production and editing. “I’m a big Harry Potter fan so watching the behind the scenes of those films was my first exposure to all the amazing jobs involved in film production.”  

Woodbridge studied media technology at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, where she had the opportunity to learn web design and HTML coding. Interested in learning more about these subjects, she got a job as a Web Assistant for the Web Development and Digital Strategy Team within the IT department shortly after enrolling at Adelphi as a communications and psychology double major. 

Learning and Growing as a Student Employee

Working as a student employee gave her more experience than she anticipated “I liked learning about how a professional site is run, how projects are managed, and getting experience with remote work and communicating through technology.” 

Some of her favorite work was video production for the AdelphiTech Youtube channel and learning more about graphic design from User Experience Designer Christine Katz. “I loved designing eCampus banners when we still did that. I really liked learning about integrating titles and images from Christine.” 

Her experience working with the Web Team also gave her useful skills that complement what she learned in the classroom. “This job taught me a lot of things that I didn’t have time to take classes on, like web design, social media, and marketing, so this was a really good supplement…actual professional experience.”

Breaking into Film Production

Now in the final semester of her senior year, Woodbridge, a communications major has taken on an internship with Giaronomo Productions, a movie advertising agency responsible for creating trailers for titles such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Farewell, and Onward, an upcoming animated movie by Pixar.

In her brief time at the internship, she has already assisted with some trailer pre-production elements such as transcribing videos and working in Avid Media Composer. Though she’s just dabbled with Avid so far, she’s confident that she’ll be able to master it soon, laughingly saying “I’ll be an expert by next Friday!” 

Even if she may have been joking, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Woodbridge did master Avid in a short period of time. Her work ethic is unmatched, as Joan L. Schimke, Associate Professor of communications would attest to after she worked with Woodbridge on the short documentary Triangle Fire. Woodbridge’s dedication to always improve is apparent in how she’s developed her skills with Adobe products since first being taught, “I’ve been doing video editing since my freshman year of high school. I learned all about Premiere from my wonderful teacher Ms. Gaspar and I still practice a lot on my own time.”

Discovering Opportunities Through Networking

Woodbridge uses her talents to help other departments at Adelphi. She worked as a media videographer and producer for the Athletics department and completed work for the Office of the Provost and the Honors College. Susan Dinan, dean of the Honors College, spoke highly of Woodbridge’s work: “The Honors College asked Lila to create a short film to show to prospective students and families on our interview days. We trusted Lila to translate our vision into a professional product with limited oversight. She created an extraordinary ten-minute piece that features the voices of many students and staff that gets at the essence of the Honors College. On every interview day, we received numerous compliments about the film.”

The network of faculty and administration at the University has been an invaluable resource that has opened up many opportunities for Woodbridge. “Get to know the people around you, and talk to people about what you’re interested in. You never know if someone has a connection or contact where they can put you in touch with somebody that’s doing something that you want to do, especially in the communications field. Talk to your professors. Everyone is an amazing contact as long as they know who you are and what you want to do.”

Life After Graduation

There might still be a lot of work to do now, she’s currently editing a short film, Wayward, which will be released later this year (view the trailer for Wayward), but Woodbridge can’t help but be excited about what’s still to come. “I have an internship I’m really enjoying, and I would love to continue on there. I’m also going to look into doing freelance video editing work, and I’m shooting a short film in June.” 

While the only summer plan set in stone is her short film, one thing for certain is that Woodbridge has a bright future in the filmmaking industry.