Even before he graduated from Marquette this spring, digital media major Collin Nawrocki already had an impressive resume as a video producer.
For three years, he interned for Marquette Athletics, creating photo and video content under fast-paced conditions for the men’s basketball team; he was a graphics intern at Plum Media, a Milwaukee-based video production and events company with a global reach; and he worked a summer job with Major League Baseball, capturing photos and videos at home Brewers games. Now he’s headed to Missouri to work as a production assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs.
While many digital media students in the Diederich College of Communications arrive with aspirations to work in feature and documentary film, students like Nawrocki find demand for their video production talents from a wide array of sources. That helps the major act as a springboard to rewarding work opportunities at corporations, nonprofits, sports teams and marketing agencies.
“The whole major is very hands-on,” Nawrocki says. “Every year, starting freshman year, I’ve taken production classes like Intro to Production, Editing Techniques, Sound Design, Advanced Production and Portfolio, with all of that culminating in the Narrative Production capstone class.” For their capstone projects, students create 10-minute films or documentaries, in the process sharpening and polishing the technical, critical-thinking and narrative skills that translate to careers across many industries.
That’s by design, says Kris Holodak, associate professor of digital media and performing arts. “We couch things in film because it lets students be creative. But ultimately, when they go to start shooting videos for companies, it’s the same skill set. Cameras are cameras and lights are lights and microphones are microphones. You still need to be able to tell an engaging story.”
Focus on the creativity — after mastering the technology
Digital media students touch every part of the creative process through the program’s curriculum. Classes include scriptwriting, production, and editing techniques, alongside film history and criticism.
On the technical side, Don Hertz, the college’s manager of technical services, is a vital resource for students. He brings decades of commercial video production experience to his role overseeing student equipment checkout and software licensing. He also teaches two courses: Editing Techniques and Sound Design.
From their first days on campus, students begin using DSLR cameras to learn photography basics, preparing them to later shoot video and learn editing software. “The more you use the equipment, the more you get comfortable with it, and the less you worry about it,” Hertz says. “Then you can focus on the creativity and not the technology.”
As the technology — and the settings where all of us consume video — constantly evolve, Hertz and other faculty and staff members help open students’ eyes to different career opportunities. “Most students will come here and think within a very narrow margin: It’s television or film production. They don’t think of the fact that nearly every corporation has some sort of internal video production department,” Hertz says. “There are many more opportunities out there besides what they think of initially.” Beyond advertisements and social media videos, technical skills are also in demand to produce corporate training videos, live events and meetings.
And experiences in and around the Diederich College act as a pipeline connecting students to these opportunities. Students apply their skills in on-campus video production internships at Marquette Athletics and the Carl Collective — a full-service communications, marketing, advertising and public relations firm that works in partnership with Diederich College students. Hertz also connects students with freelance jobs on campus to help departments with streaming video, event coverage and other production needs. Hertz and faculty members also provide referrals for internships with partners in the private sector.
The Marquette internship and career edge
Patrice Nault, Sp ’81, is one of those partners hiring digital media students as interns in her role as director of operations at Milwaukee’s Plum Media. The firm also employs six Marquette alumni.
Recent digital media graduates: Where are they now?
The Digital Media program opens doors for students far beyond campus.
Haley Veres , Comm ’17, participated in the first Diederich Experience in Los Angeles — an annual trip organized by the Diederich College of Communication that gives students an inside look at the film and television industry in Los Angeles, courtesy of prominent alumni in entertainment. Veres describes it as “one of the most important experiences of my life.”
“Until that trip, I didn’t think I could see myself living in Los Angeles, and I didn’t have the confidence to pursue a career in what can be a very challenging industry,” Veres says. “What I learned on the trip was there is a great amount of Marquette presence and support in Los Angeles.”
Today, Veres works as a dubbing director in Los Angeles, directing voice actors for English-dubbed versions of films and TV shows from countries across the globe. She still keeps in touch with some of the contacts she made on that first trip to LA.
Michael Stearns, Comm ’18, is a supervisor of creative production at Waukesha-based Generac, overseeing the company’s internal photo and video production. When he first came to Marquette, he planned to pursue copywriting.
But “the Narrative Production capstone class really solidified my desire to pursue a career in video production,” Stearns says. “Working on a team of people equally as passionate about it as myself really made me fall in love with the process of planning, storyboarding, shooting and editing.”
That collaboration also primed Stearns to thrive in a corporate setting. “No matter what job or field you’re in, you will always have to work with many different types of people —and group projects really prepare you for that,” he says.
Trevor Tosto, Comm ’23, has spent the last 19 months as one of three Gabriel Fellows at the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The fellowship gives talented recent college graduates in film or broadcast journalism the opportunity to spend a year or more exploring stories about the impact of faith on our daily lives. Tosto learned about the opportunity from Dr. Amanda Keeler, associate professor and chair of digital media and performing arts, and was grateful to be accepted into the program.
His time at the archdiocese has offered Tosto an opportunity to put his video storytelling and production skills to work sharing compelling stories that might not otherwise get told. A peak experience was leading the creation of a long-form documentary on incarceration and faith, highlighting the work of the Kolbe House, which is about two blocks from the Cook County Jail.
“I did a piece highlighting how important their ministry is. It was nice to see a project through and have something to add to my portfolio,” he says, adding that the project was meaningful on a personal level. “I’ve met people through the documentary, been able to understand a new perspective and I’ve been volunteering there as well. I like to make a deeper connection beyond just the work side of it. That’s been a gift I never would have expected.”
Plum’s corporate clients have wide-ranging needs, Nault explains. They may ask for an instructional or recruiting video to be written, shot, animated and edited. Or they may want to turn an event into a multimedia show integrating live entertainment, speakers on stage and on giant screens, pre-recorded introductions and transitions, sound design and livestreaming to remote locations.
With the wide-ranging practical experience they bring to their internships, Marquette students are rarely intimidated by the challenges thrown their way. Contrasting Marquette’s Digital Media program with others that focus more narrowly on the artistic side of filmmaking, Nault says, “Marquette students get hands-on experience. Whether it’s cameras, editing equipment or live-streaming gear, they’re more likely to know their way around this stuff because they’ve had their hands on it.”
Marquette ties also run deep at another highly regarded video production and events company, Tri-Marq Communications, which was founded in 1988 by Marquette grads and former MUTV producers Christopher Johnson, Sp ’86, and James Culhane, Sp ’86, now the company’s president and vice president. Tri-Marq employs five other Marquette grads, including Dan Kosan, Comm ’04, who has worked there since 2006 and is now the company’s lead AVID editor and post-production supervisor, working closely with video producers and editors to coordinate productions for the agency’s clients, which include Marquette University.
“Media production is the stitching together of so many different skill sets,” Kosan says — not just videographers, but also writers, audio technicians, lighting engineers, live event technicians and “storytellers of all kinds.”
Ready for careers — and leadership
Digital media graduates are finding rich career experiences beyond Milwaukee, with employers including agencies, corporations, nonprofits and religious organizations. (See sidebar.)
And these students are entering the workforce not just with technical aptitude, but with a liberal arts foundation that sets them up to think critically about their roles as storytellers. That helps them gain an advantage of a different kind — an ethical one.
“Especially in this day and age of AI and generative content, you can make a video or photograph or a piece of writing say and do anything,” Holodak says. “We want our media creators to have an ethical understanding of the impact of what they’re doing. As a consumer or client, you would hope that all the people making your media came through our program.”
