Brielle: How does it feel to be coming back to Visions as a panelist since you were a part of Visions 8 when you were at UNCW? 

Dylan: It feels really good. It’s kind of interesting that given the set of circumstances, this is how I'm coming back to Visions, but honestly, I'm just grateful to be back.

Brielle: Can you explain what a Social Media Producer is and what you do on a daily basis? 

Dylan: Social media producers, at least for my line of work, we basically are in charge of a whole bunch of different things. We do content production, video editing, photography, and graphic design. So, encompassing all of that. I also manage social media posts for different companies. We basically meet with a client and then we talk to them and ask, “Hey, what specifically are you looking for? Do you want to do mostly just promotions? Do you make the material and then we just promote it for you guys, or do you want us to handle everything?”

At the end of the day, it's mostly just making content that is good and engaging and something that you can put onto social media that is easily digestible. A lot of our content falls under that one minute mark just so that we can get it onto Instagram and Facebook, but sometimes it's longer. So again, it generally depends on the client, but it's mostly just producing content, putting it on social media, and building up more engagement with that company. We've been able to take profiles that have almost non-existent engagement on social media and really help spruce it up quite a bit.

Brielle: What are some cool projects that you've specifically worked on?

Dylan: That's quite a lot, actually. So the area that I live in, in Germany, it's pretty rural compared to other parts. So, it's not like Berlin or a major city like that, it's small town vibes. As a result, there are a lot of local family operated farms, so smaller farms. We're able to go there and do some promotions, get to meet some of the cows, and get to really see the entire area. 

And then, there's another film campaign that we were working on with this one group that is basically trying to push more legislation for renewable energy in Germany. In Germany right now, we produce a ton of renewable energy, but it can't really go anywhere because there's not a grid set in stone. I’ve been able to do drone flights of the windmills and solar panels.

Honestly, a lot of the stuff that I do is kind of like mini docs in a way, just cause we're kind of there capturing stuff, doing interviews and then kind of blending that together and producing content from that. I got to do one where I was essentially doing driver's ed, but for Germany. And then the entire joke was essentially, “Look at the silly American, not understanding the German rules.... that's so funny,” and I was just like, all right, cool. So, yeah, a lot of very interesting projects.

Brielle: It seems like you’ve travelled a lot with work, so I’m wondering where you’re from and what made you make that jump to move to another country for work?

Dylan: I've moved around my entire life, so I usually say I'm from everywhere but nowhere at the same time. I was born in Virginia, moved to Minnesota, back to Virginia, up to Pennsylvania, back to Virginia, down to North Carolina for college in Wilmington, graduated there, traveled across the entire East coast and out to Texas for a photography job, moved to Los Angeles, then back to North Carolina, and now I’m in Germany, and who knows where I'm going to go next!

For work, after I graduated, I took a job as a composite photographer for fraternities which was really fun. That was an interesting experience, but it allowed me to travel most of the Southeastern United States and then the East coast. That was definitely interesting because I didn't really get to spend a whole lot of time in places, but I got to see a lot of the country that people don't really get to see. That was basically to save up money, which that job actually did pay really well, considering what it was.

Then, I saved up money and moved out to Los Angeles afterwards. That was really fun, and everything was going really good up until the pandemic hit. I had a steady job with Disney as a production assistant. As a result, a lot of people were out of work. I mean, every single one of my friends, except for maybe one or two in LA, were out of work as soon as COVID hit. And it's one thing for like the big celebrities in Hollywood, they already have money and they're set, but it's regular film workers like you and me that were just completely screwed. Rent in LA, it’s insane how expensive it is. 

So then, I swallowed my pride and moved back to North Carolina, took a job at a company selling solar panels, and hated that job with a burning passion. Don't ever go into sales. But, lo and behold, my uncle lives in Germany, and I mentioned to him when the pandemic hit in LA, I said, “Hey, I might be interested in looking to move to Germany sometime.” And he said “there's a company in Germany that I know of, and they're looking for somebody. Would you be interested in working in Germany?” And I said, “yeah, of course, that'd be awesome.”

The main reason why I'm here, ironically enough, is actually COVID. I would still be in LA. My friends would still be working, doing what they're doing, and I'd still be doing that. But thanks to COVID, I get to experience a new culture. I get to learn. I get to speak a different language all day. It's been a very unique experience. Why be scared of something that you can't control and instead focus on what you actually can control and can tangibly change. For me, that was leaving my shitty sales job and doing creative work, being able to stack my portfolio, and learn new skills all in a foreign language.

Brielle: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers who would love to work internationally someday?

Dylan: I have a lot, but the general thing is to have money saved up. If you go bankrupt internationally, you're screwed. So don't do that. If you do move internationally, it definitely does help knowing people beforehand, especially if you move to a country where English isn't the main language. For me, the culture shock with Germany was converting all my money from dollars to euros, getting my bank set up, understanding how the rent system works, and getting a car.

Other than that, the other big thing is to look and see how feasible creative work is in a specific country. Germany's film industry isn't as strong as the United States, but they have a pretty strong film industry. Doing research beforehand, and just kind of seeing if you can start here and then maybe you want to expand there. If you're going to move internationally, have a job set before you move. Let's say you moved to Los Angeles and say, “I might not be able to find a job right away, but I'll look around and see what I can find.” You can do that because it's Los Angeles and you're still within the United States. Let's say I moved to Germany and I had not had a job yet. I would be broke and hungry right now. So yeah, I guess to summarize: understand what you're getting yourself into and definitely think about it for a bit.

I'm out of my comfort zone all day. I'm an immigrant for lack of better words, but if you have a goal in mind and if you just say we'll see what happens, the world's your oyster essentially. And whether it be traveling or moving internationally, as long as you have a goal set in mind, you can do whatever you want. I mean, anybody can do whatever they want. And that's just kind of my general message. The biggest person that is usually in the way of people is themselves. For me, I'm my own worst enemy because I constantly get in the way of myself. But if you can try and fight against that, the world’s your oyster.

Brielle: Thinking back to your days at UNCW, what is something that you learned that prepared you for where you are today?

Dylan: Funny enough, what prepared me quite a bit was being a part of Visions 8. At UNCW, I focused mostly on production. The studies part of film studies, it was interesting, but I wanted to be on set. I wanted to be behind the camera. I wanted to be doing something creative. I was the lead graphic designer for Visions 8 and learned the process of communicating with team leaders about different parts of the project and making stuff, getting feedback, and making changes, updates, edits and all that. Just learning how to work collaboratively with people definitely helped out. 

Outside of UNCW, ironically enough, I learned a lot more from film production through working together with my friends and working as an intern. Get an internship while you're still at school. Do not graduate without taking at least one internship because you are missing out on an extremely valuable experience that you're not going to get in the classroom. Working with my friends and working as an intern prepared me.

Another thing- make content before you graduate. A lot of people graduate that don't really have anything tangible to show for themselves. I can be like, “Oh, here's a film paper that I wrote,” but an employer isn't really going to care. They're like, “but can you set up a C stand? Can you set up a light? Do you understand what a color temperature is? Do you know what the different flags are? Do you know how to operate a grip truck?” I think that film history is important, but if you want to get into production, you have to know the tangible things.

UNCW definitely did help me understand that difference, but more importantly, meeting people like Shannon that were very blunt with me and said, “Hey, the film industry can be tough, but if you know what you want to do, you're going to make it far.” The more you learn before you graduate, the better prepared you're going to be for the actual industry.