Internships in Film, Animation and New Media at The University of Tampa

Students working with equipment at internship

Overview

Students majoring within the Department of Film, Animation and New Media (FMX) may take internships for credit by registering for FMX 374 Internship in FMX (1-4 credits, may be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits). Internships are available to students who are at the sophomore or higher level, with an overall GPA 3.0. An internship involves experiential work for college credit with a local, national or international company of your choice for college credit through FMX 374 that may also be paid or unpaid.

Terms and Registration Deadlines: Students may take FMX 374 as either a 14-week, 1st 7 weeks, or 2nd 7 weeks class during the fall and spring semesters. They may also take FMX 374 over the summer during the 12-Week Summer Term. The registration deadlines vary: within the first three weeks of the semester for fall and spring, within the first week of the semester for the first seven weeks, the second seven weeks and summer session classes, and within the first three days of the term for summer first six weeks and summer second six weeks. Once you submit your Internship Agreement Form by following the process laid out below, the registration process typically takes two to three days. But please be aware it is your responsibility to confirm that the internship actually shows up on your schedule; if you don’t see FMX 374, you will not get credit for it. Also, note that you will be charged summer tuition rates for internships taken over the summer.

How to Register: Start by creating a Handshake account with Career Services: Through your account, you will have access to a searchable list of internships in a variety of fields of interest and specializations, with listed requirements and duties. Download and read over Career Services' very helpful Student Internship Guide. Handshake is also a good way to find jobs.

Find an Internship: You may search for companies and available internships through Handshake, through the FMX internship listings on the UT website, and through email announcements sent by FMX with specialized or new internship announcements. You may also search internship websites on the web or your sources and personal/professional network of contacts to approach a potential internship site on your own. You may also contact Professor Gregg Perkins gperkins@ut.edu, FMX Internship Coordinator, for any current internships that may be available.

Apply to the Company for the Internship: When applying, customize both your cover letter and resume to emphasize which aspects of your own experience, talents and goals align with the specific duties of the internship. Be sure to provide a link to your personal website with streaming examples of your work if available. Once you are hired for an internship, proceed to the next step, completing forms and submitting these to the Internship coordinator registering for the course.

Request Academic Credit: Sign in to your Handshake account. Go to the “Career Center” tab on the top right of your profile, use the drop-down menu to select “Experiences,” then “Request an Experience” and fill out "Details" of your internship making sure to select “Film, Animation and New Media Internships” for your course. Finally, click "Submit Experience." You will receive an email when your request for internship credit has been approved.

If you are an international student , please visit the International Programs Office to learn more about Curricular Practical Training (CPT). CPT is required for all internship experiences (paid and unpaid). Visit the International Programs Office CPT website for additional information or contact them at (813) 258-7433.

Register and Complete the UT Internship Agreement Form: Once you have been hired for the internship and have completed the Handshake Experiences approval process, AC Medal (amedal@ut.edu) will send you an Internship Agreement form or email Professor Gregg Perkins, gperkins@ut.edu, to request the Internship Form. Once you receive the form, first, download the Internship form and save the file to your own computer. Then enter all your information into the empty cells of the PDF (note: Course Prefix and Number is FMX 374 Internship Title: example Production Internship, Pixar Animation Internship. Your "Internship Title" is what will appear on your college transcript. Once the form is complete, save it again and email the PDF file to the FMX Internship Coordinator Professor Gregg Perkins, gperkins@ut.edu, who will complete the registration process by obtaining the chair's signature and submitting this to the Registrar for processing. Your internship should then show up as part of your class schedule on Workday within a few days. Note: You may sign up for 1-4 credits. Your tuition covers 18 credits. If you have room in your schedule, you may sign up for 4 credits. If you already have 16 credits, you might consider a 2-credit internship or you would need to fill out a form to petition for an overload (more than 18 credits) as the maximum overload is 20 credits, and overload credits cost a fee.

Film, Animation and New Media Internship Intake Form: This form on Handshake will help keep everyone (including you, the FMX Faculty Internship Coordinator (Professor Gregg Perkins, gperkins@ut.edu), and your internship site supervisor) on the same page about the educational aspects (such as learning objectives and evaluation methods) of your internship. If the internship host site has any questions about this, please refer them to Career Services' Employer Internship Guide.

Local, Regional, National and International Internships: Local internships may be taken year-round during the Fall or Spring semesters. Regional, national and international internships are available usually during the 12-week summer session. You may find your own internships or review the detailed list of current internship companies through the Career Center and/or contact the FMX Internship Coordinator, Professor Gregg Perkins for specialized FMX lists.

Number of Credits Allowed

FMX 374 Internships may be taken for one to four credits, per experience, and may be repeated for credit for up to 8 credits. Per experience refers to the type of work you are doing and is not restricted to the company. For example: if you have an internship with Disney as a digital photographer for one semester for four credits, you may repeat an internship with this company again as a post-production specialist or animator.

College Credits and Pay for Work

Most students enthusiastically work for a company for college credits. Some companies also pay interns even if the student is earning college credits, as long as they follow practices under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Number of Credits for Hours Worked

The number of credits to work hours calculates as a minimum, of 40 hours per semester credit. Over a 15-week semester this credits as about three hours a week for one credit, six hours a week for two credits and nine hours a week for 12 credits. Internships may also be taken over a seven-week semester, and during summer sessions with recalculated hours based on the 40-credit hours per credit. Students may work more hours than the minimum if they wish to take internships for fewer credits. These are minimum hourly requirements – for example, students may register for two credits even if they plan to work more than six hours per week.

Tuition

Internships are absorbed within your allowed 18 credits under your semester tuition at no additional cost and may be taken as a four-credit course. If you are taking a 16-credit semester, there is no additional tuition required for a two-credit internship. However, if you exceed the 18 credits there is a per-credit fee. Check tuition guides to factor in those costs. Summer internships carry the same per-credit tuition as a regular course.

When to Register

Registration for internships may be completed during regular registration for the semester, no later than the end of the first three weeks of the fall and spring 15-week semesters. If that deadline is missed, you may register in the mid-semester for the 2nd seven-week term and still earn the same number of credits. Summer internships are taken for the summer 12-week session and registration may be completed during regular registration for the semester, no later than the first three days of the session.

Fair Labor Standards for Unpaid Internships: Like an apprenticeship, an unpaid internship should be an educational experience that benefits the intern more than the host site. The United States Department of Labor requires host sites to assign unpaid interns a range of interesting and challenging tasks, teach them transferable skills that may be applied in other contexts, and provide them with oversight and feedback based on helping students to establish and achieve their learning objectives. If this is not taking place at your internship, please contact FMX Faculty Internship Coordinator (Professor Gregg Perkins, gperkins@ut.edu). Your host site may need to either pay you for your work or increase the educational value of the experience.

Grading and Assignments

Internships are graded as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. You will write a one-page summary of your experience at the end, and your company supervisor will write a short statement to the internship coordinator about your performance. Grades will be submitted by the faculty internship supervisor.

Remember that taking an internship for credit is like taking a class. The only difference is that most of the work takes place off-campus, and the grading is “S” "satisfactory" or “U” or "unsatisfactory" (neutral to GPA).

Midterm Report: Halfway through your internship you will need to upload to the FMX 343 Blackboard Turnitin.com link, a 1-2 page midterm report of your internship experience thus far. This report should provide specific examples and address the following five areas:

Title and place of your company, the company’s focus, and clients;
Your internship duties/responsibilities, the kinds of projects you are working on and people you are working with, or client projects you are working on;
Any skills or insights gained relevant to your learning objectives and major and/or career goals;
Problems or challenges you’ve had and what you’ve done to solve them; and
Amount and quality of supervision, feedback and evaluation you are getting from your site supervisor.

Final Report: At the end of your internship or during the last week of the semester (whichever comes first), you will need to write up a 2-3-page reflection on your experience that provides an overall evaluation of your host site as well as a demonstration of what you learned using specific examples, (upload to the FMX 343 Blackboard Turnitin.com link for this assignment).

In your remarks, be sure to answer the following 10 questions:

What were your major accomplishments in terms of projects completed and/or goals reached?
What did your host site teach you (equipment/software, teamwork, specialized vocabulary, etc.) that you didn’t already know?
What are the most valuable lessons that you will take away from this internship?
How has this internship helped prepare you to enter the work world?
Would you recommend your internship site to other UT students? Why or why not?

Site Supervisor Evaluation: Towards the end of your internship, you will need to send your internship site supervisor the six questions listed below. Ask that they email this report to FMX Faculty Internship Coordinator Professor Gregg Perkins, gperkins@ut.edu) before the last day or your internship's term so you can earn academic credit for your internship experience.

How many total hours did the intern work?
What were the intern’s major accomplishments in terms of projects completed and/or goals reached?
What did you teach the intern (equipment/software, teamwork, specialized vocabulary, etc.) that intern didn't already know?
Was the interns work satisfactory? How would you describe the interns work?
How might The University of Tampa better prepare our students to be successful interns?

*Credits and Hour Requirements: To complete an internship for credit, you must have sophomore, junior or senior standing (at least 40 hours completed at time of registration) and a minimum 3.0 GPA. You must work 40 hours per academic credit hour. Over the course of a 14-week semester, this works out to approximately 1 credit = 3 hrs./week, 2 credits = 6 hrs./week, 3 credits = 9 hrs./week, and 4 credits = 12 hrs./week. For a 7 weeks term, those hours would be doubled (1 credit = 6 hrs./week, etc.). Please note that these are minimum hourly requirements. For instance, students may opt to register for 2 credits even if they plan to work more than 6 hours per week.

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