On July 1^st, I sat down with our VPC, Inc. summer intern Liam, took some time to get to know him a little bit more and see how he’s been enjoying his internship after his first month.

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To start off, Liam, introduce yourself, your name, where you go to school, your graduation year, your major and minor. 

Well, my name is Liam Theobald. I go to Towson University. I graduate May 2028, and I’m a electronic media and film major with a minor in marketing. 

Electronic media? Is that and the film major all one thing or is that 2 separate tracks?

I would say it’s just kind of one big bubble. And the electronic part is, not just film, but anything TV work or social media or just how to use the equipment in general. You can then take those skills and use them for anything media related like sports or news. 

What are some of your interests besides video editing, live event production, and video production?

I really love acting for the camera. Fun fact, if you’re watching the World Cup on Peacock, I acted in a commercial for the US Soccer foundation. I actually have yet to see it. I’ve had friends text me saying, “dude, I just saw you on TV.” So, tonight I’m going to be turning on the game with my family and try and catch it live and record it.


Creative Impact Lab: U.S. Soccer Foundation, “Yes, Coach” campaign commercial 
-role: injured track runner

https://youtu.be/JE1nSHYJxM8?si=0x6do88hGzxuP8Ou

What made you interested in pursuing a career in video production, in live event production, or video editing?


It was really just… I took a chance on a job at my school. I remember I was walking to the gym, and it was cold outside. So, I took a shortcut through the union, and I saw a desk and sure enough, there’s a job fair happening that I had no idea about. And I saw a job for the sports videography. And I’m like, you know what, I’m here at college to try and build a career for myself. Let’s do it. My interest in film up at that point was just kind of like movies, the classic Hollywood dream. But I tried it and I ended up really liking it. So, maybe you know, it’s not just Hollywood that I have interest in, but live events or sports or events like concerts or comedy shows or ceremonies. And that kind of seemed like what this internship was about. So, it naturally piqued my interest.

How did you learn about VPC, Inc. and what made you interested in an internship with the company?

There was a career fair happening towards the end of last semester and I had already been applying to a lot of internships up to that point. And I went; I saw your guys at a stand. I remember I gave Carter my resume and then I went to your website and I applied through that because I knew that this was something I wanted to try out for. And I looked at your guys website, you guys had really cool things, you know, like your work for the NFL and I do sports at my school. So, getting the chance to work with sports at a professional level. I mean, that sounded awesome.

What’s one of the projects you’re working on right now? 

Currently I’m working on headshots for the Steelers, which is pretty cool. I’m working in Photoshop for it. And it’s, if you’re watching the game and like a player does something and they show their headshot on screen, that’s what I’m doing. 

What other experiences or projects have you done so far while at VPC, or any events that you’ve gone to? 

Last week I went to an event where it was this awards show for a medical facility. And I mean that was pretty cool. It was my first live event working with VPC. I got to work with the switcher which was pretty cool. And I worked with Ben to work the slide shows. I mean, that’s probably my favorite part about the event was that I wasn’t just sitting around watching everything go down. I actually got to do stuff and like just breaking stuff down. I got to use equipment, which was nice.

What are you most interested in learning this year, either during your internship with VPC or when you get back to Towson in the fall? 

Probably learn After Effects. I’ve been doing some of it and it’s pretty challenging, but it’s a skill I know that will serve me well in the future. You know, like, putting it on a resume and then applying to more stuff. Telling them that I can work in After Effects, I think will be really beneficial for my career. So, I’m looking forward to learning more stuff with that and any more live events that I can go to would be cool. Working with more equipment, maybe shadowing someone who’s working the camera. Being at the event last week, the camera you use seems to be pretty similar, if not the same model as the one I use at my school. So I’d be pretty confident, you know, even if someone’s over my shoulder, I think I could work an event well with that. 

What have you, or how comfortable are you, so far using After Effects versus where you say you started and where do you hope to learn a little bit more? 

I’d say I’m definitely farther along than before. I mean before my experience was pretty much zero, so anything I’ve done now is certainly a benefit. I think working with templates is pretty big because I think that’s what most people use with After Effects, right? Is putting templates in and then just, you know. Working it to do what you want it to do or say what you want it to say, right? 

Yeah, I’d say when I was an intern with VPC too, a lot of it was getting After Effects projects that had a pre-made template either by one of the editors here or one that I had to find on one of our digital libraries. And then getting comfortable navigating what different layers were. But in the end, I mean, you could figure out what certain layers were by turning them on and off, you could kind of see how they worked with the comp and so as I got more comfortable down the line. Now that I understand how a template is built, I can navigate it and try to make everything flow together.

So, what has impressed you the most about either the internship opportunities you’ve had so far with VPC or what has impressed you about VPC just as a company? 

I’m pretty impressed that you guys seem to give me like actual good stuff to do. You know, my mom was telling me that some internships, the intern is kind of just, you know, farting around and getting coffee for people. So, the fact that I’m getting assignments, I’m being, you know, taken out to events here and there. I think that’s pretty cool. Like I’m getting actual hands-on learning with either editing or being at an event.

When this internship ends, what are your career goals or aspirations? I understand you still have two years left at Towson, but do you have kind of an idea of what you’re striving for or what has stood out as a potential career path for you?

Yeah, I mean the live events really have stood out to me a lot. Both, I have with a job and an internship at my school doing, you know, sports videography and live events. And then with this internship now on my belt, it’s kind of just like I would most likely go down that avenue in terms of finding future internships or jobs. As I said prior, I love acting. So that’s always going to be something on the side I’m going to be pursuing. Actually, fun fact, today I’m getting some professional headshots done for me. So, I’m excited for that. But yeah, I would say just trying to juggle both behind the camera work as well as on camera work. 

Do you have anything specific that you’re more interested to learn more about? Is it videography that stands out to you as the potential path or is it more of being at live events and wanting to learn everything you can about what there is to know? 

Hmm… I think I’m really interested in both. I would say I am pretty interested in videography the most. But I do want to learn just the whole circle of it, you know. The more I know, the more opportunities I’ll get is kind of my philosophy. I enjoyed the last event working the graphics. Just following a script and kind of looking at the event itself, you can really see how it helps the flow of everything.

If you could give advice to future interns, either VPC interns or Towson interns about anything, or just how to take the most advantage of their internship opportunities. What would you tell them?

I would definitely tell them you got to look early. You need to look early and don’t give up. Maybe that’s cliché, but I mean I was applying to summer internships since September, like as soon as the school year started, I was applying to summer internships, and I did so many interviews and applied so many times but didn’t get accepted. And this internship, this was the last place I applied for. I applied to this place in like maybe April. And sure enough, I got accepted, so I’m so happy I did that. I went to a career fair in April. And I’m so glad I did because here I am.

Is there anything else you would like people to know either about you, the internship, or just anything in general? 

I love acting, if anyone wants an amazing, charming, funny, great actor, I would more than be willing to help you. I’ve just started doing archery as a hobby, so if anyone has any advice for that I’m kind of teaching myself that and I hope everyone has a fantastic day. 

Alright thank you, Liam.

Off course. Thanks for having me, Will.
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Keep an eye out for Liam at future VPC events this summer as well as on TV. You never know which commercial he’ll pop up in next, or be behind the scenes of.