Hi, I am Nyah Carlson and I had the privilege of working in Gateshead with Sunderland Software City this summer. Tragically, my time in the North East is coming to a close, but I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in England.

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Working at Sunderland Software City

Working at SSC in the PROTO office has been a whirlwind. We’ve worked on a ton of projects, some of which were self-imposed, some were given to us by the higher ups, but all were worthwhile. Our first two weeks here were entirely focused on TechNExt, a region-wide and region-specific tech festival full of a wide variety of experiences exhibiting the work companies and individuals have been producing for the past year(s). At the festival, we were able to watch the behind the scenes of a Tyne Tunnel advertisement that was shot in the PROTO studio, show kids and adults at a community centre the Virtual Reality Headset experience, speak with countless tech companies, help with a dance collaboration using motion capture, and celebrate at the industry party at the end of the week. It was exhausting but an amazing entry to working at the company in the North East tech industry.

The next few weeks were more independent projects as well as helping with events and clients. One of these clients was Ant and Dec Making it in Media class which came into the studio for a day to film. I was incredibly excited to work with these students because filmmaking is my thing! They were all so talented and excited to learn to shoot in the studio. They all rotated through different roles, and I was there to help them if they had any questions or difficulties. It was exciting to be on set again, especially with people so new to the process. We also had a few work exchange students throughout the weeks, and for the same reasons, it was very exciting working with them. The last group of three created a video game pre-visualisation including a score and Dayana edited their motion capture footage to make a small teaser. It was very impressive.

Last but not least, my self-imposed projects, with Dayana’s help, included part of a music video (using metahumans and motion capture) and a short video in sign language. The music video was just for fun for me to see what it is like working in a virtual environment for film. I must say, it is very cool but not my forte. We are editing it this week, our last week, so we can finish before we leave. The sign language video was originally supposed to be in British Sign Language, but we had to postpone the shoot until after we leave to give everyone adequate time to get used to the equipment. In order for us to still experiment using sign language and virtual technology, I will sign a short paragraph in American Sign Language. At the time of writing this, we haven’t shot the video, but we should have a teaser by the end of our last day in the office.

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Activities and Exploring the UK

Outside of work has been just as exciting as inside. Dayana and I have been travelling a ton on weekends, including Durham, York, Whitby Abbey (where we saw a Dracula play), Alnwick, and even watching some of the Euro matches in pubs around town. I love Harry Potter, and we kept accidentally stumbling on some of the filming sights that immediately threw me back into my childhood. It was amazing.  

One week, my boyfriend came to visit, and we were lucky enough to spend a day at the Howth Cliffs in Ireland and a couple of days in Edinburgh, Scotland. All of this travel has been amazing and caused me to fall in love with the northeast more and more. However, my absolute favourite thing that I’ve done since I’ve been here is my Sunday routine. I was lucky enough to find an incredible community at All Saints Presbyterian Church where one particular family welcomed me so warmly into their home.  

Every Sunday, I have been able to go to the morning service to hear God’s Word and then have some incredible fellowship with the members of the church over tea and sometimes lunch. If I didn’t stay for lunch (I always stayed for tea), I would head over on a 30-minute walk to The Staiths Cafe where I would spend my afternoon reading and writing the next big screenplay. It was in moments like these I really felt at home here.  

Final Thoughts

As my time comes to an end in Gateshead, my heart grows really heavy. I have made some incredible friends and found an amazing Church family. My coworkers have grown to feel more like a family in the 8 short weeks I’ve worked with them, and I am dreading the day I have to leave. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not the last time I will be in the northeast and, God-willing, not the last time I will see these lovely people. It has been an immense blessing to end my university career with this internship and I cannot wait to see what happens next. One thing I do know, this summer has better prepared me for my work in the future and perhaps spoiled me as for what to expect in any other office.  

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If you have any questions about internship opportunities, please get in touch with the Sunderland Software City team at: info@sunderlandsoftwarecity.com

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