Visual and Communication Arts Careers

EMU students have remarkable opportunities for professional networking, internships, and media exposure.

VaCa student work in photography, digital media, art and videography has received attention from national and international media. The Washington Post covered our class documentary on the Kurdish community in Harrisonburg, and the BBC ran student photos from the documentary on their website.

Digital media grad Joel Landis interned at an advertising agency specializing in film trailers in Los Angeles. After graduation, he moved into a full-time role as video editor. He now creates film trailers for major motion pictures and is based on the West Coast.

An Interview with Joel Landis '10, film trailer editor, www.joellandis.com

Can you describe what you do in a couple sentences?

I'm a film trailer editor. I edit trailers and television spots for theatrical films (Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney etc) as well as for film and shows from streaming companies (Netflix, Amazon, etc). I tend to work mostly on large, big budget action films.
Who do you work for?

I am a freelance editor. I tend to work for 3 main companies: Buddha Jones, AV Squad and another independent editor, Jenn Horvath. Studios also send me projects to do on my own.
What trailers are you most proud of?

There are a couple:

- World War Z trailer - this was my first big/important trailer. I also ended up doing the tv spot that aired during the Super Bowl.

- The Magnificent Seven teaser - Just had a lot of fun working on it.

- Blade Runner 2049 tv spot - I used dialogue from the original Blade Runner film which I thought was clever.

- Top Gun Maverick - another tv spot that aired during the Super Bowl.

- Venom teaser - I finished this trailer before the film had even finished shooting so I was pleasantly surprised to find out what the finished film looked like when I saw it months later.

- There are a few trailers I edited that I really enjoyed working on, but the studio chose ultimately not to use. Trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and The King's Man.
How does the trailer editing process work? How many people are typically working on a trailer?

Trailer editors (and the companies they work for) are responsible for all audio/visual things in regards to film and tv advertising. This means we edit all the trailers, television spots, digital spots for social media, radio spots (not very many), etc. A handful of companies do all the print advertising for the films as well.

A film studio, say Paramount either produces or buys a film. Then the studio hires a trailer company to produce the marketing materials (trailers, etc) for the film. The studio has a marketing team, but they are responsible for overseeing the campaign, not the creation of marketing material. That's where we come in.

Now, they almost alway hire multiple companies to make multiple trailers. In fact, each company will often edit 2-4 trailers to send back to the studio. On any given, large budget film, the studio will end up receiving maybe 10-15 trailers from all the trailer companies. At each company, there is typically one editor working on each trailer and then a larger team of 3-4 people helping to oversee the whole film campaign. Ultimately, it is a "friendly" competition between all the trailer companies because the studio will only pick and use 2-3 trailers. But before the studio picks, there are a lot of changes and revisions done on each trailer. I've seen a trailer go through 150 versions only to be killed by the studio..luckily we get paid for all that work.

When I first start working on a trailer, I have a lot of creative freedom to present what I think is the best idea. Eventually the team I work with and the studio will have very specific ideas and notes regarding what they want, but during the initial phase I can do almost anything I want. This is in regards to what music I use, what shots and dialogue I choose, etc. We are responsible for everything you see and hear in a trailer. As the process moves forward, with notes and ideas coming from the studio, it becomes a very collaborative process with a team of people trying to figure it out.

Matthew Gillis Art Matthew Gillis, a photography major, interned for National Geographic Adventure in New York City, the D.C. United soccer team and Oregon’s Statesman Journal. He was the winner of an Associated Press Photo of the Month.

Steven Stauffer Art Steven Stauffer submitted his class photography portfolio to the Festival of the Photograph and was awarded a scholarship to study with National Geographic photographer Bill Allard for a week. Steven’s work was shown at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville to an international audiencethat included some of the best known photographers in the world.

Art major Kari Martin’s work was exhibited in three shows in the region during her senior year, and her paintings were selected for a consortium student show at Bridgewater College. They were also the only student works accepted into an invitational show, “Red” at the Smith House Gallery. Additionally, Kari won an award for one of the paintings in the nearby Artful Dodger’s first juried show.

Our graduates are bringing their Visual and Communication Arts training to a variety of vocations.

Here are a few samples:

Zachary Nafziger ’01 is a full-time stained glass artist and owner of ZN Stained Glass in Harrisonburg.

Renee Holsopple Glick '04 is a creative director at Peloton in New York City.

Ashley Sauder Miller ’03 is a mixed media artist who maintains a regular studio practice and actively exhibits her work.

Artist Melinda Steffy ’03 is also an experienced nonprofit executive. In 2020 she launched her own consulting practice, Concentric Strategy, which provides planning and communication services for arts and education organizations.

Michael Spory '11 is a project manager and designer in Washington DC at VMDO Architects.

Frank Ameka worked as a media designer for James Madison University. His photography has been published in Time Magazine.

Mary Yoder-Anderson curates, runs and markets her secondhand clothing shop Dart, in Harrisonburg.

Justin Roth '12 is the Senior Associate Director of Marketing Design and Strategy at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.

Todd Yoder is a self-employed illustrator and painter in Portland Oregon. His work can be found at Todd Kenton Yoder Illustration.

Mark Fenton is a media specialist with Gravity Group in Harrisonburg.

Katie (Rodriguez) Schmid runs her photography business, The Commoneer in Harrisonburg.

Jon Styer is a self employed digital media specialist and designer in Keezletown Virginia.

Monika Burkholder '11 is an art therapist in Staunton Virginia at Open Path Collective.

Alyssa Breidigan '22 is a wedding photographer in Virginia.

EMU is not responsible for the content of external links. This information was updated in April 2023.