Media arts student breaks new ground for UM

One year after the University of Montana opened its doors to a new major, media arts second-year digital media student David Reese emerged from the depths of the Department of Fine Arts to celebrate the program’s debut with an internship at one of the largest digital production agencies in the world, Digital Kitchen. 

Reese, an unassuming Moscow, Idaho native, quietly unravels his summer tale, cluttered with a variety of tasks.  Aside from Reese’s own subtle contributions toward software campaigns such as Microsoft Zune and Sony VAIO, Digital Kitchen is also the brains behind Tony Soprano’s fierce commercial campaign and MacDonald’s greener appeal.

“I got to do a little bit of everything,” Reese said.  “Whatever they needed me to do.”

Digital Kitchen, a large creative firm, has locations in Seattle, Chicago, and New York and has recently formed an internship program with the University of Montana. 

Media Arts Chair Rick Hughes laughed when referring to both Reese’s down-to-earth nature and the magnitude of his accomplishments.

“I told Dave he’s got to get used to this kind of thing,” Hughes said.  “He’s going to be great.”

Digital Kitchen currently employs about 69 people with a wide spectrum of knowledge and specializes in well-known design programs such as Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and the video-editing program Final Cut, said the company’s studio manager, Steve Krause.

“They deliver the whole package,” Reese said.

Reese also said that the firm creates the story behind advertisements for clients such as Nip/Tuck and PBS, focusing on sound design, music, motion design and graphics.

Since the company was founded in the late 90s, it has become one of the largest and well-known production agencies the globe has to offer, said Hughes. 

“Bringing ambition and a sense of teamwork is a key factor in doing well at Digital Kitchen,” Krause said.  “We rely heavily on ideas and inspiration.”

Greg Twigg, director of Integrated Digital Media for UM Media Arts, initially made a phone call to Digital Kitchen in search of potential internships for Reese. Reese applied for the internship shortly after Twigg pitched the idea to him and flew out to Digital Kitchen’s Seattle location for an interview.

“It was really great being in that environment,” Reese said of his experience, “Very beneficial and inspiring.”

With a bachelor’s degree in art and a minor in media arts, Reese applied to the professional program in fall of 2006 and will be one of UM’s first official media arts graduates this spring.

“David had enough knowledge needed to integrate himself easily into the working machine that is Digital Kitchen,” Krause said.

According to Hughes, media arts has become such a desired major in past semesters that faculty and staff were being forced to direct some students away from certain classes since their only options were the graduate or minor programs.

Prior to the 2006 school year, media arts struggled to maintain an interested group of students and was never able to establish the major program due to lack of faculty members qualified to teach at the university level, Hughes said.

“We had students taking extra classes just to waste time while they waited for the major to become official,” Hughes said.

Because of the vast number of students intrigued by media arts in the past year, the department found two more faculty members and was able to establish a professional program, which then allowed for potential media arts students to apply.

Since 2006, enrollment in the department has increased from roughly 30 students to 60 students, Hughes said.

“Media arts is so new to everyone,” he said.  “We’re still defining ourselves.”

Hughes said although media arts is constantly evolving and currently remains an unfamiliar concept to most, the university has produced numerous graduates that have displayed their work in festivals all across the country. One former student of the graduate program, Alex Gans, now works as an editor for a movie production company in Los Angeles.

UM is privileged to have both the digital media and video production options available, whereas some universities only offer one or the other, Hughes said. 

Although Reese contained little knowledge concerning digital media and its computer applications prior to his enrollment in the media arts program, he has certainly acquired adequate skills, said Krause. 

“He knew a lot about the programs here and was eager to learn,” Krause said.  “It was nice to see.”

Not only has Reese experienced the freshness and curiosity of the upcoming media arts world by gladly observing a team of experts at Digital Kitchen for a month-long internship, but he now has professional experience and knows that someday he would like to work with motion design and animation, he said.

With one year left at UM, Reese plans on gaining some work experience and hopefully working at a digital media design-based firm similar to that of Digital Kitchen but he believes the nice thing about his line of study is that, in terms of relocation, it can take him anywhere.

“Sometimes I would think, ‘This is really great,’” said Reese. “I felt like it was almost too big for me.  I’d be like, Wow, this is huge.”