By Steve Seepersaud
Here's a video camera. Go shoot something!
In short, that was the directive Erin Dyer '20 received on her first day as a media
relations intern at Binghamton University. She said the experience pushed her out
of her comfort zone and — she would have never guessed at the time — toward a career
in video games working on one of the industry's hottest titles.
Dyer is a game capture specialist for Epic Games, maker of Fortnite. She plans and captures gameplay footage for trailers and other marketing materials.
"I owe my Binghamton internship a lot, from technical skills to overall professionalism and confidence growth as well as rewarding me with some fun memories, too," Dyer said.
How passionate are video gamers? Trailers alone draw millions of views. Dyer worked on the trailer for Fortnite Season 2 Chapter 7, which had more than five million views within two days of its June premiere and was the top trending video in America.
"It has been very rewarding to work on exciting projects like the Fortnite Season 2 Chapter 7 trailer and I learned so much from my team through the process!" Dyer said. "I’ve been a fan of video games for pretty much as long as I can remember and video games are actually what inspired me to get into production. It’s been my dream to work on trailers and game marketing materials."
Gamers have strong opinions on what they like and what makes a gaming experience lame. Production is a highly collaborative endeavor, and Dyer said the ability to fit into a team environment goes a long way.
"The most helpful skills are having confidence and leadership skills, and being a quick learner with an open mind," Dyer said. "From a more technical standpoint, [it's helpful to have] knowledge of programs like Adobe Premiere Pro and Unreal Engine, as well as being familiar with film techniques and typical in-game mechanics to pull off scenes smoothly."
When Dyer is away from work, she's not away from video games. Playing online gives her a chance to wind down, catch up with friends and generate ideas. Just like in movies or television, you have nothing without a strong story and characters.
"The games I like the most are action-adventure or fantasy role-playing games with detailed storylines," Dyer said. "To me, the most important part of narrative design is complex, detailed characters. So if a game has compelling characters, I’m usually hooked."
