Sarah LAPOUS

Internship period : April 3rd, 2023 to August 31st, 2023

Hello! My name is Sarah and I am French.

I am in the second year of my master's degree in Languages, Cultures and International Business - Asia-Pacific area. I've always been interested in foreign languages and in particular the Asian languages.

Being able to realize my internship in Korea within Acopia is a good opportunity for me to have a professional experience in Asia, to improve my skills and also to work in a multicultural environment. It is also a chance to visit the country!

INTERNSHIP LAST REPORT

I – Me, in the intern team

My integration to the company and to the team went really well. When I arrived, some interns were already working for the company for a month. Some of them are from Europe (Germany and The Netherlands) and some from USA and Asia (Japan, China and Malaysia). When I arrived, we were nine and the working environment between interns was really friendly. They were all very kind, they helped me get used to my new working environment. Thanks to them, i discover a new country and went out a lot.

were all very kind, they helped me get used to my new working environment. Thanks to them, i discover a new country and went out a lot.

I was assigned to some tasks such as translating the KTC website page in french and posting Instagram posts in French and English on social media. I also have to do the promotion of the company for french people. I also sometimes worked with the managers, they gave me some tasks and sometimes we have to do it together. The working atmosphere with the managers was also very good. After two months, work departments were set up to facilitate the redistribution of tasks: Social Media Management Department and Partnership Department. This new distribution of task was really well-made and help us organized our work. I really liked working within this intern team, I have met a lot of different people, even some of them are my friends now.

Thanks to this internship and working environnement in this team, I was able to work well, and enjoy my time in South Korea.

II – My duties

Through this internship, I had to deal with a lot of different type of tasks, from posting on social media, to be a staff of a musical , the tasks was quite diversified and a tried new things and it challenged me as well. Being the only French in the team when I arrived, I was put in charge of promoting the company for the French.

·         Social Media :

First tasks assigned to me were translation and instagram posts. Being in charge of the promotion of the company for the French, I was asked to translate the pages of the ACOPIA website concerning their next training camp that takes place at the end of August. In addition to this, I also had to post on Instagram posts in English and then translated into French, to be able to reach the French community. I also had to write articles on the Naver page of the company, on different subject, such as the promotion of our musical or on the musical festivals in South Korea. It was great because the choice of subject was free, it only had to be related either to the company, or South Korea in general or Korean music. Then, I also had to make Instagram Reels (short videos) promoting the programs offered by Acopia. The content (posts and reels) had to be reposted on Acopia’s Facebook account so that the information could also be found on Facebook.

·         Youtube videos :

In addition to all of that, I had to produce Youtube video for Acopia's Youtube channel. We had to create our own video every week, and it was release every saturday. We had to brainstorm about what we want to do: What type of video? What type of concept? Who will be in the video and who will film? What materials do we need? Do we need to buy something for the shooting? Where are we filming?

When everything was prepared, we had to go to the filming location to film, and set up everything such as cameras, lights and microphones. After that, we could start filming. At the end of the shooting, we went back to the office and had to edit the video. The editing is the longest part to do because it is the most difficult one.

It was the first time for me to film videos for Youtube and to do editing. The editing takes a lot of times but when we are use to it, it’s easier and takes less time to do.

·         Musical Staff :

A common project between all the interns and some trainees has been set up, a musical. For the musical, I was in the Staff team, in charge of the design of the poster, the clothes for the actors and in charge of the projector.

Concerning the poster, I made something colorful and cute because it was the concept. I also made the invitation ticket, the same as the poster. With an other intern, we were also in charge of the clothes for the trainees, we had to choose the best outfits to fit the musical and trainees taste.

We had to shoot the music video for the musical so we went on the street and find beautiful area to film the trainees dancing and acting. It was a really fun experience.

I was there for all the rehearsals and there to manage the trainees as well. To better manage the material on the staff side, we have divided the roles to make the tasks easier. As I said before, I was in charge of the projector with my colleague Sandra, in coordination with Sav and Maissa, in charge of the sound. It was a great experience to have had the chance to participate in this project, which was something totally new for me.

·         Partnership Team :

During the division into work departments, I was placed in the partnerships department. Within this department, I was in charge of sending emails to the French university and French business school could be interested in our internship program in Seoul. I first did the search for a French school or university offering, for example, a Korean language study program or simply having a link with Asia or Korean, which could potentially interest their student. So I made an excel document listing all the French schools and universities that I found. Once the list was made, I sent the emails to the contacts concerned with a 4-page brochure that I created myself, explaining how the program works.

·         Trainees management :

I was also in charge, like the other interns, of managing the trainees and helping them with their schedules. We can bring them to dance and singing lessons, we can also bring them to auditions and give them visibility by having them participate in ACOPIA's youtube videos.

Speaking of auditions, I was also in charge of creating the poster for the 'joint audition' organized by Acopia and the promotion of it. I mostly did the promotion on social media, on Instagram and Facebook.

III – What I learned from my internship

This internship has taught me a lot, both about the world of work and about myself. In terms of work, the first thing I learned was to adapt to the pace and atmosphere of a new working environment. Having already done an internship abroad last year, I already knew what is like to work in a multicultural environment, but it is still a new challlenge every time, because we are dealing with new colleagues from different parts of the world, with whom we are going to have to work for several months on several projects. I also learned to get used to work under pressure and delivering projects on very tight deadlines. I was able to use my skills acquired during my studies within the company but I also learned new skills by working in this company, I learned to use new work tools and to master them.

For example, at Acopia, I learned how to edit a video on Adobe Premiere Pro. It was the first time for me to do that and it was quite difficult at the beginning because it is a complex tool to use. But after some help from colleagues and practice, now I can say that I know how to use it. Filming Youtube videos was also new for me. I am not use to hold a professionnal camera with all the materials such as gimbal or microphones.

So, I also learned how to use the camera and the tools to shoot videos. And I also learned how to work as a team, with differents tasks such as the musical. It was a big project and it was stressful because we all wanted to suceed. We had to coordinate with each other, each with our respective tasks. At the end, it was a great and unique experience, that I will maybe never experience again.

I think I personally gained confidence during this internship, because I was left rather free in my tasks. I also gained confindence because my colleagues trusted me and my work, and they encouraged me in my work. I also gained in self-esteem knowing that my work counts and is valued in a work group.

Thanks to this internship I have met great people and colleagues. Some of them became my friends because we spend a lot of time together: working together at the office, living together and even going out together. It was a great opportunity to do this internship in South Korea, experiencing the entertainment industry in Acopia and meeting new people.