July 22, 2015

“We try to create an environment for creatives to flourish,” states Jason McGuigan of Horizon Video at the Durham North Carolina Facility. Jason has been with the company over 15 years and has risen to the rank of Chief Art Director and Project Manager. Jason told the students from the Advanced After Effects class (DM 414) that even though his job is very important, he’s done everything asked of him at the company. If it was building shelves or mopping the floor, no job was too menial. That’s the attitude he’s had and it has kept him employed with Horizon Video for many years. Student Billy Marshall asked Jason, what is your passion? Jason replied, “I need to be doing something creative like graphics or film; it doesn’t really matter it just needs to be creative”.

Students learned that Jason’s first job was actually working as an electrical installer, but the job was very boring and he found himself at the end of the day not really fulfilled. Jason then dove into the studies of graphic design. Two years later he found himself teaching graphic design and graphic studies, and then in 7 years he landed a position at Horizon Video. Jason is now doing cool creative projects in broadcast design and motion graphics as well as film. The client list is large at Horizon video: IBM, Lenovo, Eaton, Meredith College, Intel, and the list goes on.

Jason told students, “It is very important to meet your deadlines and make sure you do the research on every project. Clients like people with answers. You can’t have answers unless you do your background homework”. He also told students that the client may not like what you do the first time, but remember they are paying. Above all he told them to have fun but remember that when you get out of school, you have to get a job, so make sure your portfolio is filled with some awesome work.