CourtesyWhen Michaela Marioni started her job at Shocker Studios, she never expected to get an opportunity to work on a video that would be seen by thousands.
Originally from Texas, Marioni made the move to Kansas with her husband when he was stationed in Wichita. After getting settled, she enrolled at Wichita State to pursue a Bachelor of Applied Arts in game design.
She realized she had a talent for video editing after taking an editing class in fall 2017.
Marioni was given the chance to edit a video that would be used as a background video on Snoop Dogg's current tour.
The opportunity was given to her by Michael Downs, an award-winning designer and instructor at Shocker Studios. He heard about her talent for editing and was interested in having her edit the footage he had gathered into a video fit for a concert.
“I felt pretty confident about the project,” said Marioni. “I was confident in my abilities, and it really was a pretty easy project. That video also kind of put my foot in the door.”
Marioni's involvement with the video has opened many unexpected doors. Word is quickly spreading about her editing talent.
“People are offering me interviews and trying to hire me on,” said Marioni. “This experience is kind of generating leads for me to get jobs after graduation.”
Marioni's dream is to work for Blizzard Entertainment, a well-known videogame developer responsible for the creation of popular games such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch. She wants to create concept art for videogames and perhaps do a bit of programming.
Marioni says her experiences at Wichita State are helping her to grow professionally and make advances toward her future career.
“I've never really been big on networking, but with this program you have to network to go farther,” said Marioni. “My involvement with this video and Shocker Studios has helped me a lot. I've made so many connections within this last year.”