Daniels began his education at Grand Valley in 2003 majoring in film and video production. While working on a documentary film on gas pricing for a video production course with professor John Schmit, he interviewed a few employees from Marathon Oil Company to gather expert opinions. After he sent the company a copy of his film, he was offered an internship as a video producer. Immediately after he graduated in April 2007 he received a full-time position.
“I knew I wanted to work for an in-house video department for a large company,” said Daniels, “In videos we have the best and most effective way to deliver a message to an audience. It's very exciting to be a part of mass communication.”
As a media specialist for Marathon, Daniels produces various types of videos for the company. He has produced diversity, promotional, safety and training videos , all of which have given him the opportunity to travel nationally and internationally. He visited refineries in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas to shoot footage as well as the Gulf of Mexico to document the refurbishment of an offshore oil port.
“My workload is always very diverse, and I'm here to provide any video needs,” said Daniels. “I'll get a request to create an eye-catching video introduction for somebody's presentation and other times I'll travel around the country producing promotional videos to showcase a process or location to the rest of the company. Generally, when I go to work in the morning, I have no idea what I'll be working on.”
Daniels said that he has also seen some of his work on national television shows.
“Marathon gets a lot of requests from TV producers from The Discovery Channel and TLC for footage of our operations for stories they are doing on the gasoline industry. There have been a few occasions where I've seen some of my work appear on national TV within one of those shows,” said Daniels.
Currently Daniels is working on a diversity video that will take him to London and a promotional video for the company's Marine Transportation department.
“It's still a little hard to believe how much I've been able to do and experience, and I'm only just now celebrating my one-year anniversary here,” said Daniels, “I am eternally grateful for the opportunity given to me by the faculty at Grand Valley. They helped me turn my hobby into my profession.”
