My First Lectorial, Dear Future Self

Yesterday was my first media lectorial. We talked a lot about how we learn and Brian Morris put a poem up on the board by Tom Wayman called ‘Did I Miss Anything?’, a poem which I thought was hilariously quirky and really emphasises the need to be present during a lecture, because you never know when you’ll miss “Everything”, “Nothing” or even “an angel or other heavenly being”. But the poem truly says it all, stating that you will miss everything as the classroom is “a microcosm of human experience assembled for you to query and examine and ponder. This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered. But it was one place. And you weren’t here.” And now, whenever I feel the urge to not come to a class for whatever reason, I’ll read this poem and smile, and think ‘hey, maybe, just maybe something crazy will happen that you’ll want to write about, that you’ll never be able to see. Because you weren’t there.’

And now I feel like I won’t miss anything as I feel the urge to be present in this brilliantly zany environment, and take this course by the horns, especially if such awesome poems are going to be thrown around.

We also had to write a list of goals for the course called ‘DEAR FUTURE SELF’, it sounded like something I did in Year 7, only now it would mean something to me, have substance over the next few years as I try to accomplish those things. I’m truly no longer that wide-eyed high school child any more and I’m ready to embrace it, ready to challenge myself by learning how to use a DSLR camera, how to use lighting properly so I can manipulate it for my own uses instead of being blinded by it, become better at drawing so I don’t just draw stick figures when I storyboard, and might actually give animating a shot, be able to develop all the fantastical stories I have stored in my head that are just chomping at the bit to burst forth onto a page. All this and more I can’t wait to achieve, and hopefully, being more of a hyper attentive learner will help in this journey.

First Day in the Life of a Uni Student

So yesterday was my first day at uni at RMIT. I had quite a few bumps getting there. Not as in, into the course itself, as in to uni on the day. You’d think it would be easy to get into the city unscathed, but no. I almost forgot to charge my laptop and I tripped UP the stairs on my way into the building, leaving me breathlessly asking if I was in the right place.

Luckily, I was organised enough to get myself to the right building, level and classroom and even had the skill to get there ten minutes early. I know, right? The struggles of university life. Bumbling haphazardly from place to place. Once I was in the classroom though, I found it was far more relaxed than I thought it would be. Hey, I’m doing a media degree, I should hope these people are as happy and open-minded as me.

We even got our first assignment. I’ll admit, at first I felt like I was being thrown in the deep end, but once Robbie started explaining it to us and how we can do anything, bend the mediums to our will so we can show the world who we are, show ourselves who we are, I couldn’t help but get excited. And the ideas just started to flow.

I honestly can’t wait for this degree to really push into motion, because I know that it will inspire me and challenge my creativity at every turn. And I can’t wait for it.

Here are some helpful places I’ve found over the past year or so that I know I will need at some point, and you guys might too:

‘No Film School’ is a great website for the filmmaker on a budget. They have all kinds of crazy solutions to problems, you possibly might need one day. And also all kinds of interesting info on the industry and its technology.

‘Film Riot’ are a bunch of cool people who do video tutorials on YouTube on a regular basis that could also help you out in a jam.

Here’s a list of Auteurs whose entire filmographys you should watch, because they are incredible.

Enjoy! (: