In the first week’s Lectorial students were asked to put together a list of ten things we’d like to learn, achieve or do during the course of our Bachelor of Communication (Media) degree. This exercise prompted me to think about the real reasons I’m doing this course, in more specific terms than “I’m interested in the subject”, and confirmed my belief that I’m equally interested in both the theoretical and practical aspects of the program.
Ten things I hate about you want to learn/do in the Media 1 program:
1. Theoretical understanding of form
I’ve been a film and music critic for four years, and to further develop my ability to analyse and draw meaning from media is one of the main things I hope to achieve through this program. By participating in the production process myself I hope to develop a more rounded understanding of what goes into the making of a piece of media.
2. Presentation skills
Having dabbled in podcasting before, I know that my speaking voice is terrible, and I don’t like putting my own face/voice/identity out there into the world. I will attempt to push myself out of my comfort zone by speaking and presenting at every opportunity I get (both in person and on tape), to develop my own voice as a presenter and become more comfortable with putting myself into my work.
3. Storytelling
One of my favourite media personalities is Alex Blumberg, a radio reporter and podcaster who was a contributor to This American Life for many years, co-founded the amazing Planet Money podcast, and then founded Gimlet Media, which publishes a number of my favourite podcasts. He is one of the world’s best practitioners of “narrative documentary”, that is, the dramatic treatment of true-life stories in a way that is as engaging and interesting as anything fictional.
In Media 1 I would like to learn how to use storytelling techniques to create my own stories and explore the topics that interest me.
(Side note: Alex developed a 21-lesson Creative Live course called Power Your Podcast With Storytelling, in which he describes many of the tricks and techniques he uses to create his own podcasts. It’s worth a look if you’re into narrative documentary podcasting.)
4. Interviewing skills
Related to the above point, I’d like to learn the technique and practice of interviewing subjects for broadcast. I know it’s a lot more complicated than just asking questions, and I hope to learn how to ask the right questions, how to get people to speak at length on a given topic, how to follow the natural flow of a conversation (rather than sticking to prepared questions), and how best to capture and record interview subjects.
5. Creating a self-contained piece of media
Combining all of the points above, one of my goals is to create a self-contained story for broadcast TV or radio about a topic that hasn’t been explored in mainstream media before, and have it form part of a creative portfolio of my work.
6. Finding where my passion and expertise lies
At the moment, if I were to successfully progress into a career in media production, I think I’d be most comfortable in the role of producer, which is sufficiently creative without being a central “on camera” role. But part of the reason I enrolled in Media to begin with is that I’m open to the possibility that my real passion lies elsewhere and I just haven’t discovered what it is yet — and, hopefully, with the help of this degree I’ll find out for sure.
7. Collaborate with like-minded students on something great
Collaboration is one of the most exciting aspects of the creative process, and I’ve always worked best when part of a group. My motivation tends to increase when I have others holding me accountable, and if I can find a group of other students whose interests and passions align with my own I’d really like to collaborate on a large-scale “real world” project.
8. Marketing and audience building
What’s the point of creating a piece of art or entertainment if no one knows about it? I’d like to learn about marketing, publicity and PR in real-life environments such as the film, literary and music industries.
9. Giving and receiving feedback
I really value how much constructive criticism can improve my work, and I think I can provide valuable, considered feedback to others, but I’d like to further develop my skills in this area particularly since collaboration is a non-negotiable aspect of the media industry.
10. A job
This is the reason many (most?) students are here. I’ve seen second-hand how difficult it can be to break into the media, but hopefully with a quality portfolio and a solid set of skills developed over three years at RMIT, I’ll be in the best possible position to turn it into a career.