As this semester draws to a bittersweet end, I feel that now is the time to evaluate and reflect on the three months passed.
My preconceptions upon beginning university was that you don’t make friends, the workload is enormous and you will be broke by the end of it.
I’ve found only one of those to be entirely true. I am very broke.
This semester has been emotionally and intellectually challenging, and I’ve learned more about myself in the last 13 weeks than I have in the past 18 years. I’ve learned more, period.
One of my biggest learning curves was probably Project Brief 2. That was one of the biggest challenges for a media student with little to no experience filming and editing a production. I had something to prove to myself. I wanted to prove that I deserved to be in this course surrounded by these incredibly talented people. While it wasn’t a spectacularly stand-out production I was proud of myself for exercising all available resources and learning how to operate a camera for the purpose of film and editing with Premiere Pro CC.
This semester really emphasised how I learn and the environment in which I am most efficient. The most terrifying prospect of uni for me was dozing off in a lecture theatre, passively absorbing dry content, so I was lucky that Media 1’s Lectorials were engaging and found a balance between providing information and completing activities. This is the environment in which I am most productive and able to learn. This was most prevalent in Week 5, when we looked at ‘The Art of The Interview’ with Louise Turley. She really engaged us throughout her lecture and had my undivided attention throughout, which is a truly difficult task!
The most challenging aspect of the course up to this point has definitely been my self-doubt. I found that I constantly had to remind myself that I was smart enough and talented enough to be a Media student. I fell into the trap of comparing myself to my fellow classmates, which undoubtedly caused more harm than good. I think that the task that challenged my emotions and skill set the most was Project Brief 3. My chosen subject was evidently very close to my heart, so naturally I wanted to do it justice. I was truly so proud of the final production and with that came my ability to overcome my insecurities.
The most important thing that I learned, or rather consolidated, this semester was my chosen career path. This became most clear in the final weeks of this semester, particularly Week 7’s Lecture on Collaboration and Week 9’s Lecture on Audiences. Learning about collaboration was integral as I hope to become a Public Relations Consultant, and working alongside people and bridging the gap between company and consumer would be the core of my career. With that comes the need for a profound understanding of who audiences are and what they expect and desire from companies and advertisers. Moreover, Project Brief 4 required me to apply these skills into a real-life situation, which challenged me to work collaboratively and incorporate the ideas of four people into two productions. I rose to this technical challenge and was able to write a script, record an audio voiceover, edit with Audition, and help to create two productions that I feel worked with the constraints and criteria effectively, which are responsibilities that I haven’t had before and were major learning curves for me.
Retrospectively, I have successfully overcome each and every obstacle that has been placed in my way thus far, and I will continue to do so. All of this reflection has brought back a flood of memories from the beginning of this semester, when I was crippled by my own self doubt. Now, considering where I was, and where I am three months on, I have become considerably more confident not just with who I am, but also what I am capable of, and Media 1 is what has enabled me to do so.
I feel more accomplished as a media maker, as I have dipped my toes into so many more aspects of the media field. I am significantly more comfortable with my position in this course and in the world of media, and I now have extended my horizons beyond Print Production, which,
for me is a tremendous feat.
As you can see through my learning graph below, I didn’t have a smooth start to this year, which in turn meant that I didn’t start off this course on a good foot. But with one semester down and five more to go, my goal of “simply graduating” is becoming more and more of a reality.
