REFLECTING ON THIS SEMESTER

Looking back on my goals for this semester which I outlined in week one, I had the major goal of experimenting with photo-journalism. I remember expressing this in class and being excited when Rohan told me we were in fact going to work with photography. I loved working with a different style of camera and creating an alternative style of non-fiction content. In the first assignment, I walked around the streets of Melbourne City and Fitzroy and captured street art and graffiti. I had never been a professional at taking photos, especially considering I don’t have much experience with a proper DSLR. I am happy I had the opportunity to gain photography experience within this studio and properly investigate this interest of mine.

Although I expressed my love for documentaries in this blog post, I was quick to realise that they may not be my topic of interest in regard to creation. Most of the groups in our studio made a documentary style non-fiction piece. My group and I made a live session piece, quite different to a documentary. I don’t regret not choosing a documentary as my piece of work. I knew from the start that I would much rather enjoy telling the story of a band through music as opposed to sitting down with a stranger and asking them questions. However, it would have been a good experience to know what it was like telling the story of a stranger in this format; beneficial to myself in regard to my media practice.

I never experienced many challenges in this studio! I was blessed to be put into a great group and work with other creative individuals. I found that the work I created was of a high standard and I was never disappointed with what I had made. If anything, taking the course ‘True Lies’ alongside this studio was the only challenging aspect. This was due to the fact that True Lies works on exposing the unethical aspects of documentaries. In this studio, we also had to ensure we were being ethical at all times. Having this in the back of my head made me view the way we filmed documentary style content very differently. It was also quite the overload at times having to partake in two non-fiction focused courses. Other than that minor aspect, this studio was extremely rewarding and overall helped me achieve my goals in advancing my practice as a media student.