My first semester at RMIT has taught me quite a lot about the nature of university as a whole, as well as what it means to be a media practitioner within the industry, and how to traverse the industry in a manner that reinforces a positive reputation and allows you to climb the professional ladder. I’ve overcome multiple challenges which have served to strengthen my skills and experience, and had a lot of wake up calls that have jolted me out of my high school complacency. This semester has also led me to have more questions than I have answers for; what am I doing in this course? What am I learning? Have I learnt anything? What will I do once this course is done? What do I want to specialise in? It’s a semester that has been tinged with a lot of self doubt, mostly in the course itself rather than the subject of it, as it is so theory based which is not what I feel I need, but also slightly in the path I have chosen. Film is my passion and something I take pleasure in participating in making and viewing, but I question my own abilities and how I intend to fit into the industry when I have such high hopes and standards for where I wish to work, but yet very little skill base and experience. This course has pushed me to counter this lack by looking to opportunities around me and setting goals for myself to improve.
This course has already led to me questioning mediated interactions, their meaning and purpose more readily and with a more critical eye. Early in the semester, after analysing the mediation within a single space in the CBD, it became so much more clear that media was more expansive than just television, and pervasive too, taking over our everyday lives. It’s also prompted me to become more open to other interpretations of the media and the power of media, and has caused me to notice so many complex cultural and social issues that involve media in the centre.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this semester has been grappling with the fact that theory and blogging takes up such a large portion of the course thus far. I’m a very visual, hands on person, and I learn best by viewing and doing things rather than listening to someone recite off of a powerpoint. This is the nature of university lectures however, and I have had to strive to engage myself with the course content despite the presentation of it not corresponding with how I best learn things. It is interesting to look back in retrospect at the exact moment I realised the structure of the course was not ideal; I found the first few weeks exciting and was enthusiastic, and then during the fourth week I found the lecture dull and paid little attention and at first thought it was simply an off day. Then it happened again the next week, and the next. I had to re-evaluate how I was going to approach the lectures when I struggled to retain what was being said, and found this noticing and planning out of how I was going to listen and learn somewhat improved my lecture experiences.
The recording of high quality audio has also served as a major struggle for me, as I have never had to focus on ambient sounds or rely on equipment before. It has been a learning curve to try and capture useable audio, and was my largest struggle in Project Brief 3.
The most positive outcome from this semester has been discovering how I work and create. Prior to the course I had done a bit of theory and made only a few short clips, but after having to make multiple in a few short months I’ve come to realise what best motivates me and how my mind works when it comes to planning, shooting and editing films. I work best on creative endeavours by myself (though teamwork is not all that bad), and find storyboarding to be the best way to get out my ideas first. I usually have a very rigid concept of what things will happen, do and look like, but in understanding this, I have been able to push myself to step outside of these self made boundaries to create better media artefacts. By analysing other media texts, I’ve grown more aware of how subtle inclusions, motif and other techniques intertwine to create better works, and have also through this started to form and identify my own personal style.
Overall, this semester has prompted me to consider media from multiple perspectives and the effect it can have on identity, culture, social interaction and our environment, and to begin to place myself within this industry as a budding practitioner that is aware of what effect my creations may have, and how other outside influences may effect me. It has taught me how I learn and create, and challenged me to push myself to engage even when learning differently. I hope to further grow and hopefully gain more hands on experience through practical learning in the second semester.
Included here is my learning graph, which tracks the progress of my technical skills, conceptual skills/knowledge, professionalism & my sense of practice throughout the last 12 weeks in a more visual manner.
