Plain and White

Having done 12 weeks in my first Media and Communication degree, I have learnt many important lessons around the world of media. The reason I first wanted to take this degree was because I am always surrounded by media,so why not take media studies for a degree? How stupid that thinking was, but still taking this degree has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But it also one of the most important one, as this major will carve the path for my future career, and I need to show my parents that this is the right choice for me. I loved that my parents supported my decision, but understand they still have their traditional value, with their first son taking the creative industry, it is an uncomfortable support. Even though it has only been 1 semester, I have learned plenty, I am closer to the media then ever before.  I am going to tell you what I learned the most from the last 12 weeks. 

Semester one focuses on the basics of what a media is, and how ubiquitous media is in our lives.  I remembered at our second lecture, Brian told us to create a group to go out of the class and go to a location and scour the media that exist in the upper ground, lower ground, middle ground, foreground, and background.  Some of the medias that I found I posted in around my first few blog post.  There I was intrigued by so many different media items, from on-screen advertising to poster, billboards and radio stations and how apparent they are.  I shared an article in the blog, about an inmate using Instagram to sell “hoodies and caps” and posting images of drugs, cash weapons, because that’s what their followers want. Then Brian gave us an article by John Mason about noticing (really good article) that tells noticing is a beautiful and rewarding action, but it requires effort, and you shouldn’t notice everything, just the things you want to notice.  I learned from this article why noticing is important for a media practitioner. Sometimes the best scene and media material comes from the simplest situation.  Time-lapse videos are an example of this. Time-lapse shows us changes that happened over a long period of time, but static in its location. If you stayed at the same place where the camera was standing, you wouldn’t notice the same way the camera will. 

I’ve learned to be a media practitioner, professionalism must be at its best at all times, even if you are making a media material of you family/friends. I learn about what do yo have to do during pre-production, production and post-production. Forms, form and forms. Personal release forms, location release forms, insurance forms. It is important to inform the subjects of your video that you will be modifying them when you edit it, and they have given you their consent to release their identity to the public commercially/non-commercially. You also have to use  location forms, because privacy. You can’t take a video in public space without interrupting the public, and you also can’t take a video in a private place, because privacy and ownership. That’s why you need forms. It’s annoying, but it gets  things going. It’s a rule that you can bend around because the process is rudimental, they have been accepted by every  media practitioner. Responsibility is also a key learning here. The responsibility to follow agreements, the responsibility to protect your subject’s contract terms, The responsibility to handle borrowed equipment with care, and most of all, the responsibility to finish you project in time. My first experience with the forms was when I did my project brief 3.

I’ve also learned to be critical, to my own and to others. Everyone here in Media one are in the same boat, even though some of us already have skills in creating media. As fellow classmates we are obligated to give opinions to our peers about their mistakes and how they can improve them and vice versa. Being a sassy sensitive prick is not going to get you anywhere in this industry. Take the critics as a sign that they care about you. Louise once showed us a technique for criticizing in a fair wa, “The Six Thinking Hats” by Edward De Bono. I tried using the yellow and black hat  while giving my opinion on my classmate’s assignment, and it helped me a lot. I usually can’t find any mistake in my classmate’s videos, because I always think they did a great job in their videos.

Lastly, I’ve learned how important group work is in this industry, and our lecturers haven’t stressed enough how crucial it is for your career. We all have had our own anecdotes for bad teamwork, but let’s try to keep it an anecdote, not an ongoing story. I learned about collaborative contract, a written agreement by group members about their effort to pursue their group’s goals. Throughout my project brief 4, I learned how important communication between team members, is because we all have our own schedule, so making time for meetings is an effort. We also need trust, trust that each members will do their best, but we also need to do our own job, for others to do theirs. Rachel gave us a Ted talk link which I found to be very useful.

While I was writing this reflection, even though it was quite late, I realized that this semester we have been taught mostly soft skills, skills involving our manners, etiquette, and professionalism. While I’ve also learned media theories, practical skills stuck in my head the most. I understand why we are taught about this in our first semester, to prepare us into the real-work environment, which is the next semester. Definitely I’ve learned a lot this semester, can’t wait for the next, right after I’ve enjoyed my holiday first.

and this is my learning graph.

P.S thanks for my team members: Lydia, Ryan, and Isobel for making those awesome PB4 assignment.