Now as I look at the calendar, I cannot believe that half a year has passed, half a year in university! Ever since the development of internet, I have found my life passing so fast, ever so fast; yet this semester is packed with readings to do, blog posts to keep and reflections to write. I suppose it is that full schedule has made me unable to slow down and to actual feel the moment of my existence, which makes me think that time flies. So, it is nice to write a reflection on my studies now:
During these twelve weeks, I have learnt a lot in Media One and became an actual university student. First, for the technical aspect, I’ve grown familiar with using WordPress to publish blogs and to utilize other functions to make my blog site look better with organization. It wasn’t until week six before I started to add a front page and menu options due to all the posts I had to finish; but I was able to learn through clicking and trying out buttons on the Dashboard page. It was overall really simple. Another thing, which is only a bit harder, is the audio recording part and the use of audition. Since I haven’t studied any music classes on the quality and elements of sounds, I spent sometime reading the H2N instructions along with the set reading for the week so that I could understand the jargons and the definitions of unfamiliar words. Although those readings were helpful, I found it really could do with a bit more care when I actually got to record the sound. Still, I later felt great when, some of the problems encountered during my first H2N exercise were solved during the production of PB3 due to my reflections. The quality of the interview recording sounded much better then, despite the fact that my sound mixing went a bit down as it was pointed out in my assessment feedback. This was when I started to seriously look into the audition editing techniques. I searched online for tutorials and so during the production of PB4, I was able to remix the sound much better for our audio essay. Those skills weren’t too hard, but if I want to be really proficient, I still need more practise. As for the video recording and Premiere, I’ve been doing those for 2 years, so I’ve grown more proficient in those. For example, I’ve started to consider more of how to manipulate what to show on screen: the aspect ratios, the composition of shots and so on.
Second, I got to really think about what really is media through readings, lectures as we look at the basics of media. Before I took this class, my opinions were shallow; but after I read articles about media textual analysis, or “what is media” or broadband, I understand the power of media; how we can read media from different perspectives; and most importantly, how to create meanings through mediums as a media practitioner.
Third, collaboration was practised during PB3 and PB4. Now that I come to the final reflection, I find that the pace of the projects are quite interesting: For PB1, it’s a try-out. For PB2, it’s a individual job. For PB3, it’s a minor collaborative assignment for we need to work with another non-professional. For PB4, it’s a professional collaborative project among our media students. So PB3 is a collaborative trial. After those practises in PB3 and PB4, I learnt how to behave more like a media professional instead of a high school student, doing a video-making project. For example, I understand now the importance of communication in media production and I also learnt a thing or two about personal and location releases. For further reflections on those projects, please refer to the links provided. ↖︎Anyhow, the making of projects really helped me to improve my practical exercises.
During the process, I also found that blog posts had helped me a lot in documenting my growth throughout the semester. I could always look back at those early posts to know how had I come to who I am now. For the lecture posts, I reflected on knowledge acquired; for the workshop posts, I gained more practical skills and learnt to look at media productions with critical eyes by reflections; for the initiatives, I looked at the media landscapes more broadly and shared my opinions. I was also able to share many music or films which I love and reflect upon them.
Last, the most important thing that I learnt was something about myself. When I tried to come up with ideas for PB2, I spent time pondering my existence. I found that there is actually no the real “self.” What we have is only an illusion of self that we are only who we are brought up to become. This means that we are constantly influenced by the society; and thus we gain the definition of self by mixing all the experiences and things you learned. Ultimately, from the Big Bang to the birth of the Earth to the first living cell and then to us, it looks like our lives are always depending on what comes before us, which means that the “self”, comes from the origin of our universe—thus we are the universe. I thought of this idea and used it in my PB2 video which I think now is a great reflection on life. I knew more about myself then. However, when my thoughts came back to reality, after all those bizarre theories, I realized the significance of action. “Think, plan and act.” This is how we do things in reality; and this is how we keep pushing the tide of civilization developments, creating changes to our world. My job is to be part of the process by doing my own part, perfectly. Things I need to improve are to speak aloud of my ideas and be confident, if, I want to “act.” Being bold has also been my downfall.
Another thing that I learnt about myself was that I love to edit videos along with the rhythm of the background music. It is intriguing that I for both of my PB2 and 3, I made a use of the background music. Maybe I will explore on that matter in my future studies and develop a unique style of my own.
Overall, I found the technical part of the course was easy. What’s challenging about Media One was to stay constantly passionate during the study process. Once in a while, I would be overwhelmed by blogs and projects. The workload was suffocating me which, made me think about the point of everything that I was doing. I was lost: What’s the point of university? What’s the point of studying here? Luckily, I was able to get out of that shadow. I am more determined than ever to persist in what I am doing. It was also hard to come up loads of creative ideas in an instant. I knew I could think of great ideas but I just wasn’t accustomed to the pace. I would work on that during my future studies.
After this course, I am now assured of my ignorance, which is good because a true fool will not recognize this. I am now more confident in criticizing works of media, and act as a media practitioner (or try to). I know that I have a long way to go, but I will get there, someday, just like everyone else will fulfill their wishes. Life is nor good or bad, but luck will come. I am positive of this, that life will bring good news, eventually.
In the end of this final reflection, I am now going to share a song from the film A Chinese Odyssey, a rather melancholy song, to say goodbye to Media One. It’s a movie starring Stephen Chow; if you’ve watch the movie, you will understand more about the feelings expressed by the song.
