This week’s guest lecture was conducted by Sue Maslin, an acclaimed film producer largely known for The Dressmaker (2015). As someone who has been working in the film and media industry for more than twenty years, Sue Maslin provided a very interesting perspective through which to consider the future of the media industry. Moreover, given the way that people interact with content has completely transformed as a result of digital technological developments over the past twenty years, the continuum of exponential technological advancement suggests that during my generations engagement with the industry, the way in which people interact with content does not even exist yet.
Such thought encourages us to consider what we might need to think about when engaging with the potential future of media and story telling? During a brainstorming session with Sue Maslin, we broke that down into the following categories:
- Audience
- Mediums (media platforms) – Technology
- Marketing
- Market – Education
- Content
- Interactivity / engagement
- Management
- Business / Finance
Upon speculating how these categories have transformed alongside technology, it seems difficult to predict how to prepare for the future of storytelling as it seems what you use now will be completely out of date in 5 years time.
The most important message I took from the lecture was Don’t get seduced by the tools! – no matter how cool the tech is it always has to come back to thoughts regarding – Why we are using it? – Why we are telling stories? That is something that will remain in the future, the reason human’s desire stories.
Sue Maslin summarised her presentation by giving three pointers to survive in the media future:
- Stay curious
- Persist – you have to be in for the long haul
- Have multiple strings to your bow – think about your skills and all the different ways you can make money