I think it’s fair to say that that I felt an extra pressure to really enjoy and do well in the first semester of this bachelor degree, given that I was taking a bit of risk moving from Brisbane to commence studies at RMIT. While Brisbane is only inter-state, making that move independently did require me to leave my home, my friends and my family to move to a city where I knew very few people and with which I wasn’t overly familiar. While a lot of students come from another continent, where the culture, language and social customs are entirely different, moving from another state is still a little intimidating to some degree.
Yet, even having said that, my first semester at RMIT as part of the Media course has really allowed me to justify my move in knowing that it was ultimately the right decision to make. While the vibrant culture of Melbourne in its own right pulled me in, the opportunities offered by RMIT (especially in the field of Media) are what allowed me to justify making the change. Even from a distance, I could appreciate how there were so many more experiences available down south – educationally and professionally – that would allow me to cultivate a far more impressive skills set and (eventually) professional network. I am glad to say that I haven’t been disappointed and, even just one semester in, have never felt so optimistic about where my future could potentially take me. Below are two links to posts that reference the work attachment opportunities I intend on organising as well as that which I am contributing to right now:
I have also identified quite a specific direction which I would like to follow throughout my studies and, eventually, into a career. This has formed the basis of discussion for many of my blog entries so I don’t think it is too necessary to reiterate those intentions too heavily in this blog. But ideally I would still love to pursue documentary production as a career choice and therefore am structuring my degree in such a manner that will support these intentions. I elaborate in great detail on these intentions in the post, accessible by the following links:
While I think it’s important to narrow down an end goal of sorts, this isn’t to say that I am closed off to interrogating alternative (albeit closely connected) fields, in which I’ll be able to develop the same skills and knowledge base necessary to work with documentary.
I’m really eager to see what studios are available in Semester Two and intend on taking a documentary course, should it be available. It’s so important to get a taste of different areas early on so that you can make a subject change if necessary. Sometimes subjects (or courses overall) are completely different to what you anticipate so it is helpful to recognise this early on and make any changes that you see fit. I’m definitely far more enthusiastic for this course compared to previous strands of studies so am grateful to myself that I had the foresight to change when I did.
Upon leaving high school I really had little idea of what I wanted to study so, because I got the mark and felt as though I had to prove something, decided to undertake a Bachelor of Arts/ Law at the University of Law. As part of my Arts degree I enrolled in Peace and Conflict Studies, which did align well with my natural interest in global social, economic and political conflicts, both historical and contemporary. Law was, however, not so surprisingly incredibly dry, tedious and downright painful. A lot of people persist through Law, insisting that it’s a good career choice and that you’ll “grow to not hate it.” But I am far too great an idealist to not make a career in a field that I love and therefore made the choice to leave the course. At the time that was hard but, retrospectively, one of the best decisions that I have made.
I do sometimes get a little self-conscious that I am only in my first year of this course, especially when the majority of students are fresh out of high school and I have friends in Brisbane that have already completed an undergraduate degree. But, while some people know straight off of the bat what they should be doing with their lives, things didn’t come so naturally to me initially. But again, even after just one semester at RMIT I have never felt so motivated by the course in which I am enrolled and finally confident that I have chosen a field in which I have a lot of potential to flourish.
I did also study a year of Media and Communications at Queensland University of Technology last year which, to be blunt, was an incredibly dry course that was far too broad and open-ended. Three years is really not a wide space of time, so it’s hard to “specialise” in a particular strand when you are required to take subjects from so many distinct disciples. Whereas the degrees at RMIT are far more specialised, with scope to take subjects that require quite particular skills and knowledge bases. Most subjects also follow either a practical or theoretical structure so the ability to choose subjects according to your strengths is incredible. In my previous media studies there was very little scope to incorporate practical courses into your degree, even in media.
Media One is, in particular, far more hands off from the beginning, which I loved. I feel like I have genuinely learnt a lot in the short time since commencing this degree. I think my skills have also excelled quite significantly. Prior to commencing the course, I had never used Premier, Audition or even picked up a zoom recorder. While, admittedly, my first few projects were incredibly amateur, I think through practicing these skills they are refining themselves. A lot of the time I have practice in initiative projects. The following two links illustrate my improvement with Audition in a matter of weeks, from my first Audition project to one of my more recent:
It’s because of this growth and development that I am optimistic as to where the course itself, as well as working within industry, can take me.
