I’ve learnt about a lot of the building blocks of media; what it’s made of, how it is defined and how it can be used. I’ve discovered the word ‘media’ is even broader than I thought, as it reaches such a wide range of people and institutions through different ways. The most important thing I’ve learnt is how media affects everything, whether you know it or not. During one tutorial we spoke about institutions and although I’m still unsure what I took from it, it is still stuck in my head about how marriage is an institution and how everyone had a different opinion on it.

Through media I’ve discovered I like to learn independently (e.g. through readings done at home, or individual research) and then to have the reading discussed in the next class. This helps me to understand, first what I’ve taken from it, and then what the lecturer intended the class to take from it. I also enjoyed Dan’s presentations as he was able to communicate what he meant quite successful through the exampled he gave (the memes helped me to enjoy it more too, of course).

The most challenging thing about the media course has been the theory side; as media is a practice, it can then be difficult to put what has been created into words, or to reflect on ones own piece of work. This especially, as, of course I am extremely critical of my own work and may not be happy with it, believe there is always room for improvement. However, if I have not improved it and instead left it in a sate of completion I am unhappy with, this reflects back on to my own ethic of work. So, to reflect honestly on where I have gone wrong and where I believe I cold tweak my final assessment, is difficult during this course as it requires a process of create and then reflect. I’ve also learnt it is a lot easier to reflect when you have done something wrong than when you have done something right (modesty?).

I have discovered a lot about my own creative practice, but most importantly I have discovered my own aspirations for this course. Nearing the end of the first semester I began to realize that Media and Communication might not be the course I wanted to do. The creation of film, however interesting to me, is not something I want to do in my future. I enjoyed my other classes and I did enjoy the theory side of media, but I have come to the conclusion I do not want to be behind a camera. However, I have been convinced to stick with this course until the end of the year. Through this I will further discover my creative practice, even if this discovery is that I do not enjoy it. What I have discovered so far is that I am still not putting enough time into the actual filming and focusing too much on the planning aspect of creating a project