This is it! The final lectorial for semester one!

At the start of the lecture, we’re handed a piece of graph paper and a few markers. We’re then asked to complete the graph reflecting on our progress from the past 12 weeks. There are four categories: technical skill, conceptual, professionalism and my practice, all represented by different colors. I was a little bit overwhelmed to be honest, because I have a super short memory, and to keep track of what I’ve don 90 days ago is sort of impossible. However, with the help of the lecture slides, and my blog entries, I was able to refresh some of my memories.

Technical Skill

I think my technical skills in terms of blogging has been improving, especially in the first month of familiarizing myself with the layouts and functions of the blog. I’m definitely more comfortable with writing and publishing, as well as prepping notes/materials needed for the posts. Although it really depends on the topic that week, some posts may be more challenging than others.

In terms of my video and audio recording skills, I’ve definitely improved as time passed by. The exercises in the workshops helped a lot, from introducing us to the gears (sony mc50, zoom H2n) to shooting and editing. Moreover, the project briefs are the key to my improvements. Although for PB1 and PB2 I only used my phone to record footages, I developed my knowledge in composing and framing. However, for PB3, we have to go beyond our phone, so I definitely familiarized myself with the SONY MC50, and got more comfortable with every shoot. Moving on to audio recording with Zoom H2n, I also learn a lot on how to operate it as well as what to keep in mind while recording (level, channels).

Editing wise, I was introduced to Adobe Premiere, as we had to edit our video with it for our PB2. Every editing software has different feel and layout, as I’ve used VSDC and Hitflim before, so it took some time experimenting and researching before I felt comfortable using Premiere. I was pretty comfortable at the stage of PB2, but I definitely gained a deeper understanding of the software, and used it much more efficiently by the end of PB3. Leaning in to PB4, we also did audio editing, which I did using Audacity and it was really fun to experiment and develope my skill. Also, since our PB4 will be edited in Adobe Audition, I’ll be also learning to use the software.

Conceptual

Since the very beginning of this course, we’re suggested to do readings every week. The readings in general are academic and the difficulty increased with every passing week. I found the reading very much mind opening and informational, some with more challenging topic, like what media is doing in our lives, what our roles as practitioners are, how powerful media can be. Some lighter, discussing on audiences, attention or comic, which are all really fun to read but still shapes the way i perceive things as I gained a much deeper understanding.

As I did the project briefs, I also learnt to shape my own personality and show them in my works. For the PB2, I learnt to creatively construct the video, contemplate on what to put in, and how to arrange them. There were definitely some problems but I managed to get the result I wanted to. As i get to PB3, it was certainly a new experience, as I was making a portrait of someone else. I learnt to create a documentary style video with the help of examples shown in classes (which was really good), conduct good interview, and obviously make the end product as interesting as possible. Although documentary are often associated with boredom, or at least that’s what I thought before, I discovered that it can be really fun and playful, which was the concept I went with.

Lastly, we have the PB4, which was probably the most different out of the four assessment, since there will be no visual involved. It was also a team assignment, which means teamwork is important. We had to complete an annotated bibliography, which was my first time, so the process of researching, reading and summarizing academic materials were particularly challenging. This project also has us reaching out to people, researching deep into a particular topic and presenting them purely in the form of audio, which is a challenge.

Professionalism

Since university is different from high school, everything is new and demanding. I remembered when I was supposed to submit PB3, I was simply overwhelmed with the submission form, having very little idea on how it works. However, I am now much more comfortable with turning my work in, submitting the right components, having a good preparation before submission and learning all the dos and donts.

It was also fun to showcase our work in class and receiving feedback, although obviously, no one would love criticism, but it is no doubt a part of the process. The feedback given by my peers in workshops were helpful for me in understanding other people’s perspective, but especially the tutor’s feedback on what I needed to improve on or perhaps experiment with on my future projects. Not only receiving, I also gave feedback on my friends works, and it was even harder in a way, because it’s hard to criticize without hurtful, which is something I needed to work on.

Since our last exercise are also a team work, it’s a different feel from the last 3 projects where I was working individually. I learned to communicate effectively with one another, sharing ideas and getting into a conclusion/agreement, which can be hard sometimes, finding a right time to meet up, updating each other on what we’re doing, and most importantly doing our parts in the group.

Practice

Practice is definitely key to improve, in everything, I believe. This speaks true to everything I’ve done throughout this course, from blogging, shooting, creating, editing to working with new gears. Indeed with practice, I’ve developed my skills in a lot of area. Editing for example, as I spend more time with Adobe Premiere, I discover ways to use a tool more efficiently, learn to create new effects, and in general, get things done more quickly as I become comfortable.

Aside from technical skills, practice also definitely helped myself found my color in creating media and presenting them to the world. Although I do not yet know exactly what my passion is, I’m pretty sure as time passes by and I practice and contribute more, I’ll get to a point where I’ll be: Well, this is what I want to do.

 

Also, I’ll talk a little about the feedback I got from Hannah for my PB3. Overall, I got a pretty good result, with most of the categories being either “very good”s or “excellent”s. I didn’t get an HD, however, which I honestly don’t really know why, because my friend told me he got less “excellent”s than I do but had higher marks. I did talk to my tutor about it, and although he explained to me how it works, I still don’t get the idea of this categorization as a guide for our marks, hm.

Anyhow, for my video, she told me she liked the way I arranged them to be playful, that the texts and cutaways helped create that. She also mentioned how my visual and audio were recorded pretty well. What she think I could have done better is that my texts and cutaways could have been more rhythmical, which I am not so sure what that means, but again it’s her opinion, so I appreciate that. Also, she told me it’ll be better if I have more variety of framing of my interviewee, which was true, as I only frame her from the front. But again, my time was really limited back then, and I only have one camera, so there’s really so much I could do.

The feedback I got for my blog was pretty good, it’s stated that I expresses my thoughts clearly, that I engage with the concepts of the lectures and readings well and had some nice visuals in the posts. However, she told me I spent too much writing what I did, as opposed to what I learned, which was important. I do agree with this at some point, although I have to say that I did include what I learnt in my blog posts, although probably not enough? Lastly, she told me to develop my own blogging voice, and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do all this time, and I hope as I keep blogging, I’ll eventually have a solid voice of my own.