Media Industry-Overall Evaluation
Evaluation
The B1 Unit was a project to create a personal brand identity for future employers, clients, work placement and higher education providers.
The unit can be broken down into 3 sections: research into my future options, undertaking networking opportunities & creating my brand identity.
For me, the unit helped me gain more knowledge about what my next steps can be and how being online has changed the creative industry.
Research into my future options
For the first part of the unit, We began researching into options after finishing college. The two I decided to research were University and Employment.
University research-We had started this research during our PD sessions as our tutor had made us set up UCAS.
Local university wasn't something I had thought about as I had always wanted to move away for higher education, so when looking for University's; I had started looking for film schools across the Uk.
Through researching about University, I found out that typically filmmaking courses run for about 3 years (without a foundation year) and I managed to find two film schools-Screen and Film & Futureworks, these school only focus on the creative industry meaning it would be ideal for me to go here as I will only be surrounded by like minded individuals. Both Uni's we're located in Manchester which was a place I was interested in living as it wasn't that far away from my family.
After finding out which universities i wanted to go too, i had to set away on making my UCAS application.
For the application, you have to fill out every section to make sure your details are correct so that the universities can give you the help you need.
Then, we had to write a personal statement, explaining our skills and why we feel like we deserve a space at the Uni.Since submitting my application, I have received 2 conditional offers and two invitations for an interviews.
Job research-For employment, I started by researching the biggest media corporations in the Uk (as these were the places i would most likely get a job after university.)
Job research-For employment, I started by researching the biggest media corporations in the Uk (as these were the places i would most likely get a job after university.)
I looked into the background of the company and how they treat their employees, I also looked into the different types of jobs available in the industry and some job roles that were currently available online.
From my research, I have gained extensive knowledge on the different types of jobs available, there isn't just director, producer and camera operator.
-I have found some job roles that interest me such as script supervisor, director and camera operator.
-I have also found some companies that are available and one that I am keen on working at is Channel 4. This is because, I love what they stand for in terms of diversity and inclusiveness, they seem to really be trying to change the face of media which is something that i would like to be apart of.
Network opportunities
Throughout this year of college, we have been presented with a lot of opportunities with different people in the industry.
Leo Pearlman-Owner of Fullwell 73, gave a talk about the his business and opportunities that he has had throughout his career. He also talked about his plans to bring media more to the north east and the internship scheme he was planning to launch.
From Leo, I learned that you don't have to travel to London to peruse a career in media.
Sam Horton-A storyboard artist for Aardman Animations. He talked about the importance of storyboarding for projects and how more people are using them in the industry and not just for animations.
From Sam, I learnt about how storyboards are extremely useful for people in the creative industry and how to use them effectively in order to make a project run smoothly.
Itv- Employees of ITV came in to talk about their apprenticeship scheme, how to apply and what you get to do in the job role.
From ITV, I learnt about the opportunities other than University after college.
Laura Pearman-Owner of Laura Pearman Creative, creative director, brand strategist and brand photographer. Laura came in to talk us through her 10 golden tips for being successful in the media industry.
From Laura, I learnt a lot about how to better myself for the creative industry.
Placement-In November 2021, I started work experience at a company in Southwick called 'Creative seed.'
Creative seed are a Carnival and Community company. They took me onboard to be a content creator where I was tasked to do things like make posters and visitors guides for them. I also occasionally help out with some of the community classes they have on when I'm there, getting stuff for the people and cleaning up afterwards.
Since being with the company, I have learnt how fast paced doing projects go sometimes and also how to adapt and do things when I don't have a chance to talk to clients about what they want. I have also learnt how to collaborate with people outside of the creative industry, working on projects with them and putting ideas together.
From my opportunities, I have gained major insight to the media industry, how it runs and what is out there for me after higher education.
I am glad that I have gotten to make my own content through placement and have someone want to use my work outside of a college environment, as it made me have an understanding of doing projects externally to my coursework.
Mock interview-To prepare us for interviews for university or future employers, we were tasked to research into 'Channel 4' and prepare for a job interview.
We began by having a couple of sessions about what to do in an interview and the typical questions that you get asked.
I learnt a lot about how to better prepare myself before an interview and also what to expect during it.
When it came to doing the interview, I felt like I had answered the questions to the best of my ability and from the feedback that I received, so did the interviewer.
However, I would like to make sure I am more confident in myself as throughout the interview, I was talking quite quietly and my body language was tense.
Brand Identity
Cv-It's essential for anyone who is applying for jobs to have a cv. As I have had previous jobs, I was familiar with what needed to be included in my cv however this cv would not be suitable to send to clients/industry professionals as it is too broad in its context, it has information that is not relevant to jobs in the media industry.
So, I decided to research into what would be good to include in a cv and look at some examples. I then used canva, to make my cv more creative. I wanted it to feel more personal to me, so i found a template that I liked and edited it to include my details.
I have added this cv to a section on my website, so that any viewer can download it as see my skills.
Personal statement-Considering that I wanted to go to university, in our PD sessions; our tutor gave us some help guides on how to write a cv. I started using the guides to write my first draft while also looking at some other peoples statements in order to grasp the structure but I felt that it was too monotone and lacked my personality.
I asked for feedback from my lecture on my first draft where I was told to sound more confident in myself. After receiving this feedback, I decided to use the guides loosely and instead write from my heart, allowing myself to explain why I thought I was the best fit for the course.
After I had finished my statement as a whole, I sent it off to my tutor who reviewed it. My tutor told me that my statement was very well written and clearly set out my skills.
Since writing my statement, I have used it to apply to multiple universities. I have received 2/4 offers since January 26th.
Logo-For my logo, I wanted to make it uniquely mine while still making it look professional. I began researching into what makes a good logo and found out that a logo should grab a consumers attention as it is their first impression of your branding, meaning it shouldn't fade behind other competitors.
I knew originally that I wanted to use a star in my logo as I thought that it would link nicely to filmmaking/media as Hollywood is a massive part of the film industry which is home to the Hollywood walk of fame. Still, I felt like the star by itself did not stand out in the way I hoped so I decided to tie in more of a film aspect and add a clipper board.
My logo went through multiple drafts before I landed on one that, i hoped, would've been my finally design. When I received my feedback, the consumers thought that it was too busy with the stars on the outside so in my final design.
I now use my logo on my business card, Instagram and YouTube as a part of defining myself against competitors.
Business card- I started my business card at the same time as my logo, as i felt like they went hand in hand; I wanted to keep the colour scheme the same as my logo so it would look more cohesive and streamlined.
I began researching into existing filmmakers business cards and found that most of them use clapperboards or their own movie posters as the front of their business card, as I had already used a clapperboard in my logo, I felt like it would be too overboard if I used it as the main design as my business card.
I found a card that was the layout of a camera and it really inspired me, so i decided to use it as the main inspiration of my logo but changing it up to be more uniquely mine.
To make my business card, I used photoshop and adobe illustrator to create the star decals and designs for the back of my card, I knew I needed to tie in the aspects of my logo within my card which is why i added the stars and also used the same font to make sure they both went hand in hand.
From the feedback, the consumers thought that my business card was informative and effective. My camera design paid off as a lot of the feedback was about how they thought the design was cute and unique. For improvement, the consumers thought that I could add more information about myself. (e.g what services I offer, where I am located).
I have used my business card on the homepage of my website, so that people could easily find my other platforms.
Showreel-A showreel is important for anyone applying to university or employment as it gives the education providers/employer a chance to see a lot of your work in a short space of time.
To begin with, I looked into a few existing showreels and I found out they all followed a similar layout of short clips of videos, followed by photography work.
I decided that i would only focus on three of my major projects, my regional identity project (my newest project), my digital age project (my favourite project) and my barbering tutorial (the first project I had a real client). I transitioned through my two documentary projects first, as they dealt with quite serious issues while the barbering tutorial was quite simplistic.
From the feedback, the viewers thought my showreel was very on-brand, it fits together well with my website while also showing off my filmmaking skills. To improve, my audience thought that I should lower the volume of the music and add more behind the scene footage.
I have used my showreel on my webpage and will be taking it to my interviews with me for university.
Website-Having a website is important for media individuals as it acts like hub for all your work, I wanted my webpage to be quite simplistic while keeping on brand with my logo.
On my website, I had five major sections: About, My inspirations, My showreel, portfolio & personal projects.
I kept the theme of my website simple, 2 colours, pink and white and allowed the work to stand out without overcrowding the pages.
From feedback, viewers seemed to like my website as it was all laid out correctly and all the relevant information was there.
However, my webpage wasn't easy to navigate, I had forgotten to add a navigation bar which meant it was not easy to get to other pages without having to reload the whole website.
To fix this, I added a navigation bar on app pages and made it accessible on mobile.
Conclusion-From this project, I feel like I have been able to establish myself as a content creator in the industry due to the fact that I had my own branding and website now where all my work can go.
I have learnt more about my options after college and how to better myself for industry. I feel like i am more confident in myself to do well after college now as I have a lot of extra knowledge from the opportunities I was given.
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