Reflections

Reflections

As a young girl, I fantasised about being a Music Journo. My thoughts ran along the lines of – the Editor assigns the stories with a deadline to meet, I hand in the story to the Editor who edits it and then he passes it along the production line to where it finally appears in a magazine or paper.

Well, that idea soon changed when I started my Journalism journey in 2019. Here unfolded the many ways in which we can communicate and empower voices. It was no longer just to tell a story for print. It also involved every aspect of the production line. It means as a Journalist, you must be extra diligent, and skilled in every aspect from writing to editing to proofreading; as well as to recording and editing visual and audio.

When Nick first briefed us on what this subject “Media Project” entailed, I must be honest, I could not fully grasp what I had to do. It took a while for the walls of my confined mind to fall. After floundering for a few weeks, I finally realised that I needed to draw upon my organisational skills and plan; type it out step by step on how to get there.

During the course of this subject, conferring with Nick was really helpful, even though I kept wanting to run back into my comfort zone of “just write a story and let it roll off the cuff”, I kept going, and I got to the end.

Concurrent to this, I am in class for Newsroom, plus Research & Writing. Structure and grammar keep coming up in the conversations with my Teachers. I had to break habits of just writing off the cuff. I had to learn the ways of structure.

Music has been my go to when I write, most likely because music has been my safe place to fall all my life. Plus, I have worked in the music industry for the last many years. It’s my strongest reality in life. So of course, I chose music. At the time, the music industry had deeply suffered due to COVID-19. I saw the disasters, but I also saw the new life that was being bred.

My project was at first about Making new music in these COVID times. During the course of time, I updated my pitch a couple of times as it became clearer for me. Toward the end, I found myself needing to add to my list of media pieces as I hadn’t really grasped at the beginning what I had to do, and I found myself short by 1 piece.

I told Nick I had extra content from a story I had written for the Writing class. The response was really validating, Nick wasn’t holding me within confined walls. I went ahead and wrote the story about Plastic Fantastic. That doesn’t fit with the original planning concept, so I updated my pitch. I submitted the story, and the critique was wonderful, and the story evolved into a really good piece. The lesson learned was “always be flexible as a Writer.”

Never ever did I think I would come out the other end having produced a Podcast. But I did. That in itself is an awesome feat. Technology is not my strong point. Sure, I know how to use Facebook and Instagram, but recording and editing, no not my forte by a longshot. But I got there. Sure, it could be better, it’s not perfect. So what! I can use it to learn from. To get to this point, I listened to many podcasts. I also had conversations with those who produce/present podcasts. I put my enquiring mind to work and really listened to these podcasts and to the people that I talked to. Then I produced it. Not entirely alone. I had a friend record the drumming intro and the outro in his studio, with my parts recorded in my home. He was super helpful in guiding me through the whole process. There was only 1 conversation that I didn’t get a lot from. I could have done better homework before I contacted that podcast presenter.

I wrote a companion piece for my blog to go with the podcast. The critique I received back was awesome. With some fine adjustments to the grammar and structure, it turned into a polished piece. Again, making it clear to me to take a little extra time to check my grammar and to tweak the structure.

In the beginning, I didn’t have a podcast on my plan. This is how I let my lack of skills stop me. But Nick had me see I needed to move out of my comfort zone and do something I have not done before. By the way, Nick does this so smoothly. So, again I revised my pitch.

What I would do differently if I was to do Media Project again is to sit and really read the student guide, break it down, sketch it out, explore all the possible ways in which one can make their voice be heard. Allow some quiet time to breathe in the project. Study each media form. Talk more to my fellow students for ideas and inspiration. Then write the pitch and roll from there.