Week 6 (Blog 5)

Social media has become one of the largest tools in our lives. We use it on both personal and a professional level. In the lecture we read about the various types of social media aspects and the importance of the area. For example, you are more likely to find an employer on vimeo rather than youtube. Yes, youtube has a bigger audience but vimeo have a professional audience that look for talent and work. We also spoke about which form of social media would best be suited to us. There are many websites that provide such wide amount of networking. I personally would use facebook, youtube and similar sites to reach or make a huge fan base but also use professional sites like linked and vimeo for a more professional connection. We also have crowdfunding websites that prove helpful to anyone who wishes to start of with a creative project and cary on work on it. I would suggest different commission websites as well. For example 99designs is a website i have used before. I may have not won a competition on the site, but i did get contacted from various people regarding work. We also looked at various portfolios, and the impact they carry. Our portfolio is an impartial tool that would carry our image through the social media sites to our potential employers.

Week 5 (Blog 4)

Analytics, demographics, data always get me hyped. It may sound as a mundane hobby or interest, but it is quite interesting to me. We all know and acknowledge data. I spent two years after high school programing and was aware about data and its presence everywhere. However, what surprised me in the lecture was the amount of data present and the dependency we had on it. I found the TED conference in the lecture was quite intriguing as it explained the value and power data has currently. Also, the game lose/lose made me realize the hold data has on us. After I read about it, I tried playing the game. However I could not get myself to play it. Every time I got close to the start button, my mind kept racing to figure out which file is it going to delete? How important is that data? What if I need that data later? It really got me thinking. Another point I did find astounding was the way some people use data.I would have never thought of data in a creative manner before but once I read the lecture, it deffinatly changed my mind. The Wilderness Downtown was an interactive video that  got me thinking about how creative data can be. In class however we spoke about the amount of data we knowingly or unknowingly put out there. Overall, I found the lecture very interesting and the discussion in class very stimulating. 

Week 4

Criticism is one of the most vital roles in self development whether you like it or not. The lecture on medium stated various amazing facts about criticism, its origin and its value. Also, during the class discussions we tried figuring out which was the best kind of tool for self development between reviews, essays or academic articles.We divided into groups as usual and found a review, an essay and an academic article for a movie of our choice, namely ‘The Godfather’. It was followed by listing out the differences and deciding on which one would be the best source for self development. I have read numerous reviews and some essays but never academic articles before. Last class when I read an academic article for the first time I realized the value it holds, especially for me as a film student. I watch a movie multiple times to study it and this would help me dissect the movies even further and understand minute details in the plot, narrative, structure and so on. I believe I have found a new tool that I would use for possibly the rest of my life. Today I will read them to understand and learn other movies; tomorrow I would use them to understand and grow on my own movies.

Week 3

Group work and discussions always get me excited! They seem to be an important part of the class. We read about the different forms or modes of income we could face on medium. It was quite an interesting topic to read and learn about. It talked about the various psychological aspects to pricing as well, that i felt made complete sense. In the class we later split into smaller groups in which half the number of groups discussed the pros and cons of working a freelance job, while the other groups discussed about the pros and cons of a full day job. Our group had to talk about the pros and cons we would face in a full time job in our industry. It proved to be a surprising discussion. At the start of the discussion most of us had a fixed opinion about the topic, but as we started listing the pros and eventually the cons of a fixed job we realized both the sides were quite abnormal. Both the sides had really good pros and some really bad cons. As Yazan put it, “Both sides aint rosy!”. To sum up, both the written material given to us to read on medium and the lecture we had in class were informative, interactive and exhilarating.

Week 2

It was an interesting class we had this Monday with professor Yazan. We spoke about various topics and undertook different interactive group work during the class. One of the topics that spoke to me was about, what our career looked like at the moment and how our future would look like two years, five years and then ten years from the present. I understood why this was important and why we needed to do it. At first I thought up different scenarios of what I would like to be doing in the future, until I stopped and thought of it realistically. It forced me to actually consider my future and come up with a decent plan to follow it. It’s not going to be an easy journey but if I plan it out right, I am sure I will be able to accomplish what I have set out to do. Even the articles that were given to us to read for the lecture were realistic and practical. It showed me how people set out in life on a career but with the proper planing of both play and work managed to accomplish a lot. I have started working on a plan for the next two years at the moment and will do my best to stick to it.