Working in the Media Industry continues with the second task of thinking about the personal skills you have and the skills that particular future destinations might require of you.

The first thing to identify is the difference between ‘soft skills’ and ‘hard skills’.

Hard skills are those technical, and teachable, abilities that can be tested. For working in media, these might be the knowledge and ability to operate certain cameras or use specific editing software. Contrasting to soft skills which are harder to quantify like creativity, dedication, and passion.

This was a really interesting task set to us, to really define what skills we have, and how we might prove them, and ultimately what information is it that companies want to know when they interview you.

When first starting, we didn’t think of technical skills to promote in an interview situation. Instead, we thought of those human skills, like being an all-round nice person to work with.

When it came to self evaluation it was easier to list the hard technical skills over the soft human skills. I know how to use editing software and I know basic composition and camera terminology. And this can be supported by shadowing me edit, or watching a video I have previously made. However, self-doubt would be a large factor when identifying certain skills I had. Am I actually passionate about X? Am I really that humble? And so on…

 

 

Working in the Media Industry is our final ‘theory’ unit for second year Media Production at Bournemouth University. This unit is designed to help us get out into the real world and discover what opportunities there are when we graduate.

The unit will cover how to write and tailor a CV towards a prospective job in the media, interviewing skills and techniques, and the challenges workers face in specific departments and sectors in the media industry. There’s a lot of excitement for this unit as it teaches us the preparation needed before entering the media industry.

Our first task is discussing what is waiting for us when we finish third year.

What opportunities are there for us when the class of 2015 graduate Bournemouth University?

Our course is like a buffet – it offers a nice range of different practices such as script writing, website coding, radio production, filmmaking, and theory. And as the course progresses, you begin to narrow down and focus on the discipline you like and want to work in. Therefore, the course offers you many skills vital for going into such a changing environment – the media industry.

As such, opportunities that may be available would be working with sound, and from that could stem Foley, Sound Design, ADR, Boom Operation, Mixer, Live Audio, Studio Audio, audio for fiction, audio for factual just to name a few. The point is, we will be both versatile and flexible when it comes to working.

For this task, our group listed many jobs that someone could do by starting with a broad term, like audio, and branching out to the specific disciplines that are in that sector.

It did raise a few concerns. Namely, that our course does not focus on such disciplines but only gives you a taster. Like script writing; we have one unit covering how to write a script, while there is an entire three year course devoted to writing for film and television. I point I made though, if you are really passionate and really peruse the area you want to work in, then it will pay off.