Hey Everyone,
Just a quick post to say i'm sorry i've not wrote a post in a while.
I'm now at University. Although lessons have not properly stated yet as I am in my induction week, Its quite scary just how busy I am already. It's felt weird not to be online or writing blogs as often as I normally have and would be, but I guess It's something that kind of needs to happen.
I'm not saying I will suddenly have a blossoming social life and be out everynight and never come online, but I will certainly be more busy, and with this new busy life I doubt I shall be able to keep everything up to date as much as I once did. In a way I think I need to cut my Internet dosage down a little... but addiction is a strong thing.
Don't worry, if anyone actually takes the time to read this thing... I will still be here a few times a week (all being well) to cum all over your screens with my thoughts and feelings towards unimportant things (which I realise is a very strange way of putting what is actually just 'writing a blog').
While I am here though, I will mention that University life isn't, for me at least, all its cracked up to be. Maybe its because i'm not all that fussed about going out every night and getting blind drunk and falling into bushes and puking (although my first freshers event was kind of like that, without the bush falling though). I know some people here who have literally been out every night and done the whole typical student thing, including turning up to lectures with the hangover from hell, but its not something I think fondly of or something I feel I will be contributing to, simply because it doesn't interest me that much.
I've done a fair few things so far that I enjoy, like going to the cinema a few times, going for a nice pint and meal, watching a film in the apartment... and I feel this is more the approach I will be taking rather than going out on a bender all the time.
Its quite strange how since I got here, being in University and in the lecture room is the time I have probably most enjoyed. My whole life at the moment (and probably the next three years) has been waking up and getting ready for Uni, maybe doing something in the evening (like the cinema) and then going to sleep ready for Uni. When it comes to evening I am constantly worried about not waking up and missing lectures, or something along those lines, and it really has sucked me into a routine (kind of) of just living for Uni, which is probably not the best approach as such but is happening naturally.
Anyway, I should get off. I'm going to on a trip today and they won't be best pleased if I turn up to the coach in my underwear and looking like a hobo. Talking of hobo's though, there was an Irish hobo sat on a step the other day, and at first he was really nice while asking me for money, and when I kept walking he said, and in an Irish accent may I add (just imagine it) 'Ya filthy faggot. God looks unkindly on your kind and you're gunna go ta hell ya know'.
Which was lovely.
Until next time,
x
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
September 25, 2009
September 9, 2009
The Dream Must Stay Alive
I thought I would use this post to vent a little. You see, something has been eating away in the back of my mind for a while now and if I don't get it out soon I may just end up blowing my top. And yes, I did rip off The Tribe for the title of this blog, it relates a little but not much.
Since I was a child, I have known what I wanted to do in my life. I have always dreamed of making movies. Now, by child I mean for as long as I can remember. When I was around 9 years old I got my first ever camcorder. It was a brick of a thing, which belonged first to my grandad. We could never afford a new one, ever, but I was totally over the moon when on Christmas morning I woke up and had this amazing thing I had always wanted.
From then on I spent hours filming. I'd film planes out my window, film my toys and make stop motion animations. I'd film action films in my old garage and make explosions with concrete powder, or film wildlife documentaries. Me and my friend also once attempted to film the whole of The Lord of The Rings, just the two of us. I would film the whole thing and she would play every character, but because I had no way of editing it between each shot she would get changed into the next character and then I would film the next bit.
I spent hours watching films, analysing scenes and watching the behind the scenes footage to learn and try to perfect how to do everything. This was all before I had even gone to high school.
In short, I knew what I wanted and I was trying to learn what I could to achieve my dream.
After high school I made the decision to study Media Production at college. A two year long course where I was hoping to learn as much as possible. I did learn, I tried hard and I left with good results. The next step I am taking is a three year degree studying Film and TV Production.
These are all little steps which I hope may help me get to where I want to go, but this is where my annoyance and point of this post comes in... I'm told I am studying a 'Mickey Mouse' course.
Yes, everything I have done so far is simply not worth much. If it ain't English and something amazingly academic then obviously I am wasting my time. Its funny how there are screenwriters, directors, producers and broadcasters who are praised for the work they do, and yet taking the first steps to achieve this only leads to scorn and a dissaproving frown. The value of a degree in Media to alot of people, including the government, is very little. Its a stupid course for stupid people who have no realistic outlook on life, these people will never get a job where they want one, and obviously they will end up working in McDonalds.
It may sound harsh, but this is what I have been told in the past, and recently, and simply by browsing the internet and looking for discussions the general opinon is the same. If it ain't academic, it ain't worth shit.
Wrong. Do these people actually understand what you learn in these courses? I think not. Someone in my family once said 'Yeah, we can all sit and watch films all day and point a camera'. Yes, we can, but its much more than that. Practical work isn't simply pointing a camera and hoping for the best, everything that you do has to be backed up with theoretical points, nothing can be accidental and everything needs and explanation. Everything. It all has to be planned out, every detail, you have to explain not only why you do what you do but how you do it.
Thats in a nutshell. Then comes to theory side of things. Yes, we watch films, but when you have to analyse every single shot in that film, explaining why certain things were done certain ways, why everything is done the way its done and making sure you can fully understand every decision made, its not really watching a film anymore. And then there is the history of the film business, the business of the film business, the social impacts film has, the way advertising is used and other various areas. When I studied production at college, I had to know about all this, in great depth, and write massive dissertations on those subjects.
As well as this, I had to study the effects the media has on people, how certain people are effected by things, how it may influence us or change societal conventions and the psyche of the individual. I studied social classes and how people can be catorgorised according to what kind of media they consume. All of this just the theory based side.
At the same time as learning all of the above, the theoretical aspects of film, there was the production side I touched upon, where there were many projects that took months to prepare and execute, and whilst all of this was happening I was also doing a side course in Journalism, a side course in Radio related studies and also photography, interactive media and various other areas.
Does that all sound like something easy? Because if you think it is you would be wrong. It takes time and effort, and like everything you get out of it what you put in. There were people who did little in this subject, and they got little out of it, I put my heart into it and got alot. The worst thing is that although I did well, when I hear comments from people saying the course is easy and stupid, or that I will amount to nothing because of my chosen subject, it makes me both sad and rather angry.
I understand its a subject which is competitive, but it opens lots of doors and there are many fields which I can enter afterwards. In the same way, I don't see how English can be so much better, are there really more options?
One of the main things which annoys me is this. The government who have said themselves that the course I am studying isn't as worthwhile has others has succeeded in making me think even less fondly of them. Infact, I would go as far as to say the mightily make me lose faith altogether. Its more the point that I am trying to succeed, trying to do the best I can, and yet this isn't good enough? In a time when unemployment figures are at a low, is it wrong that I am doing something which is said to increase my changes? Or that I am making the steps to try and better myself?
It would be easy for me to go on the dole. I guess I could happily sign on, but I won't. There are a few reasons, one being that I don't want to live my life without knowing I didn't try, what would be the point?
And so it boils down to this. Media related degrees and courses are not easy, simple and for the thick people who have no ambition. They are not less substantial than any other degree, its just ignorance and small mindedness that makes people think they are. No, I am no rocket scientist, I cannot save lives or help the world, but I feel I have a talent and a passion and its something I work hard to achieve. Can you really condemn a guy for trying?
I could ramble on much longer about this, I really could, but I shall end it here.
Rant Over.
Since I was a child, I have known what I wanted to do in my life. I have always dreamed of making movies. Now, by child I mean for as long as I can remember. When I was around 9 years old I got my first ever camcorder. It was a brick of a thing, which belonged first to my grandad. We could never afford a new one, ever, but I was totally over the moon when on Christmas morning I woke up and had this amazing thing I had always wanted.
From then on I spent hours filming. I'd film planes out my window, film my toys and make stop motion animations. I'd film action films in my old garage and make explosions with concrete powder, or film wildlife documentaries. Me and my friend also once attempted to film the whole of The Lord of The Rings, just the two of us. I would film the whole thing and she would play every character, but because I had no way of editing it between each shot she would get changed into the next character and then I would film the next bit.
I spent hours watching films, analysing scenes and watching the behind the scenes footage to learn and try to perfect how to do everything. This was all before I had even gone to high school.
In short, I knew what I wanted and I was trying to learn what I could to achieve my dream.
After high school I made the decision to study Media Production at college. A two year long course where I was hoping to learn as much as possible. I did learn, I tried hard and I left with good results. The next step I am taking is a three year degree studying Film and TV Production.
These are all little steps which I hope may help me get to where I want to go, but this is where my annoyance and point of this post comes in... I'm told I am studying a 'Mickey Mouse' course.
Yes, everything I have done so far is simply not worth much. If it ain't English and something amazingly academic then obviously I am wasting my time. Its funny how there are screenwriters, directors, producers and broadcasters who are praised for the work they do, and yet taking the first steps to achieve this only leads to scorn and a dissaproving frown. The value of a degree in Media to alot of people, including the government, is very little. Its a stupid course for stupid people who have no realistic outlook on life, these people will never get a job where they want one, and obviously they will end up working in McDonalds.
It may sound harsh, but this is what I have been told in the past, and recently, and simply by browsing the internet and looking for discussions the general opinon is the same. If it ain't academic, it ain't worth shit.
Wrong. Do these people actually understand what you learn in these courses? I think not. Someone in my family once said 'Yeah, we can all sit and watch films all day and point a camera'. Yes, we can, but its much more than that. Practical work isn't simply pointing a camera and hoping for the best, everything that you do has to be backed up with theoretical points, nothing can be accidental and everything needs and explanation. Everything. It all has to be planned out, every detail, you have to explain not only why you do what you do but how you do it.
Thats in a nutshell. Then comes to theory side of things. Yes, we watch films, but when you have to analyse every single shot in that film, explaining why certain things were done certain ways, why everything is done the way its done and making sure you can fully understand every decision made, its not really watching a film anymore. And then there is the history of the film business, the business of the film business, the social impacts film has, the way advertising is used and other various areas. When I studied production at college, I had to know about all this, in great depth, and write massive dissertations on those subjects.
As well as this, I had to study the effects the media has on people, how certain people are effected by things, how it may influence us or change societal conventions and the psyche of the individual. I studied social classes and how people can be catorgorised according to what kind of media they consume. All of this just the theory based side.
At the same time as learning all of the above, the theoretical aspects of film, there was the production side I touched upon, where there were many projects that took months to prepare and execute, and whilst all of this was happening I was also doing a side course in Journalism, a side course in Radio related studies and also photography, interactive media and various other areas.
Does that all sound like something easy? Because if you think it is you would be wrong. It takes time and effort, and like everything you get out of it what you put in. There were people who did little in this subject, and they got little out of it, I put my heart into it and got alot. The worst thing is that although I did well, when I hear comments from people saying the course is easy and stupid, or that I will amount to nothing because of my chosen subject, it makes me both sad and rather angry.
I understand its a subject which is competitive, but it opens lots of doors and there are many fields which I can enter afterwards. In the same way, I don't see how English can be so much better, are there really more options?
One of the main things which annoys me is this. The government who have said themselves that the course I am studying isn't as worthwhile has others has succeeded in making me think even less fondly of them. Infact, I would go as far as to say the mightily make me lose faith altogether. Its more the point that I am trying to succeed, trying to do the best I can, and yet this isn't good enough? In a time when unemployment figures are at a low, is it wrong that I am doing something which is said to increase my changes? Or that I am making the steps to try and better myself?
It would be easy for me to go on the dole. I guess I could happily sign on, but I won't. There are a few reasons, one being that I don't want to live my life without knowing I didn't try, what would be the point?
And so it boils down to this. Media related degrees and courses are not easy, simple and for the thick people who have no ambition. They are not less substantial than any other degree, its just ignorance and small mindedness that makes people think they are. No, I am no rocket scientist, I cannot save lives or help the world, but I feel I have a talent and a passion and its something I work hard to achieve. Can you really condemn a guy for trying?
I could ramble on much longer about this, I really could, but I shall end it here.
Rant Over.
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