MI2 Seminar 3

I’m going to find it really difficult to talk about last week’s seminar. I found “The Write Way” extremely enjoyable to sit through, as the speakers were so lively and engaging to listen to. It’s just hard for me to objectively pick apart this seminar when there’s no direct relation between it and my career aspirations. I went in knowing from the start that a panel of writers wouldn’t give me any insight into video production or cinematography. It’s probably not fair to complain that the seminar didn’t apply to me because no seminar can hope to address the needs of every media student in the course. And cinematography is a fairly “niche” interest under the massive umbrella of “media” that we’re studying. So with that in mind, what can I say about The Write Way?
In a broad sense, what I liked most about this seminar is that it reinforced the idea that some people *have* to work in a creative field. For the writers, this might mean having to to survive on meagre incomes and stress because their employment is so unstable, but this is alright because they *need* to write, they need to work in a creative field. I can relate to this — I can’t imagine working in some random industry that I don’t care about. I don’t like the idea of pursuing a career purely because it will provide me with income.. that’s not enough of a reason for me, it feels so bland. So, I guess I appreciated listening to these writers because they’ve gone against the grain and fought to get the jobs they need against all odds. Of course, I’m not trying to say that “if they can do it, so can I!” because it’s not that simple. For every established writer who ends up talking about themselves at RMIT, I’m sure there are 10 who give up and become economists or something. It’s possible to get a skewed perspective on success in the media industry because we only ever get to see the people who make it, and everyone else is swept under the rug of failure.
Anyway. This is the general way in which I related to the seminar, and on that broad conceptual level, I did get something out of it. That might not translate into me being better at job interviews or discovering a new career option, but it does feed into my attitude towards filmmaking and trying to pursue in a career in a creative industry.
Technically speaking, the seminar went smoothly — there were minor audio problems at the start, with feedback and the MC’s mic cutting out, but that was all resolved and it wasn’t that bad to begin with. The catering was also really good, and nothing particularly bothered me about the way the seminar was run. The MC did a good job at steering the conversation, which was especially admirable given the intensity of some of the guests, and dividing the seminar into two parts was logical and worked well. I gave the seminar 3 HDs and 1 D (for technical problems with the sound), in my opinion it was well done for what it was.