Evaluation

 Evaluation:

Research into My Future Options:

I don’t really have any solid plans for when I leave college. University is too expensive and I’m not really interested in applying for an apprenticeship, so I’m most likely to head straight into employment.

When looking at potential jobs in the media industry, I found there were quite a few options for me to look at but the one that stood out the most to me was photography. I don’t like doing written work nor am I that skilled at it, and I’ve always been better and doing more creative/practical work so photography seemed like an obvious choice. Researching into what companies/organisations hire photographers and different categories of photographer work has really helped me consider my future options better, especially since you don’t need that many qualifications to be a good photographer, just lots of practice and experience.

As I’ve stated before, University is too expensive for me to go to right after college, but it’s still an option I can consider years into the future when I’m more mature and have my own money to fund it.

Undertaking Networking Opportunities:

Over my time at my college, I’ve had quite a few opportunities to network with experts in the media industry.

The first person I met was someone named Sam Horton; He talked about the process of storyboarding for films and animations and the work that goes into it. If I were any good at drawing I would probably consider storyboarding a potential future career for myself, but unfortunately that is a skill I do not possess. Despite that, this masterclass gave me an in depth look into just how much work and detail gets put into everything when working on a project.

I also attended an ITV masterclass, which was being hosted by ITV’s recruitment team. They talked about different career opportunities and pathways available with ITV and what they look for when recruiting. This masterclass helped me learn more about what I can do in my future and just what companies look for in employers.

I attended a creative ready session hosted by Laura Pearman- Laura is a creative director, brand strategist, and brand photographer. She has been running her own business for 10 years and has a ton of experience in the media industry. She gave a list of things to do and not to do when creating your own business so that you avoid making the same mistakes that she did when she was starting out. Should I ever decide to start my own business, I can rely on Laura’s tips to help me be successful.

My mock interview has helped me realise that job interviews and such aren’t that scary or nerve wracking when you’re prepared. It has given me insight on what happens during an interview and what I should say as well as how I should prepare for one. As long as you have something to say and answer clearly and confidently, everything will be fine.

Creating my Brand Identity:

Brand Identity is important as it describes how your business is portrayed to its customers. It can make you completely stand out from competition and elevate your product. To develop my brand identity, I created a logo, business card, showreel, and website.

For my logo, I looked at some existing logos and used them as inspiration. Your logo can give customers an idea of what your brand is and the quality of your work, so having a suitable logo design is very important. I made a few draft ideas on what my logo could be/look like but it only took a few before I settled on an idea. I want people to look at my logo and think that my business is established and professional and that my work must be too. The feedback basically confirmed that I achieved my goal of my logo looking professional and easy to understand, so the final product stayed the same. If I ever decide to start my own photography business, I already have a logo made and ready to use.

Right off the bat, I knew I didn’t want to overcomplicate my business card design, so I looked into simple but effective business card designs as well as some colourful business cards, as I also don’t want it to be plain. I played around with my business card in Pixlr until I ended up with the final result. I obtained feedback via Google forms and the form fillers were satisfied with it, only noting that more/nicer colours would make it better. I honestly don’t intend to use this design in the near future but I suppose if I ever need a quick business card design, I have it there for me to use. It has helped me learn how to create an effective business card.

For my showreel, I wanted to do something simple that showed off my photography in a quick and effective way. I looked at another photography showreel that was created and noted that they mostly only used upbeat music and transitions in their video; I decided to do the same. For the intro, I felt like doing something fun and somewhat creative rather than just a black background with white text on it so I added an explosion and spinning skull. Once again I got my feedback through Google forms and because the form fillers found my showreel entertaining, I didn’t alter it in any way for the final product. I won’t be using this showreel in the future, but creating it did let me practice using Premier Pro so that when I make another, I’ll know how to do it.

For my website, I looked into what typically goes on a photography website and used that information when creating my own website. I used Wix to create it and selected one of their templates to use. I didn’t really change much of the template, just replaced the photos with my own and added a contact page since I had noticed other photographers would do that on their own websites. I also added my logo at the top. My main goal with my website was that it was accessible and you can see all the information you need to see to know what I do and contact me, and from the Google forms I sent out for feedback, I achieved that goal, so nothing changed from the final product. Perhaps if I create my own photography business in the future, I can use the website I created until I become profitable enough or well known enough to commission/buy my own website.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I’m in a much better position than I was before I started researching and creating for my future. The research and work I’ve done for this specific project has given me a better idea of what I need to do and look at when researching/making something like a logo or showreel or potential HE options. It has given me confidence to actually start making steps towards my future, whether that be by gaining work experience or applying for HE.