#5 Self-Evaluation

The J333 Writing for Multimedia class has taught me much more than just writing for multimedia. It has enhanced various other skills that are important for the journalism field, as well as taught me valuable lessons and given me beneficial advice.

My eye for deciding which elements of storytelling work better for certain situations has improved tremendously. I have learned that there are different elements of storytelling that work better visually rather than written and vice versa. Torsten Kjellstrand’s guest lecture made a huge impression on me. He said to “find the story in every situation and search for the heart in it.” He also told us that there are two levels of journalism that come before actual storytelling and those include grammar and language.

Dan Morrison’s guest lecture got me thinking about how journalism has changed specifically for our generation because of our access to technology. We have much more potential for multimedia production than ever before. Our generation has short attention spans and has high standards of production. This made me realize I need to try to master the different aspects of journalism, especially: video production, photography, script writing and interviewing.  I am extremely interested in multimedia video production; however, I am not as familiar with the technology necessary for producing an exceptional video.

I want to further my love for design and photography and use that to better my future in multimedia and advertising. I have come to realize that I am knowledgeable in most aspects of the journalism field, but I need to master at least a few of them. This will take practice, motivation and the willingness to go out and actively create things. I need to use “the white space” in my schedule to “create shit,” as the Morrison Family would say.