When I started studying Digital Communication at the University of Nicosia I thought that the courses were going to be mainly practical and we were going to be taught technical aspects of filmmaking… But how naive was I!
I mean, we are definitely getting used to all of the fancy equipment available at Mediazone but it is much more than that. It is more than pressing the record button and following the action.
To begin with, professionals in the field are like FBI agents and marketing professionals combined together that could conquer the world if they only wanted to. These people definitely know what you’re thinking about if you, yourself, have no idea what is going on inside your head. The reason behind this is that if you chose to study Digital Communications you will have to interact with a lot of people and directly with a majority of them in order to accomplish your production goals -and body language plays a big part in that. You are always transmitting messages to people around you whether you like it or not and to make your life easier you may want to familiarize yourself with the meaning behind it.
Moreover, think about the purpose of every video, it may not be obvious but you are somehow “selling” something whether it is knowledge, persona or a business; you want to attract as many people as possible to see your work. To do so, of course, you need to know a thing or two about marketing (it is better if you know more than that, just saying). For example, you might come up with a brilliant idea, you may have really nice shots and edit it to the perfection but if the first couple of seconds of your video does not attract the viewer, you lost the game, your message is not transmitted. So, learning some marketing techniques is definitely an advantage.
How could we not mention creativity? In a world full of information, it is easy to bore the viewer and sometimes the transmitted idea might not be the most interesting one, BUT it is all about how you present it, right? We just have to think about it. If body language and marketing are something that you can learn, creativity, on the other hand, is something that comes from within and you just have to let yourself explore.
As you have noticed, if you’re majoring in Digital Communication you are pretty much majoring in life. Do not get me wrong, it is still technical and practical but it is also a constant improvement of your character and you can never learn enough, there is always more to it.
Isn’t it amazing?
Nicoleta Papadopoulou
Mediazone Student Volunteer
