The most memorable event so far happened while I was volunteering at Mediazone for the Summer Graduation of 2019 – for the event, I played a hand in the social media role, Live Graphics Operator (less fancy than it sounds), as well as to direct the backstage graduation video.
Generally, I’d been itching for a proper project considering that I’d been volunteering there for a full semester. The chance to mess up at directing was one I (generally hoped to avoid) but welcomed. It also ensured that it kept me busy throughout the time; as I was also assisting in the posts that went to the Mediazone Instagram and University Facebook.
Side Note: I don’t mean to brag, but those posts with the puns? Yeah, that was me.
As I mentioned before, my previous roles in events were understandably straightforward and uncomplicated, considering that I was volunteering as an amateur student of Communications. I had gone through the mid-year training with few hitches, and focused mostly on increasing my all-around knowledge for how this organization worked – as well as how I could go about getting more familiar with different equipment.
Back to the graduation, my secondary job was as the Live Graphics Operator – essentially sending the designated graphics up onto the livestream. That in itself was its own experience – less regarding my role in it all but more so in seeing the dynamic in which everyone was working. If I’m to give any praise that collectively applies to all staff and crew of Mediazone; it’s that they take their job remarkably seriously with an attitude to be admired.
Cutting to the meat and potatoes of the event was my backstage video; I was fortunate enough to have two experienced Lab Assistants to help out with the filming portion of the project.
In the meanwhile, I had been given access to Mediazone’s new fancy toy: the Insta360 ONE X.
I spent a good while getting to know the little fella – a 360 camera with a lot of little extra gadgets and features to go with it, the most iconic being the ‘invisible selfie stick’ and ‘small world’.
As for how the final backstage graduation video came out – well, I didn’t realize the extent of the mistakes I made until I sat down and started editing the video itself.
Regardless, I am still proud of the final product and further proud of how I avoided many of those faults whilst directing the UNIC Music Vibes video, continuing to recognize a wide variety of new ways to improve doing that which I thoroughly enjoy.
Kyriakos Kiteou
Mediazone Student Lab Assistant
