I was quite lucky I guess in that after flunking my A-Levels heinously I took a place on a Multimedia foundation course. Was thinking of going down the graphic design route but fell in love with the time-based media modules. Made a hilariously bad film about a kid who makes his living distracting people at cashpoints and running off with their money and a radio musical about getting on a bus with a rucksack.
Luckily both these zany ideas really struck a chord with the Media Production course tutor at Staffordshire Uni and I somehow won a place on the course on the strength of my ideas book and those two rough pieces. Considering my well below par academic background I was lucky to go to Uni.
I did ok on my course and graduated with 3rd class honours (a baffling contradiction surely
). Again my creative execution just about saving me from academic incompetence. I spent most of my time astutely assembling a showreel that had nothing to do with my coursework because I could use the facilities for free. I got drama students and drama society types to be in my films for free.
In my last year I wisely whored myself out to the local radio stations and got a part time gig running the mixing desks for the Tuesday and Saturday sport shows on Radio Stoke. This gave me a leg up to graduates who had a better class of degree than me because I had both the degree and professional experience. I got some good staff job at the BBC and have done my own freelance videographing and recently worked on a couple of films.
Identify something you are interested in an gain some experience in it, even if it has to be unpaid, and it will give you a head start over people who just have a bit of paper. A qualification can open the door, but
imo you always need to be more passionate about it than the other candidates... and be able to prove it.
Linear Mode
