Monthly Archives: August 2018

Blog 6: My One Year Plan and Community of Practice Outline

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My intention over the past year is as follows:

 

  1. Try to go to at least one event every quarter that is related to the areas of media that I am interested in. Note: I have already joined Meetups but have not had the time to go to any of the meetups I’ve wanted to do due to clashes. Perhaps I can begin doing this during the summer holidays when it is more feasible.
  2. I am about to embark on a new era in my media career as a communications officer at Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese. So far I have done projects as a Comms Writer, a Video Co-Producer and Director, a Graphic Artist, Copywriter and Freelance Journalist. This role will amalgamate my interest in a world that I grew up in. I will endeavour to really create some notable pieces in my time here while studying my Master of Media.
  3. Keep up my grades and study interest while working!
  4. Prepare my missyinthemedia website: each page needs work and images need to be uploaded.
  5. Look after my health and make sure that I am in fine working order seeing as I’ll be very busy!
  6. Prepare my first children’s book for publishing
  7. Continue my volunteering where possible
  8. I would like to try and do some more short courses in illustrating and voice work
  9. Continue to read more books and publications and watch more movies and documentaries to enrich my storytelling abilities and to continuously remain inspired
  10. Develop a better routine so that I can actually achieve all this
  11. I’d like to collaborate more and go to more networking events that are career-orientated
  12. Work on at least one podcast!!!
  13. Invest in better equipment
  14. Keep track of all these goals so I don’t look back in a year’s time and wonder what has happened.
  15. Try and network with people in the industry that I admire. This is huge. I always feel a bit strange approaching people whose work I love. I don’t want to be seen as creepy or insincere or too gushy. I need to really plan out at least a question or two to ask to create value out of the situation and create an open communication  line..
  16. I want to expand Cultureline and work on producing it, however with my work and study commitments I will have to put it on hold and perhaps keep working on developing the idea and gauging interest in terms of who I could collaborate with.

Blog 5: My Audience & Social Media Platform

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My Audience

My audience and my client are one in the same in some ways. If we are looking at my work as a media content creator, my clients are organisations in the arts, entertainment, cultural and tourism sectors of the community. Those who would like the work I am producing would be their audience. So, a wide age group between 16 and 90 who are actively taking interest in their community by visiting art shows and galleries, going to see shows and events and love supporting lots of different groups within the community. These are people who love watching documentaries on history and culture. They INVEST time and money in sorts of things and care about preserving this part of our cosmopolitan style of living. They may be interested in supporting local and donating their money towards these kinds of organisations. They love getting to know their own area, their own city. Their persona might be the typical foodie, the hobby historian, the fashionista or the art collector. The philanthropist and the volunteer. Basically people who share my love and interest in all that makes life lovely or society better. People who want to begin their journey opening their mind to the world around them. People who love their senses dazzled.

Social Media

I feel my audience is on Instagram and LinkedIn…

Instagram is for the consumer side of my audience who love experiences, opening their mind, learning and contributing to the world in a positive way. People who are inspired by interesting storytelling, images and memes.

LinkedIn is for my client audience who are potential people in my network that I could work with on projects. I like to use my LinkedIn by incorporating posts about my work and studies to both promote the work that I do and the energy and thought process behind my creativity and inspiration. It’s basically to encourage people to want to work with me!

Blog 4: A Media Practitioner in Sound Research – Composer Carlo Giacco

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There are a few elements of sound that really pique my curiosity when it comes to production. Two that delight me the most are foley and music production.

In this post, I’m going to talk about music production as I’ve been delving into creating a little soundtrack for our project A New Place I Call Home.

As my study, I’ve chosen composer Carlo Giacco who is more a music composer than a media practitioner but to be fair, his catalogue’s focus contains soundtracks he has created for TV Shows and motion films.  You can check out his work at www.carlogiacco.com.

 

Upon closely studying his style for Food Safari, (check out an example episode here,) You will hear the layers in what makes up a really interesting ‘textured’ tapestry of instrumental sounds and emotion.  Similarly, if you play any of the featured soundtracks on his website you will notice the emotion conveyed in different ways. For Food Safari there is a fast momentum that sounds exciting and builds anticipation, adventure and drama and echoes the spirit of far-off lands. As you continue to watch the episode, the music changes to a track that is inspired by the culture that the episode is about which is fused with a smooth contemporary feel. All kinds of instrumental sounds are used to create this exciting sound.

With Carlo Giacco’s background in music composition, it is no surprise that his tracks are cleverly and strategically composed. While I’ve studied a bit about music’s foundation and have a natural understanding of how it works, on a personal note my husband has a similar education background to Carlo and played in youth orchestras, studied both orchestral and contemporary music and can write scores. While music can be very instinctive for many creatives, make no mistake when it comes to composing music for TV shows and movies: there is a strategy and theme involved and a certain level of innovation required to create rich and moving tracks that can captivate the viewer and help create the momentum and ambiance of the moving image.

Blog 3: Professional Bio

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Here’s my drafted professional bio. It’s for my website at www.missyinthemedia.com which is loosely based on one of my favourite illustrators Megan Hess’s website: 
http://meganhess.com

and a content maker named Kayla Hollatz who has a really nicely branded, engaging website that also makes use of the concept of self-branding to engage B2C: http://kaylahollatz.com.


So, without further ado, here’s my second draft:

Melissa Parkinson has a background in professional writing and editing as well as multi-media and media studies. Melissa is a Melbourne-based Content Creator who is passionate about storytelling. She specialises in various genres of writing, editing, video and podcast production as well as graphic art work. She has worked on projects for Melbourne Water, Culture Trip and Multicultural Arts Victoria.

I have worked across different roles which include article and communications writing, logo design, video production, directing and digital & social media content planning.

I absolutely love helping organisations, businesses and projects that highlight the beautiful culture, entertainment, arts and tourism that Melbourne has to offer.

I’ve also begun conceptualising my very own project called Cultureline which consists of a podcast series on Anglo-Indians, a digital tour of India and an interactive, multi-platformed documentary experience of Anglo-Indian history.

I’m currently working on a food and culture web-series as part of my Master of Media portfolio called a New Place I Call Home. In this project, I veer a little away from being a producer and take on sound design: creating, mastering and sourcing music for the show, sound recording, and post-production work.

I work remotely and love the buzz of meeting individuals and teams to help bring stories to life. So don’t hesitate to get in touch. Let me bring your story to life!

EDIT: Curious to see how it shapes up?

Based on some helpful feedback in class, here’s my next draft.

Melissa Parkinson is  a Melbourne-based Content Creator who specialises in the various genre of writing, editing, video and podcast production, and graphic art work.

Melissa loves helping organisations, businesses and projects that highlight the beautiful culture, entertainment, arts and tourism that Melbourne has to offer.

Some of the organisations she have been involved with over the past few years include Melbourne Water, Culture Trip and Multicultural Arts Victoria.

She has worked across different roles which include article and communications writing, logo design, video production, directing and digital & social media content planning.

She’s developing her very own project called Cultureline which consists of a podcast series on Anglo-Indians, a digital tour of India and an interactive, multi-platformed documentary experience of Anglo-Indian history.

She is currently working on a food and culture web-series as part of my called a New Place I Call Home. In this project, she takes on sound design & writing: creating, mastering and sourcing music for the show, sound recording, and post-production work as well as website content writing.