Being a very analytical and straightforward person, I oftentimes find it difficult to find faults in my work and in my actions. This is not to say I am perfect, or I cannot improve on myself; I just do not know how to go about finding my issues and dealing with them. This is why I often need an opposing view to point out things I could have done better, things I can work on. This is why the environment in the multimedia journalism program has been helpful.
Drawing on lessons learnt from the posts on the Breaker academy, I was able to find some sense of direction in regards to how to structure my story, how to ask the right questions. Our excellent class rep Paul Bacon was always willing and ready to help and support me in any way possible in every assignment in every query I have, even outside academics he tried to speak to me as a friend, if not for him I would have had many setbacks and failures in this program. Also, I had our lecturers Chindu and Mike who put on boot camps and gave us the right tools needed to succeed. This helped me power through the difficult aspects of the program.
When I started this assignment, I had no idea what to do because for me I need to have a bit of direction so I can learn as much as I can. Not having a particular aim or purpose for this assignment was my biggest issue, I decided to combine two of my interests, which are my passion for music and my understanding of technology. I came across an Instagram video where AI was used to create covers of popular songs, which I did not particularly hate but also did not appreciate because it did not feel natural, it did not feel authentic, and this led me to question If AI is going to completely take over the music industry and if it would still have the same creative feel traditional music does.
My intended target audience are music lovers and upcoming musicians trying to find their way and discover their own unique sound. I went ahead to do my research online and to see what has been reported what has been said about the topic and unsurprisingly most of the articles or most of the answers I found online were generated by AI they are questions asked by humans and responded to by AI which is to me an interesting. ironically for a feature story on AI and its impact i decided not to make use of AI because my whole story is about how AI is affecting creativity in music and so i decided to do without it for this particular assignment.
I found a way to speak to an artist who is also a medical doctor. He was very reluctant to speak to me because I am still just a journalism student, he was incredibly careful about how his brand would be portrayed. Convincing him was difficult for me, but taking the lessons we were taught I tried to put him at ease and get his consent to make use of his brand in my feature story. I even had to speak to his lawyer at some point to assure them I am “legit”.
I also spoke to a few friends of mine who are upcoming artists and knowing the younger generations are the ones who are more in-depth with technology, they have a better understanding of how it works and what to do with it. they also gave me the idea for the short video needed for the assignment. I was short on ideas on what to include because i conducted all my interviews remotely and so i had no clear footage, but as a way of putting their names out, my friends encouraged me to use their performances as a short video, which is the least i could do since they decided to participate. from there it was just a matter of deciding what clips i wanted to include in the video and what i wanted to say in them.
My strong suit is not writing or interviewing people on subjects I do not particularly find interest in. This course has pushed me out of my comfort zone and I appreciate that, however, it has made it clear enough to me that my passion is football and sports in general and now I know I have to put my all into chasing a career in this field.
I am looking forward to next semester.
