INDIVIDUAL CAREER PROJECT

I’ve always wanted to produce a media work based on eco tourism and thought I’d pursue that in my Individual Project of this course. I also stated in my Learning Contract, that I would use my experience in Fiji as a starting point for my web documentary on eco tourism, as I was under the impression that I would definitely experience the touristic aspect of Fiji.

However, after engaging with the local life of Fiji, I believed that it would be better to highlight my experience with the farmers in Nadarivatu through a web documentary that would help Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) and me, for my future endeavours. This subject matter has never been covered by any filmmaker prior to my During my progress presentation, I did propose this idea, however it lacked planning and execution. Learning from this feedback, I focused on preparing a proposal for my web documentary – ‘Sowing dreams : soul stories of Viti Levu’s farmers’

‘Sowing dreams : soul stories of Viti Levu’s farmers’ –  Proposal

Format: A web documentary comprising of interviews, primarily created to be uploaded to the PCDF website to garner aid for the NGO.

Length: The documentary film shall have a duration of approximately 6-7 minutes in length and comprise of 5 distinct interviews of women and men farmers.

Intended audience: The primary audience for this documentary film shall be funding bodies that provide aid and support to non – profit organisations in the South Pacific Islands.
The film is also aimed at those engaged in research associated with the South Pacific Islanders, people who are interested in and engaged in community development.

Goal or intended purpose: A lot exists beyond the touristic islands and shores of Fiji. At the heart of Viti Levu, lies the highest and coldest places yielding food for the rest of the island. Through this documentary film, I intent to raise an awareness about the existence of these farmers in Nadarivatu who carry out their occupation in inaccessible lands. I also want to highlight the work done by PCDF in this region for the upliftment and well being of these farmers through the PHVA scheme.

Significance: The main reason for me tap into this resource was because there hasn’t been a documentary film or any other media work for that matter been ever produced on the farmers in Nadarivatu. The highlights of this documentary is undoubtedly the interesting mix of farmers that are practicing their occupation in the high mountains. A youth farmer who wants to send her siblings to school and if funds and time permits would like to complete her schooling too; women farmers who are the sole breadwinners for their family as their husbands aren’t physically capable of doing so, a young business oriented farmer who aims at making large profits with his produce.
Storytelling shall be delivered in an engaging manner cashing on the emotional quotient of running through each of the individual farmer stories.
Style: 
I’ve already recorded the interviews and supporting cutaway shots for the documentary, while I was on location for my internship with PCDF, Fiji. The film has been shot in an interview, conversational style wherein the subject has been interviewed by me. Using this existing footage, I plan on collating all the interviews together and present it in a Reflexive Documentary styled film where the audience engages with the documentary as it happens portraying the constructive nature of the documentary.
The audio shall be a true reflection of the local spirit, an underlay with Fijian Bula tunes. It won’t be too overpowering as I do not want to bring about the relaxing spirit of the island.

Putting this proposal into execution, I shall work on the post production of the documentary and share it with PCDF to be uploaded on their website.

WORK PLACEMENT

This has undoubtedly been the most exciting module of this course for me!

At the start of the semester, I was lucky to land myself with a Work Integrated Learning at RMIT Property Services as a Media and Communications Assistant. While I was enthusiastic about pursuing this, I had kept my windows open to more opportunities. While Patrick sent out an email to the entire class regarding a media internship in Suva, Fiji I sent in my application without having second thoughts. No sooner did I learn that I had been selected to take up this brilliant opportunity and jumped at it! Even though I accepted the offer, I was in a dilemma about how to turn down the WIL at RMIT Property Services as I did not want to burn bridges at the beginning of my career.

After much thinking, I informed my would be Supervisor at the WIL about my Fiji adventure and asked if i could join their team post my internship. She was more than happy for me to join their team and was delighted about my achievement. With a major load off my head, the other thing that worried me was that I would be able to deliver the responsibilities that the internship needed.

I packed my bags and took off to pursue my dream of filming in a foreign locale! Suva welcomed me with the warmest ‘Bula!’ I was lucky to work with the most hospitable people at Partners In Community Development Fiji (PCDF) a Non Profit Organisation that engaged in community development projects such as Education and Capacity Enhancement, Natural Resource Management, Health Improvement (HI), Institutional Development (ID). The NGO was in great need of a media producer who would help them showcase their work on the website. The existing website has photographs to showcase their community work but when it comes to approaching funding bodies, they didn’t have visual proof that would support their claims.

After working for the Indian television industry for two years, I realized that media doesn’t essentially have to take on a commercial aspect, one can apply their media skills for community development. It made me question the ‘reality’ in the reality shows that I had worked for.

In my two weeks of volunteering, I was assigned the task of interviewing and filming farmers benefitting from the Partnership in High Value Agriculture (PHVA) Project in the interiors of the Viti Levu island. Excited by this challenge, camera and tripod in tow, I set off for Nadarivatu, to experience and capture the ‘reality’. I boarded with a family of five, up in the mountains, with the closest town an hour away. I visited around 6 villages and settlements, some that were accessible only by horseback or foot. I interviewed farmers and asked them about their produce and the ways in which the PHVA scheme had benefited them. I was moved to meet a few women farmers who were the sole breadwinners of their family. Simple people with simple means of living, I had the most enriching experience interacting with them. They were happy to have been visited and spoken to, as none had even known about their existence. I was worried that I’d have issues in understanding their language, but Willie was a great support and translator who helped us engage in a fruitful conversation.

I returned to the PCDF office in Suva, enriched and happy with the footage and content filmed with the farmers in Nadarivatu. However, I had almost reached the end of my internship, and therefore didn’t have the appropriate time to create a video with the shot footage. However, I promised them that I would work on it during my holidays and help them upload the video on the world wide web.

When we think of Fiji, we think of crystal clear waters, sandy beaches and sun n tan. During my internship, I engaged with the soulful Fiji. I felt like a local, lived in a hostel with another girl Mary from Masters of Communications at RMIT who was also undertaking an internship but with a different organisation. The Indo – Fijians were delighted to meet a ‘real’ Indian from Mumbai and were curious about knowing about their native country. As I reached the end of my endeavour, I realised that I had grown too fond of the people I worked with, and the delicious food.

After accomplishing this media internship with PCDF, I indulged in retrospection about the fact of pursuing a career in media production for the purpose of community development or climate change. But the question of money arises when it comes to making these long term decisions. The satisfaction of work would be tremendous but that wouldn’t reflect in the money that I would earn.
And thus arises the question again – Why can’t we have it all?

Back in Melbourne, I re connected with my Supervisor, Alison at RMIT Property Services for the Work Integrated Learning and joined the team as a Media and Communications Assistant. I visit the office twice a week, and assist Alison in the formulation and delivery of the communications plan for RMIT Property Services. I have contributed my writing skills towards the e news bulletin and have contributed ideas towards sustainability projects that RMIT Property Services engages with.

I have also been assigned a project as my main area of focus for the rest of my WIL. I will have to come up with a communications plan for delivering an initiative on free tagging and testing electrical equipment i.e portable devices for student on campus during the Orientation Week coming up at the beginning of next semester. This is an interesting task as I will be coming with a concept, layout and deliverables plan for the initiative. Social media is going to play a significant role in promoting this project.

I’ve learnt quite an interesting mix of things from these two internships. While the Fiji internship gave me a hands on experience of working on field with video equipment, my WIL experience at RMIT has given me the chance to engage with a corporate setting and help me hone my writing and social media skills. These work placements have added to my pool of professional contacts.

I’d like to consider myself lucky, not forgetting the fact that I have been proactive in reaching to the opportunities offered to me and I’m thankful to RMIT to give me these chances of working towards being a media professional.

CV and Networking

Every job application calls for a tailored CV as per the job requirements. While my Resume enlists every job undertaken the media field, after moving to Melbourne I have worked as Promotions Staff for RMIT’ Career Development and Employment, an Admin Assistant at Alfred Health. Though these aren’t relevant to the industry that I want to pursue my career in, they count as work experience in Melbourne, but I haven’t mentioned them on my professional CV.

In the earlier stages of this semester in the Media Career Development course, I focused primarily on refining my CV, I revamped my existing LinkedIn account with a new profile picture, a summary, a volunteering experience with Partners In Community Development Fiji (PCDF), and added other interests and social causes that I supported, leading to an ‘All Star’ profile.

I also jumped at the opportunity to offer my Indian wedding footage for a SBS television show – Indian Wedding Race, that Meg was working on as an intern at 360 Degree Films production house. I approached the production house in person with my hard disk drive as I wanted to establish a professional relationship with the Producer (Andrea) that I was in contact with via email. I believed that if meet her and hand over the footage to her personally, it would create a good impression and would set the ball rolling for me to develop a professional connection that could help in the future, post graduation.
Unfortunately, while I did make it to the production house to hand over the footage, I didn’t meet Andrea as she wasn’t present in the office and hence handed the hard disk to the editor who was working on the project.

Post the feedback received during the progress presentation, my focus was to improve my elevator pitch and LinkedIn connections as most jobs are procured through active networking. The elevator pitch delivered during the progress presentation, in my opinion was too text bookish, it lacked a personal touch and I felt like a robot who was ranting a programme that I didn’t understand, even though my intention of writing it was that it could be used as a LinkedIn summary too. I realised that I had to re write my elevator pitch with a more personal touch; one that would convey my career aspirations, highlight my achievements and help me position myself appropriately in the media industry. I also realised that I was underestimating myself when it came to networking. As Kanthi, my professor highlighted that I was engaging in passive networking, wherein I was reaching out to the opportunities offered to me by my classmates, uni connections etc. While I thought social media was a very powerful marketing tool, I understood the point made by Patrick that YouTube would be a better space to promote my video content, rather than a Facebook page and have acted upon that. I’ve also created a (work in progress) page on Wix, that showcases my creative portfolio.

Moving forward :-

• I want to collate my filming and video editing experience in a showreel.
• Connect with industry experts and join relevant industry and skill groups on LinkedIn
• Constantly update my LinkedIn profile and continue making connections