Who am I?
Hi there. My name is Rebecca, and I'm a current student at the University of Leeds. I have experience in design, coding, filming, and research and have worked in various sections of the media industry.
I first became interested in media when I was 13 years old and learnt about it as a course at school. Although I had always loved media, I had never before realised that it was a topic that could be studied and comprehended. I immediately enjoyed the creativity I could display when I began generating magazine covers and movie posters in Photoshop. I also enjoyed the consideration that went into developing each of these particular products, no matter how tiny. I was able to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the sector than I had previously, which encouraged me to further explore this interest.
Upon getting a grade 8 in my media GCSE I decided to pursue the subject at a higher level and began my BTEC Creative Digital Media course at sixth form. Here I learned more about the development of media products, specifically the different roles and jobs that there were in the industry and why they were important. I learned how to storyboard, budget and perform risk assessments for filming a short film along with how to successfully design and produce advertising content for media films. By doing this I was able to understand the production of media at an even deeper level that could be applied to the industry. This experience made me feel more confident about going into the media industry and gave me the desire to work even harder to gain new experiences to improve my understanding.
Experience Working in Media
My love for creating media expanded from outside of the classroom most notably when performing a week of work experience for a company called WhiteHead Ross who I worked with in the Summer of 2021. I had to communicate with a team of people to help the company build up a social media presence along with bringing attention to the various events they were hosting to young people who needed their services. I created social media posts showcasing the company's achievements along with creating posters that appeared bright and colourful to fit the positive messages they wanted to spread. This experience helped me to improve my skills in designing with Photoshop and Canva and helped me to discover what it was like working in a media team in a professional environment.
Where I am now
I am a student at the University of Leeds studying towards an undergraduate in Digital Media. My degree is highly complicated as it contains the study and creation of various media products including design, coding and research. During my first year, I developed skills in Photoshop and Illustrator even further to create logos, web banners and more along with researching the different ways media has been studied over time to gain insight both into the industry and the audiences it is aimed at. I also gained skills in interface design and the use of HTML and CSS to design a functioning website and have gained valuable skills in understanding the importance of privacy and usability as a result.
In my second year of university, I have taken my programming skills further by practising languages such as PHP and JavaScript, along with looking into software such as Unity and C# in my free time. I have also gained an interest in the ways stories are told in digital media and have developed a short video game to practice telling a digital story in this setting. My achievements and willingness to learn have been noticed by the university as I was selected to take part in the Leeds Excellence of the Arts programme, a prestigious programme that allows high performers of the university to develop their skills further so they can understand the industry at a deeper level. Furthermore, I have also been elected as the social media and marketing officer for the University of Leeds Rock and Alternative Society, which puts me in charge of creating all social media posts and keeping people up to date on the current events being hosted, giving me more experience working in a team and meeting deadlines. I have a strong desire to continue my development in media so I can both understand and create products that I believe will be beneficial to others. I plan to continue gaining experiences so I can develop my personal and professional identity and continue creating what I love to create.