My passion for Media Arts led me to a significant career change some five years ago. In fact, I went ahead to resign as a receptionist at one of Samsung’s largest branches in Johannesburg and decided to take media art classes at a local community college. Film production was on my mind, and I knew that extra training was a prerequisite for any individual to succeed in the film industry. At the community college, I started with the basics of how to handle cameras. I discovered that I could make good video recordings, and that was what I enjoyed most. I took one and a half years at the community college and successfully completed the training. From there, I was lucky to land a job as a film producer at one of the community colleges. My background in physics and computer science helped me understand and merge my technical skills with my media art skills, and in the end, I was one of the best film producers at the community college.
My commitment to Media Arts prompted me to seek more information about the film industry, particularly in Africa. I enrolled in a school of Film Production in my community where I acquired knowledge about the historical development of films in Africa. I came to understand that the growth of Africa’s film industry began during the colonization period of the continent when Africa was used as an exotic background for Western films (Rosenstone & Parvulescu, 2016). I also learned about the rapid growth of the African film industry which has seen countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt play a leading role in the continent’s film industry. While at the school of Film Production, I realized that having the ability to clearly distinguish fiction films from documentary and non-fiction was important for an individual interested in film production like me. Today, I can clearly define fictional films as those that tell stories, events, or narratives that are not true. Besides, I can tell that nonfiction films are those that present true or accurate stories, and whose characters and information presented are true and are in existence. I can also define documentary films as those that present some aspect of reality with the aim of maintaining historical records.
My interest and passion for Media Arts have made me aware of how important professionalism is to the film production field. I have also acquired knowledge about Hollywood, Nollywood, and Ghallywood movies. I can clearly say that the quality of Hollywood movies is because of the significant amount of funds invested in the sector with an average cost of each movie being $250 million (Bukowski, 2009). Conversely, I learned that although Nollywood is gradually developing, the quality of movies produced is significantly low due to the low-budgeted productions with each movie costing an average of $25,000 to $70,000. I also learned of the Ghallywood as Ghana’s film industry and the significant steps it has made regarding film production. All in all, with the vast knowledge acquired in film production, I think I have grown a lot in the past one year, and I need to advance the film production skills I have acquired.
I am confident that enrolment for Media Arts studies at your institution will not only give me the skills I need to succeed in the competitive film production industry but will give me the courage and confidence to venture into the industry.
The Media Arts course at St George’s Media College is a good fit for me because I can enjoy and access the highest quality of education on film production. The competitiveness of graduates from the college is what made me decide to apply, and I believe getting a chance at the institution will be a boost to my film production career.
- Bukowski, C. (2009). Hollywood: A novel. Edinburgh: Canongate.
- Rosenstone, R. A., & Parvulescu, C. (2016). A companion to the historical film. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
