Studying the subject of Media at a university in Wales, was never an obvious choice for me, for many reasons....... I was born in North Wales, and after moving to Oxfordshire with its rolling countryside, fabulous rising house prices and fast car-driving rich snobs, I began to realise I was born in a not-so-nice place of the world..... That may offend some, but it's how I feel. So eventually, after five years of secondary school and excelling in subjects such as English, Drama and Sports Studies, I did the intelligent option and took the three subjects for A-level at Didcot Sixth Form in my home town. During this time, I began to realise that drama was to be my preferred route in life and I desired to be an actress. After completing my course and performing in numerous musicals and plays in school and out, I decided I would take a gap year before university to gain experience in the theatre and earn a little money. I began working for Gap Plc in Oxford doing general shop-work, roaming around and chatting and earning very little money for it. I then moved on to work for Fat Face Ltd as store supervisor, which was slightly difficult as I was 19 and bossing middle-aged women around who previously worked as lawyers...and so it was very strange. During this time, I performed in amateur theatre productions and made sure I regularly went to the cinema and theatre to stay in touch with current performances. After a year of living this life, I eventually changed jobs and started work in an educational IT company in their Finance department. This involved counting million of pounds each week, and as exciting as it was - it was boring. However, the money was building up and so it allowed me to have a great summer with my friends and be able to take a few months off before I was due to come to uni to generally chill out in the sun (and rain).
Originally, between the time of December and July 2006, I was preparing and attending auditions at drama colleges around the country in order to gain a place on an Acting course. Rose Bruford, Central School, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, RADA and Guildhall were all on my list. It took a lot of work to get my audition speeches right - and as I had not been studying for two years, I found it rather hard. My previous drama teacher from school helped me rehearse and choose monologues, and I used my sister and a video camera to practice several times a day. Auditions - the travelling, the expense, and the time - all took its toll, and I eventually began to think wanting to do an Acting course was unrealistic. The phrase "it's not what you know, it's who you know" kept on jumping into my mind, and having to pay £30 to have a panel of judges criticise you and tell you "No thanks, you're not for us", was just not appealing anymore. After being rejected from five drama colleges, even though it was still my aim to pursue my dream at some point, I decided it was wise to take a different route of study. I still wanted to perform in theatre groups with whatever course I studied, and still planned to go to drama college after my degree to study Acting as a mature student - I still wish to do this.
So then came my decision to become a secondary school Drama teacher. I came across the course at UWIC on the UCAS website, and thought it would be nice to still study in the same area but to come in at a different angle. I eventually received my place, and began studying in Cyncoed in September. I was not to know that I would absolutely dislike it 100%. I would have to be in uni five days a week, 7-5, and that was not for me. I also made few friends and felt a bit like an old lady in such a young group of students. I gave it a week and that was enough for me. Some thought I was being hasty, but I was hating being at university so much - being away from home, being poor - that I was not going to give myself the choice of being even more miserable. And so this is how I came to study Media with Visual Cultures at UWIC, Llandaff................
When I left the teaching course in mid-September, there was really no other courses that interested me apart from the Creative Writing for Media subject. However, it was not being run in 2008 and so I had to keep looking. I did not want to leave university altogether, and the thought of having to go through the process of changing halls, loans and TV licence addresses, did not appeal to me. I came across the Media course by accident on the uni website, and I decided I would research a little more into it. After emailing the course directors, I eventually made the decision that this really could be the course for me. Not only would it allow me to still work with theatre, cinema and film, I would be able to explore other mediums including photography and the print press. I liked the idea of having two separate sides of the subject - being able to delve into history and discuss feminism, Karl Marx and Freud for example, mixed with analysing Kanye West music videos and assessing films such as Castaway and Requiem for A Dream.
After a few weeks of beginning the course, I realised that it was something that I would very much enjoy and that could be useful for furthering my career in acting. I plan to apply for work experience at BBC Wales after Christmas, and may even venture off and complete a Screen Acting Course at Ferris Entertainment. Everyone that studies the subject with me seems to be on a similar wavelength, even if some are after different outcomes, whether it is wanting to become a journalist, screen writer or radio presenter. I love the idea of being able to discuss the current media in lectures, unlike other subjects which assess you on being able to dig down into dark history books found in the dingiest part of the library......This could arguably be seen as the reason why some academics class media courses as 'not a serious or relevant subject'. Commentators like this may take many more years to realise that students studying my course are very important to society, and in effect, are going to entertain them and make them laugh or cry on their darkest or brightest days. A job in the media, whatever area, is demanding and worthwhile. And even though it is not an area that I have been interested in since I was a child, I now realise I could be rather good at it. So, there you go, the reason I came to study Media and Visual Cultures at UWIC? - fluke.
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