Mastery Journal

Full Sail University: New Media Journalism Master’s Degree Program

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FINAL MASTERY JOURNAL!

What a journey to say the least! I can’t believe it’s finally over! This has been an incredible adventure. This has been the hardest thing I’ve done since joining the Marines at 17. New Media Journalism isn’t hard to do, but when you’re an adult with a family and bills, and other responsibilities, life tends to get it the way a lot. I’ve learned so much this past year, and look forward to starting my podcast in the next few days. For the proof of concept film I am doing for one of my screenplays, I will be documenting my journey as one of my podcast topics.

As far as what I liked the most about this New Media Journalism course, I’d say the overall process. I’ve never done any type of journalism, but as a screenwriter I’ve always wanted to figure out how to incorporate my films and screenplays into video blogs to share with the world. This class was very rewarding all though I was going to quit at multiple points this last year. I’m not exaggerating at all. I was closer to quitting more than any time in my life doing anything else.

I plan on editing my website or creating an entirely new site and upload all of the short films I make in the future, along with articles, interviews, podcasts, and anything else I do. I want an overall entertaining site that various types of people enjoy viewing. This course has helped me figure out how to incorporate my screenwriting into something I can communicate with to my audience without it having to be in a theater, or even having to wait to see if some streaming platform like Netflix or a movie theater decides to show my films.

[crxjournalism]

New Media Journalism Master’s Degree Course is almost over.

This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Not the level of difficulty of the actual work, but having to balance life, family, work, bills, trying to pitch my screenplays, trying to write more screenplays, trying to maintain my mental health, and trying to be the best father and husband all at the same time has been the most stressful thing I’ve ever endured. Headaches every day and trying to show no negative emotions has taken a toll on me. My goal is to be a screenwriter and have my screenplays made into full feature length films. I love writing, but I want to be able to JUST write! If I don’t pass the class I’m definitely not retaking any courses. This would just be the end of the road, although it’s the next to last class before I’m supposed to graduate. I can’t take an additional class on top of what I’m already doing. Of course, for most people there are no handouts, so I’m going to continue to run towards that finish line and get it done!

[crxjournalism]

[crxjournalism]

New Mastery Journal Entry:

I honestly learned that I wasn’t as good at marketing myself as I thought I was. This class made me realize that I have to be more strategic and having an organized game plan so I don’t freeze up or look clueless when I’m either talking directly to my audience or even interviewing somebody. I learned how to convince my audience to put their trust in me and come with some great reliable information from the very beginning.

[crxjournalism]

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - ONLINE

A few of my original goals included overall learning and practicing with coming up with content and how to format it. I honestly thought the class would be much harder, but it was easier than expected. I learned about having multiple professional sites to reach more people. Not all people use all social media. I didn’t expect to have to create a LinkedIn profile, but since it’s used by tons of professional people and places looking to hire people it worked out pretty good.

Having the professional sites will help me keep a record of those jobs and businesses that I’ve contacted. Messages and inboxes are good for record keeping.

[crxjournalism]

This class that I’ve been doing for the last 4 weeks has been my favorite class of this whole New Media Journalism course. The instructor was always honest and spot on with everything l. I’ve learned a lot in these 4 weeks. MultiMedia Reporting is an important aspect of journalism. Social Media is probably we’re most people get their news nowadays, so for me knowing different ways of doing journalism online is very important.

During this class I got the chance to learn more about interviewing and how to put together an article while including audio from the interviewee. I learned that there is more than one way to conduct an interview. I didn’t think about how you can give the person the interview questions ahead of time and just let them go for it while recording. I think I like that better than asking questions after every single answer. I feel like that takes too much time and takes away from the person being interviewed.

I’ve thought of quite a few new article ideas since I’ve take this class. I’m going to do more news content on YouTube which I’ll post to Twitter and Facebook. I’m going to do film and acting related posts and interviews. I’m also going to do sports related news and interviews as well. I’m thinking about doing a post on things that people consider not normal that are 100% normal to others.

[crxjournalism]

[crxjournalism]

This is my video blog about what I thought of my last class. I got a bit long winded, but just what I felt. I have four more classes to go before I graduate with my Master’s Degree in New Media Journalism. This will be my second Master’s Degree. My first is in Creative Writing. Both degrees are from Full Sail University.

[crxjournalism]

My Thoughts on my Multi-Media Journalism Class

Mastery Journal:

To be honest, I didn’t have too many expectations of this particular class when I started it a few weeks back besides learning something new about posting some form of news. All of this journalism stuff is new to me. The one thing I did learn is how easy it is to start a podcast. I like the idea of doing it and making new episodes. As long as the topics are good and the conversations are sounding professional with professional quality equipment, things will go really well. I will use what I’ve learned to keep making podcasts about various aspects of the film industry and film making. I’ll probably add a sports related podcast episode here and there since I’m a big fan of MMA as well as being a huge Baltimore Ravens fan. Since I learned about podcasts through this class, I’d say that would be a favorite assignment. There isn’t anything I wish I could do better. School is all about learning and growing. The podcast assignment helped me prepare for my career by letting me get practice since I’ve never done podcasts before, and the fact that I want to do podcasts as a part of my career in film. 

[crxjournalism]

Expectations of what I’ve learned and what I expect to learn during this Master’s Degree Course(New Media Journalism)

Three goals I have during this course and after:

1. I want to get better at properly formatting articles and making them appealing to my target audience.

2. I want to eventually have my own radio show that talks about anything sports related. I want it linked to my website so the audience can be interactive. I want the audience to be able to mention topics they want to discuss. That would be really beneficial since if they get to bring up the topics, they will be more than likely to tune in to hear others and give their input.

3. My third goal is to complete my website and have it running and interactive within the next couple of months. I want it to have YouTube videos of me talking with my audience even if it’s through the chat portion, as well as radio portions.

This course that’s done after today has given me the knowledge about putting together articles and knowing what to include and what to not include. I got a lot of good advice on that.

1. When I say what to include and what not to include, I mean things like the actual sources of information and not to just say “a source” said this or that.

2. I learned to be specific, especially if people want to go to the source to be sure what I put out if legit. In this field you have to be very thorough.

3. We also reiterated some of the things we think is common sense, but some times slip up on. The main thing is grammar. Although I know or at least think I know everything there is to know about grammar and punctuation, once fingers get to typing fast and when you factor in spell check and word prediction, sometimes I overlook things and the wrong words or in places they shouldn’t be.

[crxjournalism]

Recap of my Legal Aspects Of Media-Online:

This class was interesting. I never know of all the technicalities of copyrights and certain usages of pictures and or videos. I knew that if you got a copyright, nobody can use your work. That was the extent of what I knew initially. I learned a lot in these past 4 weeks. I know one thing for sure is that to always do your homework on any legalities when making commercials, doing journalism, marketing a product, or anything that is made for public consumption.

This class makes me look forward to other classes since I seem to learn more and more new things with each class. I thought it would be more refresher courses, but it a like everything is totally new to me. Not like learning math for the first time. It’s not that hard, but just new things I wish I knew years ago. I like that though. It proves that you’re never too old to learn new things.

[crxjournalism]

Class recap for my Writing For Interactive Media class:

My story I wrote for my class is special to me, because not only did I live in Baltimore, Maryland during the Gun Trace Task Force incidents, I also got casted to play one of the characters on the show about the GTTF called We Own This City. I play the character Gary Brown. I have something to say about the show, but I will wait until all of the episodes have aired before I give my opinion about it. As far as the class itself, I am starting to feel a bit better about learning journalism. I think I will feel a lot better once I learn more about the camera and filming, as well as the editing aspect. That’s the only thing I’m nervous about since I don’t have that experience. I signed up for a film production and editing certification class to get more practice in editing so that I can have plenty of experience before I’m done with school completely. I plan on doing various videos whether it’s interviews or just me drawing various pictures. That will give me practice with lighting, editing, uploading, etc.

[crxjournalism]

This New Media And Communications class has challenged me to be more focused and specific in Journalism. As a person new to journalism, I’ve learned new ways to communicate news to an audience. It’s not just about telling somebody about something that happened. A good journalist has certain techniques when conveying news to an audience regardless of what it is. Now I feel like I have to learn from every good or great journalist that I can possibly find. I know that I’ll have to find my own style of journalism, but learn from others as my foundation and go from there.

I look forward to moving on to my next class and getting into the camera work, and learning ways to film interviews as well as still photos. I know it’s all about the lighting and angles among other things that make videos, films, and photos work. Already having my master’s degree in Creative Writing, I personally hold myself to a higher level of writing and creativity than others since writing is probably the most important aspect of journalism next to gathering the information to write and report about.

I want to eventually make videos and post them on my YouTube channel. I’ll also have the videos linked through my personal website. I want to upload one video a day, or at least every other day. I want to stay relevant with my audience. I plan on having topics that are interesting, but not always easily accessible.

Nowadays there is so many people making lots of money posting videos doing various things on YouTube. A lot of those people are making videos reporting various types of news. Mainly news about celebrities or news in the hip hop community. Once I learn about editing, I will start making plenty of videos and uploading them. Right now I feel like that is the main area I need to work on. I feel like I’m at a professional level in the writing aspect, so focusing on editing is really important for me to get further into journalism. After I learn editing, I will monetize my YouTube channel, making it my main source of income. I am also a upcoming screenwriter and film maker, so journalism will hopefully fund my film productions until my films are making enough money to stand alone. My goal is to be a journalist that mainly works from home, besides when I’m interviewing or gathering information. I’ll also offer paid advertising on my website.