Analysis of Semester One.

I've decided to do a little recap on the semester as it draws to a close. Though it may be impossible to fully articulate my entire experience in this one post, I guess it'll be good to at least mention a few issues and assignments that I took on during the term.

So here goes...

Analysis of Semester One, Media Studies and Management



This picture you see above belongs to Creativity and Thinking skills, ICA3, where each and everyone of us in the class were expected to do up a weekly journal for a period of around 2 months and present it in a creative fashion.

Aside from that, a set of ethics were also expected in the journal itself.

I decided to fashion and design my journal into a stack of NYP (the institution where I studied at) notes. My code of ethics was designed as an "ICA brief", something which tells you what you have to do for a particular ICA and what not.



The picture above was simply hilarious to me personally. It was part of a storyboard project which I had to complete for my Scriptwriting module, ICA4.



We had to come up with an advertisement for the new FE-320 (All rights and model names belongs to Olympus Cameras) and thus had to fabricate a storyboard to fully and effectively articulate our advertisement ideas.

The two figures in the frames were supposed to be newly wedded couples, pardon my drawing abilities and craftsmenship.

Aside from these assignments, there were alot of others, including numerous (not really) formal reports and a couple of pitches here and there for certain modules.

Mock media companies were set up too, in light of various projects.

1) Frequency, a music magazine company
where a pitch and formal report had to be submitted.

2) Uptempo Recording, (Keep Up the Tempo, Record your Future.)
where a pitch and a sub formal report had to be submitted.

Both instigated and expressed my interest in the media as well as in their respective modules.

It was really a good experience into the real-life professional media circuit and I'm sure my counterparts would readily agree (remember the late nights and lack of sleep, my fellow media-practitioners-to-be?).

Though the workload was overbearing at times, it consolidated and refined our abilities to work, be it individually or as a group.

School wouldn't be termed as such without friends, and certainly, the semester saw the bond of many amongst the class.

No, I'm talking about friendships made en route during the semester.

We bonded well as a class and I'm sure everyone has at least got a taste of working with one another, be it having positive results or negative experiences.

Take these experiences in stride and learn from them, and we'll always strive for the best.

I daresay that the people I've been seeing almost daily (not counting weekends) are really awesome, period. The kind of friends that one can find in their course of life that you'll want to keep.

You guys are awesome and I'm really looking forward to the spending rest of tertiary education with all of you, MS0801.

Though we may have our tough times (ie. insane project deadlines), we've managed to pull through and survived.

MS0801, work hard and play hard! And remember, we're united as one!

-End of Analysis-

That's that, hope you guys enjoyed this little update.

Remember to check back for articles, one of which will be posted shortly.

I'm really satisfied with semester one but naturally from a personal viewpoint, strive to do better in semester two as well as the rest of my educational studies.

It is all in the mind, but controlling it is another thing altogether, something I hope to further enhance my ability to do and master.

Life gets more and more interesting so stay tuned and remember to check back.

Cya'll later

Teamwork; The Driving Force of a Company?

The bulk of Polytechnic life is centered around projects and ICAs (in course assessments) which so often or another, requires students to not only excel individually, but also "be a team player".

I'm sure almost everyone have been subjected to some degree of teamwork at some point of their lives and I'm quite sure that at some point, malicious intent would have been harboured against a particular team member for example. Thankfully so far, I have not been in situations like that (and I don't wish to be). I've been put into great teams for my modules and are looking forward to working hand in hand with them on various projects.

However, let us talk about the various aspects of teamwork and effective communication between team members in a group. Is teamwork really that important?

I'm sure the term teamwork is evidently used around the world, be it in huge organizations, companies or even in sports teams. But what does it really mean? What really is Teamwork?


Teamwork is a "Cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause" (as cited from dictionary.com). Certain keywords in the defination such as "coordinated" and "cooperative" hints at the required ingredients that constitutes to good teamwork.

In order to have good teamwork, members of the particular group have to be, as mentioned earlier, coordinated and cooperative as these are two very important factors that will ensure the success or failure of the project.
Without Cooperation, members will not listen to anyone and act upon their own instinct; a perfect recipe for failure. It is absolutely vital that someone steps up and takes charge to ensure cooperation. A saying goes that "a ship without a ruddle is like a group without a leader" and I personally find it very sensible and logical.

The human aspect of working in a group is certainly, by far the hardest to manage as different individuals working together would commonly result in various disagreements thus, slowing the work rate and productivity. I personally feel that amongst the group of people working together, there has to be a leader, a ruddle to steel the group in the right direction. This importance cannot be stressed enough.

Naturally, the leader of the group has to be capable and determined about the current project at hand. A leader of a group, any group, has to be sure of the decisions made and the direction in which the group is heading or aiming towards. Importantly, the leader must be able to command attention and respect and that falls to the cooperation of its members. The toughest job falls to the leader; to ensure eveyone works together effectively.

Communication within the group will ensure the coordination aspect of the group. Having good communication and rapport with everyone else in the group usually makes working in the group more fun and productive which will improve work rate and the quality of the products at the end.

Coordination naturally comes with good cooperation in the group and having said that, let us now look as the aspects and benefits of a group with excellent teamwork.

In every company, be it an MNC or a private film, there has to be a certain structure of authority protocol that everyone has to follow. Usually, the CEO (also known as the boss) of the company, makes and charts directional decisions for the company. That also makes him the most important person in the company (or so to speak).

Having a good team within the company would ensure that these plans are followed accordingly with as little downtime as possible; in the world of business, time is money and vice versa. This is where good teamwork comes into play.

They say that "two heads are better than one" which is relatively true. I feel that a team with good teamwork which means "acting as a team" (as mentioned earlier), will beat an outstanding individual hands down no matter how outstanding that individual is. This is just the way of how things work; we're harder and tougher in a group rather then solitary.
Ever tried breaking a chopstick? Yes, I'm sure that is easily done but now try breaking a bundle of chopsticks. Not so easy I presume. From this analogy, the benefits of having good teamwork are unrivaled.

This is why good teamwork is stressed in sectors of businesses. It is rare that people work or function alone without a team because having numbers is considered an advantage too.

The trick of teamwork is actually through cooperation and coordination (as mentioned earlier) amongst the members.

So next time when you're working in a group and feel like giving up or biting the head of another group member off, take some time and look at what the group is doing wrongly. Emotions very often deter individuals from achieving their rightly deserved success so do not let them have a chance at you. Believe in yourself and persistence will certainly pay off.

So let us work towards having better teamwork amongst our groups and working towards our success!

Guess where I'm at now.

Blogging this entry from my school's Koufu.

Awesome. Wireless. Internet. For. The. Win.

I'll start posting my usual entries/articles this weekend (or when I have the time to). Its been all out Poly life so far; Classes starting at 9-ish, ending at 5-ish (the latest) and you can't say that's not awesome.
The freedom we get here is by far similar to that of university.
Lots of new people, lots of new classmates, lots of interesting modules; its a whole new experience.

So here I am, sitting in Koufu. Talking to my new classmates while they lunch. Oh look, the cleaning lady just cleared my plates. Ha-ha. Oh well, time to prepare for classes, time to read my notes, time to learn. lol.

Cya'll in abit.