Media Production Graduate Anwen Evans

This morning we’re delighted to bring you our latest interview, this time with media production graduate Anwen Evans. Here we ask Anwen about her experiences, ambitions and thoughts on the media industry.

Hi Anwen, it’s a pleasure to continue our interview series with you, can you please give a brief introduction of yourself for our readers?

I’m a media production graduate from a small village in west Wales, living in Cardiff and trying to get into Welsh language media. I’m a fluent Welsh speaker and am keen to be a part of keeping the language alive, especially within the media.

What is Media Production about? What made you take that route in education?

Media production covers pretty much every form of media; radio, television, film, photography and even some computer programming and web design. I’ve been part of running a radio station, made a live television show, written a screenplay and even made my own game. You get to try a bit of everything but then also get to focus on a particular area as you progress through the course.

I studied media at GCSE and my teacher was really passionate about it which is one of the reasons I decided to carry it on into A-Level. I wanted to be a teacher and almost went to uni to study history and Welsh but then changed my mind at the last minute. I’d always really enjoyed doing my media coursework and thought I’d enjoy a practical course like this one much more. I wasn’t sure what form of media I wanted to study as a degree so thought I’d give all of them a go.

You recently graduated from the University of Glamorgan, what did you think of your time there?

I really enjoyed my time at Glamorgan. The Atrium campus in Cardiff is where all of the University’s creative industry courses are taught. It’s very small compared to the main campus in Treforest but this gives it a unique atmosphere. All of the lecturers are industry professionals, so they know exactly what they’re talking about. I was lucky enough to have a few lecturers that were very passionate about passing on their knowledge and helping us to develop into great producers, presenters, writers and so on. They’ve also been a lot of help to me since graduating as well, frequently sharing advice and giving me support.

Would your recommend it as a good place to study? What lessons did you learn at university?

I’d definitely recommend studying here, but only if you’re someone that’s willing to work hard. The lecturers are used to working to professional standards and after your first year it’s what they’ll expect from you, and especially so in the final year. I wouldn’t say it’s the place for someone with a “that’ll do” kind of attitude.

I think the biggest lesson I learnt, which was in my final year, was that you can’t be afraid to go the extra mile. You need to push yourself to do stuff that may be out of your comfort zone and not be afraid to fail. If you do just step back and take a good look at what went wrong. From my experience doing that has only lead to bettering myself and my work.

With such a variety of media forms available and more emerging all the time, do you have a favourite?

In my final year at the Atrium I decided to major in radio and absolutely loved it. It was my favourite module during the first two years, and I love the way people can play with and use sounds. For this final project we got to run our very own radio station online for three weeks. It was a lot of hard work and very stressful, but so rewarding. What I really like about radio at the moment is the way it’s starting to merge with other forms through presenters posting blogs, pictures and videos, the use of webcams in studios and also the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to create even more interaction with the audience.

Do you work on podcasts much at all? Do you see this as a form of media here to stay or a flash in the pan?

I worked on a couple of podcasts while I was still at uni. One was called ‘Spotlight Wales’ where our presenter would discuss any media news in Wales with a guest panel, this was started as part of a portfolio of work for a module. The other was more just for fun and was called ‘Oh My Pod’. My friend and I would present and get a few friends into the studio to chat about a different subject every week.

Podcasts have got very popular over the past few years. I think a lot of people are seeing it as a good way to get their voices heard, a great way to cover any topics standard radio normally doesn’t, and they’re incredibly cheap and easy to make. But with the way radio is evolving I think there’s a chance that regular podcasts may lose some of their appeal. Personally I hope they’re here to stay, I love a good podcast and the fact that you can listen to them anywhere after download is great.

Thanks Anwen, all the best from the Business Boom team!

Catch Anwen on her blog, Twitter @eanwenevans and on LinkedIn.