Mastery Journal

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.