How did I end up here?

As I wrote and mentioned in my first blog post, my journey applying for a work placement and actually getting and securing one was quite a rollercoaster. Two days before the deadline, I received an email at night from the company for the Belfast Film Festival with an offer to work on social media and create content for the event. Not quite the role I was seeking at the beginning but it was still in the field of cinema. Therefore, I replied as fast as I could with my CV and a cover letter written that same evening, and the next thing I knew was that I got the placement. This process was very last minute and it went really fast. Also my joy of having obtained a placement after having been on the verge of giving up blinded me a little bit. Thus, I felt that I jumped right into it without having any idea what to expect – was I going to be in charge of their website? Was I going to help organize an event from the festival? Or was I just going to get coffees for my colleagues? I simply did not know.

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For this last blog post, I will be using Schön’s model ‘Reflective Practitioner’, to reflect on my experience in my placement at the Belfast Film Festival where I faced some challenges, was surprised by the opportunities presented, and learned from the experiences.

The experience

At my first meeting with my work placement manager in September, I was told about my role and the work that needed to be done in the first few weeks. Mainly, I was to be in charge of social media and newsletters and, as soon as we knew the programme, to start announcing the different events so that people would know when to buy the tickets. It was also mentioned to me that the placement would be a bit short as the festival would be taking place in mid-November so I was required to do a fairly amount of hours per week to complete the 100 hours. Which I did not complain about since it was just the beginning of the semester and my excitement took hold of me so I was ready to work with them.

“Encouragement of creativity can occur within a work group itself through diversity in team members’
background, mutual openness to ideas, constructive challenging of ideas, and shared commitment to
the project”

(Amabile et al. 1996, 1160)

From the very first day, my colleagues made it clear that I was part of the team and they were very grateful for my help. Which made it very easy to form excellent communication between both parties and influenced the quality of my work as I felt very comfortable and embraced. It could be noticed that the team was very experienced in the subject of organizing these types of projects, although they did not have a large number of members. This had some impact on the number of tasks we had to do as it was a large-scale event, but everyone was committed to making it a success. The first and biggest event of the festival was the “Belfast” movie premiere and I have to say, I did not expect to be having this big opportunity of working in it when I first applied for the placement. That was the moment I realized: How did I end up here?

The premiere required a lot of preparation so my work placement manager, Mary, guided me and my uni colleague through every step. Since “observing others at work and taking instructions” [1] is the key to learning from professionals in a work place environment. As the festival approached, there was a lot more work to do and tasks I didn’t know were necessary to promote an event. For instance, displaying the festival banners near crowded places or booking different venues for after parties. All this, as well as the premiere, gave me an insight into what the industry is relying on when it comes to showcasing a feature film. I also realised how easy it is to network within the film industry, as it was very easy to communicate with my fellow colleagues and the experienced filmmakers I met throughout the event.

After the event

Clearly, the most important factors in student satisfaction with fieldwork are relevant learning
experiences and supervision.

(Fortune et al. 1985, 104)

After writing about the experiece itself, how it turned out, and what I learned. My reflection on the opportunity to have worked for an art cultural festival, as it is Belfast Film Festival, felt like an unexpected dream come true. From not knowing where I was getting myself into to working on four different movie premieres, including an Academy Award winning film. I learned from this event the importance of communication, how to work well under pressure, and paying attention to small details. For example, the recurring process of advertising the event with banners, flyers, and social media made me more aware of grammatical mistakes or missing sponsors logos and being able to report the problem to my work collegues. On the other hand, I had some difficulties managing my timetable, since sometimes my university classes crashed with some of the hours I had to be at work. However, I managed to be on time every week and completed my 100 hours for this module due to my motivation for the placement and the relationship built with my co-workers. I felt very fortunate to have been entrusted to work in this big event and it could not have been such a great success. Overall, a great experience that I will never forget!

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References

Amabile, Teresa M., et al. “Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity.” The Academy of Management Journal, vol. 39, no. 5, Academy of Management, 1996, pp. 1154–84.

Fanthome, Christine. Work Placements : A Survival Guide for Students. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ^[1]

Fortune, Anne E., et al. “Student Satisfaction with Field Placement.” Journal of Social Work Education, vol. 21, no. 3, [Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Council on Social Work Education], 1985, pp. 92–104.