In this blog post, we explore how content planning experience can be a compelling motivator for applying to a cultural content major. Find out how to connect your field experience to your major.
Write about your academic experience
Combining computers and art
When I was in high school, I signed up for a computer class as an after-school program. Although more of my friends usually signed up for remedial studies for their major subjects, I wanted to study something I was interested in, so I made a conscious choice. Of course, there weren’t many friends in the computer class, and there were about fifteen of us from the whole school. The curriculum covered design programs, programming production techniques, and the JavaScript language, which would eventually equip us with the skills to create a single video or website.
The design programs included editing programs and basically covered Photoshop, Illustrator, PowerPoint, etc. In particular, learning Illustrator gave me the experience of creating much more sophisticated image files than the ones I had previously created in Photoshop. So I got into Illustrator and practiced creating character images, designing and framing websites, etc. At that time, I took a class that combined art and computers. The teacher would show us elaborate masterpieces or works of art and give us class assignments to create illustrated images or transform them into pop art. Through these assignments, I simplified masterpieces by Van Gogh or Chagall and created parody images with new figures or backgrounds. When I was learning programming, I created videos and game software. For videos, I used various video production techniques and editing techniques to create scenes through an editorial design program. Again, I was able to combine art and programming by creating short films using images or documentary-style works with characters and stories. When creating game software, I was able to create quizzes to test historical and biographical knowledge related to art and music, and I felt proud to create a medium to build artistic education.
Write about your main intramural activities and impressions
Creating environmentally conscious advertising content
In the second semester of my freshman year of high school, I joined an on-campus advertising content creation club. Originally, it was common to join the club from the first semester of the first year, but later, when the club was recruiting new members, I applied. At that time, the advertising club at my school was large and had many members, and each member had a clear role, so we auditioned and selected members separately. At that time, there were roles such as ad planning, copy, video, shooting, and editing, and editing was one of them.
I challenged the editing field because I was talented in using computer programs, especially design programs and editing programs, so I wanted to apply these skills to edit advertisements. When I first auditioned, I was asked to submit the results of an advertisement poster that I had edited myself. I submitted an advertisement work that I had edited using illustrations, and I received a response because I made a public service announcement that reflected the ideas I had planned. The senior who was conducting the audition at that time gave me an evaluation that I had good planning skills and good ideas, and I was encouraged by this evaluation and became an active member of the club.
First of all, I preferred video commercials or television commercials as media advertisements rather than print advertisements, and I also had friends who had shooting techniques or video shooting skills for this. And when producing media commercials, the topics or contents themselves are often public interest, educational, and didactic contents that are suitable for students, so I tried to come up with various ideas that fit these topics, and I actively participated in planning meetings to come up with suitable ideas, especially for the environmental competition that was held within the school. My role was that of a final editor and designer, but once we were in the planning stage, everyone was involved in the meetings and contributed their ideas.
We set a goal of winning awards and representing the school in external competitions, and we used various ways of thinking to come up with meaningful ideas. For the creative environmental advertisement, I basically acquired various knowledge and information about environmental problems and their solutions from the library, so I provided them in the meeting process to guide us to come up with ideas with solid basic knowledge. As a result of our brainstorming, we were able to create a commercial that parodied a recent drama with the intention of using less non-perishable materials, and it was selected as the grand prize winner by gaining the most votes in a poll on the school’s website. The theme itself was a combination of many people’s ideas, but it was also a very rewarding experience for me personally because I was the one who stayed up all night to edit and double-check the video at the end.
Examples of caring, sharing, and collaboration and what I learned
Organizing a bazaar for my class
In my senior year of high school, summer arrived at a time when everyone was busy preparing for the entrance exam. The weather was hot, the classroom was crowded, and the air conditioner was not working properly. Despite repeated requests to the school, the air conditioner was running at a relatively high temperature, making it difficult for our class to get through the summer. At our class meeting, this came up on the agenda and we discussed how we could solve the problem. The majority of the class wanted to pay for a new air conditioner, but I suggested that instead of asking our parents for money to solve the problem, we should raise money ourselves.
I suggested that we could organize a yard sale, where we could bring unwanted items or quality products from home and sell them to our friends in other classes to earn money. If possible, we could go outside on the weekends and run a free market, and since it was a sharing market, we could sell things at a low price and get rewarded for our labor. Many of my friends participated in the sales activities due to their obsession with air conditioning even though they were busy studying, and they brought a lot of useful clothes and shoes to be used at the market.
What we wanted to practice was the sharing economy. It was an experience of realizing the sharing economy to practice the meaning of sharing and circulation that we had learned in social studies class. For products that lacked quality, friends who were skilled in repairing and remodeling them by themselves, and we continued to try to make sales revenue. Within a month and a half of starting this effort, we raised the money we wanted, and although it wasn’t a lot of money, it was enough to buy an air conditioner, so we were able to achieve our original goal. This experience not only brought convenience to our lives, but it was also a social experience through sales activities, and since it was the result of my proposal, I was able to increase my pride in creativity and execution.
