IEMES-CO | Fontys, Tilburg
My career as student started in 2014 at the Fontys Academy for Creative Industries, located in Tilburg. Here I studied International Event, Media and Entertainment Studies – Communication, also known as IEMES-CO. Unfortunately I failed my first year here, because I was simply too young and inexperienced. I was seventeen years old at the time and had no idea what it meant to be a student at this level.
Even though I did not manage to succesfully manage to complete the first year, I learned the basics of programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign here. And maybe even more important, I learned that being a student meant working hard and crossing boundaries to evolve myself to a higher level.
Communication and Multimedia Design | HAN, Arnhem
Having gained this experience I started the study of Communication and Multimedia Design at the HAN University of Applied Siences, located in Arnhem. Here I continued to work on my skills as Multimedia-designer as well as my professional skills. After a year of learning a broad scale of different skills, covering the entire spectrum of Communication and Multimedia Design, I chose for a specialization in content design.
The second year at the HAN, I started developing my skills in Adobe Audition, After Effects and Premiere Pro. I also started to develop a sincere interest into videography and photography. During this year I started missing some extra theory about film, which was what interested me the most at the time. This caused me to search for another study which did contain the information I longed for.
Film- en Literatuurwetenschappen | Leiden University
The study which contained the extra in depth information about film was Film- en Literatuurwetenschappen at Leiden University. This study was a even higher level than I did before, which meant that I had to study and work like I never had before. Besides that, I also had to move to the other side of the country to be able to study this. These changes added up, meant that I had to push myself to the edge of my abilities. All of the sudden I was way out of my comfort zone, all by myself. Not only did I have to put all the energy I had into my education, but also in taking care of myself.
During my time at Leiden University, I learned the real definition of work. It took me late night after late night to keep up and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about the history of film and literature, different kind of genres and their underlying themes. Besides that I learned to analyse films and what effects certain aspects can have without the spectator even noticing. However, after a while, all the hard work and late nights took their toll on me.
My time in Leiden, no matter how fun it was, had gotten me into a depression, causing me to drop out halfway the first year. Before starting another study, I worked for a bit. During this time I started working on myself and trying to find a way to get back up top. I started trying out different ways of dealing with what was going on in my life. In this time I started writing poetry and painting to tell my story without having to actually tell it to anyone. This helped me a lot and boosted my creative mindset.
Communication and Multimedia Design | Hogeschool Utrecht
After half a year of working I continued studying Communication and Multimedia Design, this time at the Hogeschool Utrecht. Here I noticed how different this study can be, based on the location. I continued in the second year of the study, where I worked on two different projects. My time in Utrecht did not last either, unfortunately. I did not feel comfortable in the city and decided to go back to the HAN in Arnhem.
Communication and Multimedia Design | HAN, Arnhem
In Arnhem I restarted the second year of Communication and Multimedia Design, where I started with a semester of Solutions for Interactive Media. Here I learned more about available media for storytelling, doing research and different kinds of testing.
After following a semester in AudioVisual Content and another semester in Interactive Media Communication, I am able to continue with an internship semester. Since I am very interested in the world of filmmaking, I wanted to find an internship in this line of work.
Internship Videoproduction | Clipjesfabriek, Almere
September 2020 I started an internship videoproduction at the Clipjesfabriek in Almere. Here I worked alongside professionals to get a closer view of this line of work and develop my skills as a creative professional. During my time here I learned a lot of useful skills. I worked on the fields of editing, audio, interviews, subtitling and did a few animations. Besides that, I specialized in videoproduction and social media.
My internship started with a lot of production based tasks and later the role as interviewer joined in. This enabled me to interview for example some mayors about cybercrime and has thought me a lot about what it is like to interview somebody on camera. Besides this, I was asked to join the social media team. Here I was asked to create and post content for the social accounts of the Clipjesfabriek. Soon I noticed that there was a lot of progress to be made on this area and I started to do some research on this. This research was appreciated in such a way, that I was asked to take on a more responsible role within the social team, which eventually turned into me having the lead social media. This meant that I was responsible for my co-interns from the social team. I was also encouraged to actively think about new content ideas.
Eventually I passed my internship and was given an 8.5 by the Clipjesfabriek. The HAN graded me with an 6.6 for my reports on this internship. My internship at the Clipjesfabriek has thought me a lot and even got me a new nickname, “Bob”, because there was already someone working there with the same name as me.
To see some of the videos I worked on during my internship, check my videography-page
Communication and Multimedia Design | HAN, Arnhem
After my internship, and a semester about strategic transmedia concepts. This semester revolved around storytelling, creating a brandbook and datavisualisation. These three combined resulted into a project where we had the assignment to create a transmedia marketing campaign for a concept we created ourselves.
The project of this semester turned out to be more difficult than we expected. We quickly found out that our concept wasn’t as good as we thought. Besides that, we had to do everything online, since COVID-19 had us working from home.
Because we were all working from home, we had some difficulty keeping an eye on who did what and what still had to happen. This resulted in me picking up more work than I could handle. The big workload made me focus too much on the work for the group, neglecting my individual report, thus failing this project. I have to retake this project after my minor.
Minor – Create a High-End Video Game (NOMAD) | HAN, Arnhem
For my minor I wanted to pick something fun, something to do before graduating. From all around the HAN I heard positive sounds about the minor “Create a High-End Video Game”. After looking a bit further into this minor I quickly signed up.
The semester started with all the basics of designing a game. Besides some lessons in 3D modelling and how to create an art bible, I got to learn the basics of game design. What is a game, how do games play tricks on our minds and how do you make a game ‘fun’?
As per usual at the HAN, the semester ended with a project. This time the assignment was to create a high-end video game within eight weeks with a team of designers and programmers. I happened to join the concept of NOMAD by Sivar Kasman. Everyone in the team got their own role, which was essential, since our group counted 32. In order to keep everyone facing the right direction, some people needed to take on managing roles. I was one of these people.
I picked up the role of project manager. This meant that I, together with Sivar, was responsible for keeping everyone motivated and working on the right things. Day in and day out, we worked as hard as we could in order to get the best end result. Besides managing, we were also responsible for representing our team and the concept. Every two weeks we had to present our work. COVID-19 caused these presentations to be streamed. I personally managed and arranged all the livestreams with the goal to keep improving, while Sivar presented most of the livestreams.
After eight weeks of hard work and lots of fun, we managed to create an awesome game we’re all very proud of. To make it even more perfect, I finished the project with a 9.8 for my role as project manager.