TV, Radio & New Media Broadcasting

Graduatetvrb

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

Lots of negativity towards this course on the first page.
Has it improved or was RabbleRouser overly harsh?

I am a graduate of TVRB. I would have finished as one of the strongest in the course.

I found after work placement (3rd year) that the course is not what I expected it to be. too many business and non practical related modules which were not developed by media lecturers (at least that's how it would appear). Therefore those teaching you have little to no experience as to what the industry really need students to be thought.The modules sound good but quite a lot of them were a waste of time. (If anyone thinks otherwise I have plenty of examples over the 4 years along with many students who would happily back me up).
This was time which could have been spent in the studio. (I had a total of 24 hours training in the TV studio over 4 years. This is NOT enough time.)
I got work post graduation only because I was working on my own projects as well as volunteering on projects from the summer after 1st year up until graduating. This gave me a relatively decent showreel of work to show employers.Number 1 thing to have after graduating is a really good showreel/resume of work. few people will hire you based on the degree because firstly it is not well known and secondly It is only a piece of paper which does not prove you know the practical aspects to the industry. Just some advice for people studying TVRB. WORK ON A SHOWREEL and get people to critique your work. The only way you learn is for people to point out your flaws as well as your strengths.I spent 30% of my time working on college work and 70% of my time working on proper productions and projects. I still came out with a 1.1 because the practical work made the college work pretty easy.

For those who have not gone into tvrb yet.
My honest opinion would be to go and do a FAS course or a degree in a college which is well known in the industry.If you need to find out which ones are known, ask someone in the industry! In Tralee they have a great FAS course with top of the range equipment (RED CAMERAS!!!) which is run by those who have WORKED in the industry. This person clearly knowns what students need to learn. If I could go back I would have done that course and Spent 3 years working for free (if needs be) with production companies. I would have come out after 4 years with a really good resume AND experience. I also would have learned a hell of a lot more than my 4 years in college and at that stage I would have known exactly what area of media production I wanted to go into.
If you are worried about having a piece of paper beyond a level 6, then go and do a masters in the particular field you wish to work in. Quite often you will not need a degree to do a masters in this industry. Your showreel and experience will get you in. someone who has worked in the industry for 4 years VS someone just out of college. Who do you think will have a better masters?

I suppose the reality is that the college must not have enough media lecturers to cover all the media courses.Therefore they appear to create modules which can be thought to media students by business/marketing lecturers. many of these are a waste of time. If those who ran the course worked in the industry, surely they would realize what students need. They need more hands on experience and more classes with the media lecturers who have actually worked in the industry.

I recently heard of a Final Year Project which was pulled from a Public exhibition by those in charge of the creative media department because it had swear words in it. The students covered themselves by standing up before the film was played and let people know in case anyone would be offended. This was a project they worked on for around 8 months alongside a number of lecturers who were supervisors. 8 MONTHS.... Once again if the management up there looked at this from a creative background rather than a business/marketing background then they would have allowed the film to be shown. The reality is that by pulling it, they created the negative press/marketing themselves.

So ya, If you wish to do a course with not enough hands on work, not enough lecturers who have worked in media production, and make a PG rated FYP then do TVRB. If you are studying there now then work as much as possible outside college with production companies and you will be fine.

I did enjoy my time in Tralee, made lots of friends, and I actually got on well with most of the lecturers. I had fun in college. The marks were fairly easy. I cant say I learned a whole lot.This is just me being brutally honest about the system. It isn't working and its clear to anyone in there why its not working.

P.S I did not make that fyp. I was just shocked and appalled that it happened and disappointed that the good media lecturers, who I once would have respected, stood by and did nothing to back them up. Fortunately social media does not allow these blunders be swept under the rug.

I hope I was some help to those looking to get into the media industry. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill get back to you ASAP.

Naxxmus

Graduatetvrb wrote: »

I am a graduate of TVRB. I would have finished as one of the strongest in the course.

I found after work placement (3rd year) that the course is not what I expected it to be. too many business and non practical related modules which were not developed by media lecturers (at least that's how it would appear). Therefore those teaching you have little to no experience as to what the industry really need students to be thought.The modules sound good but quite a lot of them were a waste of time. (If anyone thinks otherwise I have plenty of examples over the 4 years along with many students who would happily back me up).
This was time which could have been spent in the studio. (I had a total of 24 hours training in the TV studio over 4 years. This is NOT enough time.)
I got work post graduation only because I was working on my own projects as well as volunteering on projects from the summer after 1st year up until graduating. This gave me a relatively decent showreel of work to show employers.Number 1 thing to have after graduating is a really good showreel/resume of work. few people will hire you based on the degree because firstly it is not well known and secondly It is only a piece of paper which does not prove you know the practical aspects to the industry. Just some advice for people studying TVRB. WORK ON A SHOWREEL and get people to critique your work. The only way you learn is for people to point out your flaws as well as your strengths.I spent 30% of my time working on college work and 70% of my time working on proper productions and projects. I still came out with a 1.1 because the practical work made the college work pretty easy.

For those who have not gone into tvrb yet.
My honest opinion would be to go and do a FAS course or a degree in a college which is well known in the industry.If you need to find out which ones are known, ask someone in the industry! In Tralee they have a great FAS course with top of the range equipment (RED CAMERAS!!!) which is run by those who have WORKED in the industry. This person clearly knowns what students need to learn. If I could go back I would have done that course and Spent 3 years working for free (if needs be) with production companies. I would have come out after 4 years with a really good resume AND experience. I also would have learned a hell of a lot more than my 4 years in college and at that stage I would have known exactly what area of media production I wanted to go into.
If you are worried about having a piece of paper beyond a level 6, then go and do a masters in the particular field you wish to work in. Quite often you will not need a degree to do a masters in this industry. Your showreel and experience will get you in. someone who has worked in the industry for 4 years VS someone just out of college. Who do you think will have a better masters?

I suppose the reality is that the college must not have enough media lecturers to cover all the media courses.Therefore they appear to create modules which can be thought to media students by business/marketing lecturers. many of these are a waste of time. If those who ran the course worked in the industry, surely they would realize what students need. They need more hands on experience and more classes with the media lecturers who have actually worked in the industry.

I recently heard of a Final Year Project which was pulled from a Public exhibition by those in charge of the creative media department because it had swear words in it. The students covered themselves by standing up before the film was played and let people know in case anyone would be offended. This was a project they worked on for around 8 months alongside a number of lecturers who were supervisors. 8 MONTHS.... Once again if the management up there looked at this from a creative background rather than a business/marketing background then they would have allowed the film to be shown. The reality is that by pulling it, they created the negative press/marketing themselves.

So ya, If you wish to do a course with not enough hands on work, not enough lecturers who have worked in media production, and make a PG rated FYP then do TVRB. If you are studying there now then work as much as possible outside college with production companies and you will be fine.

I did enjoy my time in Tralee, made lots of friends, and I actually got on well with most of the lecturers. I had fun in college. The marks were fairly easy. I cant say I learned a whole lot.This is just me being brutally honest about the system. It isn't working and its clear to anyone in there why its not working.

P.S I did not make that fyp. I was just shocked and appalled that it happened and disappointed that the good media lecturers, who I once would have respected, stood by and did nothing to back them up. Fortunately social media does not allow these blunders be swept under the rug.

I hope I was some help to those looking to get into the media industry. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill get back to you ASAP.

Any chance of seeing your show reel? I want to put one together and it would be great to see one that has actually worked.

Graduatetvrb

Naxxmus wrote: »

Any chance of seeing your show reel? I want to put one together and it would be great to see one that has actually worked.

What job are you looking for? Eg videographer, editor, focus puller, lighting cinematographer. I'll find you a good example depending on the job. What are you filming with?

Graduatetvrb

Same applies for radio. Depends if it's a documentary or a voice over job

Naxxmus

Well I'm not 100% on one section. I just love creating, both visual and audio. If you have more than one I'd love to see them but more specifically I'd love to see the one that got you the job in the industry.

Graduatetvrb

Naxxmus wrote: »

Well I'm not 100% on one section. I just love creating, both visual and audio. If you have more than one I'd love to see them but more specifically I'd love to see the one that got you the job in the industry.

If your not 100% on one section yet, Then try to gather some experience over the summer in different fields. It took me a few years to figure out what I wanted to do. I only got to this by trying everything else along the way!

I dont have my previous showreel up at the moment as I am working on my 2014 one. Have a look on vimeo. They have decent showreel examples. Have you got any of your work online at the moment? If so, pm me what you have I can suggest one way to format it.

chromatic

Graduatetvrb wrote: »

For those who have not gone into tvrb yet.
My honest opinion would be to go and do a FAS course or a degree in a college which is well known in the industry.If you need to find out which ones are known, ask someone in the industry! In Tralee they have a great FAS course with top of the range equipment (RED CAMERAS!!!) which is run by those who have WORKED in the industry. This person clearly knowns what students need to learn. If I could go back I would have done that course and Spent 3 years working for free (if needs be) with production companies. I would have come out after 4 years with a really good resume AND experience. I also would have learned a hell of a lot more than my 4 years in college and at that stage I would have known exactly what area of media production I wanted to go into.

If you are worried about having a piece of paper beyond a level 6, then go and do a masters in the particular field you wish to work in. Quite often you will not need a degree to do a masters in this industry. Your showreel and experience will get you in. someone who has worked in the industry for 4 years VS someone just out of college. Who do you think will have a better masters?

I made an account to reiterate what this poster said. Best advice I would give to anyone thinking of going to Tralee to do the TVRB course.

I didn't graduate, I gave up after second year but there's plenty of courses that will offer you a lot more practical experience and make you far more employable after completing. I remember chatting to a few of the lads who undertook the Fás course and being pissed off at how much more they knew, especially when you're paying out fees or getting loans for college. There's also loads of filler that is not needed which is an absolute head wrecker.

I did a six month radio course in Dublin with people who are actually in the industry and now I have a job that I love, six of my friends who graduated are not working in the industry although they are always looking. That goes for the rest of my old year, bar two who are working in England now. One guy is actually starting the same course I completed in order to be within a chance of getting something decent which is just a disgrace tbh.

On another note, I made some good friends there but I think we all agreed by November of first year that Tralee was the most dead student town ever, between the course and the nightlife, the place was just depressing. My post sounds bitter and biased but it's what I've found through my own experience. If I could go back, I wouldn't do it.

DestructiveApe

I was doing this course as well. Started in 2012. Loved the first semester, loved getting involved with radio soc. I absolutely hated the second semester which seemed to be like a completely different course to what 1st semester was. I failed all my modules. I ended up repeating the second semester this year. Big mistake on my part. Ended up leaving the course. But I'm heading back to Tralee in September everything going well, to do the radio production course in FAS. I will say that I found some lecturers a bit inept but the majority were fairly good. Although I would say that if you don't do practical stuff yourself or with a society then you will be completely unprepared for the media industry.