Monday 9 November 2009

This is it, well, for Graduation.



Last Friday was the graduation ceremony for the Media School at Bournemouth University and naturally my own graduation into its alumni, which I'd like to believe is what the Illuminati goes by nowadays.

Anyway, Friday was an intense start at 5am for the coastal drive across to Bournemouth, as I didn't get any shut eye the night before. So I had to rely on adrenaline and anxiety for the ceremony to keep me awake and alert.

The ceremony was great and has set the record for continuous hand clapping for a prolonged amount of time. After awhile I just knew I couldn't keep up so I opted for a consistent and strong; clap every other person and saw myself outlast everyone around me. I clapped for what seemed like hundreds of people that day and deservedly so.

The step up onto the stage felt like a Michael Jackson 'This is it' moment with the culmination of my time at the University. The stage walk is a blur but the proud feelings of graduating and moving onto the next stage in my life has remained.

Afterwards there was a little shindig in the Purbeck Hall for a natter and a drink accompanied by a cool band in the background. Here is where I spoke to the scriptwriting lecturer who marked my major screenplay aka my beloved WWII Drama. It's also where the quality of the BU lecturers continued to shine through in offering advice and encouragement. I felt even better about achieving my feature script and was opened up to the prospect of it making a great radio play. This is something that makes sense because it would be a realistic achievement compared to a feature film and it's more likely that people will get to experience it. I would love to hear it myself and will consider it in the near future. I did hesitate going to the mini shindig at first but I'm glad I did and it was one of those moments that just felt like another fate encounter.

It was an extremely refreshing and exciting moment to leave graduation and the world of university behind. However, I will always look back on writing at Bournemouth University with fond memories and gratitude for its teaching staff.

As for the future, I don't believe there's any rush and especially when there's so much to learn and discover. It's a new world and so naturally I need to learn how to crawl before I can walk and walk before I can run. So I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy the journey, and ultimately, aspire to live in the vain of Rudyard Kipling's poem IF.

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your graduation, Mark!

    Hollywood, or least, Pineywood, watch out...

    Thanks very much for your lovely feedback on blog for my liddle movie!

    Glad you liked so much. it was great fun to make, and, if you get the chance to do a 48hr film down there, I urge you to form a team and give it a go. (That's how I did it, I entered, then advertised for a team - I didn't even have a camera!) Big learning curve and you get to meet some great people!

    Congratulations again on your graduation!

    Regards,

    Gareth

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks man!

    Yeah it was great and felt like you must have had a blast making it.

    I'd love to take part in one at some point. I'm only an hour or so away and have an aunt in Pompy, so it's definitely on the cards.

    Cheers man,

    Rob

    ReplyDelete