- The media master program changed my perspective

March 1st is the deadline for applying to the Master in Media Practices at Volda Universtity College. Meet two students that did just that last year, and are really happy about their choice. 

Text by: Sonia Gonzalvez Juan 

- The Master in Media Practices unites people from the entire world of media. Animators, journalists, documentarists, producers and communicators are attending a two year program where you learn and develop your media skills in the most complete way possible, says Mari Lome at Volda University College. She introduces us to two of the master students. One from Lebanon, and one from Norway, one animator and one journalist.     

- Easy to decide on Volda!

Edward El Hayek is from Lebanon and got his bachelor degree of fine arts in Beirut. After his studies, he started working as a traditional artist, painting paints for clients. Later on, he’d work as a sculptor for 7 months, but his interest in computer graphics would led him studying in California for two years, taking on a course for professional animators. 

- Then I started working as a 3D animator freelancer, but I was also thinking about my future: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue working as an employee or create something for myself, says Edward. 

So, 6 years ago he decided to build a company focused on computer graphics, visual effects and also digital illustrations. - It was hard at the beginning but it was fun at the same time. I was excited about it, he says. Still, he decided to take his master degree.  

- With such a big portfolio why did you decide to study a master?
- I feel having a master will help me not only to acquire more knowledge but to have more opportunities later on.  One of them would be to be able to teach in Lebanon. 
              
- Why Norway?
- I started looking and searching everywhere. First, I thought about France but one day I met someone. He was a friend of my father and lives in Oslo. He suggested the idea of coming here because there’s a really good education in Norway.  Once I knew the country, I did research again, what was the best school? Which university will fit with my education background? And Volda sounded the best place for me, also they have a really good program with media courses, so it was easy to decide on the university. 

- Are you happy with the program so far?
- Definitely. I think I learnt a lot so far. It changed my perspective of things. The first semester was pretty interesting. We learnt about the industry and its challenges and how we can work with other people with different backgrounds. This semester is more about film, watching films, discussing them and analyzing them, says Edward. 

Highligts the internships and teachers

Dagfinn Graneng is from Bjugn, close to Trondheim in Norway. He really loves writing, taking pictures, making videos and spending time outdoors, so when he had to choose a university to study the journalism bachelor degree, VUC was his first choice. 

- I really wanted to come to Volda because the nature is amazing, and the bachelor degree they offered was really interesting, says Dagfinn. 

While taking his degree, the thing he like the most was the background of teachers: - They have a lot of knowledge in different media fields, says Dagfinn, who also highlights the internships arrangements the institution has with partner enterprises. 
- I went to NRK and I was working on a YouTube channel for children. It was amazing! They’re really good at letting me work with wherever I wanted to work with. 

So, after his good experience studying a bachelor degree in Volda, he decided to continue studying here, this time with the Master in Media Practices. 

- Why did you decided to take the media Master?
- I know I want to work either with documentaries or production and as my bachelor degree it’s journalism, I don’t have too much experience with production so this master will help me with that. 

- Do you think you have more knowledge about the rest of the media fields besides journalism?
- Definitely, because we have so many different people in class and we learnt a lot about each other fields, and we’ve learnt that we’re more connected that we first thought. I’ve a background in journalism, I know some stuff about telling stories and writing, on the other hand, animation students know other things that I don’t know so we share our knowledge and we learn from each other. 

- Is it good to have classmates with different backgrounds? What’s the thing you like the most so far about the master?
- Definitely. The whole class is pretty full of creative people so I think because of that we work really well together and we came with a lot of crazy ideas we want to do for projects. I really like the ability to choose which direction on the media industry you want to follow. I feel like I can do whatever I want, and we have so many opportunities, concludes Dagfinn. 

Read more about the Master in Media Practices and how to apply