Susan Li has dreamt of being a film producer ever since she was young, so she feels like strong communication skills will be essential to getting into the industry.
Choosing to commence her studies with a Diploma of Communication at UTS Insearch in Sydney, Susan saw this as an opportunity to get to study at UTS.
“When you study media, you need to practise your skills in the real world as much as you can and have all the equipment you need.”
“Film producers need to secure investment in films, arrange schedules of all the staff, the shooting, the locations, and the times. I feel like I’m the one in the team who likes to arrange everything and do the preparation work. That’s why it appeals to me, I like that. Also, to be able to communicate with the studio staff in a multilingual environment will be essential, that’s why I wanted to choose communications,” Susan said.
Sydney dominates Australia’s creative and digital industries, with 70 per cent of them based in and around the Central Business District and precinct around UTS. This includes companies and startups in media, production, design, arts, music and software. According to City of Sydney, it is the fastest growing sector, which is expected to generate $14.9 billion by 2030.
The Australian Federal Department of Employment’s Job Outlook predicts the number of communications professionals will grow, and there will be 17,000 job openings by 2022 due to economic growth and people changing jobs.
For Susan, Sydney and UTS is the perfect place to undertake internships, and work in media companies to build her skills and navigate the media environment, preparing for her future. She also hopes to establish a small studio and work on film production to evolve as a creative producer.
“I would like to intern with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as it is very close to UTS and where I live.”
Currently completing her Bachelor of Communication (Media, Arts and Production) at UTS, Susan has embarked on film production projects and is already building her professional portfolio of creative media to be job-ready for the industry.
“I find the freedom amazing. I can just borrow the equipment and go to places to capture video and shoot what we want. After just a few weeks, we could develop a project to be showcased.”
When she requires people to be part of the project, she uses UTS Casting Hub to recruit other students. She says she knows what that feels like, as she is familiar with the big screen as she used to sing and perform for Children’s Day in China every year.
“I used to be member of an acting group and we recorded some performances that were aired on TV. When I saw myself on the screen, I was really excited.”
Communication enhanced her creative innovation and she hopes to apply her video, sound and digital media skills to many new projects in the future.