Afiqah Syahirah is a Junior Video Editor, working in Big3 Media and was educated in Nanyang Polytechnic with a Diploma of Mass Media Management. Interviewing her was a breeze as she and I met through a mutual friend, thus it was not entirely awkward to have an interview with her. We talked about her work experience and how much she had learned from working alongside different people and mentors. Where Arthur’s interview talked about his works, Afiqah talked about her experience of interacting with other people on the job. Her experiences taught her to be more outspoken and confident in her work, to never be afraid to ask for help or guidance from her superiors or fellow colleagues. 

 

In one of her answers, she mentioned ‘burned out’, a term that meant when one was completely exhausted from a certain project. Her experiences with ‘burning out’ occured when she was in the position of transitioning her workload as she was not used to the sudden amount of projects she was supposed to stagger and work on. This experience clearly impacted her as she now knew the importance of knowing when to cave in and ask for assistance. In the media industry, especially from a newbie, it is hard to ask for assistance as they are prone to be shy and afraid. Afiqah’s experience with her ‘burn out’ helped her realise that there is nothing wrong with feeling as so. It was important to ask for guidance, otherwise she would not have been able to overcome that difficult task on her own.

 

When asked about people’s perception on her line of work, she had a pensive look on her face before answering the question. Afiqah mentioned how the common misconception people have on her work is that it was easy as it involved a simple photo but she stressed that it was more than that. She talked about how much work was put in a single shoot, from planning, production and post-production, every single step was made with tons of dedication and care. She expressed how much effort was made into the tiny details of the photo and the logistical planning that was brought up to even execute the photo. She stressed that no photo with meaning can ever be done easily as the work put in are clearly not so. I mentioned the tone of resentment she had when answering the question and she gave a light-hearted laugh at that, reassuring that it was normal to feel that way in the industry.

 

When we wrapped up the interview, I asked the final question which was what 3 words could she describe her mental state after working in the industry. She answered “Growing” and “Challenging”. When I prompted for the last word, she said there wasn’t a need to, as she was still growing in the industry to find out.