Shivangi Jain is an award-winning director and photographer who savors the autonomy of independent film-making. With an MA in Mass Communication from AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamie Millia Islamia, Delhi, and MFA in Cinema Direction from Boston University, Massachusetts, Shivangi thrives for her work to reflect cultured cinema. She has been associated with organizations such as J. Walter Thompson, Deloitte, Incredible India, Nestle, ACC Cement, OLX, Biba, OKCupid, and Realme. Shivangi’s directorial debut, The Thief, was screened at eleven international film festivals and her latest film, The Christma Party, is on the festival circuit.

UPES

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“The responsibility is to provide education to every student equally”

The major responsibility is to help the students grow and grow with them. The students come here with a lot of aspirations and hope. It is our responsibility to take it forward and substantiate whatever knowledge we have to empower, guide, and help them achieve those aspirations and dreams. To aid and facilitate their profits is the main responsibility of the faculty.

How do you tend to establish a healthy relationship with the students and other faculty?

“Establishing two-way communication by organizing interactive sessions”

I think communication is the key. It is very important to have an in-depth conversation with everyone around you, especially in the university. Two-way communication between the students and faculty helps us to understand where they are coming from and the shortcomings that they face. It is very easy coming from this position to just tell them to do certain things, but it takes a lot to listen to them and understand their plights and confusions. We have to talk about it with them and come to a common ground where they can speak to us so that we can collectively help them to build their future.

How do you make the subjects industry-oriented?

“Providing students with industrial visits to gain practical experience”

I am a practicing filmmaker. My pedagogy is to emphasize the practical aspect, along with theory. In modern media, we emphasize on learning by doing approach. If one week I am teaching them how to go about camera movements, by next week they are practicing it and I review them. We focus on their industry-based training. We have them do internships in various media and production houses in India and abroad with the purpose that they comprehend how to put their learnings into use so that they are not just theoretically prepared. In the end, when they finally graduate, they will go with a portfolio in hand. Portfolio matters a lot; resume and portfolio are different things. So, we focus on portfolio-building and industry-based experience.

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What are the best practices offered by the department to enhance the skills of students?

“Providing Students with best sessions on Modern Media and recent fashions”

The faculty in the Modern Media department are all professionals and practitioners. They come from various backgrounds like journalism, film study, etc. So, our approach focuses on all sorts of media, whether it is journalism, events, public relations, advertisements, films, podcasts, which is a very up-and-coming industry. So, we focus on all the things that are currently going on. We have sessions on memes as well because memes are something that goes on and is currently in fashion since they speak to a larger audience. Our idea at the school of Modern Media is to not just go by the traditional way of doing things. I have been to many film schools, and their approach used to be very traditional and theoretical. Here, we keep up with the industry and its pace. We are looking into mobile filmmaking and journalism, podcasts, media studies, to keep up with the world today.

How do you update and strategize the curriculum?

“Updation of the Syllabus by designing the strategies”

The best thing about the school of Modern Media is that it is just one year old, even though UPES has been here for decades. Typically, in other media schools, the curriculum has a set format, and they teach according to that format. But here we have just designed our curriculum, which is very up and new. It keeps up with how the media industry presently functions, whether it's films, podcasts, radio, journalism. The faculty here is very dynamic, so the curriculum is also very dynamic and fresh. It is India’s only digital-first media school. We have a lot of things to offer.

Do you have any extracurricular activities to expose the students to real-world challenges?

“Providing students with several extracurricular activities for enhancing their skills”

Definitely. A lot of activities are held in the university. Although I only joined 2 months ago, I do not have in-depth knowledge about the extracurricular activities since the students have not been coming up until now. But having said that there is research, sports, and different things that the students can participate in, and the campus is very vast with all of the things in place.

What are the challenges that you are facing to uplift the quality of education?

“Providing students with the best Faculty of the Modern Media”

Finding the right kind of faculty and people to impart education is a challenge for us. And as a new media school, it is challenging to get the word out that what we are doing is exceptional. But I think, after this year I think it will pick up the pace and start getting the recognition that it deserves.

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What was your vision for college from the start and how are you trying to achieve the same?

“Providing Students with Practical Knowledge of Theoretical Concepts”

 I have learned a lot in my industry, So, I wanted to impart that education. In my classes, I show the students examples of various people who work in the industry. I try to bring on-board practitioners, for example, cinematographers, photographers, photojournalists, some of the biggest podcasters in India, and all these people to interact with the students and share their experiences with them. I am trying to pull in as many people as possible to get them industry-prepared. So, that is my vision and that is how I am contributing to it.

What valuable advice would you give the students who want to enter this field?

“Students should focus on the syllabus of any college rather than reputation”

Many times the students tend to pick their colleges because of the reputation of the college, but they do not focus on the course description or the syllabus that they are going to be taught. I feel like students should focus more on what they are going to be taught rather than going for the reputation of the college. For example, UPES has a great reputation, but the School of Modern Media has started these programs which are at par and taking UPES’ name forward. So, I would say do your research, check out the course description and syllabus, and see what aligns best with what you want to do. If you want to be a film-maker, then do not just go for any media course, see if the college you are going for provides quality education in that sector and will add value to your education.